Frontlines of Freedom

I’ll keep this one brief. I just returned home from a trip to D.C. to attend the Renew Democracy Initiatives (RDI.org) Frontlines of Freedom Conference. I’m on the executive board of RDI and have been working with the organization to sound the alarm and rally the troops to defend democracy in the U.S. and abroad. The Front Lines of Freedom (FOF) are established democracies like the U.S. dealing with a nationalist (MAGA) movement, they are struggling democracies contending with democratic backsliding and the rise of illiberalism like Hungary, and they are undemocratic states where civil-society fights to establish institutions where individual liberties are protected and the Rule of Law applies to all.

If I had any doubts, the dissidents and political refugees from dozens of autocratic states presented a clear illustration of how autocrats collaborate and cross pollinate best practices to maintain power, suppress dissent, and undermine democracies around them. Eventually they become …