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Culture War Roundup for the week of December 16, 2024

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Why does this indicate Trump will be different this time? Musk and Ramaswamy signal boosted a shorter bill, which proves they have influence, which means DOGE could be more than a publicity stunt, maybe? I'm not really getting the connection.

The number of pages of legislation seems like a very poor barometer of government judiciousness.

> Something happens that doesn't usually happen > Why does this mean things will be different?

The key isn't just smugly concluding that small bills are bad too, so who can really say? Lots of people can tell, in fact, what is in bills. From all the discussion going around there were a lot of bad things in that first bill that aren't in the second one. Elon Musk is happier, Vivek Ramaswamy is happier, that must count for something? It's tedious to read the all-knowing attitude that everything is a publicity stunt, after all, and nothing really matters (but I don't actually know the specifics I'm just guessing because nothing really matters).

Edit:

As one example, here is Congressman Jim Banks alleging that the old bill funds an agency that censored conservatives:

https://x.com/RepJimBanks/status/1869350064742875341?t=EoITrkbHKRZJ0JeO_cPqDw&s=19

Short of an argument about how Jim Banks is wrong, actually, or censorship is good, actually, killing the old bill sounds good to me!

Why does this indicate Trump will be different this time?

Trump administration. I am using the metonym.

The number of pages of legislation seems like a very poor barometer of government judiciousness.

Hard disagree. Rules must be comprehensible to those who are ruled. Even more importantly, they must be comprehensible to those who MAKE the rules. Congressmen who pass laws they haven't even read are derelict of their duty. And if you think that the modal congressman read the 1500 page CR, I have a bridge to sell you.