ABSTRACT
Suppressing and criminalizing dissent points to fundamental problems that cut into the heart of liberal democracy’s claim to legitimacy. There is an irremediable contradiction between the sovereignty of the liberal-democratic state and its claim to legitimacy. The essential bother is that modern liberal-democratic states excessively privilege order and security while criminalizing the vital practice of dissent. Dissent is as various as all the possible ways people have of making sense of their world. The chapter argues that dissent when it is pursuing truth is a valuable prophylaxis against many kinds of ignorance. If the appeal to order is illusory, so too and no less is the idea of a polity forever bogged down in disagreement equally a fantasy. It might be enough simply to learn again to value disagreement and understand better the enormous value it has in dispelling ignorance.
