Every four years, Americans engage in what they believe is a meaningful transfer of power. The reality, however, is far more cynical—it’s merely a rotation of which orthodoxies become untouchable and which dissidents become targets.
New Boss, Same as the Old Boss
Remember 2016-2020? Questioning certain narratives would get you labeled a “racist” or “deplorable.” From 2020-2024, expressing skepticism about different topics would earn you titles like “transphobic” or “anti-science.” Now we’ve simply swapped one set of sacred cows for another. The methods remain identical: social pressure, algorithmic suppression, and public shaming campaigns.
As H.L. Mencken wisely observed, “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” The hobgoblins change, but the playbook remains consistent.
The Empty Promises Cycle
The campaign trail blazed with promises: accountability for corruption, transparency about elite networks like Epstein’s, justice for perceived electoral irregularities. These were compelling narratives that resonated with people hungry for systemic change.
Yet what materialized? Not arrests or revelations, but the same tired demands for ideological conformity—just with different enforcers and different taboos. The freedom to question, to challenge, to speak uncomfortable truths remains as constrained as ever, merely redirected.
Beyond the False Dichotomy
True liberty isn’t about choosing which master censors you. It’s about rejecting censorship entirely. It’s about defending the speech you find most repugnant, most offensive, most wrong—not because you agree with it, but because the alternative is allowing others to determine what you can hear, say, and ultimately think.
John Stuart Mill understood this when he wrote that silencing an opinion robs humanity: “If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth; if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.”
Breaking the Cycle
The way forward isn’t through blind allegiance to any political figure or ideology. It’s through consistent principles: defending free expression, remaining skeptical of concentrated power (governmental or corporate), and refusing to participate in the ritual humiliation of dissenters—regardless of which “side” they’re on.
Are you willing to defend speech you disagree with? Can you recognize when your team uses the same tactics you condemned when the other team used them? The answer to these questions determines whether you truly value liberty or simply prefer your brand of authoritarianism.