The part where they are similar is that both the far left and far right are willing to use authoritarian violence to achieve their goals. And the representation of the left as just “oppression is bad” is overly simplistic. They too believe in oppression of particular groups (see oppression of academics/scientists/bourgeoise/etc in almost all communist take-overs). Centrists can also have very differing views as well but the reason they are located where they are on the horseshoe is because they would rather problems be solved with slow beauraucracy/well-defined protocols and not revolution or political violence.
This is not an admonishment or support for any of these things from me personally. I personally think a little revolution is needed once in a while. Just pointing out in more detail the idea behind horseshoe theory.
I just think if we long term want to build a stable system that works for everybody we can’t just keep rerolling dice hoping a revolution would magically fix it all. I like my politics boring if it gets the job done and keeps improving and iterating on a better system
I like my politics boring if it gets the job done and keeps improving and iterating on a better system.
Absolutely.
Of course, I try to stay aware that my ability to wait patiently for a better world is, in itself, a privilege.
There’s wisdom in carefully iterating forward.
But billionaires also need something to help them focus on cooperation toward a better world. They need to believe in some non-zero chance that the fate of some person they stepped on could randomly suddenly become their own fate.
I don’t have answers for how that happens, but history says it’s almost never been pleasant for anyone concerned.
True. I think for the most part, keeping things boring is best but sometimes a country/government/culture rots to the point that the only way for it to correct itself is through some bloody action of some kind. That can be a revolution started by its own people, a civil war, or a war that perhaps the country itself starts but then loses (see Germany and WWII). I think the US is slowly making its way to that point as the safeguards of democracy are continuously being eroded by Republicans and conservatives and there will be a point of no return.
The part where they are similar is that both the far left and far right are willing to use authoritarian violence to achieve their goals. And the representation of the left as just “oppression is bad” is overly simplistic. They too believe in oppression of particular groups (see oppression of academics/scientists/bourgeoise/etc in almost all communist take-overs). Centrists can also have very differing views as well but the reason they are located where they are on the horseshoe is because they would rather problems be solved with slow beauraucracy/well-defined protocols and not revolution or political violence.
This is not an admonishment or support for any of these things from me personally. I personally think a little revolution is needed once in a while. Just pointing out in more detail the idea behind horseshoe theory.
I just think if we long term want to build a stable system that works for everybody we can’t just keep rerolling dice hoping a revolution would magically fix it all. I like my politics boring if it gets the job done and keeps improving and iterating on a better system
Absolutely.
Of course, I try to stay aware that my ability to wait patiently for a better world is, in itself, a privilege.
There’s wisdom in carefully iterating forward.
But billionaires also need something to help them focus on cooperation toward a better world. They need to believe in some non-zero chance that the fate of some person they stepped on could randomly suddenly become their own fate.
I don’t have answers for how that happens, but history says it’s almost never been pleasant for anyone concerned.
I don’t know if we can all do better. I hope so.
True. I think for the most part, keeping things boring is best but sometimes a country/government/culture rots to the point that the only way for it to correct itself is through some bloody action of some kind. That can be a revolution started by its own people, a civil war, or a war that perhaps the country itself starts but then loses (see Germany and WWII). I think the US is slowly making its way to that point as the safeguards of democracy are continuously being eroded by Republicans and conservatives and there will be a point of no return.