Parents are coming to terms with the fact that in the digital world, children face new opportunities and also possible threats, all of which are accessible at the tips of their fingers. Smartphones and apps such as social media platforms have become a constant in the lives of youth. This has prompted our society to discuss how best to move forward in the digital age. 

Unfortunately, as is often the case, Congress decided to try to pass yet another law to control people’s lives, and the Senate advanced the Kids Online Safety Act on Tuesday. Let me state it simply: KOSA, sponsored by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), is not the answer. Senate Democrats have used this bill to give greater authority and enforcement to big government and Washington bureaucrats at the Federal Trade Commission, handing them the power to implement their own radical agenda and not allowing parents to have the power to decide what their own children can or cannot access. 

We need parents to have the freedom to choose what fits them and their families best in protecting their children online. Blackburn should know that Tennesseans should not have to rely on unelected bureaucrats at the FTC, which is run by socialist Lina Khan, or other government officials to decide how best to protect their children. Every family is different and has unique values and belief systems. We must allow families to handle this important matter from their own viewpoints and not promote a one-size-fits-all approach handed down by our federal government. 

This is why leaders such as Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) have pushed back vehemently on this legislation. Paul took to the Senate floor this week to point out the many pitfalls of this legislation and noted it only had 70 co-signers because nobody reads the bills anymore. 

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach sums this up perfectly in his own recent remarks opposing KOSA, stating: “Furthermore, this bill would give the FTC broad authority to determine what content is ‘harmful,’ and without clear guidance on what constitutes compliance with the law. This lack of precision leaves a great amount of room for interpretation, setting the stage for overreach and arbitrary enforcement. … For example, what happens when the FTC determines that it is not in the best interest of a child for parents to be able to see who their kids are messaging because Khan wants children to be able to explore online resources related to sexuality and gender?” 

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER 

The significant changes to the duty of care provision in KOSA have made it clear that this bill would fail to protect our children and disenfranchise parents from making important decisions on their children’s online usage. Commonsense educational tools that put parents first and ensure our children are protected online make a lot more sense than handing off the privilege and responsibility of parenting to Khan and her followers at the FTC.

The Kids Online Safety Act will succeed in nothing but growing big government and taking away the individual liberties of parents across the country.

Hannah Cox is the president and co-founder of BASEDPolitics and is a frequent guest on Fox News.

2024-07-31 13:01:00, http://s.wordpress.com/mshots/v1/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonexaminer.com%2Fopinion%2F3105420%2Fsenate-bill-wrongly-empowers-bureaucrats-falls-short-protecting-children%2F?w=600&h=450, Parents are coming to terms with the fact that in the digital world, children face new opportunities and also possible threats, all of which are accessible at the tips of their fingers. Smartphones and apps such as social media platforms have become a constant in the lives of youth. This has prompted our society to,

Parents are coming to terms with the fact that in the digital world, children face new opportunities and also possible threats, all of which are accessible at the tips of their fingers. Smartphones and apps such as social media platforms have become a constant in the lives of youth. This has prompted our society to discuss how best to move forward in the digital age. 

Unfortunately, as is often the case, Congress decided to try to pass yet another law to control people’s lives, and the Senate advanced the Kids Online Safety Act on Tuesday. Let me state it simply: KOSA, sponsored by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), is not the answer. Senate Democrats have used this bill to give greater authority and enforcement to big government and Washington bureaucrats at the Federal Trade Commission, handing them the power to implement their own radical agenda and not allowing parents to have the power to decide what their own children can or cannot access. 

We need parents to have the freedom to choose what fits them and their families best in protecting their children online. Blackburn should know that Tennesseans should not have to rely on unelected bureaucrats at the FTC, which is run by socialist Lina Khan, or other government officials to decide how best to protect their children. Every family is different and has unique values and belief systems. We must allow families to handle this important matter from their own viewpoints and not promote a one-size-fits-all approach handed down by our federal government. 

This is why leaders such as Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) have pushed back vehemently on this legislation. Paul took to the Senate floor this week to point out the many pitfalls of this legislation and noted it only had 70 co-signers because nobody reads the bills anymore. 

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach sums this up perfectly in his own recent remarks opposing KOSA, stating: “Furthermore, this bill would give the FTC broad authority to determine what content is ‘harmful,’ and without clear guidance on what constitutes compliance with the law. This lack of precision leaves a great amount of room for interpretation, setting the stage for overreach and arbitrary enforcement. … For example, what happens when the FTC determines that it is not in the best interest of a child for parents to be able to see who their kids are messaging because Khan wants children to be able to explore online resources related to sexuality and gender?” 

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER 

The significant changes to the duty of care provision in KOSA have made it clear that this bill would fail to protect our children and disenfranchise parents from making important decisions on their children’s online usage. Commonsense educational tools that put parents first and ensure our children are protected online make a lot more sense than handing off the privilege and responsibility of parenting to Khan and her followers at the FTC.

The Kids Online Safety Act will succeed in nothing but growing big government and taking away the individual liberties of parents across the country.

Hannah Cox is the president and co-founder of BASEDPolitics and is a frequent guest on Fox News.

, Parents are coming to terms with the fact that in the digital world, children face new opportunities and also possible threats, all of which are accessible at the tips of their fingers. Smartphones and apps such as social media platforms have become a constant in the lives of youth. This has prompted our society to discuss how best to move forward in the digital age.  Unfortunately, as is often the case, Congress decided to try to pass yet another law to control people’s lives, and the Senate advanced the Kids Online Safety Act on Tuesday. Let me state it simply: KOSA, sponsored by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), is not the answer. Senate Democrats have used this bill to give greater authority and enforcement to big government and Washington bureaucrats at the Federal Trade Commission, handing them the power to implement their own radical agenda and not allowing parents to have the power to decide what their own children can or cannot access.  We need parents to have the freedom to choose what fits them and their families best in protecting their children online. Blackburn should know that Tennesseans should not have to rely on unelected bureaucrats at the FTC, which is run by socialist Lina Khan, or other government officials to decide how best to protect their children. Every family is different and has unique values and belief systems. We must allow families to handle this important matter from their own viewpoints and not promote a one-size-fits-all approach handed down by our federal government.  This is why leaders such as Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) have pushed back vehemently on this legislation. Paul took to the Senate floor this week to point out the many pitfalls of this legislation and noted it only had 70 co-signers because nobody reads the bills anymore.  Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach sums this up perfectly in his own recent remarks opposing KOSA, stating: “Furthermore, this bill would give the FTC broad authority to determine what content is ‘harmful,’ and without clear guidance on what constitutes compliance with the law. This lack of precision leaves a great amount of room for interpretation, setting the stage for overreach and arbitrary enforcement. … For example, what happens when the FTC determines that it is not in the best interest of a child for parents to be able to see who their kids are messaging because Khan wants children to be able to explore online resources related to sexuality and gender?”  CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER   The significant changes to the duty of care provision in KOSA have made it clear that this bill would fail to protect our children and disenfranchise parents from making important decisions on their children’s online usage. Commonsense educational tools that put parents first and ensure our children are protected online make a lot more sense than handing off the privilege and responsibility of parenting to Khan and her followers at the FTC. The Kids Online Safety Act will succeed in nothing but growing big government and taking away the individual liberties of parents across the country. Hannah Cox is the president and co-founder of BASEDPolitics and is a frequent guest on Fox News., , , https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/AP22032734360035-scaled-1024×676.webp, Washington Examiner, Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/cropped-favicon-32×32.png, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/feed/, Hannah Cox,

Albert Einstein said, “What is right is not always popular, and what is popular is not always right.” 

Such is the case for free market capitalism in the United States, which has found itself politically without a home faster than one of the three little pigs facing a wolf’s breath. 

Already this week, former President Donald Trump tapped Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) as his running mate while President Joe Biden announced plans to place caps on rent. Whatever your political persuasions are, it has quickly become apparent that capitalism will not be on the ballot in November. 

For Biden and the rest of the Democratic Party, this is nothing new. While the president and politicians such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) give limp-wristed affirmations of their support for capitalism, they do so knowing that the average person is too economically illiterate to spot the difference between the policies they push and the values they proclaim. In practice, the Left has been working to move the country away from capitalism for many years. 

But with the ascension of characters such as Vance, along with Trump himself, capitalism has experienced a startling drop in popularity on the Right, at least when it comes to the politicians who are calling the shots and the policies they are pushing. (As for GOP voters, their support for capitalism has actually increased since 2016.) It seems Republican lawmakers may be making the same bet as their Democratic colleagues when it comes to duping their supporters. 

Vance has risen to political prominence quickly since first entering the national consciousness on the heels of his massively successful memoir Hillbilly Elegy in 2016. He parlayed the attention he received into a Senate seat and quickly cozied up to the MAGA wing of the GOP (though he flip-flopped from an initial outspoken dislike of Trump). 

During his very short time in office, Vance has been virtually indistinguishable from progressives such as Warren on his economic views. He has championed unions more than anyone in recent memory, save perhaps Biden himself. 

He has cheered on socialist Federal Trade Commission leader Lina Khan, who has waged a war against private industry (unsuccessfully, thankfully) over the past four years. He has been an open fan of antitrust, one of the government’s top tools in stripping business owners and consumers of their choices under a capitalist system.

He has put forth policies that would strip online business owners of their free speech rights (with nice little loopholes for the business owners he happens to like). He’s also been in favor of policies such as letting the government mandate prices in healthcare (a policy destined to lead to less innovation and supply), and he has enthusiastically embraced tariffs (which end up as taxes Americans pay) and other protectionist trade policies.

The one positive trait Vance seemingly brings to the table is an anti-war stance. But this is the same guy who wrote, “I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical a**hole like Nixon who wouldn’t be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he’s America’s Hitler,” in 2016. 

Can people change their minds? Sure. But typically those who have these kinds of massive “conversions” do so based on political winds and what will advance their own power versus a true change in convictions. Being anti-war is politically popular on the Right at the moment, but it may not be in another 10 years. There’s no reason to think Vance won’t follow the populist tides wherever they may flow. 

This is why populism is an empty suit of a political ideology. It’s based on nothing other than what’s popular in the moment, and what’s popular is often dumb and ruinous. There is no shakier foundation than a political system built on such whims. 

In contrast, the principles of free market capitalism and individual liberty are time-tested and true. They aren’t always easy or expedient, but they work when we keep the government out of the way and give them time. 

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Einstein’s quote was a keen observation more Americans ought to keep in mind. Our country is often given over to the tyranny of the majority. Internet trolls believe that “ratio-ing” an opponent means they’ve won an argument; the winners of the popular vote believe the other side will never win again. But being in the majority is actually a cautionary tale. It’s something that ought to make you take a step back and check your premises. 

Capitalism may not be popular among Republican or Democratic leaders right now, but it is unquestioningly the system that has created the greatest prosperity of all time while alleviating suffering faster than anything else. Without it, we may find ourselves homeless, too, as the cost of living continues to skyrocket.

Hannah Cox (@HannahDCox) is the president and co-founder of BASEDPolitics and a fellow for the White Coat Waste Project.