Milton's Life Is Interesting, Traumatic, Tragic

Milton championed freedom of speech in works like aero-pagitica, he was Cromwell's secretary and he spoke out against the church. In 1652 Milton became blind at the age of 44 but his divine muse inspired him to write Paradise Lost. What would our cultural state be in right now, how would we speak to each other and to ourselves, what would the world look like if we had murdered our national poet?