If words do not matter to a people, which is to say they are held to no longer contain objective meaning, then the ideas of which mere words are composed are likewise rendered meaningless and of no effect.
When human actions are unconstrained by anything other than will and the force to impose it, tyranny inevitably follows.
It follows not infrequently to the cheers of throngs, often composed of those who freely discarded their liberty in exchange for perceived security.
Always in history, formerly free and educated societies devolve when the shared values and ideas they once honored are replaced by envy, fear, and resentment. Human rights are steadily eroded as the standards by which words and actions of individuals were once proudly judged, and the institutions once formed to effect such standards are replaced by one thing: the rule of brute force.
Americans: do you still love liberty? Do you have the weapons to defend it? Good. You're going to need them. All of them.