John Ketcham in City Journal warns that “the current round of redistricting” in New York state will “lead to unfortunate consequences.” After “the legislature failed to agree on new maps drafted by its own lawmakers” in 2012, “this time was supposed to be different” thanks to “a bipartisan, 10-member redistricting commission.” That commission failed, leaving us in a place where “partisan redistricting” can hurt “the democratic process, no matter which party engages in it,” since “district lines effectively determine nearly all of a state’s delegation before voters cast a single ballot.” It’s a reminder that “all Americans share an interest in an election system that reflects the will of the people of each state — not that of incumbents or parties.”

The “idea that art can and should surprise us in shocking or even hurtful ways feels like a thing of the past,” laments Spiked’s Ella Whelan. “The art world” is “so terrified of unruly audiences, who these days take to hurling tweets instead of rotten fruit, that trigger warnings are now ubiquitous.” Academia, too: One college warns “its students that Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar’ contains ‘sexist attitudes,’ including the spoiler that the ‘plot centers on a murder.’” But great “art is supposed to be ‘triggering,’ ” and such warnings wrongly suggest it’s “immoral or even dangerous” to have “challenging content in art.” They’re “a real danger to the future of artistic freedom.”

Americans “have valued our institutions of public education for their unifying nature, and the creation of a literate populace is an essential element of that goal. But much modern-day English instruction accomplishes neither,” gripes the Fordham Institute’s Daniel Buck. The widely used “workshop model” lets kids choose what to read, with “no collective discussion of a shared text.” But “the mind requires tension to grow. When students self-select novels, easier books appeal, and so, like lifting a bar with no weight over and again, literacy stagnates” — and so “the stabilizing structure of public education cracks.” It’s a serious problem: “Alas, as our country fractures, things will continue to fall apart if our classrooms do not create a literate public.”

“The last thing hardworking men and women in the construction industry should be facing is more union coercion — but that’s precisely what they’ve received in President Biden’s latest executive order,” thunders Rep. Virginia Fox (R-NC) at The Hill. “Mandating the use of project labor agreements (PLAs) on any federal construction project which costs more than $35 million disenfranchises the majority of” construction workers “who choose not to join a union.” And “by requiring labor union participation on federal projects, Biden’s executive order allows unions to hold important federal projects hostage.” The prez “seems oblivious to the fact that supporting overzealous union bosses isn’t the same as supporting workers.” His order “rewards special interests and effectively shuts out 87% of construction workers.” 

“Defund Police” is “arguably the most destructive, idiotic political slogan in living memory,” declares Buck Sexton at Fox News. After George Floyd’s death in May 2020, “the Black Lives Matter movement mobilized behind” the slogan, and Democrats “cynically promoted this anti-police narrative to rally their base in an election year.” The “enduring results of that madness are in”: “The last year and a half in America has been a bloodbath of violent crime.” And 73 police officers were killed in the line of duty in 2021, more than “in almost three decades.” We know how we got here: “The Democrats’ rhetoric of ‘criminal justice reform’ spiraled into recklessly soft on crime policies.”

 — Compiled by The Post Editorial Board