The post World War II globe was largely divided into two main
blocs. On the one hand there existed a Soviet and Chinese led bloc of nations
whose hallmarks were autocracy, state control of…everything, intolerance of
dissent, and a communist, command economy. The other group, led- and protected-
by the United States, embraced liberal democracy, capitalism and free trade.
As the
liberal bloc succeeded economically, socially and entrepreneurially, the
opposing one failed. In light of this fact, many countries altered their institutions
so as to become more like the U.S. China itself liberalized its economic
policies while remaining strictly authoritarian socially. Many other nations
wholly converted from an autocratic to a democratic form of government. The
Soviet Union collapsed in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, with the gradual
but inevitable result being the freeing of its many captive states- or “SSRs.”
The decades of the ‘80s and ‘90s saw the most dramatic and rapid rise of
freedom around the Earth.
Unfortunately,
in recent years, that trend has stagnated and now reversed. With the current U.S.
presidential administration focused on changing
its own nation’s institutions and insisting that transgender bathroom
access, climate change and Muslim outreach must be the priorities of the day,
illiberalism is now ascendant. Yes, political autocracy and correctness,
state-controlled economies and vast restrictions on civil liberties are all now
on the rise, even in the United States.
Like a
boa-constrictor wrapped around clueless prey, a soft tyranny slowly envelops
us.
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