When billionaire tech oligarchs like Mark Zuckerberg come knocking with bags full of cash to “provide assistance” for “free and fair elections,” should we be grateful for the “philanthropic efforts” or should we show him the door? On the surface it seems we should be grateful for such a noble offering to assist in election efforts during a pandemic.
However, we need to take a look at the fact that big tech companies Facebook and Twitter have permanently banned the President of the United States from posting anything on their platforms. Many of us with conservative opinions have been censored and deleted from these platforms. This happened because the CEO’s of those companies disagreed with our politics. They decided our opinions were WRONG. WRONG because the CEO’s of these big tech companies have a political agenda and they have shown they will stop at nothing to further that agenda.
While you may agree with their political agenda now, you need to ask yourself what happens when the day comes that you don’t? Who will be there to fight for YOU and your first amendment rights to express your opinions?
Mark Zuckerberg is funding the censoring of information based on his beliefs and decides what users of his platform are able to see. Is this the kind of person we want donating hundreds of millions of dollars to facilitate “free, fair and independent elections?”
These tech billionaires have already own many of our politicians and now we must ask ourselves if we want these corporate autocrats to be in control of our elections.
On November 10, 2020, Supervisor Steve Christy and I voted against the acceptance of a grant from Big Tech via the Chan Zuckerberg Foundation passed through Center for Tech & Civic Living to supplement funding for the conduct of our elections. At the time, Supervisor Christy stated emphatically, “I think it is important for Mr. Zuckerberg to keep his money out of Pima County and not interfere in our elections.”
As is typical in Pima County , we supervisors were asked to approve the grant after the election, which in Pima County, had been conducted – we believed at the time – in a fair and efficient manner. As a result, the need for the funds were unclear at best.
Yet across the state, County supervisors were asked to accept the private funds for our most basic public purpose, and they all went along with the scheme.
Now, there is a bill to stop the private funding of our elections and I strongly encourage everyone to contact their representatives to ensure this bill passes. Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of our republic and we must ensure these oppressive tech giants keep their money so we can keep our freedom!