This weekend I did a bit of doomscrolling about the global erosion of support for democracy, which research indicates is particularly pronounced among people in their 30s and 40s.
I was reminded of a finding in one of those NYT-Sienna polls a while back that showed Trump crushing Biden in Nevada.
“Which comes closest to your view about the political and economic system in America, even if none are exactly right?” the poll asked.
Among Nevada voters aged 30 to 44, an unsettling (to me anyway) 22% – more than any other age group – picked “The system needs to be torn down entirely.” Needless to say poll respondents said Trump was the one most likely to “tear down the system completely.”
I was also reminded of remarks (that have been getting a lot of attention this week) made by Republican nominee for vice president J.D. Vance in 2021 as he was ramping up his 2022 Senate bid.
“I think Trump is going to run again in 2024,” Vance said on a podcast. “I think that what Trump should do, if I was giving him one piece of advice: Fire every single midlevel bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state, replace them with our people.”
“And when the courts stop you,” Vance continued, “stand before the country, and say ‘the chief justice has made his ruling. Now let him enforce it.’”
That last line of course is reportedly what Andrew Jackson infamously said after the Supreme Court ruled against the state of Georgia’s unconstitutional seizure of Cherokee land in the 1830s. (Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall could not enforce a ruling – it’s not like the Supreme Court has federal troops to enforce its ruling. But Jackson had some, which he sent to help Georgia push Cherokees into the deadly forced march to Oklahoma.)
Early this month the Supreme Court ruled that Trump (and theoretically any president, but the ruling was specifically aimed at protecting Trump) can break the law with immunity. Vance’s earlier concern that the U.S. Supreme Court might attempt to stop Trump from doing … anything at all … now seems outdated.
When people, their businesses, their families, their assets or their property, are hurt or jeopardized, sometimes they seek or rely on protection or remedy from the law. How will Nevadans, – especially the one in five of them aged 30 to 44 who say “the system needs to be torn down entirely” – feel if, along with democracy, the rule of law is discarded, replaced with an arbitrary cronyism that rewards those who are in favor with Trump and his courtiers and punishes those who aren’t?
Meanwhile, polling also suggests a number of voters, including and especially those in younger cohorts, may not be MAGA, but have become numbed enough by years of relentless Trumpism to consider voting for him anyway. If for no other reason than to, you know, shake things up.
Polling also suggests a number of voters have no use for Trump but they’re sick of the whole show and won’t vote at all, a decision which also works to Trump’s favor.
The U.S. has been flawed from the start, and still is. But relative to other world-historical global powers, it has a hell of a story to tell about the expansion of rights and freedom and prosperity.
Good gawd yes it’s imperfect. Opportunity, prosperity, and economic and social justice are not near as broadly and fairly shared as they should be.
But tossing aside the nation’s political and legal institutions and empowering a narcissistic sociopath as a quasi-monarch because prices went up a lot after covid seems a bit much.
A recent Review-Journal letter to the editor mischaracterized Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s Southern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act, also known as the Clark County Lands bill. As the former executive director of the Nevada Conservation League, I wholeheartedly support this legislation, so I wanted to set the record straight.
Sen. Cortez Masto has been working on this bill for years in partnership with state and local governments, conservation groups like the NCL and local area tribes. It’s true that the Clark County lands bill would open 25,000 acres to help Las Vegas grow responsibly, while setting aside 2 million acres for conservation. It would also help create more affordable housing throughout the valley while ensuring our treasured public spaces can be preserved for generations to come.
What is not correct is that the money from these land sales would go to the federal government’s coffers. In fact, the opposite is true.
The 1998 Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act is a landmark bill that identified specific public land for future sale and created a special account ensuring all land sale revenues would come back to Nevada. In accordance with that law 5 percent of revenue from land transfers goes to the state of Nevada for general education purposes, 10 percent goes to the Southern Nevada Water Authority for needed water infrastructure and 85 percent supports conservation and environmental mitigation projects in Southern Nevada. This legislation has provided billions to Clark County and will continue to benefit generations of Southern Nevadans. Sen. Cortez Masto’s lands bill builds upon the act’s success.
So here’s the good news: All of the money generated from land made available for sale under Sen. Cortez Masto’s bill would be sent to the special account created by the 1998 law. Rather than going to an unaccountable federal government, the proceeds would continue to help kids in Vegas get a better education, bolster outdoor recreation and modernize Southern Nevada’s infrastructure.
I know how important it is that money generated from the sale of public land in Nevada stay in the hands of Nevadans, and so does the senator. That’s why she opposed a Republican effort last year to sell off 200,000 acres of land in Clark County and other areas of the country that would have sent those dollars directly to Washington.
Public land management in Nevada should benefit Nevadans. We should protect sacred cultural sites and beloved recreation spaces, responsibly transfer land for affordable housing when needed and ensure our state has the resources it needs to grow sustainably. I will continue working with Sen. Cortez Masto to advocate for legislation, such as the Clark County lands bill, that puts the needs of Nevadans first.
Paul Selberg writes from Las Vegas.
click to expand photos
Las Vegas High’s baseball team claimed a 3-2 home win over Coronado on Friday.
Las Vegas (9-13-1) next hosts Rancho at 10 a.m. Saturday. Coronado (13-14) hosts Chaparral at 3:30 p.m. Monday.
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Nevada’s jobless rate is holding steady, but the state is still adding jobs.
A new report from DETR shows February’s unemployment rate unchanged at 5.3 percent, with the labor force growing by nearly 3,800 people.
MORE ON FOX5: Nevada unemployment rate rises to 5.3% in January
Nevada now has about 1.6 million nonfarm jobs, up 2.2 percent over the past year and 1,500 more jobs than in January.
“This month’s report shows a strengthening labor market,” said David Schmidt, Chief Economist. ”Compared to the report for January, the pace of job gains in the past year increased from 1.9% to 2.2%, building on what was already the fastest pace of job growth in the country. While the unemployment rate remained stable, the labor force participation rate rose to 63.7%, 1.7 percentage points higher than the national level.”
In Las Vegas, employment ticked up by 1,100 jobs in February, about 0.1 percent, and is up more than 25,000 jobs compared to last year.
Reno added 1,000 jobs on the month, while Carson City shed about 200 but is still slightly above where it was a year ago.
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