There are way too many who are making millions of bucks putting false, evil-minded thoughts into the minds of gullible people. Who would ever have dreamed that there are millions of people who enthusiastically buy in QAnon.

The core QAnon theory that is very prevalent among the gullible is that a cabal of Satanic, cannibalistic sexual abusers of children are operating a global child sex-trafficking ring conspired against former U.S. President Donald Trump during his term in office.

Rush Limbaugh and the ones who followed in his path have made millions of dollars with this kind of hateful rhetoric. They have stoked the flames that just may eventually destroy our democracy. They all claim the mantel of free speech as the reason they can’t be stopped from doing what they do. It is encouraging to see that Alex Jones was recently ordered to pay the Sandy Hook families almost a billion dollars for his utterly false and demeaning rhetoric. We can only hope that this is the beginning of the end for all those who knowingly tell lies that the simple-minded quickly latch onto.

Of course, this basic problem has two foundations. One is those who tell lies for dollars, and the other is those who show very little ability to determine the validity of what is being said to them. Freedom of speech is one of the bedrocks of our democracy, but conditions need to be added to make those who speak utter lies accountable for their actions. You can’t yell FIRE in a public place and claim the mantel of free speech. Likewise, you can’t tell utter lies and not be accountable for your words.

The second reason for this problem, gullible people, is the harder of the two to work through. You can’t force people to think for themselves, and question what they hear. If I had the answer to that question, I should be president.