The View from Right Field

Why Shouldn’t We Take Care of Ourselves Instead of the World?

[See Note below]

With Russia massing tens of thousands of troops on Ukraine’s border and China increasing its aggressive behavior against Taiwan, maybe now is a good time to consider what the purpose of U.S. foreign policy should be and what our national interests are in connection with either or both of those situations.  Actually, the real question is what our national interests are in general. 

We hear talk about supporting a rules-based international order.  But is that really what we should be doing?  Is it our goal to support other countries or do we need to worry about ourselves?  Some would say that we have lots of problems in the United States; there are lots of things we need to do for our people.  The Biden administration is proposing spending trillions of dollars on important domestic priorities.  Given all of this, do we really have the money – or the time or energy – to deal with Ukraine or Taiwan – or the Uighurs or Alexei Navalny?     

Leaving Afghanistan

I have predicted several times that we would be leaving Afghanistan.  It now looks like this will happen and we will be gone by September 11, 2021.  Five comments:

First, I’m not surprised.  Joe Biden was always going to leave.  And he will get it done because his people want to leave, too,¹ and because we are putting no conditions on what the Taliban, etc., have to done before we leave.

Cubs: The First Game of the Second 100 – 45 Years Ago Yesterday

I missed the anniversary of the “First Game of the Second 100”; i.e., the 1976 home opener for the Chicago Cubs in 1976.  The Cubs started in the National League in 1876 (and they are the only team from the start who is still in the same town), so the home opener in 1976 was the first home game in the second 100 years.  The anniversary was yesterday: April 13.  It was my second Opening Day (the first was the prior year, which, in true Chicago fashion, was postponed two days because of snow) and Susan’s first.  I made a mistake and didn’t buy tickets ahead of time, but we got in because they sold 8,000+ standing room tickets.  So we stood.  But at least it was good weather.  In the 60s.

It was an even better game.  As part of the celebration, a granddaughter of Cap Anson threw out a first pitch.  (Obviously, that wouldn’t happen today.)  Ernie was there, too.  Jerry Morales hit two-run homers in the first and the sixth (Bill Madlock was on base ahead of him each time).  The Mets got three runs in the fourth to chase Rick Reuschel, but brother Paul came in the stop the damage.  The stupid Mets tied the score on a home run in the eighth.

Baseball Doesn’t Need to be Shorter; It Needs to be Brisker

Baseball games are too long, which is something everybody knows.  Except, it’s not really true.  Baseball games aren’t too long; they’re too slow.  The great baseball writer, Roger Angell explained it in an interview in The Wall Street Journal last September on his 100th birthday.  Mr. Angell was discussing the changes they instituted last year because of the pandemic:

“I can understand this business of putting a batter on second base, but it goes against every baseball instinct that I have, because the heart of the game is that you have to earn every base, and suddenly that’s been abrogated.  Seven inning games, I guess I understand, but seven is a very different game than nine.”

The US Economy Is On a Path To Do Fine – As Long As

Per an article in yesterday’s Financial Times¹:

“Most advanced countries will emerge from the coronavirus crisis with little lasting damage, thanks to relatively rapid rollout of vaccines and a willingness to increase sharply spending and borrowing, according to the I[nternational] M[onetary] [F]und. …

The fund was bullish about prospects of a rapid US recovery without inflationary pressures.  [IMF chief economist Gita] Gopinath said: ‘The US is really the only large economy whose {economic output} for 2022 is projected to exceed what it would have been in the absence of this pandemic.’”

Opening Day!

In honor of Opening Day at Wrigley Field, where the temperature at game time today will be 34 degrees, with the wind blowing in off the lake, and memories of Opening Days past, here is Jeff MacNelly:

Writing Constitutions – And Judging Those Who Write Them

This week’s Economist has a review of Linda Colley’s new book on the history of written constitutions, The Gun, the Ship and the Pen.  The book covers the writing of constitutions from the middle of the eighteenth century to the present.  According to the review:

“Above all, Ms Colley argues, the need for innovative, written constitutionalism was driven by the evolving nature of war. … Governments’ need for ever-more manpower to fight these wars – and ever-growing tax revenues to pay for them – led to crises at home that could only be tackled by the concession of new rights and promises of wider political participation. … 

House Values in Illinois

One of the problems with living in Illinois is that house prices values aren’t going up like they are in some other parts of the country.  But then, with so many people leaving Illinois (Illinois is one of the few states losing people each year), it’s logical.¹  With fewer people in Illinois, there are fewer people looking to buy houses; i.e., demand is lower.  With demand lower and supply staying the same (the houses aren’t leaving, just the people), it’s logical that prices aren’t going up as much as places where population is growing and people want to move.

One of the reasons people are leaving Illinois (and why others aren’t coming or returning) is our lousy state government.  As I have said elsewhere, Illinois has the worst credit rating of any state and has hundreds of billions of dollars of unfunded pension liability, not to mention billions of dollars of unpaid bills.  Why wouldn’t people want to leave – or not come?  Why not get away from that debt?  Why move to that debt?

After We Pass New Gun Control Laws, We Still Need to Deal With the Problem

The call is on for new gun control legislation.  Which is fine.  But my question is simple: After we add the new controls, what do we do about all the guns that are already out there?  Because our problem is not just new guns and legal sales of guns.  It’s guns that we already have and guns that are sold illegally.  Limiting new guns and putting more limits on the legal sales of guns might help.  But really dealing with the problem requires figuring out what to do with all the guns that are already out there.  And I haven’t seen anybody really seriously address that.
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Note: I have said this before (see, for example, here and here), but I wanted to say it again – because new gun controls are only a small part of a solution.

The Return of Earmarks. Sigh.

It was sad last week to see Republicans in the House of Representatives giving up one of the real accomplishments on the last Republican House: the ban on earmarks.  In 2011, House Republicans passed a ban on earmarks, and since they wouldn’t approve earmarks, Congress couldn’t pass them and the President couldn’t sign them.  The entire Congress ultimately went along with the House Republicans, and in 2014, President Obama even said he would veto any bill containing earmarks.

The problems with earmarks were obvious.  Representatives and Senators were putting in specific appropriations for things they wanted done, not necessarily what needed to be done.  The more powerful a representative or senator was, the more money a district or state would get.  One of the most infamous earmarks was the $233 million “bridge to nowhere” in Alaska.¹

“A World of Our Own” – A Song for Lockdown

I wish I had found this 1965 song by The Seekers last year.  It would have been perfect for our stay-at-home orders.  Let’s hope we don’t need it this year.

UPDATE (3/24/21 9:20 am): To show how right this song would have been for lockdown, here are the first two verses:

Should Illinois Should Be Proud That Washington Is Following in Its Footsteps?

Being from Illinois it’s sometimes hard to proud of our government.  Illinois has the worst state credit rating in the nation and the highest unfunded pension liability, things you do not want to be number one in.

Still, Illinois may be serving as a model for the federal government.  In Thursday’s Wall Street Journal, Greg Ip asked:

“How is it possible for presidents to keep cutting most Americans’ taxes while expanding the safety net?  In great part, by borrowing.”

H.R. McMaster on Strategy Against the Soviet Union and Strategy Against China

Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster (Ret.) and Jonathan D.T. Ward wrote in Thursday’s Chicago Tribune that the United States’ strategy vis-à-vis China should include the kind of policies used by President Reagan in the Cold War against the Soviet Union.  Messrs. McMaster and Ward explain:

“Reagan’s approach – applying intensive economic and military pressure to a superpower adversary – became foundational to American strategic thinking. It hastened the end of Soviet power and promoted a peaceful conclusion to the multi-decade Cold War.”

Afghanistan: Biden May Accomplish What Trump and Obama Couldn’t

In a leaked letter,¹ Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has basically told the Afghanistan government to get with the plan, i.e., the United States’s power-sharing plan for Afghanistan, under which the elected Afghan government is to share power with the Taliban until new elections are held.²  The implication is, if they don’t, we’re gone.  Of course, under the plan, the United States would probably go anyway, so I’m not sure there’s really much of a difference between agreeing or not agreeing.  Other than the fact that agreeing, as I said above, means letting the Taliban into the government.³  

Given that the Afghan government and the Taliban haven’t gotten anywhere in their talks under the US-Taliban agreement of last year, it’s hard to see how they are going to work together in some new government.  But that’s not the concern of the Biden administration.  They just want out.  We have to get out, we are told, in order to end the longest war in American history.  I find this “longest war in American history” argument a little annoying.  What does it mean and why is it important?  The Cold War was twice as long.  The deaths in one day at Antietam were more than double the number of deaths in almost 20 years in Afghanistan.  So what is the urgency?  Other than we don’t care anymore.

A New Merle Hazard!

Well, it's not a new Merle Hazard.  It's the same old Merle Hazard.  But it is a new Merle Hazard song:

Can Washington Ignore the Coming Medicare Funding Crisis? Springfield Says Yes.

The Chicago Tribune last Friday had an Op-Ed by Robert Moffit on the coming insolvency in the Medicare trust fund.  The Congressional Budget Office has confirmed the Medicare trustees’ report that the fund, which covers hospitalization costs and related services, will run out of money in 2026.  Unlike Covid-19, this crisis has been obvious for years.  Paul Ryan was talking about it, and proposing plans to deal with it, more than a decade ago.  But Democrats ignored him and most Republicans did, too.  Especially once Donald Trump got nominated and elected.

But with date for insolvency of 2026, the headline on Mr. Moffit’s Op-Ed reads, “Washington can no longer ignore the coming Medicare crisis.”  Unfortunately, I think this underestimates our politicians in Washington.  The only choices in this situation are hard ones, and Washington has been ignoring this problem for years (as I said above), even though the solutions a decade ago would have been far easier.  I am sure the people in Washington can continue to ignore it.

Will Disneyland Be Opening Before Some Schools?

The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that, because of California’s easing of Covid-19 restrictions, The Happiest Place on Earth^® could be opening next month, on a reduced-capacity basis, after being closed for almost a year.  The union that represents some of the workers at Disneyland, who have been on furlough or out of a job since the park closed, said the workers “are excited to go back to work to provide Californians with a bit more magic in their lives.”¹

An interesting contrast, perhaps, to the things being said by many teachers unions around the country, but then not getting paid for almost a year can tend to give one a different outlook.  One might almost be tempted to say that, while the Disney workers want to be able to get back and act like Goofy¹ again, the leaders of some teachers unions have been acting goofy for a long time.
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¹ Disney World, in Florida, has been operating on a reduced-capacity basis, since July.
²  And Mickey and Minnie and Donald.

If Government Wants Our Trust, It Needs to Follow Proper Process

Illinois recently adopted a law ending cash bail.  I’m not going to discuss the merits of the new law; that’s not the purpose of this post.  I want to talk about how the bill was passed because that says something important about Illinois and the way we are governed.

A law abolishing cash bail is a big deal.  You would think that there would be a lot of discussion about it.  And that those passing it would want the process to be proper and to be seen to be proper.

Vaccinated. What Now? A Follow-Up

On February 11, I asked, in a post entitled “What’s Next for the Virus? Shots, Restrictions, and Masks”:

“Once we get to that point, i.e., when there is enough vaccine for everybody, what does that mean about all the restrictions we have been living under?  What about social distancing?  Limits on restaurants?  Plays and concerts and sports?  Ultimately, what about masks?”

The Chicago Tribune had an article in Sunday’s paper: “After the second dose of vaccine, what’s next?”  People want to start doing things.  That’s one the reasons they are getting the vaccine, but the experts in the article seemed to say things won’t change that much:

Dr. Seuss – and Phonics

I understand there are people out there who don’t like Dr. Seuss anymore.  Which is fine.  You can like who you want.  But I like Dr. Seuss.

I remember when our kids were young (a long time ago) and learning to read.  I was a big fan of phonics as the best way to teach kids to read (I still am), and when it came to the best books for phonics, it was Dr. Seuss by a mile. 

I’m not talking about Horton Hatches the Egg or How the Grinch Stole Christmas (though those are great books, too, especially Horton).  I’m talking about Dr. Seuss’s “Beginner Books.”  They were the best and probably still are.  Thank you, Dr. Seuss.