Welcome to Beg to Differ, the bulwarks' weekly roundtable discussion featuring civil conversation across the political spectrum.

We range from center left to center right. I'm Mona Charrant, syndicated columnist and policy editor at the bulwark, and I am joined by our regulars, Bill Galston of the Brookings Institution and the Wall Street Journal and Damon Linker of the week.

And sitting in for Linda Chavez this week is my new bulwark colleague, Kathy Young.

We're delighted to welcome Kathy and our special guest, Jonathan Rouch,

senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution and contributing editor to

the Atlantic. Welcome, one and all. Well, regular listeners to beg to differ know that we on this

podcast really do enjoy getting into the weeds on policy

matters and pulling apart important matters of our time, giving our different perspectives on them.

And unfortunately, most of what happens in American politics these days doesn't lend itself to that. Instead,

we have a crazy town and the politics of performance and kicking the other guy in the teeth.

Exhibit A. Ronda Santis this week signed the so-called don't-say gay bill, actually that's not

what it is. It's the Parental Rights

in Education Act, but it is arguably a right-wing overreaction to a small problem. So I'm going to go

first to you, Damon, and have you sketch out what this is about and what you think of the law itself

leaving aside the misrepresentations of it. Oh, boy, what a mess. Thank you for bringing me in

right at the top on that. I mean, it is a bit of a mess because I really have no idea if there is a so-called problem here.

Like, is there an issue that in Florida schools teachers are coming into like first grade and talking about transgenderism and how you can't define a woman and don't think that boys are boys and girls are girls.

I mean, if it's true that in, you know, kindergarten through third grade, this is an issue in the state of Florida,

then I guess we needed a bill to address this, because I

will come out, you know, write out and admit that I think that sounds inappropriate to be doing

that in public schools. Probably it should be discussed much later when students are approaching

or entering puberty. That sounds more like it. That's usually when sex ed is done in

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