October 21, 2020

AF Community

Weekly Writers Round-Up: Campaign Promises, EU Hypocrisy, and SCOTUS Confirmation Grandstanding

By: AF Editors

Each week, we’ll be featuring opinion pieces from the alumni and current participants of AFF’s Writing Fellows Program. A few highlights from the past week are below. Do you dream of having bylines like these? Learn more about how the Writing Fellows Program can help boost your writing career!

Beware of Presidents promising ‘no more war’ at election time by Natalie Dowzicky (Summer 2019) in Responsible Statecraft
In a recent tweet, President Trump claimed that all troops in Afghanistan would be home by Christmas. And Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a staunch supporter of ending endless wars, quickly rushed to support the president, saying he “just spoke with at [sic] @realDonaldTrump. He sounds great and wants libertarians and everyone across the country to know he is ending the war in Afghanistan!”

Beware of such ending-the-war promises during election season — unfortunately they are somewhat of an election staple, as history shows…

The row over Covid recovery payments exposes EU hypocrisy over the rule of law by Kai Weiss (Summer 2020) in CapX
The EU has never been quite sure how to balance being an economic partnership with promoting freedom, security and democracy. Now a brewing row over Covid recovery payments to authoritarian regimes in Hungary and Poland is threatening to undo the uneasy compromise.

It started when European leaders concluded a ‘historic’ meeting in July and agreed to a gigantic €1.8 trillion spending bill to revive Europe’s post-Covid economy. It was expected that the money would be funnelled to member states fast, but it looks increasingly likely that these much-needed payments will be delayed. The reason for the hold-up is a dispute over one of the EU’s core principles: the rule of law…

Amy Coney Barrett’s Confirmation Hearings Were a Master Class in Political Posturing by Billy Binion (Spring 2018) in Reason
“I think it’s good for the country to have this,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R–S.C.) on Monday, the first day of Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing. “I doubt it’s going to change any minds in terms of how we vote. But I like the idea that a lifetime nominee to the Supreme Court can be challenged, can be tested, and can be understood by the public.”

As the fourth and final session came to a close Thursday, it was hard to believe that the Senate Judiciary Committee met those standards in the way Graham intended…