With the approval of Biden’s infrastructure bill, it now turns out the US government is even in control of a “kill switch” that could disable your car if you are deemed “impaired.” Likely few voters realized the 2020 election was essentially a referendum on whether or not the feds allow you to drive your car.
In 2018, Ross Douthat of the New York Times introduced the phrase “woke capital.” Essentially, Douthat suggested that woke capitalism works by substituting symbolic value for economic value. Under woke capitalism, corporations offer workers rhetorical placebos in lieu of costlier economic concessions, such as higher wages and better benefits.
It’s been only ten years since Barack Obama mocked Mitt Romney for suggesting that Russia is the world’s biggest geopolitical threat. Back then, everyone could see what is obvious: Russia is a country with a small economy and a second-rate military. Its only claim to great power status is that it has a nuclear arsenal. Moreover, Russia is utterly incapable of projecting its power to any region where there is no sizable Russian minority or a majority (i.e., South Ossetia, Crimea, eastern Ukraine).
“Lockdowns” for purposes of controlling the spread of covid have always been morally reprehensible. During 2020, police in American communities were actively assisting politicians in essentially confiscating the private property of business owners who refused to close down their businesses.
