We are living in a time when conservatives face the policing of our individual speech and free expression. The left utilizes modern mass communication tools to seek and destroy individuals and businesses for perceived moral and ideological transgressions. In this very volatile public battle for the perceived soul of our nation, we are seeing a worrying trend that affects people, organizations, and businesses outside of the social media sphere and is being perpetrated by the banks and financial payment processors.
There has been a recent legislative push by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to codify into law, that the providers of banking services and credit card services give equal quantitative, risk-based access to these services. The OCC is asking the general public to voice their opinion on the proposed Fair Access to Financial Services rule.
During this past decade, banks have targeted a select number of industries, services, and individuals that seem to follow a very distinct set of politically expedient motivations. This includes gun manufacturers, emerging online platforms like GAB and New Project 2, as well as Adult Entertainment websites.
Conservative activists such as the Proud Boys and Laura Loomer have felt the sting of financial censorship that is meant to keep them from funding their ‘political agendas’.
Payment processors like Visa, Mastercard, and Chase have punished these entities for vague, often politically motivated reasons, all of which fall outside of the original guideline recommendations set by the OCC. More worryingly, like all things related to Cancel Culture, this push to de-platform and deny banking and credit services to businesses and individuals has been progressively aided by a growing politically minded mainstream media, which effectively broadcast a call to action with the purpose to financially de-platform individuals and businesses from participating in their legal business transactions. Just do a search of Twitter for “NRA and Visa” and you’ll see the plethora of groups and individuals calling on boycotts of banks unless they ‘stop helping the NRA’.
If the current landscape remains unchallenged, this will present a growing impediment for current and future business and individuals. Emerging conservative platforms such as Parler and Rumble, which have seen phenomenal growth over the past year, may very well see their success halted due to lack of access to banking services.
Now, what should have been a major news story nation wide, has been mysteriously sidelined, and while the public comment period has been taking place since November 20th of 2020, it is only now that mainstream news and the general public is catching wind of this major push against Cancel Culture. The public has until January 4th to voice their opinion on the matter and it is imperative that people be informed on what’s at stake. This very issue has been at the literal forefront of the emerging digital space, and has been arbitrarily used to cull the digital and business landscape from otherwise lawful business transactions.
Banking and credit services are modern necessities to engage in commerce today, and the role of banks is not to act as politically motivated moral or thought police. But, the responsibility to call out these financial institutions when engaging in politically motivated punitive measures that restrict services to otherwise lawful customers falls on us, the consumers.
Voice your opinion here.
