This kind of reasoning works for private companies, not for the government.

It is true that if you are accepting money from Coca Cola, it will limit your ability to do work that goes against the interests of Coca Cola. To be independent, just stop accepting money from them.

But it only works because Coca Cola can't do much against an independent group. Of course, you need to be careful, which typically means hiring a good lawyer, but you should be fine. And the reason you should be fine is because the government is there to protect you, at least to some extent.

But you can't be independent from your government, unlike Coca Cola, they can raid your house and put your in jail if you do things they don't want you to do, and they have no one to answer to but themselves. Government censorship doesn't depend on whether you are getting paid or not.

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throwawaymaths 8 hours ago | parent [-]

by that argument coca cola can certainly hire goons to come get you.

how far do you want to take your strawman?

	▲	GuB-42 34 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		But they won't, because the government won't let them. Even Coca Cola is not above the law. But government hired goons (aka the police) are the law. In free countries, their role is limited to things like making sure that you won't be bothered by Coca Cola goons, but in less free countries, they are going to hit you for saying things the government doesn't want you to say.