Air travel isn't something we do for fun, unless one has a distinct masochistic streak. It's tiring, it's annoying, the process on both ends is onerous. I did it for my living for many years, as in my previous career, I did business on four continents, and much of that business required me to be physically present. (My record flight time was Denver to Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany to Johannesburg, South Africa - 30 hours actual wheels-up flight time.) Nowadays, well, one of the very, very few problems we have with living in Alaska is that seeing our family means a plane ride.
Here's the thing: While air travel is tiring and annoying already, leave it to a "democratic socialist" - read that as "commies" - to try to make it worse.
Someone who will likely be a U.S. representative for the party of John F. Kennedy for the city where the hellscape known as John F. Kennedy International Airport is based wants you to know that she wants to make your experience at JFK even worse than it is now — because, socialism!
Meet Claire Valdez, the newly minted Democratic nominee for New York’s 7th Congressional District. She’s one of three Democratic socialists endorsed by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani who managed to score upsets in Tuesday’s primary.
An upset it was indeed, and we have yet to learn just how upsetting this will end up being, but if the presumed Representative's addle-brained schemes for the nation's airports and airlines are any indication, her agenda will be the stuff of nightmares.
...mentioning the mere act of trying to board a flight in NYC’s major airports is possibly the most triggering thing you can tell someone who lives in the area, at least that doesn’t involve a relative or pet dying.
Therefore, it’s a bit curious that Valdez’s plan to improve air transport is … abolishing TSA PreCheck and nationalizing the airline industry. The only reason she won, I can surmise, is that too few people in the 7th Congressional District saw the clip from a podcast named (sigh) “The B****uation Room” in May.
“My hot take is that we need to abolish PreCheck,” she said, referring to the TSA program that allows low-risk, pre-vetted travelers to speed through the security process. This makes it easier not only for them, but for everyone else in line.
Claire Valdez has managed to find a whole new level of stupid where public policy is concerned.
Read More: NY-13: Mamdani-Backed Chevalier Wins Primary, but Check Out Who Likely Put Her Over the Top
THE ESSEX FILES: New York Primaries Prove the Left Is Still Doubling Down on Failed Socialist Ideals
In the first place, TSA PreCheck doesn't just help the people who pay for the service, but also to be pre-screened and pay a fee in return for being eased through the security process. It helps everybody in that long line for those without PreCheck, by reducing the line by a third or more. But, in pure commie fashion, Claire Valdez wants to ensure that the misery is evenly distributed.
And, as for nationalizing the airlines, that may be even dumber than abolishing PreCheck.
The market capitalization of just the two biggest American-based carriers — Delta and United — is well over $100 billion, first off. And that’s just if the government buys these airlines out, which would probably end up being more expensive unless they were seized at gunpoint. (This is unconstitutional, naturally, but I don’t think Valdez has thought that — or any of this — through.)
And of course, market cap is hardly the only problem with the government running an airline. There are the associated costs, for one thing. Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic, is famous for saying that “if you want to be a millionaire, start with a billion dollars and launch a new airline.”
Oh, I don't think Valdez would hesitate to take over the airlines by force, were it up to her.
In that previous career I mentioned, one of my major jobs was with a New Jersey company, and it lasted almost three years on-site. During that time, I shuttled back and forth regularly between New Jersey and my home in Denver, where we lived at that time. I was reliably informed by people living in the area that Newark was the best of the airports in the area, and while I didn't see JFK or LaGuardia, I have to say Newark was a mess. It was the most busted airport I've ever been through, and I've been through a bunch of them. Half the elevators didn't work. The TSA lines were never more than half-staffed, and this was pre-COVID. The area around the airport was like a demilitarized zone. I'd like to think it's improved since then, but I wouldn't bet a plugged nickel on it.
And soon-to-be Representative Valdez would make all of that much, much worse - and extend the misery, and the stupidity, to every airport and every airliner in the nation.
Lord, what fools these mortals be.
Editor's Note: President Trump is leading America into the "Golden Age" as Democrats try desperately to stop it.
Help us continue to report on President Trump's successes. Join RedState VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member