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Robert Klose is a four-time winner of a Maine Press Association award for opinion writing. His latest novel is “Trigger Warning.”
The only thing more chilling than government suppression of emblematic American freedoms is the citizenry’s wholesale acquiescence. “Freedom isn’t free” has become a mantra. But if one pauses to think about the degree to which Americans have surrendered their fundamental principles, it’s clear that freedom has become cheap, optional, and disposable.
Let’s begin with freedom of speech. Consider: President Donald Trump has threatened to revoke the broadcasting licenses of media outlets that offend or criticize him. Travelers are subject to having their cellphones and laptops inspected for information not in sync with Trump’s agenda. The president has demanded that late-night comedians critical of him be taken off the air. The Department of Defense has banned some 500 books from its schools, accusing them of promoting “woke” ideologies. The responses are telling: the media has taken to paying what are essentially kickbacks to the government, travelers surrender their electronic devices with seldom a peep, and the DOD schools have dutifully removed “offensive” titles.
The First Amendment likewise bars Congress from making any law “respecting an establishment of religion.” Undaunted, Donald Trump has established a commission tasked with rooting out perceived anti-Christian bias. Now think: 87% of Congress is Christian. Isn’t it absurd to suggest that these politicians are diligently at work undermining Christianity? But it goes further than this. Most Republican legislators want the United States to be officially declared a “Christian nation.” Such a campaign suggests a staggering degree of ignorance about American history. (One reason the Founding Fathers did not establish a state religion was that they could not decide which Christian sect it should be.) Where is the outrage about this threat to freedom of religion?
I believe Trump is ignorant, but he is not stupid. He knows what works. He has leveraged the power and prestige of his office to get universities, law firms, and media outlets to pay up if they want him off their backs. With few exceptions, they have complied, in the tragically mistaken belief that if they deliver cash to Trump, he will leave them alone. (The same way the school bully backs off after you have given him your lunch money, before returning the next day for more.)
But what does this say about principles? Consider the law firms that have, under Trump’s threats, coughed up millions of dollars in pro bono services. How can there be any pretense of equal justice (for all) under the law, if the cases assumed by these firms must first pass muster with the executive branch?
Similarly, “journalistic integrity” has largely become an oxymoron. How can there be any integrity when reporters are loath to ask probing questions for fear of being mocked by the president or banned from press conferences?
Arguably the saddest cases are the universities, traditionally the loudest signalers of virtue, projecting themselves as islands of welcome, open debate, and tolerance. After touting “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” (DEI) at every turn, the posters have come down, the relevant offices renamed or closed, and yes, cash has been shipped to Washington. Organized student protests that don’t chime with White House policies have also come under the gun. The message from the administration is clear: We shall determine what constitutes free speech, and we shall oversee your admissions procedures. The response from many institutions of higher education: “OK.”
I have heard it said that things will return to normal once Trump is gone. What a pitiful way to run a democracy — revering one’s freedoms only so long as there is an administration that permits it. One cannot take a break from First Amendment freedoms in the belief that, after the storm has passed, we can pick up where we left off. Rather, now that a president has learned that he can do whatever he wants, and ignore the Constitution, without push-back from the legislative or judicial branches, or the citizenry, why on earth would any future president want to surrender such easily obtained power?
The executive branch under Trump has taken the measure of the American people. We have been told, “About face,” and backwards we march.
