And that is why in 1791 the Founders adopted a Bill of Rights. They understood the party in power would — is it human nature? — want to control who speaks and punish dissenters.
The only thing standing between control of the marketplace of ideas that makes us self-governing and the autocratic authority at the top will be the 45 words of the First Amendment and its protection of speech and press. And that may not be enough.
We have a serious new threat to free speech — the emergence of a Big Tech cabal that dominates our political discourse like no media has ever done. Some of it’s news, some gossip and insults, some disinformation. But often it is a danger to reliable discourse.
The gathering spot for much political debate is X, formerly Twitter, that once banned Trump, but is now owned by Trump’s new buddy, Elon Musk, a billionaire using the platform to influence politics. The First Amendment does not forbid moguls from controlling our news channels. We rely on competition.