Culture Critic: We’re hitting ‘Peak Wokeness’, but . . .
In the age of America’s Great Awakening, some political strategies “involve trying to persuade people,” while others seek to “practically gain power,” observes Oliver Traldi in the City Journal. As for the former, “vigilance is on the decline.” It separates the institutions from the inside, and “politically ambitious progressives are tired of it.” Market forces also suggest “we have woken up to the peak” as evidenced by the many authors who have moved to Substack. “Vigilance seems to have lost ground in everyday disputes as well.” However, it will be “difficult to remove institutionally”. While we may have peaked in terms of what people really believe, then the mindset will live on for some time – as politics.
From right: Winning Formula of ‘Top Gun’
“The great appeal of ‘Top Gun: Marverick’ is that it serves a widespread, even national, longing for qualities that America has lost and that so many ordinary people want to rediscover,” argues Hugo Gurdon of the Washington Examiner . Americans want their nation “strong and assertive, not lame and indecisive,” its military more “impressive than any other,” and “warriors’ prowess rewarded rather than diluted or swamped” by the “veins of waking ideology.” . They want the nation to “regain its self-confidence and its international leadership, and for America to finally regain the cohesive patriotism that has been essential to its two centuries of dazzling success.” Any film that captures such desires “will make billions.” And any political party that does so “will win election after election.”
Foreign Office: Joe’s ‘Frozen’ Iran-Talks Team
Iran’s envoy for talks, Robert Maley, has called the latest round of negotiations on a nuclear deal with Tehran a “missed opportunity,” Benny Avni reports in the New York Sun, warning that Iran “will have to make up its mind sooner or later.” if he really wants a deal, because it will soon be “a thing of the past”. However, the Iranians have “heard this song before”: In June 2021, a senior administration official said Washington would soon “rethink” its approach. Similar warnings came in September, December and January. Now that the one-year anniversary of that threat has come and gone, however, Iran is still stalling. “He’d rather dangle a finalized deal as bait than actually get inked.” However, “Biden’s team is frozen in time,” their moods oscillating between “despair and unrealistic hope.”
Libertarian: Beware Dems’ BBB 2.0
Democrats are “negotiating behind the scenes” to pass a version of President Biden’s Build Back Better plan, warns The Creators’ Veronique de Rugy. It will include “tax increases, deficit reduction measures, prescription drug reform and renewable energy subsidies.” The details remain unclear, but “if we end up with more of the spending” that has become “so common, it would be tragic.” Such policies are “counterproductive”, “inflation fueling” and, if financed with debt, will be expensive, especially as interest rates rise. If the Biden team “fails to implement austerity,” or worse, uses fears of a recession “as an excuse to further increase spending and debt,” inflation will recede. “There are many ways” to make things more painful. “That’s what will happen if Democrats move forward with the current BBB plan.” — Compiled by The Post Editorial Board
