Orwellian Doublethink

By Ronald Cherry

Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs (the lie and the truth) in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them... with the lie always one leap ahead of the truth." George Orwell - 1984

If one wishes to experience and understand Orwellian Doublethink, look no further than the American Democratic Party. Congresswoman Donna Edwards (D) of Maryland and co-sponsor Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D) of Michigan, the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, introduced a constitutional amendment bill to overturn the US Supreme Court's recent ruling allowing unlimited corporate money in elections. The proposed amendment will read:

"SECTION 1. The sovereign right of the people to govern being essential to a free democracy, Congress and the States may regulate the expenditure of funds for political speech by any corporation, limited liability company, or other corporate entity. SECTION 2. Nothing contained in this Article shall be construed to abridge the freedom of the press.''

From the website we find this comment:

"Free speech rights are for people, not corporations," says John Bonifaz, Voter Action's legal director and the director of http://www.freespeechforpeople.org ."
Now read the 1^st Amendment

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

Our 1^st Amendment legally secures the individual's God-given right to Liberty including individual free speech and press; and assembly with other individuals - the individual's freedom to form a group such as a corporation. It is self-evident that if individuals are free to speak and publish, and free to form a group; then the group is free to speak and publish. Thomas Jefferson agreed with this obvious truth:

"It is strangely absurd to suppose that a million of human beings, collected together, are not under the same moral laws which bind (or liberate) each of them separately." Thomas Jefferson.

Now recall Orwellian Doublethink as stated above:

First the truth: Congress via a Constitutional Amendment hereby destroys the free speech and press of assembled individuals - a freedom given by God and protected by the First Amendment:

1. "The sovereign right of the people to govern being essential to a free democracy, Congress and the States may regulate the expenditure of funds for political speech by any corporation, limited liability company, or other corporate entity."

Second the Orwellian lie: Congress via a Constitutional Amendment will not hereby destroy free speech and press:

2. "Nothing contained in this Article shall be construed to abridge the freedom of the press."

Totalitarian government can only exist through the clever use of lies. One way to accept a government lie is by exercising the insanity of Orwellian Doublethink. Orwell's 1984 character, Julia; an enemy of Big Brother's Totalitarian government, "did not feel the abyss opening beneath her feet at the thought of lies becoming truth;" where "the heresy of heresies was common sense."

One way free people can remain free is to think - to recognize truth - to reject the labyrinthine Orwellian world of Doublethink - to exercise the sanity of common sense. Common sense is the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously (the truth and the lie), and accepting only the truth... with the truth always one leap ahead of the lie.