Reading-Vocabulary-MyTest-03

This question is related to which competency?

All through the years we have had to fight for civil liberty, and we know that there are times when the light grows rather dim, and every time that happens democracy is in danger.

Now, largely because of the troubled state of the world as a whole, civil liberties have disappeared in many other countries. It is impossible, of course, to be at war and to keep freedom of the press and freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. They disappear automatically. And so in many countries where ordinarily they were safe, today they are gone. In those countries, even before war came, not only did freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and freedom of speech disappear, but also freedom of religion.

The tone of this passage can best be described as ______________.