As dissidents and human rights activists from authoritarian regimes, we know what it means to be punished for speaking our minds. In our home countries, we have experienced censorship not just from our governments, but also from our fellow citizens. We have seen how threats to free discourse can imperil democracy, and have always looked to America’s founding principles for inspiration. Yet, alarmingly, we are starting to hear the censorious echoes of these trends in the United States—echoes which may well develop into something more dangerous if they aren’t addressed.

Americans find themselves in an environment in which the discussion of controversial ideas is increasingly under siege from extremes across the political spectrum. People should not fear for their jobs or their safety for expressing unpopular points of view. Controversial opinions should be debated, not silenced; free societies need unorthodox opinions to ensure freedom, pursue truth, and challenge authority.

To decry the climate of fear and self-censorship taking hold in the United States is not to suggest it is equivalent to totalitarian state repression. Nor is it to deny that even in America, other forces—like the violent rioters who attacked the US Capitol, and the disinformation and conspiracy theories that drove them—pose a more immediate threat to democracy. Far too many people have expressed willingness to disregard the results of free and fair elections. This is unacceptable in a free society. But the appropriate response to any democratic crisis must be to reaffirm our commitment to the fundamental principles of democracy, especially free speech and civil discourse.

Instead of censoring opinions with which we disagree, we can challenge them in a vibrant marketplace of ideas. And instead of permanently shunning people if they make a mistake, we should keep redemption on the table. Maintaining an open society is essential to America’s political health and should be a matter of concern for everyone who is fighting for a freer and fairer world.

Dictators in our home countries—of all political leanings—use the shortcomings of American institutions to justify the existence of their illiberal regimes. When we look at America, we don’t see Republicans and Democrats; we see Americans who are so torn apart by polarization that some are willing to sacrifice their democratic values for political gain. Manifest in attacks on both voting rights and freedom of speech, this self-destructive trend in the US is a useful new tool for dictators back home who seize on this dynamic to justify ever-harsher repression. If the world’s leading democracy doesn’t believe in its own values, why should dictators even bother paying lip service to them? We must defend these principles that inspire advocates of liberty and provide a crucial check on tyrants. The advancement of freedom depends on it.

We should not expect to defeat illiberalism with illiberalism. The freedom to dissent or advance unpopular points of view without fear of punishment is a requirement of all just societies—whether in countries known to uphold the traditional values of democracy or those that have hardly enjoyed any political liberty. We need to stand in solidarity against the forces that threaten this freedom everywhere.