Local opinion: Free speech is a fundamental right — and it’s under direct threat

A society reveals its values not in moments of comfort but in moments of crisis. Right now, in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s tragic murder, we are seeing just how fragile our collective commitment to the First Amendment has become.

Let me be clear: No one should be celebrating this act of violence. Disagree with Kirk politically, morally, or ethically if you must, but to revel in his killing crosses the line into inhumanity.

That said, the response we are now witnessing from political leaders is deeply alarming. Calls to punish, arrest, or even label as “terrorists” those who express distasteful or offensive opinions about Kirk’s death strike at the very foundation of American liberty: the right to free speech.

Vice President JD Vance, speaking on Kirk’s own podcast, went so far as to urge listeners to expose those who “celebrate” the murder, recommending reporting them to their employers. This is not a casual suggestion; it is a directive from one of the highest officials in the land, essentially encouraging citizens to surveil and police one another’s speech. And it comes on top of an extraordinary spectacle: taxpayers footing the bill for Air Force Two to carry Kirk’s remains, with honors usually reserved for military members or senior government officials.

The message could not be clearer: Speech that aligns with the President’s personal preferences will be elevated, even sanctified. Speech that challenges it will be criminalized.

This is not a partisan observation. Democrats have also been victims of horrific political violence in recent years, the brutal beating of Nancy Pelosi’s husband in 2022, or the assassination of a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband earlier this year. Political violence in any form must be condemned. But what must also be condemned, forcefully, and without hesitation, is the government’s attempt to leverage such tragedies to consolidate power and silence dissent.

Caitlin Legacki of Stop Government Censorship put it plainly: people are free to denounce cruel or abhorrent statements. But when the government itself begins orchestrating campaigns of retribution against those who speak their minds, we veer into authoritarian territory. The danger is not hypothetical. History shows us exactly where this path leads.

The First Amendment does not exist to protect popular speech. Popular speech doesn’t need protection. The Amendment exists to shield the dissenters, the agitators, the outliers, the people whose words make us uncomfortable, even angry. If we only defend speech we agree with, we have already abandoned the principle.

And make no mistake: this erosion of rights will not stop with one political faction. Today, it is those who mock or cheer the death of a conservative activist. Tomorrow it may be conservative voices themselves. Once the machinery of surveillance and punishment is set in motion, it will be wielded by whoever holds power. To the staunchest MAGA loyalists cheering these tactics today: the rocket ship of authoritarianism you are fueling will not carry you to safety. It will consume you, too.

We should not need reminders, but they bear repeating: the Constitution is not a partisan document. It does not belong to Republicans, Democrats, or Independents. It belongs to us, all of us, “We the People.” The more we allow its guarantees to be selectively applied, the more we normalize a government that punishes opinion, the closer we slide toward the dystopian nightmare George Orwell warned about in 1984. Constant surveillance. The criminalization of thought. The erasure of individuality in service of an all-powerful state.

That world is not inevitable. But we are moving toward it with alarming speed. We must resist the impulse, especially in moments of grief and anger, to sacrifice liberty for the illusion of safety. We must remind our leaders, and ourselves, that free speech is not conditional. It does not hinge on decency, popularity, or alignment with power. It is a right. Fundamental, unalienable, and non-negotiable.

If we fail to defend it now, we may not get the chance later.