By Gary D. Bass, Kay Guinane and Ryan Turner

Perhaps nothing is as central to the nonprofit sector as protecting its right to speak out on issues. For example, when there were attacks on nonprofit advocacy in 1983 and 1995, the sector organized galvanizing responses to fend them off. Unfortunately, it appears that such attacks are again surfacing, but in ways that are broader yet much harder to fight back.

Instead of a single legislative or regulatory proposal that would limit nonprofit speech, the Bush administration and conservative allies have proposed or begun implementing a number of proposals that are akin to a "death by a thousand cuts." These "cuts," which have suddenly accelerated in the last year, come in three areas:

Attacks on nonprofit advocacy, particularly when there are disagreements with Bush administration policies;

Limits imposed by government on other nonprofit speech, particularly targeted to those working on issues-- such as reproductive rights, HIV/AIDS, and international development activities, where there may be ideological differences with the administration-- are particularly singled out as targets to control their speech; and

Changes made by nonprofits resulting from fear of how laws such as the USA Patriot Act are being implemented.

There is now a growing litany of examples under each of these three categories, but because each proposal or action affects only limited numbers of nonprofits, they have not drawn significant attention. Yet the proposals and actions by the Bush administration and conservatives are already taking their toll. Even when proposals have been dropped, they leave a chill on speaking out on issues in their wake.