It became readily apparent that the [Kavanaugh] fight was not about his judicial philosophy or whether the allegations of sexual misconduct were true. It rapidly became a war between our two political tribes in which the only thing that mattered was victory and in which each side was living in its own reality.
The more I turn over [Bush’s] record and compare it to where Trump is going, the more it becomes obvious that this isn’t just about a personal animus for Trump. At every turn — the environment, the budget, trade policy, immigration — Trump is shaping up to be worse.
The straw ban isn’t the problem; the idea that the straw ban is some kind of bridge to solving bigger problems is. Because straw bans are easy; effecting real change is hard.
Moral panics can crash quickly. Or they can last centuries, as the moral panic over witchcraft did. I have no feel for how long the moral panic over sex work will last. But now that FOSTA is law, the potential damage it will cause has dramatically increased.
Why on Earth do we elect judges? Why, in a system designed to resist the passions of the mob, do we bring it back in at the point of maximum leverage?
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