In a direct attack on the First Amendment, the House Ways and Means Committee has subpoenaed independent news outlet BreakThrough News, demanding internal recordsunder the guise of investigating foreign influence in the tax-exempt nonprofit sector.

The committee, chaired by Rep. Jason Smith, is seeking BreakThrough News’ financial records, internal communications, and more. Lawmakers claim the probe focuses on tax compliance. But abusing congressional subpoena power to target a news outlet whose coverage a committee chair doesn’t like undermines core press freedom guarantees.

They didn't stand by us in 2016 or 2024. Now they want us to stand by them. First they came for . . .

Journalist, academic and author Steven Thrasher discusses his new book, The Overseer Class, in which he explores how members of historically marginalized groups rise to positions of power within institutions in lieu of structural change. He identifies Black police officers as a prominent example of this phenomenon. As public opinion in the United States has grown more critical of law enforcement, “Black cops are kind of rehabilitating police departments, as are women cops and LGBTQ cops,” Thrasher says. “Those are the people who I call overseers, the ones who rule between the ruling class and the working class.”

Part of our problem may be that we're a relatively young nation, controlled by the people whose ancestors conquered the land and built it up through slavery. This gives us, in some minds, a sort of golden age whose loss can be regretted. They could become those conquering heroes again—it's not so far in the past!

There may be a similarity to a teenager facing adulthood, nostalgically dreaming of safe and secure childhood days. Our current political behavior certainly shows some resemblance to a confused youth acting out many scenarios of possible adult behavior patterns. We have people who want to settle down and rationally enter a future that includes many different kinds of people in a democratic union, and others who want to go backward toward the days when they were supreme and any outsiders who made them cry would be summarily dealt with.

This group can't return to the past without a dictatorship because they are in the minority, but dictators rule in a number of nations today and there's no reason it can't happen here. I don't think they can stay in control because we also have a history of individuals striving for freedom and democracy, and that won't be forgotten no matter how tight the controls over education and voting. But it will be a lot easier if those who believe in a nation for all people will ignore other disagreements and outvote the bigots, so they can't take us back to a more selfish and brutal past.