Heather Cox Richardson, in yesterday’s Letters From an American newsletter:

But, see, here’s the thing: Once you give up the principle of equality before the law, you have given up the whole game. You have admitted the principle that people are unequal, and that some people are better than others. Once you have replaced the principle of equality with the idea that humans are unequal, you have granted your approval to the idea of rulers and servants. At that point, all you can do is to hope that no one in power decides that you belong in one of the lesser groups.

She is speaking about different groups in the left and right giving up on American democracy, but it also applies to our desire for power over those who oppose us as a way of assuaging our fears and vulnerability. Better to face that fear and be open to vulnerability, than to lie to ourselves that feeling safe can only come when those others are controlled and neutered.