That’s an awful lot of callisthenics to justify the use of a phrase which very clearly argues against improving society (i.e. if you bring about good times, that’ll mean hard times in the future) - it’s very clearly arguing for the status quo… Which is to say, it’s conservative, in itself.
Add the fact that this is a favourite phrase of far-right authoritarians who are suspiciously fond of the Roman Empire and seem just a bit too interested in genetics, and yeah, I’m happy to call it a dog whistle.
That’s an awful lot of callisthenics to justify the use of a phrase which very clearly argues against improving society (i.e. if you bring about good times, that’ll mean hard times in the future) - it’s very clearly arguing for the status quo… Which is to say, it’s conservative, in itself.
Add the fact that this is a favourite phrase of far-right authoritarians who are suspiciously fond of the Roman Empire and seem just a bit too interested in genetics, and yeah, I’m happy to call it a dog whistle.