The Memeification Of The GOP

Posted on March 4, 2025 by The Political Hat

     Over the past decade the Republican Party has transformed, for good or ill. For some, it was a purging of the “establishment” and “cuckservatives” and the rise of “fighters”. For others, it was a vehicle for vengeance and and emotional catharsis. Still yet for others, it is a way to grift and exploit the other two. But one thing for sure, it is slowly devolving into the the elephant in the same circus as the clowns—those trolls and meme lords who do it “for the lulz”. In much the manner of 4chan, it has gone from adults who have fun joking around amongst themselves into crap-posting social media obsessives. Oh, just amongst the overly online purported hoi polloi on social media, but by some of our highest elected and appointed officials. How bad has these memeification? So bad that the rape of minors has become fodder for the clown show of influencers and even a Rickroll by the official Twitter/X account of the House Judiciary Committee.

     The tweet was deleted but the internet is forever.

     The Republican Party has gone from a serious party that cared about making America better to one where the only palatable victory is “pwning the libs”. Fighting human trafficking or the pimping out of underage girls is passé and just not emotionally cathartic enough. No, you have to act like an online pre-juvenile joker.

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The Executive, Unitary Or Otherwise

Posted on March 3, 2025 by The Political Hat

     The system of checks and balances is one of the genius aspects of the Constitution of the United States. Each of the three branches are, or at least ought to be, supreme in their respective sphere with the Constitutional leadership commanding it’s own branch, but none commanding the whole government.

     Between them, Congress via Article I of the Constitution ought to be considered the first among equals, but equal nonetheless. They are constrained by the Constitution via the Supreme Court, and in part by the President via the power of the veto. The Supreme Court is constrained by the Constitution and via statutes enacted by Congress and the discretion of the administrator in chief (i.e. the President).

     The President is unitary executive that enacts the will of Congress, but is restrained by Congress and the Supreme Court alike. As Yuval Levin notes:

“A rough but useful rule of thumb would be that the president does command the executive branch but the executive branch does not command our government.”

     As such, while all executive power is wielded ultimately by the President, that power is not unlimited.   Indeed, ‘twould be an odd interpretation that the Constitution grants plenary power to the President subject to only enumerated or limited exceptions. This flies in the face of the very nature of the 10th Amendment as well as the worldview of the framers, who less than a decade prior were busy fighting for independence from a monarchy with less extensive powers than some would assert for the current President (though maybe not another President).

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News of the Week (March 2nd, 2025)

Posted on March 2, 2025 by The Political Hat

 

News of the Week for March 2nd, 2025


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Firing Line Friday: Tom Wolfe and The Painted Word

Posted on February 28, 2025 by The Political Hat

     In the hopes of encouraging a more civil, and illuminating, discourse, here is another episode of William F. Buckley, Jr.’s “Firing Line”.

     The pretentiousness of “art” that is supposed to “make you think” is something that still plagues us today just as much as it did half-a-century ago when William F. Buckley, Jr. and Tom Wolfe discussed the “answer in search of a question” that is the painted word of post-modernist art.

     Until next Friday.

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Quick Takes – Abortion Politics: Missouri; The Center For Disease Control; New Hampshire

Posted on February 27, 2025 by The Political Hat

     Another “quick takes” on items where there is too little to say to make a complete article, but is still important enough to comment on.

     The focus this time: In a post-Roe world, abortion is anything but a settled question.

     First, a little mood music:

     Carrying on…

     In Missouri, the voters directly are at odds with the voters indirectly.   Specifically after enshrining abortion rights via initiative, the Missouri legislature is seeking to reverse that.

“Three months after Missouri voters enshrined reproductive rights in the state constitution, abortion remains unavailable as the state’s main provider fights legal hurdles to resume offering the procedure.

“At the same time, opponents of abortion in the state Legislature, stung by the passage of Amendment 3 in November, have filed a raft of bills aimed at thwarting implementation of the measure or undercutting its goals while they try to find a unified strategy to prevent the return of abortion services.

“This week, state lawmakers held a hearing on a conservative-backed plan to put a new amendment on the ballot that would block most abortions. If passed by the General Assembly, the measure could go to voters as soon as this year.

“The proposed amendment would ban abortion except for in medical emergencies, when a fetus has abnormalities, or in cases of rape or incest, with rape or incest cases requiring a police report and subject to a 12-week limit. It would also prohibit public funding for abortions. What’s more, it would ban providing surgeries, hormones or drugs to assist a child with a gender transition, procedures that are already illegal in Missouri.”

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Nazi Flag Flap In Utah

Posted on February 26, 2025 by The Political Hat

     Demonstrating that yet again the modern GOP is a party of action first and thinking about the consequences later, a state Representative submitted a bill intended to ban the LGBTQ&c. pride flag (HB77) that also then specifically allowed for flying a “historic version of a flag” including the flag of other countries such as Germany:

“‘You may have a Nazi flag. You may have a Confederate flag, and so you are allowed to display those flags… as part of the curriculum, and that is okay.’”

     Now, the point was to allow for flags in their relevant historical context as part of the curriculum, but the author of the bill clearly felt the push back and went back to amend the bill from allowing the display “in or on the grounds of government property” for a generic “educational purposes” to such flags usage limited as outlined by approved curriculum by the relevant governing board.

Lemmy hardest hit.

     The entire flag flap could have been avoided, including defending the Nazi flag in any context by simply getting the wording right before pushing it through. But if anything, prudence is just a big of an enemy to some as the LGBTQ&c. pride flag.

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Mandatory Insurance For A Fundamental Right In Washington State

Posted on February 25, 2025 by The Political Hat

     Despite several Supreme Court cases saying that, yes, the 2nd Amendment is indeed part of the Bill of Rights and, yes again, is indeed an individual right, some states seem hellbent on curtailing this fundamental freedom which exists independent of, and antecedent to, the state… or indeed any state. One such common method is to make it as costly as possible to exercise that inalienable right. In the state of Washington, legislators are considering a bill to impose such a financial burden via mandatory, and perpetual, requirements to carry insurance in case were to ever be used in a crime. The main operative section of HB 1504 reads, in part:

A new section is added to chapter 9.41 RCW to read as follows: (1)(a) No person in this state may purchase or possess a firearm unless that person is: (i) Insured under a firearm liability policy or covered by a firearm liability bond meeting the requirements of subsection (2) of this section; (ii) Self-insured as provided in subsection (3) of this section; or (iii) Covered by a certificate of deposit meeting the requirements of subsection (4) of this section. (b) Compliance with this requirement constitutes financial responsibility for the purpose of this section. Proof of financial responsibility to purchase or possess a firearm must be provided on the request of a dealer or law enforcement officer in the format specified under subsection (5) of this section.

     All of the “options” require taking on a financial burden that will go on as long as one chooses to exercise their Constitutional Right to Keep and Bear Arms. How many of those who are in favor of this bill would consider it a human rights violation for the government to burden a right to vote with the requirement to have and present photo ID?

     The bill can, as introduced, can be read here or below:

Washington HB 1504 (2025) by ThePoliticalHat

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Over Here Or Over There

Posted on February 24, 2025 by The Political Hat

     One of the great follies of the Left is the idea that they could play as an intelligent designer with society and mould or even outright reconstruct it in line with their utopian vision. This is not the most hubristic and nonsensical thing since at least they can purport to control the society they wish to immanentize into the chosen eschaton. ‘Tis not only folly but an invitation for poetic justice when one had deluded themselves into thinking that they can reconstruct the world, if not human nature itself, with those explicitly acknowledged as being outside one’s power to control, despite self-assurances of one’s power to sway and manipulate.

     When it comes to antagonistic foreign relations, the belief that one could create a new world order by addressing issues only themselves and not any other country or power, is to admit that one blames America first for causing the problems to begin with!

     If you seek peace, and the only problem is yourself, then the others must be blameless and only responding to your own wickedness. Fix yourself and they won’t be antagonists anymore! This is the foreign policy foundation that is sought to be imposed on us now.

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News of the Week (February 23rd, 2025)

Posted on February 23, 2025 by The Political Hat

 

News of the Week for February 23rd, 2025


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Firing Line Friday: The Ozone Controversy

Posted on February 21, 2025 by The Political Hat

     In the hopes of encouraging a more civil, and illuminating, discourse, here is another episode of William F. Buckley, Jr.’s “Firing Line”.

     With all the “green” grift and rent seeking, not to mention the calls to grant central government absolute power to prevent a purported imminent collapse of Earth’s ecosystem, let us look back half-a century when a specific problem could be identified with a experimentally demonstrable cause & effect and a solution that didn’t require upending society as William F. Buckley, Jr. discusses the ozone controversy with Russell W. Peterson, R. S. Scorer, and Michael B. McElroy.

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