Speech was free & protected in this country, under the national Constitution [FN1] and under the States’ constitutions. [FN2] Safeguards were not considered absolute. Restrictions on speech included speech during times of war, i.e., speech might stop a war. [FN3] 1/17

“Land of the free” was a reach for a country that:
1) protected slavery in its Constitution. [FN4] The Capitol is a de facto monument to slave labor that built it, [FN5] but Buchanan’s last address to Congress bemoaned white, Southern women’s anxieties over slave revolts. [FN6] 2/17

2) engaged in genocide as European settlers stole land from indigenous tribes in the way. [FN7]
3) did not recognize that women have the right to vote. [FN8]
These facts of American history were targets for erasure after 1/20/25. 3/17

Dictators and their regimes had suppressed information about the past (a/k/a “history”) to justify their existence and actions, blaming groups marginalized by the regimes. In 1933, the NSDAP burned books that contradicted the official line or were written by Jews. [FN9] 4/17

The “maga” line was bullshit. “Liberty” appeared in Founding documents, [FN10] but slavery’s existence and, under The Constitution, its protection, made any claim that America was great an absurdity. Slavery ended in 1865, but outrages followed. [FN11] Changes came slowly. 5/17
Amendment XIX, ratified in 1920, recognized women’s right to vote. The unanimous SCOTUS decision in Brown I held that racial segregation was inherently unequal and unconstitutional. [FN12] The United States caught glimpses of greatness, but only after struggle. 6/17

Progress was slow, but always forward. Civil rights legislation was enacted. Laws were passed under a GOP president, that sought clean ar and clean water. By the late 1960s, the unthinkable happened. An undeclared “war” in Vietnam, based on lies was stopped. 7/17

Once Reagan took office, greatness only had been glimpsed. Most recently, women’s pay still only was 85% of men’s. [FN13] Looking only at pay, an indigenous household was paid only 64% of what a white, non-Hispanic household received. [FN14]. 8/17

The USA came into existence with a secular government and lofty goals. A dictator wannaba has been installed, via hacking and other illegalities, in the Oval Office. Those on the far right who brag that “lefties” won’t be on their shows have shot their mouths off long enough. 9/17

The rules are simple: a specified topic, time limits & can’t talk over each other. That applies to audience, too. So far I’ve yet to have a podcast host or right-wing politician agree. So, let me know. This would be virtual. Free speech might soon be a thing of the past. 10/17

Footnotes:
FN1. Const., Amend I; extended as against the States by Amend XIV.
FN2. See, Schultz, David, “State Constitutional Provisions on Expressive Rights,” Free Speech Center, 07/31/23, updated 01/05/25, accessed 04/11/25. 11/17

Footnotes:
FN3. Id.; also, see Debs v United States, 249 U.S. 211 (1919). Debs, a pacifist, was convicted of obstructing military recruitment and enlistment.
FN4. Provision was made for “three fifths of all other persons” to count for seats in the House. (Art. I, § 2) Congress was not allowed to prohibit “Importation of such Persons” prior to the Year 1808. (Art. I, §9). 12/17

Footnotes:
FN5. “The federal government relied heavily on enslaved labor to ensure the new capital city would be ready to receive Congress when it moved to Washington from Philadelphia in 1800.” Slave Labor Commemorative Marker, Architect of the Capitol, accessed 4/11/25. 13/17

Footnotes:
FN6. Buchanan, President James, “December 3, 1860: Fourth Annual Message,” UVA Miller Center, accessed 04/11/25.
FN7. Holocaust Museum, Houston, “Genocide of Indigenous Peoples,” accessed 04/12/25. Historians estimate there were over 10 million Native Americans when Europeans arrived and, by 1900, their estimated population was under 300,000. 14/17

Footnotes:
FN8. Const. Amend. XIX, ratified 8/18/20.
FN9. Evans, Richard, “The Coming of the Third Reich,” (2003), pp. 375-76.
FN10. Declaration of Independence (1); Constitution (5) (twice in Amend V & 3 times in Amend XIV); and The Federalist (109). Library of Congress, “Federalist Papers: Primary Documents in American History,” accessed 04/12/25. 15/17

Footnotes:
FN11. Howard University School of Law, Vernon E. Jordan Law Library, “A Brief History of Civil Rights in the United States: Jim Crow Era,” accessed 4/12/25.
FN12. Brown v Bd of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954). 16/17

Footnotes:
FN13. Fry, Richard, and Carolina Aragao, “Gender pay gap in U.S. has narrowed slightly over 2 decades,” Pew Research Center, 03/04/25, accessed 04/12/25.
FN14. Skipper, Katie J., “Barriers to Indigenous Wealth,” BECU, 11/21/23, accessed 04/12/25. 17/17