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The Lockean Project

Power of the Pen

“Power of the Pen,” Monterey County Weekly – Jan. 12, 2023

Editor Sara Rubin should be careful what she wishes for (“State invests in a journalism program that could become a template,” Jan. 5-11). Giving public funds to newspapers and journalists makes them beholden to those who pay them – politicians, bureaucrats, and government officials. Mussolini boasted that he did not have to imprison Italian news journalists. He simply paid them off with government money and they quickly became faithful servants of the Fascist state.

The First Amendment represents the complete separation between government and free speech. Government payments to the news media will only lead us faster down an Orwellian road.

Lawrence Samuels | Carmel