In Washington this week, Vice President JD Vance introduced the documentary series based on my 2020 bestseller Live Not By Lies, which is about the lessons anti-communist dissidents of the Soviet bloc have for us today. In the book (which has been translated into most European languages), I talk about the “soft totalitarianism” of wokeness and left-wing illiberalism, and feature interviews with former dissidents who warn that we are facing a new form of oppression in the West—one with striking similarities to what they endured under the Soviets. 

Some of these people—Czechs, Slovaks, Romanians, and others—appear in the four-part documentary, telling their stories and warning contemporary people to wake up while there is still time.

In his speech, Vance praised the book and the documentary, telling the Washington audience that it contains an important lesson for us today.

The way to deal with being attacked by the ruling elites of a given society is to speak the truth is to live not by lies. The incentives, the financial rewards, the social benefits of living by lies are often great. But Rod’s lesson is important: you are going to sacrifice your soul, you are going to sacrifice your civilization, you are going to sacrifice your family, you are going to sacrifice your country, if you give in to the easy pathway.