It’s like the Paradox of Intolerance. In order to remain free and democratic, we need to disqualify candidates who would take away that freedom and would void our democracy. Not even counting all the myriad of crimes he’s been guilty of, just based on his words and his platform, he should be disqualified. We have to be intolerant of intolerance.
Philosopher Rainer Forst resolves the contradiction in philosophical terms by outlining tolerance as a social norm and distinguishing between two notions of “intolerance”: the denial of tolerance as a social norm, and the rejection of this denial.
I think viewing tolerance as a social contract perfectly sums up this situation. We allowed Trump to run for president when he had said some crazy shit, but hadn’t yet tried to overthrow the government. As soon as that happened, the social contract was off. No do overs.
It’s like the Paradox of Intolerance. In order to remain free and democratic, we need to disqualify candidates who would take away that freedom and would void our democracy. Not even counting all the myriad of crimes he’s been guilty of, just based on his words and his platform, he should be disqualified. We have to be intolerant of intolerance.
I think viewing tolerance as a social contract perfectly sums up this situation. We allowed Trump to run for president when he had said some crazy shit, but hadn’t yet tried to overthrow the government. As soon as that happened, the social contract was off. No do overs.