Leave it to Barack Obama to remind everyone that he's one of the principal architects of modern cancel culture. While conservatives warned for decades that the power he and other progressives wielded would lead to them getting popped eventually, they ignored every single warning, and his appearance now, after Kirk's killing, is grotesque.

There's been this bizarre and gross rush of liberals rushing in to claim free speech protections regarding Disney's decision to remove Jimmy Kimmel from the air. Local television providers Nexstar and Sinclair objected to Kimmel's false characterization of Charlie Kirk's killer as a MAGA supporter.

The Trump administration has further threatened to strip licenses from providers who engage in such falsehoods. The federal government owns these licenses and has control over who and what can use them.

In a vacuum, it's understandable why anyone sees First Amendment concerns here. Because those issues exist, and an obvious answer exists to everything here. If neither party can use them correctly, get rid of the power. Congress can nuke the FCC and get rid of the problem.

No one is jumping at that option, including Democrats, who claim speech rights are being violated.

As Republicans well know, what Democrats are really complaining about is that the rules and agencies they set up are now being used by Republicans against Democratic causes. When Democrats hold the power, they don't care about these things.

Liberal readers may disagree, but the history exists, and we can check. Just this year, four days before Trump was sworn into office, the FCC was forced to drop a case where it was trying to strip Fox affiliates of their license for content from Fox News. The push to strip licenses from Fox affiliates began in 2023, and, like many lawfare cases involving Trump, it was dropped after he won the election.

Notably, former Fox News contributor and newly minted Democrat Bill Kristol led the charge on this effort.

Before that, in 2024, the Biden administration survived lawsuits at the Supreme Court on how it had manipulated social media companies to crush dissenting messages and voices. Mark Zuckerberg later came out and said Biden administration officials would call his company, screaming and shouting at them to take down all sorts of content demanded by the White House.

CNN journalist Brian Stelter, who attacks what happened to Kimmel, spent his time in 2020-21 arguing for them to lose their licenses.

Barack Obama, the newfound free speech warrior, had similar views. He specifically targeted Fox News and Associated Press reporters and spied on them.

The original "Fairness Doctrine" required holders of broadcast licenses to present controversial topics with differing viewpoints. That was used to control what happened on television, radio, and more. Democrats used that to directly get conversations they wanted on television, which irked Republicans for years. The rule was repealed in 1987, much to Democrats' chagrin.

Reciting these events, and there are plenty more, is critical to understanding where we are now. For decades, Republicans have made a simple argument for free speech for all. Democrats have rejected that offer and attempted to shut down any speech they don't like through government power.

We're at this point again. Republicans could try to pass legislation that eliminates or severely curtails the FCC. This is not legislation Democrats are suggesting themselves, while they make all these free speech claims.

That leaves a big issue. We can either play by the old rules, in which Democrats censor everyone and Republicans do not. Or both parties can play by the same rules. Trump is a fighter and wants to fire back, and so now he is using the edifices built by liberals to control speech against them.

This is the actual sin of Trump. He's using their tools against them.

The solution to this debacle remains simple: remove the FCC's power to make these decisions. This proposal fixes the FCC and government power angle of the discussion. It doesn't do anything about the people posting public videos cheering Charlie Kirk's murder and then getting fired from their jobs.

That's more of an idiocy tax. If you're publicly posting videos that everyone finds reprehensible, society isn't obligated to keep you in polite company. The First Amendment also includes freedom of association, and no one wants to associate with pro-assassination-minded Democrats - for obvious reasons.

I want a world that celebrates, defends, and protects free speech. We can't have that if only one party is committed to defending free speech. Democrats don't care about the powers that can abuse speech; they only care who is wielding the power. Until they wake up and join reality on the issue, Republicans will continue playing by the rules Democrats set.

Is that good for society long-term? Probably not. But you can't demand one party get punched in the face and never act once given the same power. The rubber band of politics has snapped back and popped Democrats in the face. Eliminating the rubber band altogether requires bipartisan support, as Democrats will likely filibuster any legislation to curtail FCC power.

With that, Democrats get to enjoy more of their agencies being used against them. The rational answer to all of these agencies is to get rid of them or curtail the powers behind them. Democrats don't want that, so we're stuck.