As an addendum to my last post, there are two ways to get others to do something: persuasion and force. It’s not an accident that these two principles map crudely onto our political structure, specifically onto the judicial and executive branches, with a bicameral legislative branch between them that, being doubly bastard, can’t make up its mind. As the GOP takes over the judiciary and reduces it to a rubber-stamp for executive authority, the role of persuasion is diminished, which leaves us with force — not because it’s desirable, but because it’s all there is. When the right embraces the use of force to achieve its ends, a left that rejects force has nothing…left.
(The Week)