“Even all the bad people have to also be in favor of democracy.”
In lieu of one of my long-winded screeds, it should suffice to say that this is a pretty profound aspect of democratic theory that goes totally underappreciated.
I hate when people on either side try to act like the other side’s ideology is based in some fundamental optimistic or pessimistic perspective on human nature. It’s funny, because people who often otherwise agree with each others’ politics will twist themselves silly making lame and contradictory arguments about how either their own or the other side’s ideology is bad because it’s too pessimistic or optimistic. Usually, this just says more about the pundit than their counterparts.
But for those of us who support democracy, we need to start appreciating that roughly half of all people in any democracy will be of worse than average character.
And because there are so many of them, it’s just unavoidable that in order for democracy to work, we need most of them to support it, despite their being bad people.
Looking at the situation in the U.S. right now, we should have a leg up on democracy. After all, I keep seeing and hearing about how bad communism, socialism and Marxism are. Unfortunately, the people who keep saying those things also paint the Left (which is just about anyone who doesn't agree with them) as Communists, Socialists or Marxists.
The Left has failed at communicating. It has failed to live up to some things it has promised and those failings also have become part of the message against it. We need better communication, not sweetness and light communication, but truth.
Truth, especially when it hurts a bit, will help. If we screw up, we should say so and not try to spin it into a win because there was a speck of good in what happened. If we get blocked on legislation or regulation, be honest; and keep trying and keep communicating.
Character is rarely quantitative or even qualitative though. I would think only 10% of adults are actually bad people. Most folks just rationalize away their sins, mostly unknowingly, ya know?
Self-awareness is pretty low for most folks, on average, probably including me and you, though we would probably rate ourselves pretty high on it
So when the right (or really anyone for that matter) thinks of failed political systems, most often a form of socialism/communism is the strongest most relevant example. This is only the case for two main reasons.
First off, most of us are able to identify on some level with the dual power battle of the cold war. We see recent history in which communism is bad and democracy is good. Secondly, because of the recent cold war history, many struggle to think back and remember a time when extreme conservativism was the global scourge that Stalinism was in the mid 20th century. This is despite that fact that the only reason socialism existed in the first place was that for literally CENTURIES, varying levels of oppressive conservativism was the de facto political system. Crazy rightists don't often push for the return to absolute monarchy, but minus a king in power, many still espouse similar beliefs.
Today's extreme right is more about what sort of people will be included in their world. If everyone in their world is how they think people should be, then democracy is fine with them.
Obviously when talking about the extreme right, I'm failing to mention Hitler and Nazism. This is because with some very very extreme examples, most on the right openly deny (and often with some sincerity) the beliefs of Hitler. (This isn't me ignoring the rise, or reemergence or a racist, neo-nazi force is todays politics, just talking about the larger political picture). While on the left, many are choosing to parse out the beliefs of some socialist and even communist thinkers, while obviously distancing themselves from the genocide and human rights violations of the worst excesses of their beliefs.
This is all to say that the right has an easier time using calls of communism against the left because we have so much more lived experience as a world with communism than fascism or other extreme right ideologies.
Looking at the situation in the U.S. right now, we should have a leg up on democracy. After all, I keep seeing and hearing about how bad communism, socialism and Marxism are. Unfortunately, the people who keep saying those things also paint the Left (which is just about anyone who doesn't agree with them) as Communists, Socialists or Marxists.
The Left has failed at communicating. It has failed to live up to some things it has promised and those failings also have become part of the message against it. We need better communication, not sweetness and light communication, but truth.
Truth, especially when it hurts a bit, will help. If we screw up, we should say so and not try to spin it into a win because there was a speck of good in what happened. If we get blocked on legislation or regulation, be honest; and keep trying and keep communicating.
Character is rarely quantitative or even qualitative though. I would think only 10% of adults are actually bad people. Most folks just rationalize away their sins, mostly unknowingly, ya know?
Self-awareness is pretty low for most folks, on average, probably including me and you, though we would probably rate ourselves pretty high on it
So when the right (or really anyone for that matter) thinks of failed political systems, most often a form of socialism/communism is the strongest most relevant example. This is only the case for two main reasons.
First off, most of us are able to identify on some level with the dual power battle of the cold war. We see recent history in which communism is bad and democracy is good. Secondly, because of the recent cold war history, many struggle to think back and remember a time when extreme conservativism was the global scourge that Stalinism was in the mid 20th century. This is despite that fact that the only reason socialism existed in the first place was that for literally CENTURIES, varying levels of oppressive conservativism was the de facto political system. Crazy rightists don't often push for the return to absolute monarchy, but minus a king in power, many still espouse similar beliefs.
Today's extreme right is more about what sort of people will be included in their world. If everyone in their world is how they think people should be, then democracy is fine with them.
Obviously when talking about the extreme right, I'm failing to mention Hitler and Nazism. This is because with some very very extreme examples, most on the right openly deny (and often with some sincerity) the beliefs of Hitler. (This isn't me ignoring the rise, or reemergence or a racist, neo-nazi force is todays politics, just talking about the larger political picture). While on the left, many are choosing to parse out the beliefs of some socialist and even communist thinkers, while obviously distancing themselves from the genocide and human rights violations of the worst excesses of their beliefs.
This is all to say that the right has an easier time using calls of communism against the left because we have so much more lived experience as a world with communism than fascism or other extreme right ideologies.