Longevity is a slippery thing. In the absence of monarchies and divine mandates, dictatorships also beg the question of succession, which has never been solved. The US is often called a young country, but all its rivals are substantially younger.

More generally I would move the premise one step back and ask why we had a society worth preserving, to which free expression is a large component. When you look at squalor and truly staggering losses of life, totalitarian regimes account for most of it. Preservation of the state is not the highest virtue if the people are just grist for the state, and if there is no free expression, who are they to say otherwise? Revolt is the only speech left, but a state that restricts speech could never allow the 2nd amendment to exist either.

I think the answer is in some form of separation, whether that involves deportation or secession.

Longevity is a slippery thing. In the absence of monarchies and divine mandates, dictatorships also beg the question of succession, which has never been solved. The US is often called a young country, but all its rivals are substantially younger.

More generally I would move the premise one step back and ask why we had a society worth preserving, to which free expression is a large component. When you look at squalor and truly staggering losses of life, totalitarian regimes account for most of it. Preservation of the state is not the highest virtue if the people are just grist for the state, and if there is no free expression, who are they to say otherwise? Revolt is the only speech left, but a state that restricts speech could never allow the 2nd amendment to exist either.