Michael Miller

The overarching theme of this year's Law Day, Free Speech, Free Press, Free Society, is freedom of expression, the bedrock upon which our constitutional democracy is built. The unprecedented assault upon this precious freedom by our current President and his supporters is dangerous and alarming, as it undermines the American public's confidence in the institutions of government—Congress, the Executive Branch and the Judiciary, as well as the press. The vitality and future of our constitutional democracy is threatened when the public loses confidence in its most basic institutions and ideals.

The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution were adopted in 1792, three years after adoption of the Constitution itself, and are commonly referred to as the Bill of Rights. The first of those amendments provides the essential support for the most fundamental of all rights, the right of free expression of ideas.

Freedom of expression is the tyrants' greatest enemy. Throughout history, when authoritarian leaders have been unhappy with perceived criticism from the news media and others, they have often referred to those critics as the “enemies of the people.” Thereafter, frequently, blood has flowed, and people have died.

Whenever President Trump is unhappy with a judicial decision, he derides the judiciary. He refers to a judge duly approved by Congress as a “so-called judge.” When he is unhappy with news media coverage, he attacks the press as an institution. He labels any unflattering or critical story “fake news” and frequently declares that the press is “the enemy of the people.”

Hitler's Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels frequently referred to Jews as “a sworn enemy of the German people” who posed a risk to the führer's vision for the country. Goebbels wrote that “if someone wears the Jewish star, he is an enemy of the people.” This profoundly dangerous rhetoric and strategy of constant attack on adversaries used by Hitler and others in Nazi Germany led to some of the darkest days in modern history—World War II and the Nazis' systematic extermination of six million Jews, and millions more Roma, disabled persons, gay men and others.

During a period referred to as the “Reign of Terror” after the French Revolution, a law was enacted that established a special tribunal to punish the “enemies of the people.” Countless thousands were declared enemies of the people for crimes that included “spreading false rumors” and were summarily guillotined.

Lenin is quoted as saying that he found “instructive” the French policies against “enemies of the people.” Lenin and Stalin employed the term to all who disagreed with their policies or ideology, from political opposition leaders to members of the press to those who wrote critical articles to clergy who opposed state-mandated atheism. Being called an enemy of the people could result in immediate imprisonment, banishment to a Russian Gulag, or worse.

During the harshest days of the cultural revolution in China, Mao declared, “The social forces and groups which resist the socialist revolution and are hostile to or sabotage socialist construction are all enemies of the people.”

It is frightening that our President regularly uses language from the tyrants' lexicon. Lawful investigations are described as “witch hunts.” Immigrants are called vermin. African-American individuals and others are referred to as dogs. He proposes regulation—i.e., censorship—of Facebook and Twitter. He even rails against political satire that targets him and has called on the Federal Communications Commission to investigate NBC because he doesn't like skits on Saturday Night Live in which he and his administration are lampooned.

Americans have not seen such an assault on the truth and free expression since the McCarthy era in the 1950s. In today's digital age, an avalanche of baseless claims and insults are tweeted by the President and repeated over and over in the social media echo-chamber. Through social media campaigns, there have been serious attacks on the essential institutions of our government, and real damage has been done to the public's confidence in these institutions.

I am by no means suggesting that we cannot or should not take issue with any media coverage. But it is unfair and deeply dangerous to question without a modicum of evidence the integrity of the news media simply for criticizing or challenging political leaders.

Democracy is fragile. President Ronald Reagan warned: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.”

During the Revolutionary War, nearly 250 years ago, Thomas Paine wrote, “The times have found us.” The times also found Abraham Lincoln to preserve our nation, and the times found Franklin Delano Roosevelt to save the free world from tyranny. Now, the times have found us to honor our oath to the Constitution and protect America, its values and its vital institutions.

We dare not sit idly by on the sidelines as witnesses to the erosion of public confidence in the fundamental institutions of democracy and freedom. The oath that each of us took to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States gives us a special obligation.

Without a free press, there is no free society. We must protect the freedom of the press, what George Mason referred to in 1776 as “one of the greatest bulwarks of liberty.” The ideals enunciated in our Constitution and Bill of Rights have made America great. Our duty is to keep it so.

Michael Miller is a solo practitioner in Manhattan.