Tuesday’s Signal was a masterclass in why a vibrant local newspaper is still essential to civic life and democracy. That edition was chock-a-block with insights, from hard news to opinion pages, even down to the editorial cartoon, which struck a chord perhaps not quite as intended, but profound nonetheless.
From all sides, The Signal presented voices and events that represent our community as it exists today: solid coverage of our town’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day march and celebrations; reporting on an “805 Patriot” America 250 anniversary and Trump celebration; Andrew Taban’s nuclear blast against Trumpism; James de Bree’s measured response to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement-related shooting in Minnesota; a strong argument in favor of Donald Trump’s pardon of Honduran drug runner Juan Hernández; and a grateful thank you letter for the deeply personal column by Richard Harding about his own MLK experience while in the military.
This is what public discourse is all about.
I generally stand on the pro-democracy, pro-diplomacy, anti-war, and pro-human-rights side of things. Nowadays that earns the label “liberal.” Labels aside, what I am in it for is liberty and justice for all, administered by rule of law. Not law ignored or law abused. We are a nation of laws, and those laws mean we must respect our constitutional form of government. Every administration in my lifetime has made serious errors, yet America endures. Maybe it is our guidepost of rule of law that, even with our flaws, makes us great.
Back to Tuesday’s Signal. One local trend leaps out: Our community is changing. Attendance at the MLK events far outpaced participation in the pro-Trump truck rally held days earlier. I am not presenting statistics, but the contrast was stark. We are not reliably red, nor reliably blue. We are purple, and our blend of opinion makes the Santa Clarita Valley vibrant, caring, safe and cohesive. Most folks here overwhelmingly support our first responders, our Sheriff’s Department, our homeless services, our college, our hospital, and the institutions that make for a sane, safe, beautiful community. We also want equal rights for all, as guaranteed in our Constitution and as augmented by our civil rights laws. I hope we can continue this without undue rancor, and certainly without violence.
Two things in Tuesday’s paper demand additional attention.
A quote from the 805 Patriot contingent stood out: “It’s fine to have freedom of speech, but you can’t attack law enforcement. You can’t be talking against the president constantly.” If this is the view of the MAGA movement writ large, they need a constitutional gut check. Yes, we cannot physically attack law enforcement. That is a crime in a nation of laws. But under the First Amendment, people absolutely have the right to speak their minds about law enforcement and the president without limit up to threats of violence. This is not disrespect. This is democracy. Love it or leave it.
It is striking to hear complaints about “constant” attacks on President Trump from people who embraced relentless personal attacks against his opponents for years. We remember Trump’s insults and denigration of women, his birtherism aimed at President Barack Obama, and Fox News’ faux outrage over Obama’s tan suit or a missing flag pin. That was relentless, too. Politics is not a one-way street. What goes around comes around.
It also bears remembering what “attacks” look like when coming from the seat of presidential power. President Trump labels the press “the enemy of the people,” refers to political opponents as “crooked,” “losers,” and “human scum,” and routinely personalizes grievance as governance. This is not incidental rhetoric. It is Trump’s governing style. So, when his supporters now argue that criticism of the president should be muted or limited, it rings hollow. Democratic norms do not require silence in the face of power. They require scrutiny.
The editorial cartoon also caught my eye: Bill and Hillary Clinton grinning beneath the caption “No One Is Above the Law,” referencing Bill Clinton’s refusal to sit for a House deposition related to the Jeffrey Epstein files. Hypocrisy is fair game for cartoonists. But the deeper point is the right one: No one should be above the law. Not Bill Clinton. Not Tim Walz. Not Donald Trump. Not ICE-Barbie. Not me, not you, not anyone. The moment we start making exceptions is the moment we have lost a core tenet of our governmental system.
That concern is not theoretical. President Trump once declared, “I have an Article II, where I have the right to do whatever I want as president.” Add in his recent comment, “Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.” Statements like these coming from our president should unsettle anyone who believes in constitutional restraint.
In America, power is not justified by conscience or popularity; it is constrained by law. Anything less is something else entirely. No one shall be above the law. As a prior march in town protested, “No Kings!”
All of these ideas, reported and argued back and forth in a single Tuesday edition of The Signal, underscore something fundamental: Democracy survives only when citizens remain free to speak, criticize and dissent. That is the work of a community/regional newspaper, and it is the work of citizenship itself.
Gary Horton is chairman of the College of the Canyons Foundation board. His “Full Speed to Port!” has appeared in The Signal since 2006. The opinions expressed in his column do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Signal or its editorial board.
