Viewing 2016 in retrospect — doing so is unpleasant, but less so than was living through it — the year resembles a china shop after a visit from an especially maladroit bull. Because a law says “the state of California may not sell or display the Battle Flag of the Confederacy … or any similar image,” a painting of the 1864 Siege of Atlanta was banned from display at the Fresno County fair. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services churned out a 25-page policy statement about “the systematic inclusion of families in activities and programs that promote children’s development, learning, and wellness.” That is, government should provide, as an act of grace — systematic grace — a role for parents in raising their children.
Let freedom ring, in the nooks and crannies of the administrative state: One day a year — Lemonade Day — children in Austin, Texas, can sell the stuff without spending $460 on various fees, licenses and permits. Twelve-year-olds in a Tampa, Fla., middle school, learning about “how much privilege” they have, were asked if they were “cisgendered,” “transgendered” or “genderqueer.” Two years after Emma was the most common name given to baby American girls, the trend was toward supposedly gender-neutral baby names (e.g., Lincoln, Max, Arlo) lest the child feel enslaved to stereotypes. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission pondered whether a worker committed racial harassment by wearing a cap emblazoned with the Gadsden flag (depicting a coiled rattlesnake, with the words “Don’t Tread on Me”). A University of Iowa professor complained that the Hawkeyes’ mascot Herky, a fierce bird, is “conveying an invitation to aggressivity and even violence” that is discordant with the “all accepting, nondiscriminatory messages we are trying to convey.”
Founding humans
As President’s Day approached, San Diego advised city workers to use “bias-free language” by avoiding the phrase “Founding Fathers.” A National Park Service employee giving guided tours to Independence Hall in Philadelphia told tourists that the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were produced by “class elites who were just out to protect their privileged status.” The employee praised herself for her “bravery.” The NBA, which plays preseason games in China, home of forced abortions and organ harvests, moved its 2017 All-Star Game from Charlotte because of North Carolina’s law stipulating that transgender individuals should use bathrooms appropriate to their birth certificates.
By 2016, six years after the president’s wife agitated for federal guidelines limiting sodium, sugar, fats and calories in school lunches, 1.4 million students had exited the National School Lunch Program, and students had a robust black market in salt and sugar. A tweet with the hashtag #ThanksMichelleObama said, “The first lady can have a personal chef, but I can’t have two packets of ketchup?” After Connecticut imposed its fifth tax increase since 2011, General Electric moved its headquarters from there to Boston. CKE Restaurants includes the Carl’s Jr. chain, which was founded in California and ignited the fast-food industry. CKE announced that it was moving its headquarters from California (highest income tax rate: 13 percent) to Tennessee (highest income tax rate: zero).
