The Left-Wing Authoritarians Shutting Down the Democratic Party
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Liberals would justifiably freak out if the right was doing this to Biden.

Imagine a world in which Congressman Jamie Raskin attempts to deliver a speech on “Democracy, Autocracy, and the Threat to Reason in the 21st Century” and is unable to deliver his remarks because Trump supporters drown him out, and authorities justify the disruption as an exercise in “democracy.” Democrats attempting to raise money for the opposition are surrounded on the street by Trumpists shouting “fuck Joe Biden” and abusing them with racial epithets.

These are the kind of scenes that come to mind when we imagine the authoritarian culture of a second Trump term. They are also events that have not only occurred but have grown commonplace. This pattern of behavior is illiberal and dangerous.

The twist, of course, is that the mobs shutting down the opposition to Trump are not Trump supporters, or at least not right-wing Trump supporters. Pro-Palestinian activists have set out to disrupt Democratic Party officials from speaking and raising funds to defeat Trump.

You are not supposed to criticize us wojak-nooo

But the problem is not one of mere efficacy. Drowning out speakers and disrupting exercises in politics, regardless of its cause or the target, is wrong on principle.

Sir pls, you are not letting me finish wojak-nooo

The most elemental premise of liberalism is that politics should be governed by a uniform set of rules or norms that apply to everybody, regardless of the content of their beliefs. Over the last decade, an increasingly visible fault line has opened up on the left between political liberals and more radical activists.

The illiberal left defines politics as a conflict between oppressor and victim and does not believe the former deserves the same rights as the latter.

yes-comm

  • PKMKII [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
    24·
    7 months ago

    Jonathan Chait when protests happen outside of a Zionist’s house:

    I’d place in the same category aggressive personal harassment campaigns, like gathering outside somebody’s home at three o’clock in the morning with bullhorns shouting “We will not let you sleep!,”

    Jonathan Chait when protests happen outside a pro-life judge’s house: “Well that requires looking at the broader context and people are having a moral panic over it.”