Ostensible conservative Nikki Haley revealed her Big Government instincts with a shocking demand to stick an asterisk on the first amendment.

NEW – Nikki Haley: "Every person on social media should be verified by their name" because of "national security." pic.twitter.com/bPTkYGKNin

— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) November 14, 2023

And in case you are focused on Haley’s first part of requiring social media to reveal their algorithms, pay attention to part deux — “Every person on social media should be verified, by their name.” Nikki then launches immediately into claiming anonymity is a “National security threat.”

Oh dear lord. J. Edgar Hoover is ready to leap out of his grave to lead the FBI under such a Haley Administration. Can you imagine how far the tin-pot Merrick Garland would go given this kind of extra information and power? Parents wouldn’t even need to criticize their kids’ education at school board meetings to get stuck in the domestic terrorist database. Now a less than obsequious tweet or comment on ZuckerBook would have the Feds knocking down the door.

This wasn’t a slip-of-the-tongue moment either.

Later in the day, Haley appeared on the Ruthless Podcast and didn’t just double down; she went further, saying, “I want everybody’s name.” Since she’s speaking as a presidential candidate, I have to assume she means the government would literally have a list of social media users.

Let’s just say responses to Nikki’s this is how we solve the Russian bot and nasty things said about me problem from the starboard side were pretty predictable in their outrage.

Nikki touts herself as a conservative. But the essence of Party Conservative is to always tilt to limiting government’s power. Via the Twitter Files and other revelations on government subcontracting to BigTech to engage in censorship actions the government is forbidden to do, why Nikki wants to actually expand and codify such an arrangement is mindblowing.

Not to say that she didn’t have some spokeshole try and … :::cough::: ::::cough:::: … clarify her remarks.

American social media companies should be required to register individual users with identification to verify authenticity (ridding the networks of bots). This should apply to any American platform with paid or unpaid, domestic or foreign accounts and when a registered agent…

— Jason Church (@JasonChurchWI) November 14, 2023

How well has the FISA court been doing what with FBI agents who lie to get warrants?

A U.S. court found that the FBI improperly searched for information in a U.S. database of foreign intelligence 278,000 times over several years, including on Americans suspected of crimes, according to a ruling released on Friday.

But we should expect that Nikki’s Social Media Surveillance Act and Court will do better cuz … what? Pinky promises?

Insert quote about how power corrupts right here.

The Founders were highly suspicious of government power beyond the reach of citizens. Their experiences under a King’s unaccountable rule led them to publish the Federalist Papers anonymously. Why Nikki forgets this is a mystery, regardless of her framing of “National Security” and “bots” concerns. Yes, our Constitutional rights and laws conforming to the same are, many times, thorns in the side of law enforcement in solving crime. Lot’s a criminals actually do get away with it because of those rules, especially when should-know-better-LEOs try to skirt them.

But the alternative is to stand the Constitution on its head. We have enough problems with the Left doing it, we don’t need out friends from the Right joining in.

Mike Dukakis decided a way to appear tough and ready to lead during his 1988 campaign for President was a photo-op of him in a M1 tank. That singular moment doomed Dukakis to an ignoble end, winning only 10 states and D.C.

Nikki’s let’s get tough on social media bit just put her in the Dukakis seat. We weren’t that thrilled with her before. She’s dead to us now.

featured image, original graphic by Darleen Click