Fascism on display: Josh Hawley’s ‘Copyright Clause Restoration Act’

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Fascism Josh Hawley Disney Copyright Clause Restoration Act

Fascism on display: Josh Hawley’s ‘Copyright Clause Restoration Act’

Trumpist Republican fascism was on full display yesterday when Senator Josh Hawley (MO) introduced the Copyright Clause Restoration Act of 2022 (CCRA), legislation that will strip “woke corporations like Disney” of special copyright protections as punishment for operating their business in a manner that displeases him.

Hawley claims that his legislation is necessary to “encourage innovation,” but the press release on his website provides us with his true motivation:

Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced the Copyright Clause Restoration Act, a new bill to strip woke corporations like Disney of special copyright protections. Senator Hawley’s bill would limit new copyright protections to 56 years and make the change retroactive for massive corporations like Disney that have been granted unnecessarily long copyright monopolies.

Senator Hawley said, “the age of Republican handouts to Big Business is over. Thanks to special copyright protections from Congress, woke corporations like Disney have earned billions while increasingly pandering to woke activists. It’s time to take away Disney’s special privileges and open up a new era of creativity and innovation.”

Under Congress’s current sweetheart deal, companies like Disney have been granted certain copyright protections for up to 120 years—well beyond the original maximum of 28 years. Senator Hawley’s bill would crack down on copyright monopolies to ensure they only last long enough to encourage innovation. (Emphasis mine)

I guess Hawley will be taking a break from his war on Big Tech — Trust-Busting for the Twenty-First Century Act — until Big Tech replaces Disney in the headlines. Funny how priorities can change when you’re considering a run for president.

Josh Hawley has established himself as a nationalist — which is warmed- over Marxism/socialism with an “R” attached — and has adopted what could be called an Elizabeth Warren-inspired hatred of the free market and “big business” as a common theme in recent legislation.

For example, he described his trust-busting bill as follows:

“A small group of woke mega-corporations control the products Americans can buy, the information Americans can receive, and the speech Americans can engage in. These monopoly powers control our speech, our economy, our country, and their control has only grown because Washington has aided and abetted their quest for endless power.

“While Big Tech, Big Banks, Big Telecom, and Big Pharma gobbled up more companies and more market share, they gobbled up our freedom and competition. American consumers and workers have paid the price. Woke corporations want to run this country, and Washington is happy to let them.” (Emphasis mine)

If you close your eyes and listen, you can almost hear: “I’m Elizabeth Warren and I approve this message.”

It’s simply a fact that Josh Hawley has embraced the Marxist/socialist rhetoric of the Far-Left. Heck, he even backed Bernie Sanders’ $15 minimum wage hike proposal last year, saying: “For decades, the wages of everyday, working Americans have remained stagnate [sic] while monopoly corporations have consolidated industry after industry, securing record profits for CEOs and investment bankers.” (Emphasis mine)

Josh Hawley’s Copyright Clause Restoration Act is merely the latest example of the kind of fascism that drives the Trumpist Republican Party ever since the party adopted nationalism as the new conservatism.

No longer an anomaly, fascism is the beating heart of the Trumpist Republican Party and the media that supports it.

“When Republicans get back into power, Apple and Disney need to understand one thing: everything will be on the table, your copyright and trademark protection, your special status within certain states, and even your corporate structure itself.” (Emphasis mine)

Of course, I don’t support Disney’s Gay Mafia tactics or “woke” corporations, but fascism isn’t the solution to the problem. Unfortunately, Trumpist Republicans in Congress have also become disciples of nationalism, which is the root of fascism, instead of defenders of liberty.

Reason.com once described the fascist roots of nationalism this way:

“The true object of the nationalists’ ire is much closer to home: They cannot abide individual Americans making social and economic choices they do not like. For consumers, the question might be whether to buy foreign or domestic. For a business owner, it might be where to open a factory.

“Regardless, the new nationalists have decided not only that there is a right answer from a moral perspective but that government should force you to choose correctly.” (Emphasis mine)

Last month, Disney’s constitutionally protected right to free speech was denied by Governor Ron DeSantis when he went full fascist by signing a bill that revoked the company’s tax status after Disney expressed its displeasure with Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law, legislation commonly referred to by LGBT radicals as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

Instead of standing as a defender of conservative values like free market capitalism and free speech, Governor Ron DeSantis decided that fascism would help his presidential ambitions more than defending liberty would.

The destruction of conservatism has been a work-in-progress by the Mitch McConnells and John Boehners of the Republican Party ever since Ronald Reagan handed over the reins to George H.W. Bush, but the stark reality of its demise has come sharply into focus in the Age of Trump.

Equally tragic in this comedy of errors — apologies to William Shakespeare — is how conservatives in-name-only members of the media like Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson have embraced nationalism/fascism and sold their souls to Faustian Trump.

The heart of the Trumpist Republican Party is fascism, and legislation like Josh Hawley’s Copyright Clause Restoration Act of 2022 will destroy liberty in America, which is why conservatives shouldn’t put their confidence in these spineless cowards.

And despite the incessant complaining we hear from so-called conservatives about how Democrats and the liberal media are promoting the ideology of the progressive-left, Trumpist Republicans and the media supporting them are guilty of promoting the ideology of the fascist-right.

Fascism wins either way.

 

David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative. He holds people of every political stripe accountable for their failure to uphold conservative values, and he promotes those values instead of political parties.

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