Moderates must avoid ‘Flight 93 Temptation’ to borrow from the populists’ illiberal playbook

This perspective comes from a really interesting article in Democracy Digest.

The two most venerable English-speaking democracies appear to be following in the footsteps of countries they once sought to inspire. As the experience of Argentina, Hungary, or even Italy make clear, once unhinged politics becomes the new norm, escaping the normalized chaos and nihilism that ensues is difficult, according to Dalibor Rohac, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and Sophia Gaston, the director of the British Foreign Policy Group and a research fellow at the London School of Economics and the European Policy Centre.

In one sense, the desire to renegotiate the norms, standards, and structures underpinning liberal democracies is understandable. Political institutions have to adapt and evolve to the

demographic, economic, and social realities of modern times. It is one thing, however, to call for reform and quite another to champion the dissolution of the codes of conduct and institutions that have granted us prosperity, security, and freedom over so many years, they write for The American Interest:

See full story here.