by Robert Reich

[elleng]

The first thing tyrants do is close schools. The second thing they do is burn books. The third thing is cut off information. Right-wing Republicans are on the way to doing all three: State legislatures continue to cut school budgets; local Republicans are reducing budgets for libraries. Congressional Republicans are now cutting off information -- slashing the budgets of the most important sources we have for collecting data on what’s really happening to jobs, wages, and the economy: the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Because of such cuts, the BLS can no longer collect data on mass layoffs or how Americans are using their time; the cuts may also make employment data less reliable.

Republicans don’t want Americans to know the truth. That way they can hoodwink us even more. But a free society needs good information no less than it needs citizens sufficiently educated to use that information to make informed decisions – such as voting Republicans out of office.
What do you think?

https://www.facebook.com/RBReich?fref=nf

[orpupilofnature57]

1. Everything from the Library of Congress, to the Freedom of information Act, to the

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairness_Doctrine

[cprise]

2. CNN factcheck said Bernie 'lied' because he used data

from a nonprofit org instead of the more flattering official stats.