Thread by @yhazony

So here we have that same tired old trick again, this time from ⁦@TheAtlantic⁩:

David Frum: If Liberals Won’t Enforce Borders, Fascists Will theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…

@TheAtlantic Think for a second. Is that really how politics works in democracy? That when the liberals fail at a policy, then the fascists take power?

@TheAtlantic Maybe that’s what happens in countries with fragile democratic traditions. But in strong, traditional democracies, when liberals fail, its actually the *conservatives* who take over.

@TheAtlantic But pay attention to this: certain journalists in various outlets have retired the word “conservative” from use. The alternative to liberalism has got to be something a lot nastier. It’s the fascists, or authoritarians, or far right. Never just conservatives.

@TheAtlantic In fact, they’re adopting a new speech code that treats conservatives as though they don’t exist.

@TheAtlantic Why? Because if there’s no conservatives worth mentioning, then there is no legitimate alternative to liberalism. Then we all have to choose: Either liberalism, or a horrific, monstrous alternative.

@TheAtlantic Quite a few in the liberal media are comfortable with this: By pretending that no real conservative alternative exists, they feel that they are successfully forcing everyone to get on board with liberalism.

@TheAtlantic I wonder if there’s a name for this tactic: Pretending that legitimate alternative to your ideas doesn’t exist—so that you can get everyone to believe that *you* are the only legitimate choice.

@TheAtlantic Some of you may not remember: America wasn’t like this 30 years ago. Of course liberals and conservatives often hated each other and called each other names.

@TheAtlantic But 30 years ago almost everyone knew: There were two legitimate alternatives, liberal and conservative. And democracy meant that if one of these failed, you’d get the other. And basically people thought that was for the best.

@TheAtlantic But plenty of influential liberals have given up on that. Now there’s only one legitimate worldview: Liberalism. They seem to think that this will bring a lot more people to liberalism.

@TheAtlantic But it will also have another, effect, which should frighten us. It will push people to think: “If the only alternative to liberalism is fascism, maybe fascism would be better than a failing liberalism.”

@TheAtlantic No one with a grain of conmon sense should want to see this happening. But the only way to avoid it is to accept the existence of two legitimate camps, liberal and conservative. And to say it: There are two legitimate alternatives, liberal and conservative.