Nick Cohen on Hungary

There are lessons for all of us in a powerful piece in Prospect by Nick Cohen about the decay of democracy in Hungary, called

"Tyranny's new trick: in Hungary a government wages war on Liberalism."

Authoritarianism has been taking new forms around the world. We cannot assume that democracy is the natural order of things, and even where the forms of democracy exist they can be subverted. We should watch what happens in states like Turkey and Hungary and be on our guard to make sure that they do not happen here.

I have blogged before about the doubt about who really said

"The price of freedom is eternal Vigilance."

 (apart from Malclm MacDowell as Admiral Tolwyn in Wing Commander IV - a character who proved the point by being the threat to freedom himself)

But whoever said it, it's good advice.

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