Politics, Government & Public Policy: June 2020 Archives
I'm surprised but pleased to see that Facebook is resisting pressure from Joe Biden to "fact-check" political statements.
We live in a democracy, where the elected officials decide the rules around campaigns. Two weeks ago the President of the United States issued an executive order directing Federal agencies to prevent social media sites from engaging in activities like fact-checking political statements. This week, the Democratic candidate for President started a petition calling on us to do the exact opposite. Just as they have done with broadcast networks -- where the US government prohibits rejecting politicians' campaign ads -- the people's elected representatives should set the rules, and we will follow them. There is an election coming in November and we will protect political speech, even when we strongly disagree with it.
I'm not really sure what I have to add to the current news-cycle.
- The killing of George Floyd by the police was horrible and should be prosecuted.
- Peaceful protesting is good and useful to bring attention to legitimate grievances and to promote positive change.
- Rioting, looting, and burning is disgraceful and should be prosecuted.
- Civil disorder is the kind of thing that makes people long for an authoritarian to restore order. If you want more and worse Trump, this is how you get it.
It seems like political agitators of various stripes -- but primarily left-wing self-described anti-fascists Antifa -- are using the terrible killing of George Floyd to foment violence to undermine Trump and provoke him to an authoritarian overreaction. I don't think this move will play out well for the Left because it undermines the class realignment that has been happening since the 2016 campaign and Trump's election. The nature of that realignment has been that suburban white women have begun to align with the globalist class, and working-class white men have begun to align with the small-c conservative cohort. The rioting and violence threaten to undermine the leftward movement of white suburban women, which could leave the Left without a dance partner.
