The Illusion of Free Speech in America

We still have a First Amendment. What we increasingly lack is agreement about who controls the public conversation around it.

Americans love saying that we have free speech.

It is one of those statements that feels so foundational that we rarely stop to ask what it actually means. You can criticize the president. You can insult Congress. You can start a publication, stand on a sidewalk with a sign, argue about religion, mock the government, and tell millions of strangers online…