If Ever Congratulations Are in Order, It Is Today — Celebrating a Silver Jubilee for Instapundit

Congratulations to Instapundit on reaching the magical age of 25. It is, it must be, hard to imagine it has been a quarter century. (If you are of a curious nature and would like a brief summary of the main message in every one of its tens of thousands of posts, it can perhaps be distilled in the meme below.) 

It had slipped my mind that the weblog (as we called them then) opened only a month before 911. Within half a decade, or perhaps even earlier, Instapundit had become the foremost conservative blog (as we call them now) in the nation — and even on the planet. Speaking of which: Do you remember the name that Glenn Reynolds was called about two decades ago? The blogfather. 

Update: For more historical facts (and perhaps nostalgic memories), do check out the GR Substack's Thoughts on the 25th Anniversary of InstaPundit. 

Isn't It Time to Gut the 26th Amendment? (The Marxist Undertones of "Old Enough to Fight, Old Enough to Vote" Exposed)

With the news that Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan's Democratic primary thanks to college towns, it seems far from inappropriate to once more raise the question: isn't it time to gut the 26th amendment?

Indeed, isn't it time to gut most of the amendments of the 20th century? (With the notable exception of those proposed before the year 1900?)

The news that the Democratic Socialists want to abolish the Senate, the presidency, the electoral college, and much more, turns out to be nothing new. Back in October 2016, almost 10 years ago, when Barack Obama was still in the Oval Office while Hillary Clinton was favored to win the White House, I asked:  

Don't the Main Respected Institutions Gutted by the Left Turn Out to Be the IRS, the FBI, the State Department, and the White House?

A famed Iowahawk meme has been, all to accurately, used to describe every kind of institution, from the Smithsonian and the NFL to, most notoriously, college campuses around the country:

1. Identify a respected institution.
2. kill it.
3. gut it.
4. wear its carcass as a skin suit, while demanding respect. 

Of course, what is the most venerable institution of all? Isn't it the United States government — most notably the IRS, the FBI, and the State Department, as well as the White House itself?

David Burge's meme is the story of Barack "fundamentally transform the United States" Obama and the Obama administration, and David Burge's meme will be the story of the Hillary Clinton administration.

What can we expect regarding the Supreme Court, the Senate, and the House of Representatives under a Hillary administration, as well as "the miracle at Philadelphia" — the Constitution itself?!

Turning America, one step at a time, into a banana republic. (Thanks for the Instalink, Sarah.)

For this, you can thank in great part the 26th Amendment.

In reply to "Old enough to fight, old enough to vote," the reasonable reply ought to have been the French proverb, "si jeunesse savait, si vieillesse pouvait" ("If youth had the knowledge, if old age had the energy", i.e., Youth is wasted on the young).

To the Yahoo Answers question, "What is meant by 'youth is wasted on the young'?", the "Best Answer" reads in part:

It means that young people have everything going for them physically; they're in the best health they will ever be in; their minds are sharp and clear BUT they lack patience, understanding and wisdom which results in so much wasted effort.

In other words, Youth has the muscle, so it fights, it goes to war.

Adulthood has the wisdom, so it votes, it takes care of the laws.

Before you are tempted to protest, let's add to the previous sentence: Adulthood has the wisdom, so it votes, it takes care of the laws; including the laws concerning the beings for whom they have the deepest love in this life — their very own sons.

Think of this: don't the reasons given for the Amendment XXVI turn out to be some of the most extreme-leftist arguments ever raised?

Indeed, what is the main assumption behind "Old enough to fight, old enough to vote"?

That a boy's (or a girl's) father, and a boy's mother, are clueless clods, incapable of reflecting beyond their own self-interest, thinking of nobody but themselves, far too clueless not to vote in favor of what would be the best for their son (or daughter), especially in what concerns matters of life and death; no, for that, you need to go somewhere else.

And what would that somewhere else one should go to be? The… government, of course, and its politicians (those white knights in shining armor come to rescue a hapless citizenry, in this case the young), which has/have so effectively taken over the roles of family (as well as religion) — Big Brother — all over the Western world.

… young people … lack patience, understanding and wisdom which results in so much wasted effort

Another reasonable reply to "Old enough to fight, old enough to vote" would be (Churchill's?) famed saying:

If, at 20, you don't lean to the left, you have no heart;
If, at 30, you don't lean to the right, you have no brains.

You have no choice but to wonder whether the United States is where it is at — institutions identified, killed, and gutted, with respect demanded (not to mention "5 Make the carcass apologize") — because it has, out of a sense of "justice" and "fairness", enacted amendment after amendment during the 20th century, most of which have undermined the Republic while building Democracy, thereby enabling the era of the Drama Queen.

You have no choice but to wonder whether the entire Western world is where it is at because it has allowed election after election to be decided by millions of immature voters lacking "patience, understanding and wisdom which results in so much wasted effort"; election after election to be decided by millions of immature voters with plenty of passion ("this is not who we are") but with no brains.

No brains at all…

Related: Dear 16-Year-Olds, Dear High School Pupils, Dear University Students: Do You Have Any Brains?!

At this point, the reader may ask: And what should the Twenty-Sixth Amendment be replaced with? For starters, turn the rules back to the states. Beyond that, as I wrote for a Danish newspaper in November 2022,

Here is a new and better proposal: Change the law, so people don't get the vote until they reach about 25; unless they get a job at a younger age (including — naturally — serving in the military) and until they have paid their first tax bill.  

To repeat what I wrote on this blog earlier in 2016:

Never would I have thought that the Republican Party, and the United States of America, was ready to commit suicide — certainly not in my lifetime…

“From whence shall we expect the approach of danger? Shall some trans-Atlantic military giant step the earth and crush us at a blow? Never. All the armies of Europe and Asia … could not by force take a drink from the Ohio River or make a track on the Blue Ridge in the trial of a thousand years. No, if destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men we will live forever or die by suicide.”

— Abraham Lincoln

Dear 16-Year-Olds, Dear High School Pupils, Dear University Students: Do You Have Any Brains?!

 
"If you don't support the Left when you are 20, you have no heart", Winston Churchill has been quoted as saying; "If you don't support the Right when you are 40, you have no brains."

Why — why on Earth — should high school students (and for that matter, university students as well) join in deciding the future of the country, if they… have no brains?! 

Sorry if you (or your parents) feel offended, but the question is an honest one. Most young people are more interested in girls or boys than in how a government works. In fact, most boys' political choices are more about impressing girls (and, in the best case — in their point of view — ending up in bed with one of them). 

One of the Danish high school students who was interviewed when lowering the age limit was discussed in Denmark a few years ago admits as much when she confesses upfront that "the political views of my friends are quite limited."

Last summer, Instapundit's Ed Driscoll reported that in the UK, 16-Year-Olds Can Vote in the Next British General Election. When the idea was floated in Denmark in 2022, I responded with the current text (slightly shortened, for space reasons, when sent to the local newspaper). When a feminist wrote that democracy should be inclusive (meaning voting for 16- and 17-year-olds as well as for foreigners — not distinguishing between legal and illegal aliens), I shot back that democracy should not be inclusive, but rational. Why should foreigners have the right to vote, I asked? I lived in Paris for more than 20 years and never received (or even asked for) French citizenship. 

As a young Dennis Prager reacted, when 18(!)-year-olds got the vote in 1971: "Why are they giving me the vote? I don't know anything!"

In America, the 26th Amendment dates back to the Vietnam War: "Old enough to fight, old enough to vote." But notice what is (very) wrong with this — simplistic — quote (see Alexis de Tocqueville quote below). The message is this: You cannot — no one can — trust your families to defend, or even care for, you: Our fathers and mothers are so indifferent to our well-being that they would vote for war and not care that we would fall on the battlefield; in fact, the only angels wise enough to defend us (as well as our aforementioned fathers and mothers) are those in government — as long as it is run by (left-wing) politicians and bureaucrats. 

In other words: the 26th Amendment is based on typical anti-family Marxism. 

Related: Isn't It Time to Gut the 26th Amendment? (The Marxist Undertones of "Old Enough to Fight, Old Enough to Vote" Exposed)

"We must help the poor"; "Old enough to fight, old enough to vote"; "we stand for tolerance"; "no person is illegal"; "we must fix the climate." As Alexis de Tocqueville wrote, as far back as the 1830s, "It is easier for the world to accept a simple lie than a complex truth."

The Left loves teenagers because children — like the Leftists themselves — are drama queens (not to mention emotionally unbalanced) who fall for simple platitudes and who love the idea of joining in the Left's next hysterical Crusade. That is why socialists constantly want to lower the voting age — to 18, to 17, to 16, to — what'll be the next thing? 11?!

But if Greta Thunberg is right (that we are "at the beginning of a mass extinction"), shouldn't the only logical conclusion be that "young people" like her alone should be allowed to vote, while we pathetic adult twits who, after all, "have stolen [their] childhood" should be denied that right? 

"Ignorant, officious, self-important students shouldn’t have that much influence," opines law professor Glenn Reynolds, while Ed Driscoll adds that "the young are always ready to give to those who are older than themselves the full benefits of their inexperience."

"The problem isn’t that I don’t get what you’re saying or that I’m old" laughs Bill Maher. "The problem is that your ideas are stupid." 

It's even worse than it looks, says P.J. O'Rourke: "The grim truth is, kids are born communists." 

Again: Why — why on Earth — should brainless Maoists with stupid ideas vote? 

As for the green transition, do children — and let's be honest, many adults — have any idea that the miserable times (with price hikes, fuel shortages, etc.) we have been living through are largely due to the green movement's ludicrously absurd "climate-friendly" energy decisions that have been failing across Europe and North America (in the USA's case, until January 2025)? 

"You become an adult when you decide to act like one," thunders Dennis Prager. "You don't become an adult because you turn a certain age." 

Here is a new and better proposal: Change the law, so people don't get the vote until they reach about 25; unless they get a job at a younger age (including, naturally, serving in the military) and until they have paid their first tax bill.  

• "Demokratiet skal ikke være inkluderende men rationelt"
Villabyerne Vol 117 # 47, 24. november 2022, s 8 

In Denmark, Children suffered serious injuries after the COVID-19 vaccine, reports Danish newspaper; Now they are receiving compensation in millions of Danish Crowns

While Dana Bash tries to argue to RFK Jr that the medical and scientific establishment did mostly good, with Dr Fauci allegedly saving lives in the process, perhaps CNN ought to take a trip across the Atlantic to see how European nations are faring.

Children suffered serious injuries after the COVID-19 vaccine, titles one of Denmark's most prestigious newspapers; Now they are receiving compensation in the millions of Danish Crowns. In Berlingske, Flemming Steen Pedersen reports that

The assessment was that vaccinating children during the coronavirus pandemic was "safe and effective." Now the final tally can be made, and according to an expert, it reveals the downsides of mass vaccination. However, the governing parties maintain that vaccinating was the right decision.

Kids did not, in fact, become particularly ill when infected with coronavirus. 

Nevertheless, thousands of children as young as five were encouraged to get vaccinated against COVID-19—primarily to protect their grandparents and curb the spread of infection within the general population.

Many children—and their parents—were unsure about whether to get vaccinated against COVID-19, but the vast majority ultimately decided to go ahead with it. The Patient Compensation Association has now issued rulings on the majority of the 78 cases in which children aged 5 to 17 sought compensation for injuries they believe are linked to their vaccinations.

Related: • "Thank You for Your Service," Dr Fauci: "Appropriating Greetings to U.S. Warriors Is in the Direct Lineage of Leftist Cosplays of Valorous Combat Heroics.
• "Fauci did his bit, played his part, and was lavishly rewarded by the press": So how did a virus with a ~.02%-.04% mortality rate become 24/7 headline news? It became battle prep for the 2020 election steal

Børn fik alvorlige skader efter covid-19-vaccine. Nu får de millionerstatning

Vurderingen var, at det var »sikkert og effektivt« også at vaccinere børn under coronapandemien. Nu kan regningen gøres op, og den viser bagsiden ved massevaccinationer, mener ekspert. Det ændrer ikke ved, at det var rigtigt at vaccinere, lyder det fra regeringspartierne.

Mange børn – og deres forældre – var i tvivl om, hvorvidt de skulle lade sig vaccinere mod covid-19, men langt de fleste endte med at takke ja. Nu har Patienterstatningen truffet afgørelse i hovedparten af de 78 sager, hvor børn mellem 5 og 17 år har søgt om at få erstatning for skader, som de mener hænger sammen med deres vaccinationer. 
Foto: Ólafur Steinar Rye Gestsson/Ritzau Scanpix

De blev ellers ikke særligt syge, når de blev ramt af corona.

Alligevel blev tusinder af børn helt ned til fem år opfordret til at lade sig vaccinere mod covid-19 – primært for at beskytte deres bedsteforældre og bremse spredningen af smitten i befolkningen som helhed.

"Europe's Suicide": French Podcast — The War in Iran Compared with the War in Ukraine ; "France's votes at the UN are scandalous"

an interview with Jean Robin, Philippe Karsenty was grateful that for once he wasn't interrupted by French media folks trying to go for his throat. As spokesman for the Comité Trump France, he points out that Macron's France and Spain's Sanchez want America and Israel to lose — "France's votes at the UN are scandalous" — and that Trump got popular in the French media only when he appeared to be signing a capitulation to Tehran in Versailles. 

"What is crazy is that when Trump appeared to be capitulating, he all of a sudden became popular in France's state medias." As usual, Philippe Karsenty repeats that "There is no alternative to the destruction of the Tehran regime."

As fires have broken out across France during the hottest summer ever recorded in the country, it turns out that Macron's government turned down a foreign country's offer to send aid. Aid in the form of Canadair fire-fighting planes to help blow out the fires. Needless to say, that country was… Israel. (Merci pour l'Instalien, Sarah.)  

Interview de Philippe Karsenty : 
guerre en Ukraine, guerre en Iran

Jean Robin1