I’m too old for nightmares. So let me tell you about mine.
I’m still writing and delivering regular commentary because I care, about the station, my family – my wife, children and grandchildren – and about you. I try to use my commentary to explain what’s happening and hope that it contributes to a better world. But like many of you, I largely depend on my retirement savings. But many economists predict a downturn, which would shrivel my retirement savings like everyone else’s. And my wife and I invested in a retirement community and moved. So, we could face a double whammy – higher costs and lower income.
Also connected to the politics of this Administration, I worry that group hatreds are more dangerous than they used to be. I can’t stop being the guy that I was born and brought up as – that’s me for life and, if you don’t like it, I’m in trouble. Plus, I’m not private about what I think. Judges have been arrested for crossing Trump and one judge, not long ago, had her husband shot and her son killed by people who didn’t like her decisions. So, it seems people are now at risk for asserting our rights to speak and criticize.
And the Administration has made a point of releasing people convicted of serious crimes of violence. Who’s safe under this Administration? And how many of the Administration’s opponents will the Administration’s supporters find ways to hurt like they did to the judge I mentioned.
Frankly, I think it’s very important that people like me resist the temptation to shut up. Intimidation and the fears it creates are a path to dictatorship. We are about to celebrate the 250th anniversary of this country, its quarter millennial. It’s a great record. I don’t want to see rule by the people destroyed because some people think they have the right to take over and shut everyone else up.
This is the time to celebrate the values on which this country was established, including the time to celebrate the freedom of speech, which includes the right not to speak, the right not to pass on ideas or information we believe are wrong. MAGA folk interpret private refusal to repeat their positions as a violation of the constitutional right of free speech. But forcing others to speak is itself a violation of the right of free speech without strong justification.
There was a time when the federal fairness doctrine required all broadcasters to give us a balanced presentation of controversial issues of public importance, but courts found it too hard to administer and ended it. I’m not sure who was right, whether the courts could be trusted with fairness, and protected from angry members of the public. Now we all get to speak, but on our own media outlets.
As things stand, it’s important to remember to invest in the kind of information and perspective this station provides.
Since I put this draft commentary together this Administration has sent a fully armed National Guard in to terrorize people in San Francisco. If all our problems justify the President sending in arms, armies, bullets and ordering seizures then he is the problem and there will be no America left.
Steve Gottlieb’s latest book is Unfit for Democracy: The Roberts Court and The Breakdown of American Politics. He is the Jay and Ruth Caplan Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Albany Law School, served on the New York Civil Liberties Union board, on the New York Advisory Committee to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, and as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Iran.
The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.