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They are banning books. Silencing teachers. Targeting children and families for who they are and who they love. And they do it all under the banner of “values.”
In 1941, German lawyer and political theorist Ernst Fraenkel, who fled Nazi Germany after being banned from practicing law for defending Jews and political dissidents, published The Dual State: A Contribution to the Theory of Dictatorship. In it, Fraenkel described a chilling system of governance that maintained the appearance of law and order while, underneath, unchecked power operated at will.
He called it the dual state: on one side, the normative state, where laws, regulations and procedures still functioned to manage business and routine affairs; on the other, the prerogative state, where decisions were made not by law but by ideological command and personal loyalty to the regime.
Fraenkel wrote that the normative state existed only “as long as it serves the economic and administrative necessities of the regime,” while the prerogative state “has no need of legal justification.” The law becomes a set piece — something to display in public, but meaningless when the interests of the regime are at stake. In his analysis, the prerogative state does not replace law overnight. Instead, it lives alongside it, corroding it until, at the regime’s convenience, the entire legal framework collapses into arbitrary rule.
And it always begins the same way: by targeting those the regime sees as expendable — minorities, dissenters and anyone whose existence disrupts ideological conformity. Fraenkel warned that the prerogative state starts by silencing a few but ultimately demands silence from all. Those who believe they are safe, he said, “have not yet understood dictatorship.”
We do not have to imagine how this happens. We can look to Russia and Hungary, both once democratic nations, now hollow authoritarian shells.
In Russia, once-independent courts and media have been absorbed into state control. Political opponents are imprisoned, exiled or killed. Elections are spectacles. Putin’s vision of power is absolute; he famously said, “There is no such thing as a former KGB man,” a chilling reminder that for those in power, loyalty is eternal — and dissent, unforgivable.
In Hungary, Viktor Orbán has openly built what he calls an “illiberal democracy.” He has packed courts, seized control of media outlets and rewritten educational curricula to suit state ideology. Using “emergency powers” to bypass legislative debate, Orbán has demonstrated what happens when the prerogative state no longer finds the normative state useful. His government stages elections not to offer choice but to cement control.
And here, in America — and here in Alabama — we are seeing the same playbook.
We see legislation aimed not at solving problems, but at punishing those who don’t conform. Transgender children and their families are demonized. Immigrants are treated as invaders. Voter suppression is rationalized as “election integrity.”
We see the control of knowledge itself becoming a battleground. Books are banned, not to protect children but to narrow their minds. Teachers are silenced, universities threatened and entire fields of study rebranded as subversive. In the language of the prerogative state, truth itself becomes dangerous.
Fraenkel noted that in the dual state, “the exercise of arbitrary power becomes an institution.” That is exactly what we are witnessing: the institutionalization of fear, where leaders are unrestrained by law and empowered by ideology.
The slogans are always the same. “Family values.” “Alabama values.” “Traditional values.” Once meant to unify, these phrases are now used to exclude — to define who belongs and who must be silenced or cast out.
The business community may feel safe. Judges may believe their robes protect them. Politicians may think loyalty buys immunity. But arbitrary power respects no titles. The moment the regime no longer finds you useful, the prerogative state turns on you.
We are not speculating. We are watching a slow-motion rehearsal of what has already happened in other countries. The question is not whether this could happen here. The question is: what will stop it from happening?
And history — the very thing they are trying to erase — is clear. The prerogative state begins by targeting “others.” But it ends with everyone under its control.
Fraenkel warned that the rule of the few begins with division and ends with total subjugation. His book was not merely a scholarly exercise; it was a plea for vigilance.
If we still believe in democracy — not its hollow shell but its living, breathing reality — then we must do more than watch. We must stand with those who are marginalized. We must reject laws that punish difference. We must defend the institutions that protect freedom.
Because history is not just what was. History is what could be — if we fail to act.
