If we can’t speak civilly, we’ll fight brutally



Last weekend in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, protesters gathered for a No Kings rally, holding signs that compared federal immigration officers to Nazis — one reading, “Nazis used trains. ICE uses planes.” These kinds of messages aren’t just offensive, they’re dangerous. And they’re becoming far too common in politics.

The same weekend, halfway across the country, Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman (DFL) was shot and killed in a politically motivated attack. While the investigation is ongoing, the timing is chilling — and it reminds us that words and rhetoric can have consequences far beyond the floor of a legislative chamber.

Most people don’t want politics to be a blood sport. They want real solutions.

When public servants are threatened, harassed, or even harmed for doing their jobs, something has gone deeply wrong in our democracy.

It’s time to turn down the temperature — not just in our political speeches, but on our main streets, in school board meetings, and even our protest signs.

Cool the rhetoric

Public service is about problem-solving, not posturing. I’ve always believed in working with my neighbors — even when we disagree — to make our community safer and stronger. But that’s becoming harder when disagreement is met with dehumanization and history is twisted into political theater.

We’ve seen it right here in my community. At a recent public hearing on how to protect children from online predators, a woman disrupted the meeting to shout that our Jewish sheriff, Fred Harran, was a “Nazi.” A week later, during a Bucks County Commissioners meeting about a law enforcement partnership with ICE, Commissioner Bob Harvie warned of “parallels” between modern politics and pre-war Nazi Germany.

I’ve worked hard in the state House to expand Holocaust education in Pennsylvania schools, because I believe history must be remembered — not weaponized. As the daughter of educators, I was raised to know that using Nazi references as political attacks not only dishonors the memory of those who suffered, it poisons the possibility of honest, civil debate.

Civil discourse is critical

None of this is to say we shouldn’t debate serious issues — immigration, public safety, fiscal priorities, and the future of our communities. Or that we shouldn’t take part in peaceful protest rooted in our First Amendment rights. We must. But we must also remember that democracy isn’t about shouting each other down — it’s about listening, questioning, and finding common ground.

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The truth is, most people don’t want politics to be a blood sport. They want real solutions. They want their kids to be safe, their neighborhoods to be strong, and their elected officials to focus on solving problems — not scoring points.

Let’s be better than the signs. Let’s be better than the sound bites. Let’s choose to be neighbors first and partisans second.

Because if we don’t change the tone now, we risk losing more than just elections — we risk losing one another.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published by RealClearPennsylvania and made available via RealClearWire.

SCARY: Economics expert explains what will happen to Americans if our national debt continues to grow



Joe Biden says a lot of crazy things, but perhaps the craziest is his claim that he’s lowered the U.S. deficit, which Stu Burguiere says “couldn’t be farther from the truth.”

Brian Riedl, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and an expert in budgeting, taxes, and economic policy, confirms that Biden is indeed lying.

“Last year, the deficit doubled from $1 trillion to $2 trillion – the largest share of the economy in American history, outside of wars and recession,” he tells Stu, adding that despite what Biden says, “the deficit is growing enormously.”

“The president has already added $5 trillion to 10-year deficits if you add up all the legislation he's signed. The fact that he claims he's reducing deficits is completely and mathematically absurd,” he continues.

“I assume what [Biden] is trying to do here is just compare it to peak COVID spending,” says Stu, “which of course is spending that he wholeheartedly approved and actually wanted more of.”

“The proper way to measure deficits is how they're doing compared to the baseline that was already expected by budget estimators,” Riedl says. “When the president took office, the Congressional Budget Office said the deficit will automatically fall to $ trillion and stay there for the next couple of years with the pandemic ending. Instead, [Biden] ran a $2 trillion deficit, so he's growing the deficit above the baseline, not reducing it.”

So just how bad is the situation?

According to Stu, “long-term, this gets incredibly ugly, really, really fast” and is “completely unsustainable.”

Riedl confirms this: “Yes, long-term, the numbers are totally unsustainable. If you assume current policies are extended, the budget deficit is going to go to 14% of GDP per year in a couple of decades. Historically, it's been 3% of GDP. The debt could grow to 200%-300% of the economy, depending on interest rates.”

Those are scary numbers. So what does that mean for the average American when the debt gets that big?

“It means that as much as half to two-thirds of your taxes will go into paying interest on the debt within the next couple of decades,” says Riedl, “and in fact, if interest rates keep rising, there's a scenario in which 100% of your taxes will just go into paying interest on the debt, as it becomes the biggest program in the entire budget.”

Further, granted “the path we're on, middle-class taxes will eventually double.”

“That's the danger of having debt go to 200%-300% of GDP. And that's the situation that the president is doing nothing about and in fact is pouring gasoline on the fire,” Riedl warns.


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