When I was interviewing people for my documentary about democracy I saw a lot of evidence of deeply anti-democratic sentiment from conservatives. It was one of the most chilling and unexpected things I encountered.

Thread: https://twitter.com/_waleedshahid/status/1327020654298877952

Instead, they insisted the two were opposed: democratic demands, whether for progressive taxation or for liberal immigration policies, would diminish their social and economic distinction.

Democracy was a bad word to them.

For example, a Republican political science major told me that she doesn’t value democracy. "The phrase that inspires me,” she said, “is the American dream and that ability to climb.” Opportunity mattered to her more than inclusion.

“In capitalism, there are going to be people at the bottom,” one young man enthused, confident of his place at the top and cognizant that his position was antidemocratic.

The Republican students were contemptuous of the ideal of democracy. Members of a privileged economic minority, they recognized that impediments to popular sovereignty, including the Electoral College and Senate, were necessary for the continued dominance of their class.

The American political system effectively offers a form of electoral affirmative action for Republicans. Nevertheless, conservatives are becoming increasingly authoritarian and hostile to democracy.

Sadly, there is a lot in the US tradition for them to draw on. The founders warned of “mobs” and “majorities.” James Madison promoted the idea that the Senate should protect the “invaluable interests” of “opulent” landlords against expropriation by the more numerous masses.

But there’s also a competing historical current of popular sovereignty and majoritarian politics for us to find inspiration in and build on. It involves an end goal of not only further democratizing our political system, but democratizing the economy as well.

Democracy requires political AND economic equality. Real self-government, in other words, requires socialism. Conservatives know that. And they are choosing autocracy.

In my view, this is the end of the end of history in action.

Capitalism and democracy are splitting up and we need to pick a side. I choose democracy, which means—like a growing number of people—I choose socialism.

When I was interviewing a group of young Republicans in 2016, I expected them to tell me that democracy and capitalism were mutually reinforcing, since that’s the rhetoric I grew up with.

The tweet above was supposed to be the second in the thread, not the last. Obviously I don't know how to social media properly. Good night folks!