During the Cold War, a U.S. Air Force Starfighter radioed to an airport in England asking for permission to land. Starfighters were difficult to fly, and many crashed. Air traffic control told the pilot he was using a frequency reserved for emergencies and should switch to a different one, to which the pilot responded with the laconic bluntness of his caste, "Listen, pal, when you've got a Starfighter strapped to your a--, that's an emergency." Whether the amusing story is true or apocryphal, it captures the fact that an emergency can be real and must be dealt with immediately or it can be an exaggerated claim cited for convenience.
Increasingly, Democrats conjure up emergencies to camouflage long- standing policies, to press electoral advantage, to extend government overreach, and to assault freedom. Incoming administrations are shocked — shocked, they tell us — to discover the appalling state of affairs left by their predecessors, and they solemnly announce that emergency remedial action is unavoidable.
