Everything Old Is New Again

Kevin Williamson on the return of at least some old fashioned values among Democrats after the election of Donald Trump who, let’s forget, had more in common with Bernie Sanders than any other candidate on the ballot:

The pretensions of the imperial presidency are going to haunt Democrats for the immediate future, but they’ll quickly rediscover their belief in limits on the executive. While they’re rediscovering old virtues, they might take a moment to lament Senator Harry Reid’s weakening of the filibuster, an ancient protection of minority interests in the less democratic house of our national legislature. They might also lament Senator Reid’s attempt to gut the First Amendment in order to permit the federal government — which in January will be under the management of Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, and — incredibly enough — President Donald Trump — to regulate political speech, deciding who can speak, about what and when, and on what terms. Perhaps they’ll thank those wicked “conservative” justices on the Supreme Court for saving basic political-speech rights. If they are smart, they will rediscover federalism, too, and the peacemaking potential of a school of thought that says in a diverse nation of 320 million souls, there is no reason that life in rural Idaho must be lived in exactly the same way as it is in Brooklyn or Santa Monica. As Charles C. W. Cooke pointed out, the same people who until ten minutes ago denounced federalism — which they mischaracterize as the doctrine of “states’ rights” — as an instrument for the suppression of African Americans are now embracing secession, which, in the American context at least, has a little bit of its own racial baggage.

Read the whole thing, naturally.

8 thoughts on “Everything Old Is New Again

  1. It is a mistake to spend too much time analyzing reprobates in office. It is the leftist feeder system that must be watched, and fought.

    Leftists are not taking the Trump victory lying down. Plans are being laid, and implemented. As always, the public schools will be at the tip of their spear.

    The union thugs of the United Educators of San Francisco have issued a lesson plan to put the Trump Presidency in proper perspective for the children living in that forlorn wasteland.

    From their website:
    http://www.uesf.org/november2016-election/#more-4942

    Lesson Plan on the November 2016 Election

    I hope that you will take the time to put all lessons aside and talk to our students about what has happened and how they feel.
    Please, let them speak and be heard. Let them say what is on their minds, this is crucial for our school and our community.
    Let us please not sidestep the fact that a racist and sexist man has become the president of our country by pandering to a huge racist and sexist base.

    Objectives:
    •Students express their concerns and voice their thoughts/feelings
    •Students gain empowerment/hope
    •Students feel safe and respected
    •Anti-Racist/Anti-Sexist/Anti-Islamophobic/Anti-Homophobic (etc.,) teaching lenses are magnified and put into full use tomorrow and students should come away with an understanding of this through discussions held in class/norms established
    •Students gain a working knowledge of context of American racial violence, sexism etc.,
    RESOURCES:
    1.Michael Moore Documentary/Clip from Trumpland:
    http://www.democracynow.org/2016/11/7/michael_moore_if_elected_donald_trump

    Some scaffolding needed:
    key words:
    1. Brexit 2. Orwelian 3. Right wing 4. Left wing

    2. People disenfranchised and prevented from voting:
    Eighty percent of Rikers Prisoners not convicted felons, yet not allowed to vote:
    Journalist Victoria Law breaksdown misinformation about voting rights for NYC prisoners.http://www.democracynow.org/2016/11/7/disenfranchised_by_misinformation_victoria_la
    w_on

    As Mitch says, read the whole thing.
    http://www.uesf.org/wp-content/uploads/nov2016-election-lesson-plan.pdf

    No one in San Francisco would object to anything being proposed, of course, but make no mistake; this kind of lesson plan is being prepared in school districts across the nation.

    We’ve won a tiny victory this year, but we continue to lose the war.

  2. Nice to see Democrats coming around, but sad to say, I expect this to reverse as soon as the Democrats run things. Some people never learn.

  3. This is old-fashioned ‘pragmatic’ nationalism. It is the zero-sum nationalism that led to great conflict and misery in the past, as in the 1930s. The new internationalism was largely successful in suppressing international conflict, and creating a rules-based system where billions of people could prosper and climb out of poverty. The old pragmatic nationalism offers short term gains at the expense of long term peace and prosperity. I fail to see the appeal, over even the pragmatism. I see shortsightedness.

  4. “Donald Trump who, let’s forget, had more in common with Bernie Sanders than any other candidate on the ballot:”

    Tossed out as if it needed no proof.

  5. As far as allowing states more leeway to run their states….Someone said this week…..Why is a “non-profit” group from Conn suing Louisiana to stop charter schools in that state?

    As far as the San Fran school issue….I say the state level should have authority there. If Sacramento decides that is really bad, they can intervene. I don’t think someone in DC should overrule what is taught in a local school. Maybe a compromise can be school vouchers, so those with lower incomes that want their kids to get an education, can go to a private school. Of course California just passed a law allowing The State to have more control over private schools.

  6. Pingback: In The Mailbox: 11.17.16 : The Other McCain

  7. Mark Lilla has an interesting piece in the NY Times, “The End of Identity Liberalism.” He thinks that now that whites have jumped on the racial identity bandwagon, it has got to stop.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/20/opinion/sunday/the-end-of-identity-liberalism.html?_r=0
    This sentence of Lilla’s jumps out as an example of why it is so difficult for conservatives and liberals to communicate: “Affirmative action has reshaped and improved corporate life.”
    Does Lilla not understand that it is illegal to “discriminate against someone (applicant or employee) because of that person’s race, color, religion, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation, and pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information.”?
    https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/practices/
    Lilla thinks it is normal, acceptable, and salutary for an employer to take race, ethnicity, religion, and sex into account when hiring, firing, promoting and demoting employees. In his world, maybe it is.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.