(ANTIMEDIA Op-Ed) In a dilapidated sea of delusional self-importance, it is difficult for a single politician to stand out from the crowd of greedy and hypocritical Washington power-grabbers–especially for a newcomer. It’s difficult, but not impossible.
Here’s some free advice in case anyone reading these words aspires to run for office and become a representative of “the people” one day. Do not block anyone on social media, especially if you have plans to label yourself a “liberty candidate.” You can not parade around like you intend to be a lightning rod for freedom in your community and then silence those you claim you wish to speak for.
If you’ll ignore a simple question online and outright block someone for raising a legitimate query—all before you’ve even stepped into office—why would anyone with a brain ever in a million years think you would fight for their concerns after you are elected? Only a politically immature novice would preach liberty and then debate such an activity as blocking a voter on social media (a few do it, but we’ll get to that later). There is a multitude of corrupted elected officials who carry on without regard for anyone other than themselves. Many of them know not to tap the infamous block button on their followers because while they may be crooked, they still know how to win an election.
However, if you’re intentionally trying to paint yourself as a joke, then ignore the above advice and carry on.
One such laughable Capitol Hill hopeful recently decided to block me on everyone’s favorite 140-character or less platform: Twitter.
His name is Dan Bongino and he is a pro-life, liberty Republican who desperately wants to represent Floridians who reside in the state’s 19th congressional district. This isn’t Dan’s first representative rodeo, either. In 2012, he ran for a seat in the U.S. Senate, and in 2014, Dan ran for Congress 1,000 miles north of his current political battle, in the 6th Congressional District of Maryland. He lost both times. I am unaware of Dan’s personal circumstances for the move, but to the outside world, such a trek southward reeks of political desperation. Such an act is the political equivalent of losing the game, taking your ball, and going home—or in this case, to Florida.
If I were Dan, I’d avoid Donald Trump because the last thing I’d need during an election is the moniker, ‘Desperate Dan Bonginio’ trending online. You know how Donald likes passing out nicknames.
Dan was a decorated Secret Service agent and has successfully protected the lives of four U.S. Presidents. That leads me to wonder: if he was prepared to take a bullet for another fellow human being, why isn’t he prepared to take a question on Twitter?
At this point you must be asking, what foul and offensive blurb could have been penned that prompted the part-time Sean Hannity guest host to block me on the cyber medium?
In response to a tweet by Dan that stated, “You can’t support Hillary & the cops at the same time #BlueLivesMatter,” I replied, “How can you support the violent actions of cops and be pro-life?”
And….blocked. That’s it. One tweet and he had reached his limit. I’ve never even trolled the guy. Nothing.
@dbongino How can you support the violent actions of cops and be pro-life?
— SM Gibson (@TheSMGibson) July 13, 2016
A legitimate, respectfully worded question to a man who praises the U.S. constitution while claiming he wants to be a voice for the voiceless got me blocked, because, well, you tell me. Maybe it’s a cowards way of sticking their head in the sand because they know they don’t have an answer. I doubt Dan is a coward, though, and I optimistically assume the genuinely-queried Tweet put him in a moral quagmire, pitting his former profession of law enforcement versus his Christian beliefs, which he espouses quite frequently.
@dbongino just blocked me for this tweet. Typical politician. Silence what you want can’t answer and want to ignore. Keep it classy, Dan.
— SM Gibson (@TheSMGibson) July 13, 2016
Unbeknownst to Dan, the person he blocked was a pro-life Christian, as well. Except, unlike many Americans, I don’t say “but what about…” after I witness an unarmed person gunned down cold in the street. I believe pro-life means all life, not just the unborn. It means Black lives, Hispanic lives, Palestinian lives, and even Iraqi lives. It should also be noted that Blue isn’t a race. It’s a job, and of course, their lives matter—but as Jesus said, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.”
Also, we have a thing called statistics, which indicate a much grander sickness in this nation than police officers being shot in the line of duty. Over 1,200 Americans were killed by police in 2015. The number of cops shot and killed in the United States in 2015 was 39. As in one less than forty. And while we can certainly all agree that 39 fatalities are 39 too many, no logical person can truly believe 1,200 Americans killed in a single 365-day period by one institution is ok. It is literally more dangerous to walk around as a citizen—because of cops—than it is to be a cop. Also, a police officer has a staggering 1 in 1,000 chance of being convicted if he kills you, or even your child. So if you genuinely consider the “39” number the more troubling statistic of the two, congratulations—you are who you claim to hate without realizing it:
You have sided with the crown as the revolution unfolds in the street.
You Heil Hitler because you know he will keep you safe from the scary outsiders.
You claim to distrust and loathe the whole of government while worshipping those who enforce the government on you.
It’s madness.
Have you ever heard someone say “but cops aren’t racist because they kill more whites than blacks?” That person is so disillusioned that their defense of cops killing innocent unarmed people is to verbally state, ‘But they killed way more people than the ones you’re talking about. They aren’t discriminating. they just kill a ton of people.’ Does no one else have a problem with that?
Yet our society would rather point fingers and have a race relations summit in the streets instead of addressing a very serious problem. We all have to accept that cops kill innocent Americans on a frequent basis and get away with it. That doesn’t make all cops evil, but it means we have to start doing something about the ones who are, and stop with this pitiful woe is me blue line garbage. You can wake up and decide not to be cop one day, but the last I checked, you can’t wake up and suddenly stop being black in America. The reason #BlackLivesMatter is a thing is because the black community in this country is statistically suffering from the problem on a much grander scale. They are fed up and should be. Ultimately, though, who cares what color someone is or was? Death is colorblind. Sometimes the victims are black, and sometimes the victims are white, but the killers were all blue. We have to start holding murderers accountable, even if they took a six-month training course and got a badge.
As I previously mentioned, there are some Washington figures (or some lowly staff members), who may frequently wield their corporate cash-filled fingers to block online constituents from time to time on social media, but those are the ones with the Goldman Sachs vote; it’s called the establishment for a reason. If that is what Dan is going for, I guess he’ll fit right into D.C. if he wins in November. And if not, there are 48 more states in which he still hasn’t tried running.
***
Dan may not be a bad guy, as I know many police officers are great people. But even if he is a genuine and wonderful man with a few misguided allegiances, good people follow bad systems every day. And by pressing block because he would rather ignore a reality that doesn’t fit into a magical Red, White, & Blue fairytale, he represents America’s unwillingness to look past a uniform, a flag, or even someone’s skin color to see the world as it really is.
And that is the American dream we must wake up from.
This article (A #BlueLivesMatter Politician Blocked Me on Twitter for Asking This Simple Question) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to SM Gibson and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org.