The Thought Police

In his novel 1984, George Orwell wrote about thoughtcrime--that it was a punishable offense to even think thoughts opposed the interests of the ruling party.  Orwell was right to be concerned, but he was wrong about the mechanism.

In 1996, the NRA lobbied to block research into gun violence by the CDC and were successful: the law they passed prevented "advocacy" for gun control, which had already been illegal, but the message was clear: they cut CDC's budget by exactly the amount that they'd spent on gun research the previous year.  If you're not completely sure whether guns are dangerous or not, you're less likely to pass laws that might reduce the number sold.  Obama has now signed an executive order rescinding this, but the lack of sensible regulation and escalating sales to criminals and crazy people have killed thousands.

Now a group of republican congressmen, lead by Jeff Duncan, want to end government collection of the data used to generate GDP and unemployment statistics.  It's hard to imagine this getting far, but the intent is clear: If the facts are hurting you politically, make it hard for people to find the facts.  Fox News will give you their own facts and if there's no neutral source for real facts, Fox's fake ones will be able to sway the discussion.

Economic data is central to a great many things business and government do, from cost of living adjustments to monetary policy.  There's a faction that believes these things are an evil in and of themselves and should not be done.  But they are central to modern civilization.  GDP and unemployment statistics have been badly twisted by political pressure, but they still have some bearing on reality.  Getting rid of them entirely would break the link.

You can't really control people's thoughts.  But by controlling what they hear and understand, you can control what they think about, and create opportunities to twist their opinions, they will support things that are against their self interest or that of the society.