Footnotes and Scare Quotes

"This ideology isn’t speaking truth to power. It is the power." https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/the-miseducation-of-americas-elites

This was written by Representative Dan Crenshaw. A link to the study he references is at the end. Political rhetoric can be laughably entertaining, especially so when each side accuses the other of the  exact same charge . I’m not talking about boiler plate accusations of hypocrisy, corruption, or dishonesty, all of which can be fairly and honestly applied in a variety of instances. I am talking about deeper and more existential characterizations. In this instance, the dreaded and unwanted label of  authoritarianism. Obviously, it is difficult to see how the term could be applied accurately to both sides, in the same manner, and still be an honest characterization. The term itself carries critical definitional capacity, given that it describes a key element of a political disposition. So how can two opposing political ideologies  both  be described as authoritarian? Conservatives have a simple argument against the left: every policy you favor exerts additional contro...