Do you really care about free speech?

Dinesh D'Souza's new movie, "Death of a Nation," is as compellingly relevant to the times in which we live for what it doesn't cover as for what it does.

Every American should see it in theaters this week. You'll laugh, you'll cry and you will THINK.

Ultimately, it's about the betrayal of America's most cherished and unique values and how BIG LIES threaten to lead our nation down a path of destruction, suffering and loss of liberty.

It exposes some of the biggest, most fundamental deceptions both of American history and our present day – such as who really supports freedom of expression and who doesn't.

What it does not cover directly is the greatest threat to our nation's commitment to protect freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of religion. Yet it is the perfect backdrop and primer for why these first freedoms are now in dire jeopardy.

The real test of a nation's enduring commitment to these values is whether we vigorously defend them, not just for ourselves and those with whom we agree, but for those with whom we vehemently disagree.

Is it important to tolerate even offensive speech and ideas expressed peacefully in the public square? Or should we yield to speech codes and restrictions of political and religious expression? This may be the most important question we need to ask ourselves today, not only regarding college campuses and other so-called "progressive" communities and institutions, but in the larger world where a handful of massive mega-corporations effectively control the dissemination of news and information, thereby determining whose content is worthy of seeing, reading and hearing, and whose isn't.

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits government from censorship. But suppose the threat of overt censorship doesn't come from government action, but rather, as a result of government inaction?

That's the question we are facing today as five giant companies exercise a growing stranglehold on public expression – especially political and religious expression, the kind our founders specifically intended to protect in the best interests of a free society.

I call these five companies – Google, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Amazon – the Internet Cartel, with control of 75 percent of digital advertising as well as news and opinion.

How does it work?

In Nazi Germany, Martin Niemöller was a Lutheran minister and early Nazi supporter who was later imprisoned for opposing Adolf Hitler's regime. He spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps, and is best remembered for saying:

"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out –
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out –
Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out –
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me."

While no one in America is in imminent danger of being thrown into concentration camps or banished to the gulags because of their opinions, the Internet Cartel is indeed banishing political and religious ideas it rejects based on its own ideological bent. And it is killing free speech, freedom of the press and freedom of religion in America with the aid of governments in Europe and China and with the inaction of the U.S. government. If this trend continues, it will be catastrophic for the future of freedom.

Right now, they are coming for me and my company, the first independent online news company in the world.

They are also coming for my colleagues in the rest of the independent media who followed WND's trailblazing path 21 years ago.

If our voices are effectively squelched, there will be no one left to expose the abuses – just as Niemöller so presciently observed.

What can you do? Continue to raise your voices, just as we at WND will as long as we can. Don't let them snuff out our voice.

Help us reverse these attacks with your urgent prayer and financial support.

We're in the midst of an existential battle for survival right now – just as other independent media are, with all of us facing seemingly insurmountable odds on the rigged playing field the Internet Cartel has created. Good people, dedicated media professionals, are suffering with pay cuts and late salary payments. Help us survive to keep up the fight! We need to raise a minimum of $100,000 in August to make ends meet. The good news is that we have seen a showering of blessings already.

You can also support WND's groundbreaking new book, "The Gospel in Every Book of the Old Testament," with your tax-deductible contributions in any amount to the fabulous missions organization, Gospel for All Nations, which has adopted the project to help spread the truth of the Good News around the world. This book, coming out in hardcover in September, is an important part of WND's recovery, rebirth and revitalization plan for later this year. Your help with book-printing and marketing expenses will help get us through the trials of 2018.