1. A brief riff: the American intellectual right was very anti-democratic before mid-1970s (see National Review on Franco) & very anti-democratic since (Thiel being prime example). What was exception was brief window (1970s-2008) when right was relatively pro-democratic https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/1159495342204887040 …
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7. And Obama's two electoral victories (the first time a Democratic presidential candidate won 50%+ of the popular vote twice in a row since FDR) scared conservatives, as did popular support of marriage equality. This was background for right's renewed anti-democratic push.
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8. Ultimately, the synthesis Yglesias calls for ("the virtues of free markets were fused with the virtues of political democracy to create humane, sustainable mixed economies") is incompatible with conservatism: any really robust democracy will trend towards social democracy.
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9. Really believing in democracy means being willing to give up what you love if it goes against the popular will. Part of the greatness of Tocqueville & JS Mill is that they accepted democracy meant giving up aristocratic high culture & laissez-faire economics.
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End of conversation
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It was also always highly racialized: emergent turbulent democracies in C.Europe were okay. In Africa? Notsomuch. See: Reagan, R.
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And in Arab spring (and now also here), sometimes in democracy the wrong guy wins.
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