Last week, I began teaching a new undergraduate course on “Dissent and Democracy in the World.” I started developing the course over a year ago, convinced that the subject is not only essential to well-functioning communities, but also not well understood or appreciated in American society today.

When the class began, our country looked different than it did when I started down this path.

During my lifetime, I’ve taken for granted that I could speak out freely in this country. I could share views that did not align with my employer’s position or the prevailing view in my community. I could openly object to the positions of the church my family attended. I could publish my opinions in a newspaper or on social media. I might lose friends or ostracize family. I might not be invited back to

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