The View from Right Field

Just When You Thought the 2020 Political Campaign Couldn’t Get Worse

The passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg is sad.  Obviously, I didn’t know her, but people who did have spoken so highly of her.  It is impressive.

While I hope it is not inappropriate to say, while Justice Ginsburg’s passing is sad, her passing right now is horrendous.  Could anything have happened that would have made the 2020 political campaign worse? 

Vote By Mail Is Easy. Just Do It Early.

According to Democrats and some of the media, Donald Trump is going to use the Postal Service to mess up vote-by-mail this year.  In fact, last month the House Democrats tried to give the Postal Service $25 billion to make sure they had enough money for the election.  Of course, that was pretty much political optics, as opposed to really trying to help, and fix, the Postal Service.  But throwing money at the bureaucracy (or at least phony attempts to do so) is one way to make yourself feel good – and maybe look good.

But, in any case, if President Trump is trying to get the Postal Service to mess up voting by mail this year, it looks like he is about as good on that as he has been at lots of other things he does – or doesn’t do.  Just this past weekend I received this notice from the Postal Service giving me suggestions on getting my vote-by-mail ballot back in on time (and including a link to find out what the rules are in my state):

When Your Party Leaves You and You Have No Place to Go

Ronald Reagan famously said that he didn’t leave the Democratic Party, it left him.  With what is happening in the Republican Party these days, I think I am beginning to know how he felt.  The only difference is that, when the Democratic Party left President Reagan, he had some place else to go.  I don’t.  

During the GOP’s virtual convention, The Wall Street Journal¹ wrote about Donald Trump’s takeover of the Republican Party:

“President Trump is accepting the nomination for a second term before a party that has largely united behind him, embracing his America-first foreign and economic policies and unorthodox, sometimes chaotic style.

Character Defines the Choice in November

The Wall Street Journal summed up the case for and against Donald Trump’s re-election in an editorial today.  Here are a few excerpts, with my comments added in italics:

“Four years [after President Trump’s election] our verdict is that he has been better on policy than we feared but worse on personal behavior than we hoped.  Whether Americans re-elect him depends on how they assess that political balance sheet. …

The President contracted out tax reform to Congress, especially Paul Ryan in the House and Pat Toomey in the Senate, and they delivered.  Mr. Trump also hired a cast of deregulators who liberated the economy from burdens on energy and more. …

I’m Hoping for a Landslide Come November

I hope the election in November is a landslide.  In saying that, I’m not saying who I want to win (you can find that elsewhere).  I’m just saying I just hope it’s not close because I’m not sure we, as a nation, can handle another close election.

I am especially worried because the pandemic means voting is going to be very different this year.  There’s going to be a lot more vote-by-mail.  In person voting will probably be different, too (who knows how many polling places we’ll have open).  I’m afraid there will be a lot of confusion, among voters and among election workers.  Plus who knows if the election authorities are ready for an election as different as this one will be.

Who Am I Voting For In November?

Well, it won’t be Donald Trump.  I made that clear in February of 2016¹ (and I knew it before that).  So does that mean I am voting for Joe Biden?  I don’t know.

I have the advantage, unlike people who live in states that might go for either President Trump or former Vice President Biden, of living in a state, Illinois, that is definitely going to go for Vice President Biden.  So my vote is not going to make a difference for president this year (though as I mentioned here, in some cases one vote can make a difference).  The fact that Illinois is definitely going for Vice President Biden means I don’t have to vote for Vice President Biden just to stop President Trump.  I can wait and decide whether I want to vote for Vice President Biden based on how good I think Vice President Biden could be, not just how bad President Trump would be.  Which is the problem.

The Biggest Danger In a Dangerous World

I think almost everybody would agree that these are dangerous times, perhaps the most dangerous times most of us have faced.  But where we may disagree is as to what the biggest problem is.  Some will say it is COVID-19.  Others will say it is climate change or systemic racism.  Figuring out how to restart the economy is the biggest for some.  And still others will argue it is polarization and the inability of our political leaders in Washington to do almost anything.  Legitimate arguments can be made on behalf of any of these (and others), but I see it as something else: the world.

In a talk to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs on June 26, Robert Gates, former Secretary of Defense under both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama,¹ compared the situation in the world today not to the 1930s, which was suggested by the question he was asked, but to the early 1900s, the time before World War I.  As before World War I, there are a number of competitors for power today, some world and some regional.  There are no effective international organizations.  There is a rising world power (then Germany, now China).  And there are tensions around the world, with forces deployed around the world, too.

What's Better? Something or Nothing? Police Reform In an Age of Polarization.

I’ve been writing a lot about baseball lately, mostly because baseball, even with people like Rob Manfred and Tony Clark unable to negotiate anything, is better than politics today, which says something.  But it’s back to the real world.

A big issue in Washington is police reform.  Your first thought about Washington and police reform might be like mine: Huh?  Police, like schools, seems like the epitome of a state and local issue.   We need police reforms (for one of my ideas, see here), but what’s the federal government got to do with it?  State governments, local governments.  Police reform is their issue.  Congress can’t pass laws telling state and local governments how to run their police forces.  About all the federal government can do (with one exception I will get to below) is cut back on the money it gives to state and local police departments if they do things the federal government doesn’t like.  It’s not much, but it’s something.  So the people in Washington are talking about a police reform bill which would increase or decrease the amount of money Washington gives to state and local police departments.

Two Bad Supreme Court Decisions – From a Process Point of View

It’s been a bad week for people who see the job of the Supreme Court as applying the law, as opposed to coming up with ways to do what Congress should do but hasn’t.

First, it was the LGBT workers decision on Monday in Bostock v. Clayton County.  I think that people shouldn’t be fired from jobs for being gay, lesbian, etc.¹  And I think Congress should pass a law to that effect (as should states).  But Congress hasn’t.  I do not believe that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, when it prohibits discrimination in employment because of an individual’s sex, covers discrimination because of sexual preference, gender identity, etc.  “Sex” did not include those things in 1964, and it shouldn’t be interpreted as including them today.  There is a proper way to do it: Pass a law.

Now Is the Time to Get Ready for the Election in November

Last weekend The Wall Street Journal had an article by Nicholas Persily, “It’s Not Too Late to Save the 2020 Election,” on things we need to do to avoid (minimize-?) problems next November.  Professor Persily listed nine things:

1. Provide more federal funding and support.
2. Ensure that schools remain open as polling places.
3. Keep voters from having to wait in line.
4. Bolster confidence in voting by mail.
5. Encourage election and postal officials to coordinate their efforts as soon as possible.
6. Insist that the big tech companies do their part.
7. Deploy tools to help predict voter turnout.
8. Anticipate problems with disinformation and cybersecurity.
9. Refrain from declaring a winner on election night.

Here are the key things I got from the article, with an Illinois perspective.