Facing the Future

Getting Started On Our Long-Game

We are at a potentially paradigm-shifting moment in the history of global politics. The liberal assumption that, with the end of the Cold War, democracy would inevitably prevail was taken too literally, but it’s not too late to make that prediction come true. We need to address the emergency at hand, and do so while developing a long-game through which to vet our immediate-term strategies and tactics.

The Strategic Opportunity

Learning from the Authoritarian's Long-Term Strategy: Nancy MacLean's work reveals how conservatives spent decades building institutional infrastructure while liberals assumed their victories were permanent. They created think tanks, captured academic institutions, developed legal theories, and, most importantly, they identified and exploited the structural tensions within liberal coalitions.

The right understood something liberals missed: that political coalitions are inherently unstable and that patient, strategic work to exacerbate contradictions could eventually flip entire systems. They turned cultural anxieties, economic grievances, and ideological tensions into political weapons.

Current Authoritarian Coalition Vulnerabilities: Just as conservatives exploited fault lines in New Deal liberalism, pro-democracy forces need to identify the structural weaknesses in the authoritarian coalition:

• Elite-populist tensions: Wealthy donors vs. working-class base interests

• Generational divides: Younger conservatives who may be more libertarian on social issues than committedly authoritarian

• Regional economic contradictions: Red states that depend on federal programs they rhetorically oppose

• Religious-secular authoritarian tensions: Traditional religious conservatives vs. secular tech authoritarians

• Corporate-nationalist conflicts: Global business interests vs. economic nationalism

• Competition between business elites: Conflicting interests among business elites are being exposed by the corporate capture of democracy

The Path Forward: Building Counter-Infrastructure

1. Institutional Capture and Creation: We need our own version of the Federalist Society - institutions that can shape legal interpretation, academic discourse, and policy frameworks for decades. This includes:

• Alternative economic theories that reconcile democracy with sustainable economies

• Legal frameworks that strengthen rather than constrain democratic participation

• Educational institutions that teach civic engagement as core curriculum

2. Coalition Warfare Strategy: Rather than just defending current coalitions, actively work to fracture authoritarian alliances by:

• Appealing to business interests threatened by authoritarian unpredictability

• Exploiting tensions between different authoritarian factions

• Creating off-ramps for people currently in authoritarian movements

3. Narrative and Cultural Strategy: The right succeeded partly by making their vision feel inevitable and natural. Pro-democracy forces need:

• Compelling stories about what democratic life looks like beyond current institutions

• Cultural products that make authoritarianism feel alien and democracy feel vibrant

• Economic models that deliver material benefits that people can experience directly

If Authoritarianism Consolidates: The U-Turn Strategy

Learning from Historical Examples: Chile under Pinochet, South Africa under apartheid, and Eastern Europe under communism all eventually transitioned back toward democracy. Key patterns:

1. Maintain Parallel Institutions

• Keep democratic practices alive in whatever spaces remain (local government, civil society, religious institutions)

• Develop alternative information networks and mutual aid systems

• Create economic cooperatives and community-controlled resources

2. Exploit Authoritarian Overreach: Authoritarian systems often create their own opposition through:

• Economic failures that affect their base

• Corruption that alienates supporters

• Repression that radicalizes moderates

• International isolation that hurts business interests

3. Strategic Patience with Tactical Flexibility

• Build broad coalitions that can survive in underground or semi-legal forms

• Develop multiple resistance strategies (legal, cultural, economic, direct action)

• Create sustainable networks rather than relying on charismatic leadership

The Meta-Strategy: Reframing Democracy Itself

Perhaps most importantly, this moment requires fundamentally reconceptualizing what democracy means. Rather than defending existing institutions that have proven vulnerable to capture, we need to articulate and demonstrate forms of democracy that are:

• More participatory: Moving beyond electoral democracy to economic and social democracy

• More resilient: Designing systems that can't be easily captured by wealth concentration

• More appealing: Creating democratic experiences that feel meaningful and effective to ordinary people

The right succeeded by offering a vision that felt both nostalgic and futuristic. Pro-democracy forces need a vision that acknowledges current system failures while pointing toward something genuinely better.

The Takeaway: We can't just resist authoritarianism defensively. We need to build alternative power structures, exploit contradictions in authoritarian coalitions, and prepare for the long game - whether that means preventing consolidation or planning the eventual restoration of democratic governance.

This requires the same kind of patient, multi-generational thinking that conservatives used to capture American politics, but directed toward expanding rather than constraining democratic participation.