These GOP hypocrites know nothing about free speech

A wise man once said: “I do not believe in the cancel culture. I think redemption is necessary and even wise, and I would like others to forgive and restore with me anytime I make a mistake.”

The same wise man once told me: “I am a strong proponent of upholding our constitutional liberties, which includes freedom of the press. Our system can’t function honestly without it. When government tries to interfere with the right to speak, worship, assemble, or report what government is doing, the result is never good.”

Unfortunately, that man no longer sounds so wise.

He’s Senate President Ty Masterson, R-Wichita, who has decided to swerve hard to the right during his run for governor. He has squared off against former Gov. Jeff Colyer, who’s also aiming for the Republican nomination, in a battle to see who can most cravenly exploit this tortured political moment. Each man has called for firings of Kansans who posted horrible things online after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Kirk’s death was shocking and contemptible, the very opposite of free speech and expression. What’s more, online celebration by a handful of leftists damaged their cause and harmed our national conversation. (I don’t mean those who thoughtfully critiqued Kirk’s career and rhetoric.)

So it might make sense that Masterson would post the following to social media.

It might make sense. Yet back in 2021, Masterson’s fellow state Sen. Gene Suellentrop was arrested on DUI charges. According to officials, he was driving the wrong way on Interstate 70 in Topeka at speeds near 100 mph. He then challenged police after they pulled him over, calling an officer “donut boy.”

By any measure, Suellentrop posed a threat to public health and welfare. He wasn’t posting online. He put his fellow motorists at deadly risk. Yet in that case, Masterson issued the plea for tolerance I reproduced at the very beginning of this column. Those words carried weight, and Suellentrop served in the Kansas Senate through January 2023.

Does Masterson believe that others deserve such grace?

As for the First Amendment, that’s a matter of law. The U.S. Constitution protects a variety of expression that broad majorities of people find tasteless, vulgar and unforgivable.

That doesn’t protect those expressing such sentiments from social opprobrium or employment consequences, especially if they work for private businesses. Those on the left made such arguments fairly recently, as movement for social justice crested in 2020 and misinformation about COVID-19 flourished. Those on the right are making such arguments now, and while they might be hypocritical, they’re not wrong. The right to speak your mind doesn’t mean the right to say it without feedback.

Problems arise, however, when the government itself tries to enforce such consequences, or when those working for the government speak in their private capacity. That’s why Masterson’s second quote at the beginning of this column struck me.

Let’s read it again: “When government tries to interfere with the right to speak, worship, assemble, or report what government is doing, the result is never good.”

Masterson still serves as Senate president. He’s running to be the state’s chief executive. Is he not a representative of government? Is he not attempting to interfere with others’ right to speak? One of those targeted by his recent posts just filed a lawsuit against the Kansas State Department of Education, claiming interference in her rights as a private citizen.

As for Colyer, the former governor appears to reside on a completely different planet.

Give him points for consistency: Back in 2018, he complained about an art exhibit at the University of Kansas that included a defaced American flag. (Expression also protected by the First Amendment, in case you wondered.) His social media channels have competed with Masterson’s for hardcore conservative attention, but I had to highlight this particular post.

Quoth the former governor: “Kansas values free speech, but glorifying murder is not free speech. It is a moral collapse!”

I don’t disagree with the moral collapse part. We can all do better. But the First Amendment safeguards pretty heinous stuff, including the right of the Westboro Baptist Church to protest at military funerals. The agreeableness of expression has nothing to do with whether the Constitution protects it. As someone running for the highest office in Kansas, Colyer should know better.

I reached out to the Masterson and Colyer campaigns to give them a chance to respond. Neither one got back to me by publication time.

A few extra words

It’s been quite the month. On Sept. 14, I ran the classic William Allen White editorial “To an Anxious Friend,” which sums up my feelings during this turbocharged political moment.

But I feel like I owe you a bit of an explanation for why I’ve approached opinion columns the way I have since Kirk’s death. I have not raced to run pieces on the topic, by myself or others. In troubled times, I believe that those of us in the opinion business can choose to calm the waters or agitate them.

I chose to focus on calm.

Not because I’m not concerned. Not because I haven’t tracked the waves of antipathy from the right and left. But because when someone’s brutal slaying becomes part of our national partisan conflict, I feel profoundly queasy. It should go without saying that political violence and violent threats have no place in these United States. Full stop. It should also go without saying that the First Amendment remains the law of the land and applies to every one of us lucky enough to live here.

Unfortunately, some folks still miss that free speech part, which is why I wrote the main part of today’s column.

I do not plan to change my approach to opinion, focusing on how Statehouse policy affects everyday folks. The point of this section has always been to lift up Kansas voices on Kansas topics. You can find abundant commentary on topics of national interest everywhere. You can’t find an array of local commentators like ours anywhere else. I take this job seriously, and I treasure the role of curating community conversations.

Thank you for reading. Let’s all keep talking.

• Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.