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It’s a Free Country … Isn’t It?

One emigrated from Russia in 2013 as a teenager. One spent three decades serving the United States. Both are asking the same unsettling question: Is it still a free country?

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Accelerating Authoritarian Dynamics: Assessment of Democratic Decline

Oct 16, 2025 • The Steady State

Statement on the January 24, 2026, Minneapolis Shooting

Jan 24 • The Steady State

Judge Luttig’s Warning: A Constitutional Conservative Sounds the Alarm

Feb 19 • The Steady State

Threatening War Crimes: Has Trump Finally Crossed the Line?

Mar 30 • The Steady State

Recent posts

210 Days to Break an Intelligence Community

An Acting DNI can still leave lasting scars.

Jun 6 • The Steady State and Jim Petrila

Common Sense, Take 2: Democracy as a Patient, Part II

Part II: Understanding the Symptoms, Strengthening the System

Jun 12 • The Steady State and James P Petrila

Normalization of Deviance

Danger is not the crisis we see. It’s the behavior we stop noticing.

Jun 9 • The Steady State and Terry Virts

Democracy Dies the Death of a Thousand Cuts

The subtle art of dismantling a democracy

Jun 11 • The Steady State and Charles A. Ray

Common Sense Take 2: Democracy as a Patient

Treating the Causes, Not Just the Symptoms, of Democratic Decline

Jun 10 • The Steady State and Martha Duncan

Iran Defeats America

Trump’s war may be remembered as the moment America surrendered its strategic advantage in the Middle East.

Jun 10 • The Steady State and Harry I. Hannah

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