We often talk about there being a failure of imagination in America. The majority opinion on Monday is yet another example. We may need to live through the rise of autocracy in order to imagine it. It may very well be that conservatism has at its very foundation an inability to imagine the future.
More precisely it is an inability to imagine an *improved* future is possible and that there are steps we can take to get there. This inability is rooted in a profound mistrust of human nature. Such a bleak outlook favors a “carceral state” and “unitary executive” preference in governance.
