2. Dialectical materialism was a coherent belief. "When it comes to education, I believe the woke ideology is even more harmful than old-fashioned communism."
3. Nor can it turn out any differently. "[T]he fact remains that actually existing socialism was often deeply undemocratic." Exactly, and perhaps the Scandinavians recognized the limits to their welfare states.
4. Radical chic as performance art. "We are not all in the same boat. We are being lectured by people in a yacht about people who are drowning. The rest of us are paddling as fast as we can in our rowboat."
5. The after-action reviews will be unsparing. "Now, 18 months of delayed treatments may be starting to take their toll." In addition, the Law of Unintended Consequences strikes. "The country is also suffering because of a lack of immunity. While lockdowns, social distancing, isolation and masks kept Covid-19 down, it also prevented other diseases from circulating."
6. A professor contemplates move-in day at a tony university. "I’m not sure if I’m bemused or irritated by the fact that many of my freshmen students drive significantly better cars than I do!" One of his sons enlisted in the Army, where move-in day is different. "These were not the same families I had seen on college move-in days." As long as the critical studies types don't ruin the services, the outcome might be good. "Whereas America’s colleges and universities take America’s best and brightest and turn them into whining and sniveling wokesters, the armed forces take America’s teenage dead-enders and produce the best amongst us." Dear reader, the excerpts don't do that post justice.
8. Bet on emergence. Rediscover the small platoons. "Legitimate concerns about the disproportionate power of out-of-touch, condescending elites can be solved by distributing authority, opposing technocracy, and trusting practical wisdom."
9. Of which factions is this true? "[T]hey’re more than ready, even seemingly want, to destroy the social fabric of the country to [take absolute power]."
10. That aggregation problem in Washington. "Now they are just figuring out that the coalition that put them into office doesn’t agree on much of anything besides the idea that Donald Trump shouldn’t be in the White House." There are voters to be picked up. "It is likely that a good chunk of Democrats’ gains among [college educated voters] in 2020 stemmed from distaste for Trump rather than underlying liberalism."
11. Pipe down, Donald. "The personality cult is becoming a political death cult for the party." Further, "[Conservative] interests do not align with Trump’s." For instance, "Voters don't expect or want 'structural change' from either the left or right. They want the economy to grow and society to be stable so they can work out their destinies in peace."
13. Compulsory service is a waste of talent. "[I]t's both expensive and immoral to force people to work and risk their lives in the service of causes they haven't chosen for themselves."
14. If only somebody had warned them. "[T]he modern feminist movement has sold a couple of huge lies to young women. The first is that sex lacks an emotional component, so it will leave no mark. And the second is that, if you get pregnant, and don’t want the baby, just get an abortion because that is “reproductive health care. These losers presenting themselves as young 'men' enjoying an adolescence that often extends into their 30s are not helping. And why should they? They benefit from their access to these misguided young women." Set the Wayback Machine to 1987, Sherman.
15. The insurgency came to Soldier Field. "College football fans really don’t seem to like President Biden or being told by elitists on TV that football isn’t okay to be played." Keep chanting, America. It's likely that people are thinking #FJB in situations where they're not necessarily chanting. "There are so many things that the people chanting could be upset with Biden about, from inflation to COVID restrictions." OK, flag me for piling on. "Thus, [now disaffected Biden voters] thought that with Trump gone, things would be fine."
16. Narrative first. "Neither hacks on Twitter nor the president of the United States cared what really happened at Del Rio, not when the lie was more seductive and useful."
17. Be careful what you wish for. "[I]f Congress enacts the Democrats’ massive spending packages, complete with tax increases and anti-business agenda items, the Chamber [of Commerce] will have gotten what it deserves." Gooder and harder.
18. Ye canna' change the laws of physics economics. "Americans who will bear the real brunt of the tax hike proposals certainly care more about what the practical impact will be than the White House’s moral musings." Including giving people things that are not for the White House's to give. "The state has no claim to all your income, so it doesn’t let you 'keep' anything." That's why we have tax havens. "Those who oppose tax havens simply want the government to take more money and have more power."
19. Rules for thee, but not for me. "From this it is easy to deduce the First Law of Liberal Hypocrisy: When liberals don’t get their way, let’s change the rules until they do."
20. Good government is boring government. Failure is complicated. "Not only will progressives have failed to deliver on any of their promises by the midterms, they might end up carrying the blame for a debt default and resultant economic chaos, adding to the legendary incompetence and malign neglect of the Biden era." Turf them out, already.
21. Life is full of trade-offs. "Abundance of caution" verges on paranoia.
22. Time for some unbundling. "A common thread runs through both the progressive agenda per se and the anger at those who are perceived to be sinking it: the mistaken belief that the United States is a homogenous political bloc, and that its states are mere regional departments of the federal government." That's not how any of this works. "[It] was probably never realistic to expect conservatives to be supportive of a transformative legislative package with the biggest price tag in modern political history."
23. Chasing three hares, catching none. "You can't do affirmative action, maintain black dignity, and maintain [academic] standards at the same time."
24. Xi gets the big face with the Davos set. "They are anxious to show that they are actually curbing emissions when they never actually do that." Let the masses eat by flashlight.
25. 'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished. "Many parents will listen, and the public schools will lose students, funding and public support."
26. Have you read Milton? "Zealots always prefer to live in hell if they can't get Heaven exactly as they want it."
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