Written by Gary Blumenthal
We have lost the First Amendment, which is a sad fact.
Not yet on paper. It continues to exist in the National Archives’ parchment under glass and in the lesson plans of civics instructors who continue to have faith in their pupils. However, in reality? In our square? In our city councils, school boards, and town halls?
Lost. Quiet. hollowed out by intimidation and terror. Cowardice, not a court order, led to the theft.
Allow me to share a tale from my homeland with you.
Next to the district I used to represent in the Kansas House of Representatives is the suburb of Lenexa, Kansas. Many of my old pupils from the 1970s and 1980s settled there or grew up there. This is a community that still values democracy, morality, and the traditional notion that public service has value.
And last summer, Melanie Arroyo, one of their own councilwomen, endured something so shameful and blatantly un-American that we would scream tyranny if it had occurred in Hungary or Russia. However, it took place here. in the United States. Of all places, in Kansas.
Arroyo provided written testimony to a Kansas Senate committee earlier this year. The terrible little bill, Senate Bill 254, which would have eliminated in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants, was something she opposed. She didn’t shout. She didn’t cause any trouble. She didn’t even talk face-to-face. As is her right, she sent a letter outlining her viewpoint as an American citizen and city councilwoman.
It only took that basic, civic, and brave deed to turn her into a target.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation received a call from an anonymous coward who said she wasn’t a true citizen. No proof. Only a little accent. only having dark skin. The mere fact that she had the audacity to criticize a hard-right law.
What action did the KBI take? The complaint was not thrown in the garbage. The Lenexa Police Department received it and formally began looking into her citizenship.
Melanie Arroyo, a U.S. citizen since 2018, was required to provide her naturalization documents to the police and retain legal counsel. All for the transgression of taking part in her democracy.
It feels lonely, she said. judged for who she is, not what she believes.
In America today, authoritarianism looks like this. Not jackboots. Not tanks. Just investigations, subpoenas, and paperwork brought on by anonymous grievances. We simply make you afraid to talk; we don’t put you in jail for what you say.
Let’s face it, that dread is effective.
Attend any meeting of the city council. any board of schools. any state building. Observe how public figures pause before responding to inquiries. Observe their preference for secure silence over open communication. Before they open their mouths, see how they begin to glance over their shoulders.
We live in a time when the system itself, not simply political operatives, punishes dissent. The police suddenly want your documents after you say something inappropriate.
The billionaires who own our national platforms, Musk, Bezos, Murdoch, and Zaslav, aren’t defending free speech in the meantime. They’re cleaning things up.
The CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, David Zaslav, has made CNN into a whole different entity. Reporters discuss self-censorship in whispers. No one asks the difficult questions. Executives’ fear of upsetting the Trump right shapes coverage more than journalistic integrity.
The Washington Post’s owner, Jeff Bezos, appears to be growing more and more sensitive to reporting that could hurt his reputation. The paper has become more risk-averse, corporate, and cautious under his direction. Democracy Dies in Darkness is beginning to sound more like a catchphrase than a mission statement when it comes to safeguarding democracy.
As usual, Rupert Murdoch uses Fox News to spread false information while posing as the public’s network. Additionally, Elon Musk, who purchased Twitter in a fit of hubris, has transformed it into a haven for fascist fanboys and trolls, renaming it X as though to obliterate its past of genuine public debate.
The new gatekeepers are these. not chosen. Not responsible. However, they have complete control over who is heard and who is not.
Your words don’t have to be removed. All they do is make sure no one notices. They bury books in algorithms rather than banning them. They don’t need to jail you; they merely frighten you into remaining silent out of fear of being called out, canceled, or probed.
And they triumph in that quiet.
But here s the thing: they only win if we let them.
If we stop writing. If we stop testifying. If we stop inviting uncomfortable conversations. If we only talk to people who already agree with us. If we edit our thoughts to avoid the wrath of the loudest, dumbest voices in the room.
The antidote to this moment is not politeness. It s not compromise. It s not performative both sides drivel.
The antidote is courage. Old-fashioned, spine-straight, Midwestern courage.
We owe it to people like Melanie Arroyo. We owe it to every person who s been made to feel like a stranger in their own country just for telling the truth. We owe it to our kids and grandkids, who deserve to live in a country where you can speak without fearing the knock at the door or the anonymous tip line.
So speak. Loudly. Often. Bravely.
Speak when they say you shouldn t. Speak when it costs you. Speak when it shakes your voice. Speak when it makes you the target. Speak even when you re tired. Especially then.
Because the First Amendment won t save itself.
We will.
Gary Blumenthal is senior policy advisor with the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP). He is a former federal disability official serving in the Clinton and Obama Administrations and a former member of the Kansas House of Representatives.
