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Culture War Roundup for the week of April 28, 2025

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I think you're right that the effects of this will be felt years from now, bit that you're completely wrong about the form that will take. Trump's actions are what I'll call "concentric escalation". They fully encapsulate previous democrat tactics re: ignoring administrative norms to enforce control (a conservative would point to "lawfare) which in in term encapsulate previous republican tactics that did essentially the same thing (re: "starve the beast" government shutdown brinksmanship) and so on and so forth since the whighs fought the federalists.

The next step won't just be the democrats trying and failing to assert control over an altered federal bureaucracy, it will be another concentric escalation-- another attempt to make the previous cycle of escalation totally moot. Republicans sidestepped democratic control ofer the courts and agencies by ignoring the courts and agencies. Democrats will sidestep republican control over the budget and military by sidestepping the budget and military. I don't think we'll be at outright vanguardism just yet... But property rights are not a natural law. The government provides them as a service, and services can be cut. Republicans have made an effective bulwark against redistributive taxation, but taxes are not the only means by which property can be redistributed. It doesn't particularly matter if people actually succeed at at adversely posessing or controlling property... raising security requirements alone becomes de-facto redistribution toward the prospect-less young men most likely to get hired for security work.every night watchman, every gated community guard, is a win for the democratic base.