In a message observing National Newspaper Week in the mid-1980s, President Ronald Reagan stressed the importance of a free press, saying, “Since the founding of this nation, freedom of the press has been a fundamental tenet of American life. There is no more essential ingredient than a free, strong and independent press to our continued success in what the founding fathers called our ‘noble experiment’ in self-government.”

Over a century earlier, the nation’s third president, Thomas Jefferson said, “Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.”

And long-time journalist Walter Cronkite, whom Americans trusted for years, stressed, in the 1960s and ‘70s “freedom of the press is not just important to democracy, it is democracy.”

Freedom of the press is not a Republican issue nor a Democratic one; in fact, the freedom of the press, as guaranteed by the Constitution’s First Amendment, is not political and should never be used as a political pawn by any party — any time.

It does not matter what party a president, governor, county commissioner, mayor or school board member is associated with, if they are, by virtue of their actions, putting the freedom of the press in jeopardy, we, as Americans, should sit up, take notice and do everything we can to ensure a free press remains completely free.

If that means opposing a leader we like or support, oppose them we should, because when any leader tries to handcuff the press, limit its access, pick and choose who can, and cannot, be privy to government actions, make no mistake that person is handcuffing you.

The press, be it your local newspaper or a national news agency like the Associated Press, is the eyes and ears of the public. We go where the public often will not, looking into issues and reporting them with fairness and accuracy. When leaders try to blindfold the press to the truths members need to share, they are blindfolding you.

While, like government and, well, human beings in general, members of the press make mistakes and don’t always share both sides of a story as we should, most of us who consider ourselves journalists do it because we are truth-tellers at heart, individuals who care about the greater good and want to provide you, the reading and viewing public, with all sides to a story so you can choose for yourselves.

We don’t believe in the one-sided tales often shared as the gospel on social media, and we certainly don’t believe nor respect any leader at any level of government who tries to convince its constituents that the only news that can be believed is that which is spouted from any single bully pulpit.

As Americans we should all want more, demand more.

Over the last few weeks, we have seen disturbing warning signs coming out of Washington, as the Trump Administration has whittled away at the freedom of the press, first by banning the Associated Press from White House briefings and Air Force One, and then by giving his press team exclusive authority to decide who gets access to cover the president at news briefings, at public events and during travel both in the U.S. and in other countries.

The AP’s offense: acknowledging that Trump signed an order changing the 400-year-named Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America but refusing to call it that in its news stories.

This nearly 180-year-old news organization, which has shared truthful accounts of Republican and Democratic administrations for years, been at the ready throughout the course of history to report on wars, assassinations and attempted assassinations, was banned as retaliation for the AP’s choice not to use Trump’s name for the Gulf.

And, as has been his mantra with press he doesn’t like, the president called the AP, one of the most respected news agencies in the land, “fake news,” and then banned them.

Any president, Republican or Democrat, allowed to halt coverage by any media outlet that doesn’t kowtow to his orders takes us one step closer to the Kremlin, and sets a dangerous precedent that will transcend Trump’s administration and open the floodgates for future leaders to do the same or, God forbid, worse.

Throughout history, reporters have written truthful but critical stories about presidents — Watergate, Vietnam, the Monica Lewinsky saga, just to name a few — but they’ve never been banned from White House access because of it. Why? Because every president, until now, understood that democracy hinges on a free press.

We do not care if you are a friend or foe of the current administration. Who you vote for is your choice, and we respect it.

But every American should be up in arms over any threat to freedom of the press. Gagging the press and kidnapping its rights does the same to each of you.

“Of the forces shaping the destiny of our civilization, none is more crucial to our future than the responsible reporting and truthful analysis of the events of our era,” Reagan said.

We will take it a step further — allow a dismantling of press freedoms and watch as democracy unravels right along with it.