Shorter George Will--"Portland is the Enemy of All Things American"

Has George Will gotten stupider? Or is his stupidity just more out of touch with the times?

In recent months, he has denied the existence of human-created climate change because he doesn't want to believe it. And then he railed against the greatest threat to human decency since Attila the Hun--blue jeans.

Now he identifies another huge threat to American values--planned cities! Will creates a false historical straw man to make his point:

For many generations—before automobiles were common, but trolleys ran to the edges of towns—Americans by the scores of millions have been happily trading distance for space, living farther from their jobs in order to enjoy ample backyards and other aspects of low-density living. And long before climate change became another excuse for disparaging America's "automobile culture," many liberal intellectuals were bothered by the automobile. It subverted their agenda of expanding government—meaning their—supervision of other people's lives. Drivers moving around where and when they please? Without government supervision? Depriving themselves and others of communitarian moments on mass transit? No good could come of this.

Then he whines about how this is taking away our freedoms? And what evidence does he have for this? The phasing out of incandescent light bulbs. As if anyone cares about this. Also, biking, which he claims no one does. Of course, Will's never done a thing for himself in his entire life, so what does he know about biking? For that matter, what does Will know about anything? I suppose at one time, Will was a conservative you were supposed to take seriously. If that was ever true, it ain't now, because in column after column Will shows how out of touch he is with the American people. How out of touch is he? The man he slams in the article is Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood--a Republican.

Via Jay Stevens

Shorter George Will--"I Don't Want Poor People Voting"

George Will cries in Newsweek that early voting sucks.

The second problem with early voting is that one of its supposed benefits is actually a subtraction from civic health. The benefit is that it makes voting easier—indeed, essentially effortless. But surely the quality of the electoral turnout declines when the quantity is increased by "convenience voting."

A word describes most of the people who will vote only if a ballot is shoved through their mail slot: "slothful." What kind of people will not bestir themselves to exercise their franchise if doing so requires them to get off their couches and visit neighborhood polling places? People who are barely interested, and hence probably are barely informed.

Waaaaahhhhh!!!

Poor George Will. Early voting means that the nation is more democratic. It means that poor people, who can't take time off from work to vote, who have 5 kids that need taken care of, who don't have transportation, who are too sick to leave their house, and who for a variety of reasons can't go to a polling station will actually get to cast their ballot. This means more votes for Democrats.

This is why Republicans freak out over supposed fradulent voting, push for voter ID, hate same-day registration, and now are depressed over the rise of mail-in voting. They are trying to suppress democracy so their plutocratic party can remain in power.