I get the point you are trying to make but I think you have missed the undertone, which is generally accepted in the US: Most people in the US agree that withou

I get the point you are trying to make but I think you have missed the undertone, which is generally accepted in the US: Most people in the US agree that without freedom of press, "checks and balances", etc, the US government would indeed become an authoritarian state with all the evils that entails.