Red Lines – The American Mind

The uncomprehending angst of people who ve lived the same way, in the same places, for generations suddenly finding themselves harassed by a hostile government ostensibly theirs is mocked by the ruling class as a lament over lost privilege. After Virginia flipped from purple to Blue in 2019, the state legislature immediately enacted draconian gun restrictions that flew in the face of centuries of tradition and peaceful practice. Too bad! You lost! That s democracy. As Joel Kotkin has remarked, The worst thing in the world to be is the Red part of a Blue state.

We should not, however, give the powers-that-be too much credit for principled consistency. If and when popular majorities produce outcomes the rulers don t like, their devotion to democracy instantly evaporates. Judges, administrative state agencies, private companies whichever is most able in the moment to overturn the will of unruly voters will intervene to restore ruling class diktats. On the other hand, when voters can be counted on to vote the right way, then voting becomes the necessary and sufficient step for sanctifying any political outcome. It doesn t even matter where the votes (or voters) come from, so long as they vote the right way. The fact that they vote the right way is sufficient to justify and even ennoble their participation in our democracy.

via americanmind.org

Michael Anton.