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Culture War Roundup for the week of October 21, 2024

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The only way to actually do that though is to disempower the state to do those things. It’s important because it’s everywhere doing everything and therefore you either take it over and use it to devour your enemies or you get devoured yourself. Taking for example LGBTQ issues. In 1990, the big issue was basically state recognition of gay marriages. This actually (on paper) affected maybe 3% of the us population and the wedding industry. Fast forward 30 years and now the issues of LGBTQ touch everything from education and child protection to medical care to sports and restrooms. The government controls very much more just on this set of issues alone. Go on to environmental issues and it’s now things like the car you drive, the kinds of appliances you own, the cost of electricity and fuel, getting roads built and so on. Given just how intrusive the government is over the government of Bill Clinton in 1992, it’s not much of a wonder that a much more powerful state is a much bigger prize that the elites of all stripes are eager to control. If the survival of an industry depends on the outcome of an election, or your right to know if your child has a gender identity issue hinges on the results of an election, elections become extremely important.

Drain the government of power over people and industries and nobody would care. If I could simply choose my school board and know they would not insert their political beliefs into the classrooms, I wouldn’t be super worried. People in 1900 barely knew who was running the central government because it didn’t actually touch them personally.