Kansas opinion writers penned a free speech legacy. Lawmakers have trashed their priceless example.

The right to say whatever you damn well please has served us well, opinion editor Clay Wirestone writes. (Getty Images)

Our nation marks 250 years this summer, and while the accomplishments and shortcomings of this nation have been documented and debated ceaselessly, I like to think that one unalloyed good of our American experiment is the freedom of speech.

Call it the First Amendment, a free press or just the right to say whatever you damn well please, but freedom of speech has served this nation and state in good stead since their founding and 1776 and 1861.

Not that many Kansas legislators understand.

I’ve spent much of the past two years inside a baffling split screen, simultaneously writing a  book about Kansas opinion writers while documenting lawmakers’ egregious lapses in protecting our rights to speak our minds. Kansas Reflector readers will be familiar with famed Emporia Gazette editor William Allen White, but my list includes others such as Angelo Scott of Iola, Hollie T. Sims of Wichita and Lucile Bluford of Kansas City.

The dozen writers profiled in my book used their writing to speak out against the government, advocate for good policy, and just share happenings in their daily lives. On the other hand, majorities of Kansas legislators spent their 2025 and 2026 sessions busily curtailing the right of Kansans to speak out against their government.

Here’s just a sample.

• Restricting the right of public school students to protest during school hours.
• Creating a new crime of approaching a law enforcement officer within 25 feet.
• Stifling testimony sand criticism from Kansans advocating against controversial legislation.
• Requiring court clerks, in some cases, to obscure information about criminal cases.
• Delaying an open records request for records from the state’s government efficiency panel.
• Raising the rent on journalists’ quarters at the Statehouse over “inaccurate” coverage.
• Closing Republican House caucus meetings, debating the people’s business in secret.
• Limiting journalists’ longtime access to the House floor, interfering with their ability to report.
• Lavishing honor on slain firebrand Charlie Kirk while refusing to do the same for the raided Marion County Record.

You might think those elected to represent us would be more interested in strengthening constitutional rights rather than attacking them. That would be a 250th birthday present to remember.

My job, as Kansas Reflector opinion editor and columnist, depends on free, open, vigorous public speech. I’ve thought about it an awful lot. The freedom extends beyond limited constitutional guarantees. It stands as an ideal, a way of engaging with our neighbors, protecting spirited discussions in the body politic.

You can understand the First Amendment in legal terms, justifying each nibble at the delicious constitutional cookie of justice. Lawmakers might try to justify their votes under such a framework. But the lawns and actions listed above conflict with the spirit and intent of free speech.

They conflict with the spirit and intent of amazing Kansas opinion writers who paved the way for folks like myself.

I’ve turned to the following words from William Allen White before. The first time was after Kirk’s assassination, when voices across the nation suggested that heavy-handed repression was the best way to address political disagreements. Our nation and state have faced such times before, and censorship has never been the answer.

The second time was after the Legislature moved to honor Kirk with an official “free speech day.” I pointed out that White could use such a memorial as well.

Each piece cited “To an Anxious Friend,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial that the Emporia editor wrote after facing charges for exercising his First Amendment rights during a railroad strike. Then, as now, a chorus of voices argued that limiting free speech made sense to preserve the public order and calm tensions.

White wrote: “You say that freedom of utterance is not for time of stress, and I reply with the sad truth that only in time of stress is freedom of utterance in danger. No one questions it in calm days, because it is not needed. And the reverse is true also; only when free utterance is suppressed is it needed, and when it is needed, it is most vital to justice.”

As our nation heads into a season of celebration, let’s reserve a moment to celebrate those who speak out, who stand against public opinion, who disrupt the placid surface of good manners. Our national charter shields them.

And Kansas depends on them.

Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor and author of the forthcoming book “Opinionated: Kansas Journalists Who Proved Why Commentary Matters—Then and Now“ from the University Press of Kansas. 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.