Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, has a new book out, and he was on Jennifer Welch’s podcast I’ve Had It, on September 21, to promote it.
The book’s thesis is that Americans suffer from two deficits, a lack of personal power and a lack of connection, i.e., isolation , and that policy should be designed to repair both.
Murphy’s remarks on the podcast that are now making the rounds online are about the latter point, and how it should be the government’s job to regulate the internet so that you’re spending less time alone on Instagram.
Murphy went on to list a number of policy projects that he believes would help people “feel more powerful,” and that includes raising the minimum wage.
“That’s why the minimum wage is so important,” he said. “Regulating the internet so that you’re spending less time alone on Instagram should be an important government project,” he continued. “They don’t feel powerful at all, and they feel lonely,” he said of the current state of affairs in the US.
He did not go into how this would be done, what law or rule, or which agency would be in charge of making sure Americans are not alone on Instagram, or what they should be doing instead, and how the government would make sure they do it.
But he did frame the problem of internet use as one of the reasons people feel less powerful and more lonely, and in his view, that makes them more susceptible to electing a president like Donald Trump. “And if people are feeling more powerful and less lonely, then they are going to be less likely to fall for a bullshit demagogue like Donald Trump,” he said.
Murphy’s solution, he said, is to rebuild a healthy institution in your town. And he believes that’s something the government should be involved in.
“People feel more connected” if they have a community around them, he said, and then added, “That’s why rebuilding a healthy institution, in your town should be a project that government is involved in.”
Murphy has a record of backing digital ID online age verification and censorship bills, such as the Kids Online Safety Act and the Kids Off Social Media Act, which would bar children from social media.
It is not clear how these oppressive legislative efforts would make people “feel more connected,” but they would certainly make the internet a different place.
Murphy’s comments about the role of government in people’s online and offline lives are peppered with statements like, “government should build a set of rules in which people feel more powerful,” and, “you are going to be stuck with people just like Trump until we build a nation that cares more about the common good.”
Murphy’s book, and the podcast appearance, are built on this thesis: people are unhappy and powerless, and that’s why they elect a president he doesn't like. And the solution is more online control.
