The Patriot Post® · Friday Short Cuts

Insight: “America would be better off as a country and Americans happier and more prosperous as a people if half of our government boards, bureaus, and commissions were Abolished, hundreds of thousands of our government officials, agents and employees were discharged, and two-thirds of our government regulations, restrictions, inhibitions were removed.” —Albert J. Beveridge (1862-1927)

Upright: “Even last year, in the throes of the lockdowns, we were being warned that many workers in the retail, hospitality and restaurant segments of the economy were going to be making more money with the federal income supplements than they would when — or if — they returned to work. Those are exactly the workers whose absence is being sorely felt now. … Neither our economy nor our society writ large can survive on Facebook, Apple, Google, TikTok and YouTube. We need restaurants, grocery stores, plumbers, car mechanics, roofers, electricians, dentists and innumerable other businesses. And those businesses need employees.” —Laura Hollis

Re: The Left: “Bad policy is often wrapped in unassailable terms like ‘compassion.’ This is a cheap ploy to avoid having the difficult conversations about the long-term desirability of whatever is being called for; who wants to be seen as uncompassionate? But no analysis of any policy is complete without taking human nature into account, and the incentives and disincentives created by whatever laws or regulations are being sold as the latest cure-all for deeply difficult societal problems. We’ve been taken in by gladhanding politicians and ‘experts’ enough times that we should know better. Americans must look past the sales pitch and consider the actual effects of any policies activists are clamoring for.” —Laura Hollis

Setting the record straight: “It has been seriously proposed that the intellectual property the companies hold for their vaccine development should be stripped away. This is in the name of more rapid distribution to developing nations. Private property is the central pavilion of a free society, and its removal by force of law places our government in line with the People’s Republic of China as they brazenly steal the technology of private companies that sell their products to the Chinese people. … What medicines do you or your spouse or your parents take that were not developed in the United States by Big Pharma? If we choose to kill the goose that lays the golden egg, we are simply less prosperous. If we choose to vilify and undermine our pharmaceutical industry, we stand to lose far more than just our prosperity.” —Armstrong Williams

America Last: “[Vladimir] Putin won when [Joe] Biden, unlike any previous recent president, refused to hold a joint press conference after their summit. Biden told reporters, ‘This is not a contest about who can do better in front of a press conference or try to embarrass each other.’ He’s right about that — it wouldn’t be a contest at all. Both men would be expected to aggressively articulate a strong defense of their nation. Putin can do that in his sleep. But Biden can’t do that without putting us to sleep.” —Gary Bauer

Double standards: “I couldn’t help but notice the irony that Joe Biden has insisted that Russia must understand it cannot cross the border into Ukraine and must respect Ukraine’s sovereignty. So, once again, we’re going all out to protect the borders of some other place in the world, while scandalously leaving our own border wide open as people from more than 160 countries pour across it.” —Gary Bauer

Observations: “The same left that cautions us against pointing fingers at any Muslim is eager to point fingers at every Caucasian. This administration and the left-wing media and political establishment are guaranteeing — short of divine intervention — that racial discord will get worse in this country with each passing day. But they’re also creating a huge foreign policy and national security problem for the United States. When pressed by reporters … about threats against dissidents in Russia, Vladimir Putin declared ‘Black Lives Matter’ to condemn the United States. Communist China is already using the words of Biden, Harris and the radical left against the United States. It is beyond bad when the talking points of our enemies are being written at the DNC, BLM and the White House.” —Gary Bauer

For the record: “This is how Democrats impose fascistic rules on the citizenry without ever having to cast a dangerous vote: They write laws with vague statements of high principle, then dump the actual rule-making onto a government agency, where refugees from the ACLU issue edicts outlawing private property, due process, free speech and honest elections. … There’s no disincentive to government lawyers pursuing frivolous cases to the end of the Earth. Even if they eventually lose, they don’t have to worry about court costs or legal fees. They don’t pay ‘em. You do.” —Ann Coulter

And last… “Ironically, meaning totally predictably, the original 1965 Voting Rights Act was necessary because Democrats were trying to prevent black people from voting. Today, Democrats are using these new 'voting rights’ bills to ensure that 110% of black people vote, even if they are convicted felons, don’t live in the state, didn’t actually fill out a ballot or are dead.” —Ann Coulter