Everybody Should Have a Voice—But Some People Need to Sit the F*** Down, and Here’s Why I’m Not One of Them

By Michael Kelman Portney

Let’s start with the obvious: everybody deserves a voice. That’s non-negotiable. Freedom of speech, open dialogue, and the free exchange of ideas are cornerstones of any society that hopes to call itself fair, free, or even functional.

But here’s where things get messy: not all voices are created equal. Some people are loud for the sake of being loud. Some are self-serving, performative, or just plain wrong. And while everyone has a right to speak, not everyone deserves to lead the conversation. Some people need to sit the f*** down and shut up.

And here’s why I’m not one of them.

This isn’t some arrogant, self-serving declaration of moral superiority—it’s a defense of my role in this chaotic mess we call public discourse. I’m not here to shout for the sake of shouting or to score cheap points in some never-ending culture war. I’m here to say what needs to be said, even if it’s uncomfortable, even if it pisses people off, and even if it means telling some of the loudest people in the room to take a seat.

Because let’s face it: a lot of the loudest voices on the left aren’t actually helping. They’re too busy gatekeeping, moralizing, and tearing down anyone who doesn’t fit their impossibly narrow definition of “correct.” They’re dragging the movement into a pit of infighting and purity tests while the world burns around us.

Meanwhile, the rest of us—the people who actually care about progress, who are willing to engage with complexity, and who understand that change is a long, messy, imperfect process—are being drowned out.

So yeah, I’m going to keep talking. Because someone has to say what others are too afraid to say. Someone has to call out the hypocrisy, the bad strategies, and the self-destructive tendencies of the left. Someone has to stand up to the loudmouths who are steering this ship straight into an iceberg and yell, “Hey, maybe we should change course.”

Does that make me unpopular in some circles? Sure. But I’m not here to win a popularity contest—I’m here to help the left actually win.

And let’s be real: the stakes are too high to keep letting the loudest voices lead us into the abyss. If the left wants to succeed, it needs to embrace a diversity of voices, ideas, and approaches. It needs to welcome pragmatism, complexity, and compromise. And it needs to stop treating every disagreement like a betrayal.

That’s why I’m not sitting down. Because I refuse to let the loudest, most toxic voices drown out the rest of us. I refuse to let the left become a parody of itself, alienating the very people it claims to fight for. And I refuse to stay silent while we squander the chance to make real, meaningful change.

So yeah, everybody should have a voice. But not everyone deserves to dominate the conversation. And if the loudest voices can’t figure out how to share the mic, then it’s time for the rest of us to take it from them.

Because we’ve got work to do, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to sit down before it’s done.