When liberal democracy gives way to oppressed people even having a glimmer of hope for change the Right reacts immediately by rejecting democracy, imagining new weaponized fictions like “original intent” and “natural rights,” and mobilizes extremists happy to commit violence.
This pattern has occurred time and time again, and if efforts to checkmate reform and progress through legal means fails the Right won’t hesitate to go outside the law or widen it as a defense, including legalizing widespread violence, discrimination, and intimidation.
The notion of democracy is only acceptable to the Right as long as it gifts them a mandate to shape society in their image. The moment the balance tips it becomes a dangerous weakness, an entry point for foreign and evil interests to destroy the country from within.
Right now we’re watching an overt embrace by the Right and GOP of rationalizing the dismantling of democracy. The Big Lie isn’t just about a stolen election, it’s about the “wrong people” voting and deciding the future. It’s about an intentional project of disenfranchisement.
History is a cycle of liberal democracy being curbed by the Right for its purposes and then the Right reacting violently when power is threatened. We’re in the latter stage now and the more panic grows the more open they’ll become to illiberalism and authoritarianism.
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