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The Federalist Papers In 1918, the country was at war, and Woodrow Wilson's administration was prosecuting Americans for criticizing the government. Theodore Roosevelt, a former president himself, refused to stay quiet.He wrote these words in the Kansas City Star, and he aimed them squarely at a sitting president. He criticized Wilson relentlessly, and he never once apologized for it.He was right then. He's right now.The president is not a king. He works for us. Every American has the right to say he's wrong, to say his policies are failing, to say he should be voted out. That right doesn't depend on who holds the office or which party you belong to.And it should carry no penalty. No investigations, no IRS audits, no losing your job because a government official didn't like your post. The moment criticism becomes dangerous, a republic stops being a republic.Roosevelt understood something many Americans have forgotten. Blind loyalty isn't patriotism. Patriotism is loyalty to the country and the Constitution, not to the man in the Oval Office.That said, there's an important line.Criticism is one thing. Deliberate falsehood broadcast over the public airwaves is another.Broadcast networks don't own the airwaves. The public does. Stations get federal licenses on the condition that they serve the public interest. Knowingly airing fabricated stories, deceptively edited clips, or claims a network knows are false isn't criticism. It's a breach of that public trust.You have the right to call the president wrong. A network doesn't have the right to lie to millions of people using spectrum that belongs to all of us.That distinction matters, because without it, "free speech" becomes a shield for propaganda.Opinion, protected. Fabrication, not.Teddy Roosevelt would have understood the difference. He fought hard and said exactly what he thought, but he believed in a fair fight.Where do you draw the line between criticizing a president and spreading lies about him?