I have been observing politics for a long time, and have never seen anything like the present moment. The Democrats have dialed the hysteria meter up to 12, and absolutely everything is a crisis. One type of faux crisis is particularly transparent. It is exemplified by the Left’s current fit over net neutrality, a policy that few understand and, I think, fewer still have much reason to care about. But leftists have figured out their messaging, as reflected in this absurd headline in today’s Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Whatever the FCC did, it certainly did not “overturn equal internet access.” Rather, the internet will be as it was in 2015 and in all previous years. Do you recall any problem with equal access to the internet before the introduction of “net neutrality” two years ago? No, neither do I. “Net neutrality” was a solution in search of a problem. Yet Democrats reportedly have been making death threats against the children of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.

A similar case, in a completely different realm, is that of the Bears Ears [Ed.: Sorry about Bears End, that was spell check.] National Monument. Bears Ears is not a monument in any normal sense; it comprises over 2,000 square miles in southern Utah, more than twice the area of the State of Rhode Island. The Trump administration’s Interior Department has reduced the size of the Bears Ears monument to a more manageable 201,876 acres–still really big for a monument–and the Left has gone bonkers.

The clothing company Patagonia, for example, sued the Trump administration to prevent its order from going into effect.

[Patagonia] replaced its usual home page with a stark message, “The President Stole Your Land.” The California-based company called Trump’s actions illegal and described Monday’s action as the largest elimination of protected land in American history.

But here’s the thing: There was no Bears Ears national monument until December 28, 2016, when President Obama created it by presidential proclamation less than two weeks before he left office. The Trump administration’s order restores the status quo as of December 27, 2016, only with a 201,876 acre “monument.” In a sane world, no one would try to make the case that this represents some kind of outrage, let alone something illegal. The Democrats say that President Obama can create national monuments, but President Trump can’t shrink them. That is consistent with the Democrats’ mantra: Some elections have consequences, others don’t.

The Democrats obviously think that breaking the hysteria meter is working for them, and they could turn out to be right. But by any sane standard, they are making fools of themselves.