Everyone in the United States, no matter which side of the fence they stand on, should be extremely concerned about the censorship that is now going on in our country.

I’m not making this statement as a democrat or a republican. This isn’t meant to be a political viewpoint. I actually consider myself to be an independent. I’ve always voted for the person I feel is best for the job and have voted for people from both parties over the years. I’m making this statement as an American citizen. People need to realize that what’s happening today is the canary in the coal mine. It’s only going to get worse.

The mainstream media has been censoring us for years, people just haven’t realized it. How? By only telling one side of the story. This form of censorship is the number one reason for the enormous divide in our country. If you only hear one biased side of every story, you’re going to believe that side. The news wouldn’t lie to us, right? I stopped watching the U.S. news years ago. If you want to know the unbiased truth about what’s really happening in our country, you need to watch foreign news. In fact, I challenge each of you to try it for one week. It will probably be an eye-opener.

Concerning another form of censorship, when did big tech get to decide whose opinion is okay and whose isn’t? Those who are happy about it are the ones who disagree with the ones being banned. What happens when it’s their turn? And the fact that social media giants are able to ban together to destroy their competition? That’s not technically censorship, but it leads to it. Guess what, it’s our own fault for giving them so much power. Some of you can remember when the government broke up the Bell System in the 1980s to end the monopoly they had on telephone service in the U.S. and Canada. Why isn’t that happening to social media? Will it ever?

Don’t get me started on the threats against hiring anyone from the Trump administration or anyone who just supported him. What happened to the Equal Employment Opportunity laws, you know, the ones that prohibit discrimination? How many of you have heard of the calls to “deprogram” Trump supporters and their children? (If you don’t believe me, look it up.) Again, this isn’t technically censorship, but it leads to the destruction of anyone who doesn’t believe the same way as those in power. How does any American think any of this is okay?

Those celebrating censorship today are doing so because the people being censored are ones that they disagree with. Unfortunately, if nothing changes it will be their turn tomorrow. Welcome to China.

A friend of mine posted the following metaphor that I believe perfectly sums up what’s happening in the United States today.

“A dog had his chain reduced one link at a time, every few days, until his chain was so short, he could barely move. He never resisted because he was conditioned to the loss of his freedom slowly, over time.”

To me, what’s happening today in our country is terrifying. I naively never thought it could happen here.

I know there will be many of you who don’t agree with me, who think that what’s occurring in our country today is perfectly fine. While that’s disheartening, it’s okay and I respect that. The freedom to have disagreeing opinions is one of the many things that makes our country great. What we need to be concerned with is when that freedom is gone. And we’re getting dangerous close to that time.