Liberal: The Left’s Patriotism Problem
If the modern US left is to win serious majority support, argues the Liberal Patriot’s Ruy Teixeira, it needs to rethink on multiple fronts — not least, its attitude toward America. The 1619 Project’s cartoonish belief that American society is steeped in white supremacy “has ironically been very successful among affluent whites but alienated working-class voters of all colors.” More in Common polling found just 34% “of progressive activists say they are ‘proud to be American’,” vs. 62% of Asians, 70% of blacks and 76% of Hispanics.” Similarly, Gallop reports only 34% “of Democrats said they were extremely or very proud of being American,” vs. 53% of independents and 92% of Republicans. Having utterly failed to unite the country around “systemic racism,” “equity” and a “green transition,” Democrats should “try something that really could unite the country: patriotism and liberal nationalism” — “not national garment-rending.”
Conservative: Progressives’ Nazi-Hunting Vow
“The progressive fury over the Trump administration and the actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has now led not merely to Nazi comparisons, but to pledges to hunt down lawbreaking ICE agents like the Nazis,” thunders National Review’s Jim Geraghty. “If any local district attorney was going to declare a metaphorical war against federal immigration enforcement and compare them to the Third Reich,” Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner “ranks among the most likely suspects.” Unlike other “Soros-backed progressive prosecutors,” Krasner has “been reelected twice.” And, since crime in Philly has been “declining rapidly in recent years” to pre-pandemic lows, “perhaps Krasner has concluded that crime in Philadelphia is largely solved, freeing him up to focus on prosecuting ICE agents.”
Campus watch I: Qatar-negie Mellon U?
Evidence unsealed in federal court this month “demonstrates that foreign funders” may exert “outsize, hidden and nefarious influence on university programs,” reports Kenneth L. Marcus at The Wall Street Journal. Filings claim Carnegie Mellon University “harbors a culture of antisemitism and discrimination — in part due to the influence of more than $1 billion from Qatar and its affiliates.” E.g.: CMU staff members’ “work with the Doha campus as well as the contracts Carnegie Mellon has with Qataris ‘make it more probable that the university’s relationship with Qatar’ may have influenced the school’s policies,” including how it handles antisemitism. “Qatar has been, by far, the largest source of foreign funding for U.S. institutions.” “Congress must step in.”
Campus watch II: Columbia Skating on Antisemitism
Columbia University’s “deal with the federal government last summer to resolve allegations of antisemitism on campus” entailed the creation of a “monitorship,” notes The Free Press’ Maya Sulkin, but Charles J. Cooper just “replaced” the original monitor, Bart M. Schwartz. “Interviews with six people familiar with the university and monitorship” say “Columbia withheld information” that Schwartz “needed to conduct a proper analysis of the university.” Columbia was supposed to “supply Schwartz with a trove of documentation,” but “repeatedly failed to provide Schwartz with the policies relating to DEI and antisemitism for the vast majority of the schools within Columbia.” Meanwhile, Columbia has “failed to address” “dozens of instances of antisemitism.”
Urbanist: Why LA Stopped Repaving Streets
Los Angeles last summer “stopped repaving its streets,” fumes Shawn Regan at City Journal. It still “does some road repairs” such as “fixing potholes,” but “full street resurfacing” has “all but disappeared.” Why? “Federal disability rules” mandate that “when a city alters a street,” it must bring “adjacent pedestrian infrastructure” into Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, which means putting “curb ramps at every affected intersection.” But those ramps are expensive, and “repaving is considered an alteration that triggers these requirements,” so the city “invented a new category of street work” that “addresses localized damage.” Thing is, “sidewalks have deteriorated” to the point that “the people whom the [ADA] law is meant to protect bear the costs most acutely.”
— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board
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