Zack Beauchamp

Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp

@jbouie @OlufemiOTaiwo @sckimbriel @lastpositivist But they didn't *all* believe that! There was massive internal dissent on this point inside liberal states — and the dissenters won! Not on their own of course. And the explanation for why liberal states contained illiberal features is historically complex. — PolitiTweet.org

Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp

@OlufemiOTaiwo @sckimbriel @lastpositivist This is obviously a huge topic that we won't settle on Twitter, I'd love to talk about it in some other venue. But I just think you're taking one of liberalism's distinctive features — its capacity for self-improvement and refinement — and dismissing it as an ideological trick. — PolitiTweet.org

Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp

@OlufemiOTaiwo @sckimbriel @lastpositivist And on this point, this is a very narrow understanding of liberalism. Were Bolsheviks not anti-liberals? Maoists? Of course they were! They opposed not narrow principles of political rhetoric but the big picture liberal stuff, property and democracy. https://t.co/tnYTCGJLFC — PolitiTweet.org

Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp

@OlufemiOTaiwo @sckimbriel @lastpositivist Yeah, we just fundamentally disagree. They made those arguments but they were profoundly incoherent; in the US case that inconsistency led to a devastating civil war. And I don't think *imperialism* is what deserves the credit for massive improvement in growth/living standards. — PolitiTweet.org

Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp

@OlufemiOTaiwo @sckimbriel @lastpositivist And when movements claiming the mantle of equality did aim their fire directly at liberalism's ideals, it often ended very badly. We're all familiar with the many examples here so I won't belabor them. — PolitiTweet.org

Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp

@OlufemiOTaiwo @sckimbriel @lastpositivist Put differently: the great movements for social equality weren't rebelling against liberalism per se — they didn't oppose ideals of democracy, individual rights, and popular sovereignty. They were calling for the extension of those principles. — PolitiTweet.org

Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp

@OlufemiOTaiwo @sckimbriel @lastpositivist I think Sam's claim that liberal *neutrality* "had a major party to play" in "building" colonialism is not right. And often times, liberalism itself created the resources to undermine its internally undermining tendencies (e.g., Lincoln, 1945 UN Declaration) — PolitiTweet.org

Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp

@OlufemiOTaiwo @sckimbriel @lastpositivist But the great thing about liberalism is that's totally coherent. Slavery and colonialism are inconsistent, in principle, with liberal ideals of freedom and equality — as liberal leaders themselves frequently acknowledged (even shitty ones like Woodrow Wilson). — PolitiTweet.org

Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp

RT @newrepublic: .@ZSzelenyi witnessed firsthand how Orbán took revenge for his previous defeats and developed the perfect playbook of vote… — PolitiTweet.org

Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp

But I’ve been reliably assured that all Putin wanted was the Donbas — PolitiTweet.org

Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp

@lastpositivist I think the current economic system has been effective (in the long run) at reducing poverty and deprivation. I think liberalism is responsible, in part, for facilitating gains in standing and status made by marginalized groups. And the alternative you hint at has a worse record. — PolitiTweet.org

Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp

This is helpful because it clarifies how much of what seems like philosophical disagreement is actually empirical. I’m a liberal, in part, because I think Liam’s description of the global economy and history of social progress here is basically wrong. — PolitiTweet.org

Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp

Regional manager of a midsize paper supply company — PolitiTweet.org

Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp

Source https://t.co/7LhTvrjUhM — PolitiTweet.org

Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp

😱😱😱 https://t.co/WGGGmQDz5i — PolitiTweet.org

Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp

Hungary’s unfair election shows how effective Orbán’s authoritarian regime is — and how much of a problem it poses for Europe during the Ukraine crisis https://t.co/AcW6yV1x9U — PolitiTweet.org

Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp

This is how information control works in sophisticated authoritarian regimes: they don't put you in jail but use other means, like forcing independent media to sell to pro-government figures, to create a facsimile of a free press that's actually controlled by the state. — PolitiTweet.org

Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp

How does this work? Basically, there are only a handful of independent media outlets and they are hard to find: "You have to access the internet and know where to click (also be interested and want to get news) to find out what's really happening." — PolitiTweet.org

Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp

Talking to a friend in Budapest about the election result: "For the whole country to be dumbed down by propaganda, it's crazy...they literally brainwash people. In the countryside they just repeat the state media's stock lies." — PolitiTweet.org

Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp

RT @alexcruik: @zackbeauchamp The line from this article I still think Hungary under Orban epitomises: "Most critics, even vocal ones, are… — PolitiTweet.org

Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp

RT @yamphoto: Day 29: A simple, stark & hasty funeral to honor the life of Boris Romantschenko. He survived the holocaust. Everyone wept. A… — PolitiTweet.org

Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp

I wrote this nearly four years ago, and it remains true today. There’s a reason why Orbán is Vladimir Putin’s best friend in Europe https://t.co/5ZYzYYyeLt — PolitiTweet.org

Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp

Viktor Orban appears to have won “reelection.” As I have been saying for months, his regime is one of the most effective competitive authoritarian systems on the planet - the odds the opposition could win were astronomically low — PolitiTweet.org

Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp

This is really good, @JillFilipovic https://t.co/nv4WiUCI6F — PolitiTweet.org

Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp

Sure, dunk on politics nerds for not knowing Herschel Walker famously didn’t graduate UGA. But isn’t the real issue that *he’s* lying about it despite literally everyone knowing it’s a lie? — PolitiTweet.org

Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp

@DemocraticLuntz There are so many layers here — PolitiTweet.org

Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp

Anyway, this Russian cope stuff is weirdly widespread and that’s why I wrote this https://t.co/pUTPPXq7to — PolitiTweet.org

Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp

They’re retreating. You understand they’re retreating, right? — PolitiTweet.org

Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp

RT @dandrezner: I appreciate @zackbeauchamp writing this, thus sparing so many others from having to do the same. https://t.co/DzV9tJ6EY6 — PolitiTweet.org

Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp

Reports that Russia has been entirely pushed out of Kyiv oblast underscore an obvious reality: the attempts to claim that Russia is actually succeeding are completely out of touch with reality https://t.co/pUTPPXq7to — PolitiTweet.org