Left & right love age of rage, ‘political malpractice’ on entitlements and other commentary
Law prof: Left & Right Love Age of Rage
“Nothing says deliberative debate like a bullhorn,” quips Jonathan Turley at The Hill. Events on the Tennessee statehouse floor “perfectly captured our ‘age of rage.’ Protesters filled the capitol building to protest the failure to pass gun-control legislation,” and three Democratic reps refused “to yield to the majority. They disrupted the floor proceedings with a bullhorn and screaming at their colleagues.” It was “a scene familiar to many of us in academia, where events are regularly canceled by those who shout down others.” Both sides went too far, though. “Liberals and the media” rationalize “a disruption of legislative procedure as ‘good trouble’ because the cause is considered to be correct. Conservatives are equally quick to declare protests” by the left “insurrections” or “their opponents to be (in the words of Donald Trump) ‘enemies of the state.’”
Libertarian: ‘Political Malpractice’ on Entitlements
“Republicans and Democrats have been tripping over each other to tell voters how committed they are to making zero changes to Social Security and Medicare,” frets Veronique de Rugy at Reason. Yet the programs’ trustees “just confirmed yet again that within 10 years the programs’ funds will be insolvent.” By 2033, Social Security will only be authorized to make payments from payroll-tax revenue, amounting to 23% in cuts. Similarly, by 2031, Medicare’s Hospital Insurance Trust Fund will be insolvent, with benefits cut 11%. “Over the next 30 years, the two programs will run a $116 trillion shortfall.” For politicians to “pretend that Social Security and Medicare shouldn’t be touched is nothing short of political malpractice.”
From the right: Biden’s Afghan Gaslighting
“Americans are unlikely to fall for 12 pages of narrative gaslighting” on the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal the White House dumped on the holiday weekend, declares The Wall Street Journal editorial board: The “buck for that dark episode stops with President Biden.” The White House document says “Biden ‘believed the right thing for the country’ was withdrawing all U.S. forces” yet “blames the debacle on — wait for it — Donald Trump.” In the face of Biden’s “catastrophe in Kabul,” the report “trumpets his ‘deliberate, intensive, rigorous and inclusive decision-making process’ in Afghanistan.” The gaslighting only “underscores that the problem was the final decision — that is, Joe Biden’s awful judgment.”
Prosecutor: Bragg’s Uphill Battle to Get Trump
“Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s indictment of Donald Trump raises significant, perhaps insuperable, statute-of-limitations concerns,” observes National Review’s Andrew C. McCarthy. The “last criminal act charged occurred” when Trump made his last payment to Michael Cohen, Dec. 5, 2017. The falsifying-business-records statute of limitations is two years for misdemeanors and five for felonies. “Bragg’s defenders claim” he’s “relying on” New York law suspending the statute of limitations “if a defendant leaves the state.” But this law’s “intended to prevent fugitives from defeating their prosecution by fleeing.” Trump “maintained a residence and a continuous business practice in Manhattan” when he left for the White House and then Florida, even spending “plenty of time in New York.” The DA’s “better argument” is the 227-day COVID statute-of-limitations suspension Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered. That makes a felony, but not misdemeanor, charge “timely” — but it doesn’t appear “Bragg can prove the felony.”
Conservative: Mutilation Isn’t Affirmation
“‘Gender-affirming care’ sounds harmless and even positive,” warns Robert Henneke at the Washington Examiner. “Yet it covers horrific medical procedures on children that result in a lifelong need for treatments, sterility, and the inability to orgasm.” That’s why European nations reversed course “on providing such care to minors.” But “liberals refuse to accept that children just need to be children,” leading to “the laughable claim that a 4-year-old can make such life-altering decisions for themselves.” They can’t; “that’s why we don’t let them drink alcohol, get tattoos, enter into contracts, or smoke cigarettes.” “That’s not oppression; it’s the proper role of government.” Society must “protect those who can’t protect themselves. Florida, Texas, and other red states take that duty seriously.”
— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board
