It’s not just the big stuff we need to worry about — broken borders, riots, crime waves, school shootings — we need to pay attention to the little stuff, too: small things that betray the fraying of the social fabric. Some instances in today’s headlines:
From WAVY-TV: “Video shows man choking county attorney at Gloucester Co. meeting.” Cell phone video taken at a public meeting to discuss a bond referendum shows Gloucester County resident Lawrence Cohen with one hand holding a microphone and the other choking Gloucester County Attorney Edwin N. “Ted” Wilmot. I know nothing about the issues or personalities involved, but that’s just not acceptable. Choking people in public hearings is not the kind of thing that used to happen.
Meanwhile, Arlington County Public Schools is rolling out a new “electronic campus management platform” at several schools, reports ARL Now. The platform will allow schools to regulate the number of students in the halls and going in and out of buildings. Sounds like Orwellian overkill for a school disciplinary problem. What’s next? Artificial Intelligence to decide who gets a hall pass and who doesn’t?
And in the People’s Republic of Charlottesville, reports The Daily Progress: “Weeks after anonymous White supremacists and anti-Semites Zoomed into a Charlottesville City Council meeting — making racist remarks, spreading conspiracy theories and calling for a race war — council has decided to suspend virtual public comment.”
Despicable behavior by members of the public leads to another setback to openness in government.
And don’t get me started on the atrocious antics of transgender activists protesting the Abigail Shrier event co-hosted by The Jefferson Council at the University of Virginia last week. I’ll have a lot more to say about that in due course.
When citizens are incapable of self-regulating their behavior, government steps in with authoritarian measures to regulate their behavior for them. As Virginia continues its slide into social anarchy, we can expect to see more government restrictions on our freedoms. And we’ll deserve it.
— JAB
