Tela Network

[Friend]: Liberal democracy needs to stop playing nice. People who openly oppose it or promote ideas that attack its foundations shouldn't be allowed to run. [Me]: No doubt that would be more effective (if "win" = preserve the current system) than what the liberal-democracy-organism is doing now. But I'm not sure it could, even if it wanted to. The ruling class may have lost faith. Can it still mobilize courts, legislatures, and armed men to outlaw and arrest opponents? I say arrest because if you just disqualify a popular candidate, you’ve only kicked them out of your game. That doesn’t stop them—it may just mean switching to a game liberal democracy isn’t good at. Take the US: anti-MAGA elites can’t rally young men to defend their institutions, while MAGA leaders can rally theirs to dismantle them.