Years ago there was a professional wrestler named Wild Red Berry. While other wrestlers went by names like Killer or Crippler, he billed himself as “Former mayor of Pittsburgh, Kansas.” His claim to fame was not a hold he invented, but his incessant, annoying talk before and after each match.
Similarly, Pete Buttigieg bills himself as “Former mayor of South Bend, Indiana.” Like Red, his claim to fame is how much he talks, not anything he actually does. But that may be changing. Now Secretary of Transportation, Mayor Pete intends to do something.
Fix our pot-holed, rutted highways? Repair our rusted bridges before they collapse, as one just did before President Biden visited? Update our creaky inter-city and commuter trains? Oh no, that really would improve our infrastructure.
What Mayor Pete intends to spend millions on is installing speed cameras across the nation. His rationale is not to improve traffic safety, but to assure unbiased traffic law enforcement. But what if cameras reveal that speeders are not balanced by race, ethnic group, or gender-identity? No worries.
The real purpose will still remain: More surveillance of more people more of the time. There, don’t you feel better now? Mayor Pete cast himself in the role of Big Brother. Perhaps he’ll do better there.