The Emerging Anti-Authoritarian Majority
Many people are missing a critical development in this election season that should be guiding our thinking about how we organize and who we…
The Emerging Anti-Authoritarian Majority
Many people are missing a critical development in this election season that should be guiding our thinking about how we organize and who we vote for. This election is not about Democrats vs Republicans or Democrats vs Trump and Trumpism.
There is a new “liberal/moderate/progressive/anti-authoritarian” coalition developing that is much broader than the traditional Democratic Party coalition. It includes a broad swath of traditional conservatives and others newly activated by the trampling of the rule of law and of democratic institutions being engineered by the neo-authoritarians surrounding Trump. In some ways, the enigmatic Michael Bloomberg and the conservative Bill Kristol are paradigmatic examples of the new highly motivated anti-autocratic coalition members. They represent millions more.
This developing “anti-autocratic” coalition must be embraced and fully mobilized in this election, meaning that we MUST have leadership that brings together not only traditional democrats and the insurgent Berniecrats, but also the newly-activated anti-autocrats.
If we can bring this expanded coalition together — for the win in November — it is likely this coalition can presage a significant change in our politics going forward. It’s the type of broad coalition that came together at other critical moments in our history, including in the wake of the Great Depression and the Second World War.
If we can now identify and nominate the leadership to pull this coalition together, it could well begin to develop the type of national political willpower we will need going forward to address the enormous challenges ahead for democracy, climate justice, and much more.