I've been publishing books for 30 years. I'm close friends with approximately twenty writers. I'm casual friends with a few dozen writers. I'm professionally friendly with dozens of other writers. At least 80% of my close, casual, and professional writer friends are politically left of center and at least 80% of them have privately expressed fear about saying or writing the "wrong" thing. And we're talking about some big name writers whom you might assume are immune from such pressures. Self-censorship among writers is a real and serious problem in this era. To believe otherwise either means you live and work in a very small circle of like-minded friends or that you think this self-censorship is a good thing.