[Insert Centrsit Lib] revulsion at the idea that politics could be a “contest of domination” is somewhat illuminating. One of the main criticisms launched by leftists against moderates like [Insert Centrsit Lib] is precisely that they have failed to understand this fact about politics. [Insert Centrist Lib World Leader] believed that political conflicts in [Insert Israel] were superficial, that underneath it all there was no “red []” or “blue []” but a harmonious nation whose people just needed to set aside their differences and recognize what they had in common.

As the ongoing collapse of the [Centrist Libs] political fortunes has shown, this view is both false and dangerous. It’s false because there are conflicting interests in society, and they are deep. Politics therefore has to be a contest to see which interests dominate over which. If my political value is: “we shouldn’t have an economy where employers can profit while sexually exploiting their workers, who will have no remedy because of the lack of available social support and the precarious nature of their financial well-being” and your political value is “I believe in an economic system where this can happen freely” (or “I am an employer who profits while sexually exploiting my workers”), then there is no available compromise. There is only a test to see which one of us can have our values enacted in the world. One of us will win and the other will lose. And because I think my values are good and your values are heinous, my job is to make sure you lose. Leftists should absolutely want to make sure their values dominate the other side’s values. That’s because the other side’s values are that people should struggle for subsistence in a miserably unequal, sexist, and racist economy. There is no degree to which this value should be accepted; it must be driven from the earth. “Dominating” it doesn’t mean hurting people. Quite the opposite. It means keeping people from getting hurt, by making sure that the values of compassion and fairness predominate. (And this doesn’t conflict with the idea of “forming coalitions.” Forming coalitions is essential to ensuring victory, and since those who believe politics is war value victory, they have no problem with coalitions.)

Ignoring that politics is about dominance is therefore deeply dangerous as well as oblivious. You can’t escape the game by pretending it isn’t happening, you can only lose it. [Insert Rightwing Reactionary Group] recognize that the aim of politics is to crush the other guy; [Insert Centrist Liberal who wants to convince people] spent eight years refusing to recognize this. There’s nothing noble about being too polite to fight for dominance; it just means that the people you’re supposed to fight for will continue to be the ones dominated. In Heer’s pejorative use of “dominance politics” we can get a good insight into why [Insert Centrist Liberal Group] are bad at politics: they actually seem to be uncomfortable with the idea that you’re supposed to be trying to win. In this worldview, compromise is a goal rather than a tactic, and it’s almost tawdry to say that you believe your side should win and the other side should lose. Heer critiques the idea of a “hierarchical” politics, suggesting that there is a conflict between the socialist idea of equality and the “dominance politics” idea of coming out on top. But that’s simply dishonest: the hierarchy we’re talking about is not a hierarchy of human beings, with some performing forced agricultural labor and some living like kings, but a hierarchy of values, in which beliefs like feudalism and racism are subordinated to and, yes, dominated by, values of democratic libertarian socialism.

It’s important to note, too, that believing your side should win in no way conflicts with the idea of believing we should be “nice to everyone” or that “we should all try to get along.” Interpersonal niceness is, as I have said before, a prerequisite to being a decent human being and we should all strive towards it. But niceness doesn’t work as a politics in and of itself, because of the values conflict. I am personally pleasant to many people whose beliefs I loathe. But I am still going to ruthlessly attempt to undermine the influence of those beliefs in the world, because being kind and accommodating to those beliefs would mean cruelty and hardship for their victims.