Between tyranny and violence: Sketch of the coming dystopia

If there were a dystopia of intolerance, it might be one in which there are two factions or parties, that of those who style themselves as partisans of law and order who believe most problems are best solved with punishments, and those who style themselves as partisans of rebellion against injustice who believe that most problems are best solved with violence. These two parties would each sustain the other, as violence would call for punishments, and a regime of punishments for violence in real and false rebellion against it.

The less educated would lean more than others in both directions, depending merely on where they happen to be situated at the moment.

Such a society could still have lots of liberty. It would be sustained partly by the relative "innocence" of those who at any time are not directly engaged in either punitive enforcements or rebellious struggles.

What this society would lack is not liberty but democracy. Along with its degeneration would go that of discursive rationality. People would argue with each other, often quite angrily, but only to win and not seeking the truth.

Don't you think our society today is far too much like this?