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Time Is a Great Thickener of Things — But Not This Time · Commentary - TJ Meadows

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Time is a great thickener of things. That line was
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: written by playwright Tony Kushner for the movie Lincoln. I've
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: always found it to be one of those sentences that
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: sticks with you, the kind you turn over in your
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: mind from time to time. What it means, I think,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: is this, events rarely stay as simple as they first appear.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: In the moment, decisions are made quickly, people are under pressure,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: motives seem obvious. But as time passes, the story grows thicker,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: more perspectives emerge, consequences unfold. What once looks straightforward begins
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: to gather layers of meaning as we revisit the moment
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: with the benefit of hindsight. Politics may be the best
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: example of this. The public sees the negotiations, the arm twisting,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: the uncomfortable deals required to move legislation forward. In the moment,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: those tactics can look messy, even troubling, but history often
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: judges them differently once the results are clear. That's the
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: point of the line in Lincoln. The president is to
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: defending the political bargaining and compromise required to secure the
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: votes for the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery. The process wasn't
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: pretty but once time thickened the story, what remained was
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: the achievement. For some reason, that line popped into my
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  Speaker 1: head this weekend while thinking about what happened Saturday night
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  Speaker 1: in the West Virginia House with Rayleigh's law. I suppose
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  Speaker 1: I was looking for some redeeming meaning in all of it,
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  Speaker 1: But honestly I couldn't find one. Raley didn't win, the
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: greater good didn't prevail. Her memory and the welfare of
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: children were lost to what looked an awful lot like
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: political gamesmanship. Has it really come to the point that
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: over a sixty day legislative session we can't find agreement
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  Speaker 1: on putting children ahead of politics. Advocates say they'll try
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: again next year. Opponents appear just as ready to stop
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: it again. What remains clear in the meantime is this
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  Speaker 1: Innocent children remain at risk because adults can't reach agreement.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: That's not good governing, and it's certainly not standing up
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  Speaker 1: for kids. Surely, if a legislature can use its police
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  Speaker 1: powers to regulate what goes into certain foods, it can
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  Speaker 1: find a way to protect children. It's time to do better.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: And if they can't do better, maybe it's time to
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  Speaker 1: find better lawmakers,