Editor’s Note: “First Drafts” are attempts to work through tensions in our own thinking in real time, with you, the crowd, as our interlocutors. Please feel free to challenge us in the comments. If you like this post, consider becoming a member to support our work.
Alarmism had already set in before the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Since then, warnings of "fascist coups" and "Reichstag fires" have proliferated. It's as if there was a desire—a need—to be in a constant state of alarm. There is something thrilling about living at the end of the world.
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