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Culture War Roundup for the week of November 2, 2026

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If democracy was about solving the needs of the people then Baltimore and Detroit and Chicago wouldn't keep electing corrupt political machines.

The politicians do what they do because they are of, for, and by the activist class.

And the activist class would burn the world down to hurt Trump and his proxies. No cost is too high to bear. The enemies must pay.

The problem I have with democracies is some jobs it doesn’t possess the tools or political resources to solve. If you keep electing such people then one of two things is true: either the electorate is stupid, or, you can’t democratically vote your way out of the problem (hence, where democracies expose their flaws). The cardinal rule of politics is that politicians do whatever gets them elected.

The cardinal rule of politics is that politicians do whatever gets them elected.

Yes, and putting mainstream Republicans in gulags is an issue that polls extremely well with mainstream Democrats. Don't underestimate how much hate that even otherwise good people can hold in their heart.

You're assuming that Democrats will "tackle affordability" or do other impossible things to win an election.

I'm assuming that they will win elections by making a giant straw man and then burning that straw man to death.

putting mainstream Republicans in gulags is an issue that polls extremely well with mainstream Democrats.

You mind providing the evidence for this?

As far as I know, the closest evidence for it is that during Covid-19, democrats broadly supported draconian unconstitutional measures that would have hurt their political enemies very strongly.

Democrats are already announcing they're going to try and pass a federal universal gun registry. Presumably it will be a federal felony to not register your guns. This is unjustifiable from any basis by which we assess other laws, ie cracking down on marijuana possession or illegal immigration are much easier to justify in terms of expected policy outcomes than this law. It is being proposed because it is a way to threaten broad swaths of up-till-now law-abiding Americans with a federal felony if they do not bend the knee in a way that makes violating their constitutional rights much easier.