The View from Right Field

Nothing Is Better Than Too Much; Nothing Is Better Than Too Little

That is the essence of the dispute in Congress on a coronavirus relief bill.  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans say that the plan proposed by the Democrats is too big and they won’t approve it.  Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats say that the plan proposed by the Senate Republicans is too small and they won’t approve it.  In other words, both of them are saying that doing nothing is better than passing the bill the other side wants.  And so, nothing is done.

Which sounds familiar to those of us in Illinois who remember the Governor Bruce Rauner/Speaker Michael Madigan disputes in 2015-17.¹
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¹ See here and here.

The Washington 180 – Once Again

With Joe Biden being elected President and the Republicans very possibly keeping a majority in the Senate,¹ we may have another “Washington 180” coming up next year. 

After the Republicans took the House in 2010, Barack Obama couldn’t get Congress to pass his agenda.  When Congress wouldn’t pass the laws he wanted, President Obama turned to what he called his “pen and phone.”²  Sometimes, departments and agencies followed the Administrative Procedure Act and adopted formal regulations.  Other times, they just issued new interpretations of laws or prior regulations.  Or they sent so-called “Dear Colleagues” letters to state and local governments setting out new rules, with an implied threat to cut off federal funding if they didn’t follow the new rules or standards.

Farewell to Theo

I need to say thanks to Theo Epstein as he leaves, but first I owe him a couple of apologies.  First, this post is late because I have been spending too much time reading about Donald Trump’s stupid effort to claim the presidential election was stolen from him.¹ 

Second, my initial thought was that Theo was bailing just when a lot of hard choices needed to be made.  A lot of guys are coming up on free agency, who knows how next season will be played and how much money will be available, the farm system isn’t that great, etc.  We almost need a rebuild, a rebuild while still contending, which is really hard, and he says, “I’m out of here.”  But then I realized I was wrong.  The Cubs probably do need a mini-rebuild, or at least a lot of changes, but if Theo isn’t going to stay for the whole thing, it wouldn’t be right for him to start it and then leave.  It’s more appropriate for him to leave now so Jed Hoyer can do it the way he thinks is right.

What Donald Trump Is Doing Doesn’t Have to Damage Our Democracy

Democrats and much of the mainstream media¹ are saying Donald Trump is damaging American democracy by his continuing refusal to accept defeat in the presidential election and to start the transition process for President-elect Biden.  I agree that what President Trump is doing is appalling and that it makes the United States look stupid around the world, but it’s not the first time President Trump has done that, and given that January 20 is still two months away, it may not be the last (unfortunately).  It is, after all, what President Trump does.  We all know that by now.  Why should we be surprised he continues to do it?

But, as for whether President Trump is causing lasting damage to American democracy, that’s up to us.  What he is doing doesn’t have to cause lasting damage to democracy – unless we let it.  We can agree that what President Trump is doing is wrong and that we will never do it ourselves.  We can make what President Trump is doing a one-time thing by agreeing that we will concede when our opponent gets more votes and that we won’t go around saying our opponent wasn’t really elected once the votes are counted. 

Covid-19 Leadership: Is Anybody Leading?

When it comes to Covid-19 leadership, Donald Trump has been a disaster.  Too often he said the virus wasn’t that bad.  Other times he suggested almost quack solutions.  And masks were seemingly verboten around the White House.¹  Clear, confident, national leadership could have made things less bad.  He didn’t provide it.

But too many of our governors and mayors haven’t been effective leaders, either.  I understand it is hard to lead when the national message isn’t clear.  But that doesn’t mean state and local leaders couldn’t have done a better job. 

@realDonaldTrump’s Legacy - Afghanistan and Iraq

For those who thought Donald Trump’s legacy, at least since November 3, would be most tarnished by his refusal to concede to President-Elect Joe Biden, I give you this:

“BREAKING: US Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller announces that the number of US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq will be reduced to 2,500 by January 15th, 2021.”

Acting Secretary Miller apparently refused to take questions after announcing the decision.  I have talked about this before (here and here, among others); there is no need to talk about it again.  It is a terrible decision, as so many of President Trump’s decisions have been.  The United States, Afghanistan, and the world will regret it.

Illinois Might Have an Emergency, But Don’t Expect the Legislature To Do Anything

The President of the Illinois State Senate, Don Harmon, a Democrat from Oak Park, was really excited about the election results.  Even with the defeat of the Fair Tax, he said, in a comment in our local newspaper, the Wednesday Journal, “We did it.”  Now, however, with Illinois facing a financial crisis because of the defeat of the Fair Tax and facing another coronavirus wave, Senator Harmon is saying, “We can’t do it”; i.e., the legislature can’t meet for its fall session.  It wouldn’t be safe, he says, with the virus surging in Springfield and around the state.

Doctors and nurses are working.  Police officers and firefighters are there for us.  And grocery stores and drug stores are open, and their workers are helping us with our food and medicine.  But the state legislature meeting to pass laws to deal with these crises?  It’s too dangerous.¹

Bridging the Divide

In today’s Financial Times, former Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D, ND) says that “an effective [virus] containment strategy and [economic] recovery plan requires votes from both sides of the political divide.”¹  She is absolutely right on that,  However, she is wrong in how to get such a plan.  She says “[w]hat we need is a series of open meetings” with “[a]ll stakeholders invited” and everything “should be transparent.”

While that sounds good, it won’t work.  As we have seen so often in Washington, public hearings mean public posturing.  Senators, representatives, etc., focus on sound bites and what they can put on Twitter and Facebook, pandering to their base, instead of trying to actually reach an agreement.

Hey, Springfield: We Don’t Trust You

There are lots of stories in this election, some of which have not yet been fully told.  But there is one thing we know in Illinois: Illinois voters don’t trust Springfield.  Governor Pritzker spent millions supporting an amendment to the Illinois constitution allowing a progressive income tax.  The supporters said, over and over, it would only affect the rich, just the top 3%.  But they failed.  

What is interesting is why they failed.  The opponents of the amendment did not argue the merits of a flat tax versus a graduated tax.  Rather, they just asked Illinoisans whether they could trust the politicians in Springfield to limit the “Fair Tax” to just the top 3%, as they promised. 

The Economics of Big-Time Professional Sports In a Pandemic

With Major League Baseball and the NBA completing their seasons and football moving along with its season, Ben Cohen and Louise Radnofsky came up with some lessons after sports’ first Covid-19 season in Saturday’s Wall Street Journal.  Among them is this:

“The past few months have taught sports that fans are important but not essential – at least for now.  The games can be played without them.  Being flexible and doing the unimaginable, whether it is a closed-door competition or shortening some baseball games to seven innings, paid off for the leagues.