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Notes -
Scott, prescient as always.
As for the substance. My point is that endorsing red flag laws or abortion rights or gender whatever is not sufficient to make those things happen at a federal level. Most of the time, the President gets to pick an appropriately-aligned justice or two, sign the budget, and then go back to meeting with foreign leaders or ordering bin Laden’s death.
Also, I observe that most of your example tyrannies were enacted by and for individual states. Given that Biden and Congress have failed to override Dobbs trigger laws, despite the vivid backlash, I have little expectation of a sweeping rule on lesser CW battlefronts.
Would Harris sign a federal assault weapons bill? Sure. Would any Democrat not? I have seen precious little evidence of conscientious objectors saying, “no, this time the party has gone too far.” By the time something crosses the Resolute desk, it’s got the explicit approval of hundreds of congressmen and, by proxy, roughly half the country.
That’s not true for executive action, and I’ll agree that a Democrat is more likely to use the administration against the interests of “deplorables.” Does that really get you to “an end to the possibility of flourishing”? I don’t think so.
I would expect Kamala to go after religious colleges through to department of education- and I think BYU specifically is important to Mormon flourishing- at the very least.
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