On the face of it, it seems absurd. Why would people make decisions based on what they heard on an app affiliated with China’s Communist government?

Most people don’t view the phenomenon of TikTok influencers through that prism, yet that scenario aptly describes the choices made by millions of Americans each day. Above and beyond the question of whether the app should have anything to do with the Chinese government (and it shouldn’t) lie larger existential questions about the nature of 21st-century society.

Profligacy as Narcissism

A recent Wall Street Journal article examined the effects of TikTok on Americans under 30. The piece featured several disturbing quotes and examples of questionable financial behavior, based largely upon what so-called “influencers” do and say on social media:

One 20-something financial analyst said she uses a budgeting app “to be able to afford the things she feels she has to buy, like Lululemon leggings. ‘Between TikTok and having your friends around you, you’re pressured to buy the things because you want to fit in. … That’s always been the case, but with TikTok it’s more prominent.’” “Some 91% of Gen Zers say they have purchased something they saw on social media, according to a survey from Citizens Pay, a buy-now-pay later service.” “BreAunna Rodriguez, a 23-year-old mom of two in Houston, likes to buy TikTok-popular baby clothes and other small things for herself, including eyelash extensions, coconut oil mouthwash, and a pumice stone that influencers said reduces stretch marks. ‘It’s hard not

It appears the U.S. House of Representatives has entered an era of unprecedented bipartisan cooperation. Within the last month, a rare coalition of Democrats and Republicans voted to approve a rule to advance foreign aid to Ukraine and defeat a motion to vacate the chair and oust Speaker Mike Johnson from his office.

In the past, the Democrats have relished voting against the Republican House leadership while watching the corporate media blame “hard-right conservatives [for] throwing the House and its Republican leadership into chaos.”

With the recent votes, it is clear something has changed in the Democrats’ approach. It is doubtful, though, that the change includes supporting a more conservative agenda. So before getting too cozy with their new allies, House Republicans might find it instructive to learn a few lessons from the similarly bipartisan Texas House of Representatives.

Republicans have dominated Texas politics since 2003 when they took over the Texas House of Representatives. Since then, Republicans have held every statewide office and a majority in both houses of the Texas Legislature. Yet conservatives have often been frustrated over the lack of progress in enacting major Republican priorities.

One of those issues has been the state budget. Since 2003, spending of state funds has increased from $76.2 billion to a projected $233 billion, with spending up 42 percent over the last two years alone. In the 2023 legislative session, the frustration increased as a number of high-priority bills on issues such as school choice, tax cuts, border security, election

A left-wing organization responsible for interfering in the 2020 contest to the benefit of Democrats hosted a training on Thursday instructing election offices on how to take advantage of President Biden’s federal intervention in state election administration.

Hosted by the Election Infrastructure Initiative, the webinar lectured college and local election officials on how best to utilize a program announced earlier this year by the Education Department that allows Federal Work-Study grants — which are used to provide part-time campus jobs to help students with tuition costs — to employ students for election-related work. This includes activities such as “supporting broad-based get-out-the-vote activities, voter registration, providing voter assistance at a polling place or through a voter hotline, or serving as a poll worker.”

The agency launched the program as a means of complying with Executive Order 14019, a directive signed by Biden in March 2021 ordering hundreds of federal agencies to interfere in state and local election administration by using taxpayer dollars to engage in voter registration and get-out-the-vote activities.

While the webinar was marketed as “nonpartisan,” the Election Infrastructure Initiative is anything but. According to InfluenceWatch, the initiative is a joint venture of the left-wing Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) and Center for Secure and Modern Elections that “seeks to help congressional Democrats pass a proposed infrastructure bill, including sweeping changes to the elections process.”

CTCL is well-known for siphoning hundreds of millions of dollars from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg into local election offices in the 2020 election. Colloquially referred to as “Zuckbucks,” these