Freedom is better and will overcome Russia: Kennedy

We can agree Russian meddling and collusion are two different things, and we know the filthy, corrupt Russian government is definitely meddling despite laugable claims of innocence. The question is why are they doing it. Why the shady investment in social media and identity theft to shape our politics and shake up the system?

Because Russia’s economy sucks. Democracy is a threat to freedom-oppressing authoritarianism, and other than oil that's Russia’s only export. If Russia can make our weeble wobble, perhaps it can achieve global dominance. It can, but it won't, and it certainly won't do it via clumsy Twitter bots and goofy rallies.

Sure, our politics have been polarized for a long time, and we've recently reached a crescendo, but within that discord is the beautiful sound of sweet freedom as the chorus cries for more transparency. This wouldn't be the case in Russia.

If Vladimir Putin were faced with the same kind of digital whisper campaign and subversive investment in his ouster, there wouldn't be competing legislative panels trying to get to the bottom of the corruption and possibly charging him with high crimes. He would be rounding up and disappearing his enemies, further shutting down the internet, and trying to smother the life out of both political opponents and any insurgence.

Don't give in to the impulse to squash online discourse by force, or concentrating more power in the surveillance state. The answer for Russia is not to become Russia by operating in darkness and destroying freedom; it's to empower the individual to make his or her own choices.

That means you not giving into convenient and lazy confirmation bias by broadening your sources of information, asking critical questions and constantly challenging your own beliefs.

Freedom will win, not because it has to, but because it's better. And so are we and so is our economy, our way of life and the ultimate pivot toward light and liberty that continues to define us, even in the political dark of night.