If you needed reminding that there is no politics without an enemy, just take a look at the reaction of Sen. Schumer (D-NY) to Sen. Manchin's decision that he's not supporting the Build Back Better bill in the Senate.
We are going to vote on a revised version of the House-passed Build Back Better Act – and we will keep voting on it until we get something done.
In other words, "once more unto the breach, dear friends."
Then there is Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
"We will continue to fight to pass the legislation," Pelosi said. "It must happen and we will do it as soon as we can."
See what I mean? Both Pelosi and Scbumer are talking as though there's a war on.
And in fact that is exactly what the BBB bill is all about: forcing Americans to pay for more social spending for Democratic lower-income constituencies and forcing Americans to pay for more green energy programs.
Because?
Because we must smash systemic racism once and for all.
Because we must transform the energy economy before the planet fries from runaway climate change.
Now, over at National Review they are talking about one-the-one-hand on-the-other-hand politics.
A close election and a narrow majority call for a modest agenda and for some bipartisan policy-making...
But the political psychology of a bitterly partisan time firmly resists modest agendas and bipartisan policy-making.
Trump won a narrow election but pushed the limits on his political agenda; Democrats won a narrow election and are pushing the limits. Both sides think the they was robbed, etc.
I guess I live on a different planet from the NR guys.
Because I don't experience the present era as two sides fighting over the spoils. I see the current era as the ordinary middle class rebelling against a century of the educated class increasing government spending from 10 percent of GDP to the present 35-40 percent of GDP.
That is to say, the educated class has moved the United States from a society in which about 10 percent of its economy was decided by force to a society in which about 35-40 percent of its economy is decided by force.
Now I would say that, at some point, the ordinary people of a country are going to rebel when their rulers decide 35-40 percent of who gets the moulah. Because, human nature being what it is, the chances are that the rulers will prefer their friends and supporters when it comes to handing out the loot.
I interpret the current Democratic regime as racing to enact as much of their agenda as possible -- damn the torpedoes -- before they are out of power for a generation.
And what I dream of is a ruling class that does not think that a society that decides 35-40 percent of its economy by force is a good thing.
What I dream about is a ruling class that thinks: hmm, I wonder if there is a way to reduce the amount of government force in our lives without, of course, compromising the gloriousness of the most glorious ruling class in world history.
Because, you see, in my view, the problem with big government programs is that you can never change and adapt them. So they go on, plowing along, full speed ahead, until they hit an iceberg.
And it doesn't matter if Captain Biden on the bridge is the smartest guy in a generation, or if the Chief Engineer Pelosi in the engine room really knows steam propulsion like nobody else in the world. If you a blindly steering full speed ahead into a field of icebergs, you are going to have trouble right here in River City.
And then, of course, it's a question of whether there is enough time for everyone to get in the lifeboats before it's too late.
See, I have this weird notion that whenever you do something by force, you are probably Making Things Worse.
I wonder why.
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