Thread by @StephanAJensen

@TheWorthyHouse @a_centrism I have no argument with civil wars or violent uprisings having to be stopped by violence. The same is the case for violent uprisings by other political movements, fascist, religious, etc. The question is - how do you prevent violent uprisings or civil wars in the first place?

@TheWorthyHouse @a_centrism The point at which you have a civil war or a violent uprising is already a catastrophe - and the irony of the examples you have chosen is that several of them were started by the far-right, and all but Germany and Finland were followed by far-right authoritarian rule.

@TheWorthyHouse @a_centrism Assuming you want to maintain stable, well-functioning, democratic government (which self-evidently ought to be a goal for both conservatives and liberals), a single minded focus on *just* keeping the hard left at bay no matter the cost is counterproductive.

@TheWorthyHouse @a_centrism The danger of that approach is both inviting the authoritarian right taking power hard-line to "deal with" the left (Spain, Italy, Germany, Hungary, Chile, etc.), or inadvertently helping the left in, with unwillingness to compromise furthering support for communists (eg. Russia)

@TheWorthyHouse @a_centrism The lessons you should draw from if you want to prevent communism are not from the countries that fought a civil war against them, but the countries that avoided violent uprisings (both from left and right) in the first place; eg. the US, UK, Scandinavia, post WW2 w. Europe, etc.

@TheWorthyHouse @a_centrism Common for all of them is a fairly flexible balance between centre-right and centre-left policy priorities, that prevent the economic, social, and cultural grievances that create support for the far left and right in the first place, leaving the far left and far right powerless

@TheWorthyHouse @a_centrism My worry about modern America is that this lesson has been forgotten - and both the left and the right seems locked in a view that the next political victory for the other side is the one that irreversibly slides America into fascism or communism. In fact, the opposite is true.