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Travis Monteleone's avatar

Great piece. The need to appeal to rousing principle in defense of liberalism is especially prescient. This view does a lot to explain the flash-in-a-pan track record of narrowly focused centrist groups like No Labels and the Forward Party. When populists on both the left and the right are appealing to grand "good vs. evil" narratives, the defenders of liberalism must do the same.

For those interested in a further deep dive on the philosophical and institutional underpinnings of the new right authoritarians, much of which overlaps with the Caesarists mentioned here, take a look at The New Republic's piece on the Claremont Institute: https://newrepublic.com/article/174656/claremont-institute-think-tank-trump

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Late Bloomer's avatar

I must subscribe to the New Republic in order to read the referenced article.

I own a pair of muskets or flintlocks. The phrase is "a flash in the pan" means all show and no action. The phrase comes from the spark of the flint setting off the primary powder in the pan but NOT the gun powder in the barrel.

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