The center versus the extremes

The juxtaposition between this summer’s rioting and the Capitol riots make it clearer than ever to me that everything (methods, systems of government, criteria) have to apply equally to both sides, always. It also makes it clear to me that what we have is not right versus left, it’s center vs. extremes. Or believers in liberal democracy vs. authoritarians of both sides. Far too many people believe that it’s ok to use authoritarian measures to achieve good ends.

The ideological differences between the far left and the far right are actually pretty small, certainly no bigger than the differences between center-right and center-left. The extremes both believe in sacrificing individuals, even lives, and individual rights in favor of what they believe to be the “greater good”, of the Party, the state, the nation, or the leader.

Those of us who believe in liberal democracy, on the other hand, believe that EACH individual is important, and you don’t get to sacrifice somebody else. Self-sacrifice, yes, that happens all the time in liberal democracy, but not oppression, deprival of the rights of others, and murder. This could also be expressed as individualists, in the tradition of the enlightenment, versus collectivists, the communists and fascists.

So the means are more important than the ends. It’s not acceptable for me to achieve my ideal country by crackdown and imposition. In fact, that’s a loss, not a win, because, sooner or later, the bad guys will be in charge, and they will inherit my laws and traditions. It will all come back to bite me. This seems to be a hard concept for people to swallow.