Fear of arbitrary detention and interrogation, fear of repercussions for academic criticism of the government, dissenters’ anxiety over their safety — nowadays this is not only the case of Russia and other autocracies, but also the United States, long considered a bastion of rights and freedoms. What does it mean to be free, and how is the very idea of freedom changing in Donald Trump-era America? Why is Trump not only bringing the country closer to autocracy, but actually betraying the precepts of the founding fathers of the United States? Has anything like this ever happened before in American history — and how can the society resist the arbitrariness of power? Philosopher Sasha Mudd reflects on this in her essay for Prospect Magazine.
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Read the Russian language version at Sapere Aude online