Compromise

Compromise. We have compromised for too long, there is a single option that we acknowledge as possible and feasible, and that it must happen as decent, principled millennials. We need a revolution, whether it be political or social, to modernize, streamline, and correct economic, political, and social movements that have outlived their usefulness in their current forms. As such, we must acknowledge that compromise is not a part of revolution—if it were, we would very clearly be reasonable. Compromise is only possible among people who believe that the forces must be there. The problem of compromise is that it is just that, when one compromises, their values are compromised. In the rise of the right-wing, we see very clearly that the world is turning towards authoritarian nationalism. Any compromise with authoritarian nationalism is a deal with the devil—it will come back to destroy us. In the 1930s, compromise among the far-right (where the Republicans have been since the 2000s) and the center (where the Democrats have come to be located after decades of neoliberalism) led to the abolition of liberties and the passage of the Enabling Act after a slight national crisis. We are coming to a point where we will—mind you, will—see a genocide in fascist countries in the next decades. We are in a political climate which, if turned towards compromise, will bring both parties to the far right. While compromise, in theory, was what our country was built upon, I find this unlikely.

The constitution was not a compromise—it was the Federalist Party throwing in basic rights because the anti-Federalists threatened an uprising. This is not compromise—compromise implies civility and a willingness to be flexible, neither party was particularly flexible, and then in the case of segregation, we cannot "compromise" on human rights. Humans should have universal rights, and this is not an art of compromise, the social and cultural revolutions must change perceptions so that all people are considered human and deserving of human dignity, but oftentimes the right is convinced that the LGBTQ community and immigrants do not deserve the basic dignity of human rights. As such, we cannot say "they deserve some rights but not others," as that degrades the whole premise of socialism or social equity in general. As such, we cannot compromise on many of the points that we feel are important. Indeed, the same thing goes for women. Indeed, it goes for Black and Latino people in the United States. We cannot simply cede rights away in the name of "compromise." That is not compromise, that is destruction, it is the beginning of a dangerous path.

The United States, and the rest of the world for that matter, are going down a dark path, a path towards nationalism, and the liberal consensus is crumbling. Plans are in the works to leave the United Nations, the European Union, and NATO, the organizations that have kept the peace for so long in the neoliberal Washington consensus, the foundations of the current world order. The illusion of a unified "nation" is under attack by immigration and heterogeneity, and as such, the nationalist orders formed under the flags of neo-fascism and neo-nazism are attacking back through terror and influencing the political system. As decent human beings, socialists, and millennials, we cannot simply watch as the political sphere is shifted right endlessly in response to the fall of communism and the apparent untenable nature of social policy. History is not determined by the consensus of people in this country, it is defined by conflict and reaction. As such, I will negate any argument that people agree entirely upon the system in which we exist, but rather that people who advocated for its abolition have defined it. The compromise was upon how to meet social demands, but make no mistake, social demands from divergent groups within society are what have made this country what it is.

We must realize that the road to fascism is long and that we are upon it, otherwise, we will fail to understand until our neighbors are dragged away in the night by an overgrown security and surveillance apparatus. Greater government control will fail to ensure security—we were never safe and to think we are safe now is a foolish delusion. There is no way to secure the country without destroying everything that it stands for at the same time. This contradiction will lead to the destruction of constitutional government. It has occurred repeatedly in other countries, where people trade safety for their liberties, and it ends almost always in autocracy. Compromise is not an option—compromise now will be upon immigration, and next, it will be for a greater executive power, then it will be upon the judiciary, and then it will be upon freedom of speech, as we see laws outlawing certain methods of protest in several states. And then when you are no longer willing to compromise, a hostile military coup will depose the constitutional government. Or better yet, the Congress will be dissolved because of its inability to act. Regardless, the world and our country are in danger if we compromise, they are in less danger if we fight steadfastly for what we believe in. Already, the cracks are appearing in the global order, and it will soon collapse—Donald Trump is single-handedly destroying the global order, which is not necessarily a good thing (even if it was a flawed order).

We are headed to global fascism—Italy's Lega Nord is a fascist party in coalition with the center-right movement. He has advocated for a cleansing of Italian society, street to street, plaza to plaza, city to city. The Hungarian elections were declared unfair but free, and the judiciary has been criticized for the executive oversight and control of it. Polish police raided women's rights organizations for taking part in protests to obtain membership lists and documents relating to organizational activities. Poland, Hungary, and Italy are dangerously close to fascist governments. Poland and Hungary have both severely restricted their respective judiciaries and freedom of speech as well as increasingly biased the state media to the right. We are in an age where compromise could kill millions, and we would do well to remember that.