Former Soviet political prisoner Natan Sharansky wrote that there were two kinds of societies—fear and free. He wrote in his book “The Case for Democracy” that “a society is free if people have a right to express their views without fear of arrest, imprisonment, or physical harm.”

A society where dissent is blocked or punished is rooted in tyranny. Sharansky would know. He spent nine years as a political prisoner in the old Soviet Union. After he gained his freedom he moved to Israel where he held a number of positions within the government.

Sharansky’s book was published 21 years ago, but it should serve as a cautionary tale for what is happening now in the United States. President Donald Trump and his power-hungry sycophants are creating a fear society right in our own backyard.

Trump

See Full Page