Washington Bill Would Destroy Free Speech, Criminalize Opposing The Left

A bill being pushed in Washington state that is supposedly designed to prevent domestic terrorism would actually criminalize free speech and create an Orwellian “Ministry of Truth,” according to a regional think tank.

In 2022, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s office released a 31-page report that included recommendations to prevent domestic extremism. Now, the state legislature has proposed a bill, SHB 1333, that would establish a commission to build upon that report. The commission would also create a first-of-its-kind public health approach to proactively fight so-called “misinformation” and early signs of radicalization.

Of course, the Democrat politicians provided little-to-no specifics on how the state will prevent radicalization and extremism in either the report or the bill — but the report does highlight left-wing talking points that have been used to smear conservatives.

According to Fox News, “The attorney general’s report singles out online disinformation, anti-government ideologies and the ‘general spread of extreme white supremacism’ as examples of domestic violent extremism.”

The report also cautioned against implementing laws that could be “disproportionately used against BIPOC” communities or other supposedly marginalized groups.

Clearly, the people behind the report and the bill want to ensure that those they favor would not be targeted by their actions, but they have no qualms about targeting conservatives.

So-called “anti-government ideologies” typically fall into the conservative or libertarian category, as they often advocate for limited or no federal government. Disinformation and misinformation are often attributed to the right as well, despite the fact that most of the theories that fell into that category over the past few years have turned out to be correct in the end. The narrative surrounding “white supremacism” has also been politicized, with the left smearing nearly every conservative ideal or policy as “White supremacy,” “racism” or any other negative label that they can come up with.

Rep. Bill Ramos, who introduced the bill with the support of more than 20 other Democrats, suggested in a comment to local outlet KING 5 that the legislation was part of an effort to prevent violence.

“We want to figure out how to prevent it before it happens because once the violence happens, everybody’s gonna suffer the consequences,” he told the outlet.

Speaking with Fox News, Washington Policy Center director for education Liv Finne condemned the legislation.

“This bill will create a two-tiered justice system where some people have free speech and others don’t, and that is a dangerous path for us to be set upon,” she said.

While the bill itself doesn’t actually criminalize any speech or association, Finne argued that this would be the natural next step for the commission — as the commission has been tasked with identifying existing legal options and potentially proposing new legislation to address extremism.

She also pointed out that “speech is not violence,” something that contradicts claims from many Democrats and their allies in the mainstream media.

“It’s obvious that this is targeting certain groups in our society without basis,” Finne stated. “Speech is not violence. Violence is violence. To equate the two is outrageous and wrong.”

“The government will decide what is true and then prosecute those people who they believe are not telling the truth as criminals,” she continued. “It’s a violation of the First Amendment.”

Finne also argued that Ferguson “is using the power of his office to push his agenda.”

“It’s not mainstream, middle-of-the-road Democratic policies,” she added. “It’s a very radical vision of the world where he’s in charge of speech and making it a crime to speak out against the government.”

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