On social engineering, Cuba, Donald Trump, protectionism, the Harbaughs, Willie Wonka, Tommy Smothers, and more
For decades, the Chinese dictatorship imposed a one-child policy. Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal published a report headed “China Is Pressing Women to Have More Babies. Many Are Saying No.” My view is: People ought to be allowed to live their lives, without a great Social Engineer hanging over them, and dictating to them. This belief is one of the reasons I became a conservative (Reagan conservative). Elements of both the Left and the Right are minded toward social engineering. They want a powerful central government to shape life, for all. This is one of the great points of contention in our politics — ever and always.
• The Cuban dictatorship is now 65 years old. Castro and his gang took power on New Year’s Day 1959. Here is something of note: “High-ranking Cuban defectors issue a warning and call on former colleagues to end the regime.” That would be — a blessing. (To read about this matter — the open letter of the high-ranking Cuban defectors — go here.)
• Did you see Donald Trump’s message on Christmas Day? It bears scrutiny.
Tens of millions of people want this man to be president again. And he may well be. Elections tell us more about ourselves than about the individuals elected. They are like readings of us, as a people, as a society.
• Trump also issued this on Christmas Day:
Does anyone believe that? Will they buy the same rug a second time? Could be, could be.
• This is a different kind of Christmas message. A lot of people hate it — are nauseated by it. Some of us like it. Warm to it.
From our family to yours, Merry Christmas! pic.twitter.com/3zzAhf5qvN
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) December 25, 2023
• The editorial board of the Wall Street Journal was preaching some old-time religion — and true religion: “Trump’s Tariffs and the Common Man.” That editorial is subheaded, “Protectionism is sold as good for workers, but the overwhelming evidence is the opposite.”
It is, yes. But protectionism usually sounds good — sounds kind: You restrict foreign imports in order to protect jobs in your own country. Are you a patriot or not? And yet — there is a law of unintended consequences. Seldom is this law more sharply felt than in trade policy.
In the process of protecting some workers, you disadvantage other workers — and your country at large.
This was a revelation, when I was young. I had gotten the idea that free-market capitalism was a boon to the rich and a bane to ordinary folk. I soon learned that markets were a boon to the ordinary — to the “common man” — above all.
• Here is an article by Wilbur Ross: “Xenophobia Drives Foes of Nippon Steel’s Deal: The acquisition of U.S. Steel poses no threat to America’s economic or national security.” Ross was a Trump cabinet member — commerce secretary. Would there be any such people in a second Trump term?
• I would like to shift to language. I heard a commentator say, about a quarterback who was having trouble, “He needs to regroup.” Can an individual regroup? No. A group can. An individual has to regain his composure — or get back on track, or recalibrate, or what have you.
• As regular readers may know, I grew up with the Harbaugh family. Jim coaches the Michigan football team; John coaches the Baltimore Ravens. Their dad, Jack, coached many football teams — and our Little League baseball team. It may well be, right now, that Jim has the best college football team and John the best NFL team. What coaching prowess, in that family. I could not be more pleased — more “pumped” — as you may imagine.
• I was not at all pleased that my Detroit Lions lost to the Dallas Cowboys on Saturday night. To add insult to injury, we lost on a highly controversial call (a call by the officials). Be that as it may — this is a wonderful photo, a prizewinner:
Great photo from last night taken by @dallascowboys pic.twitter.com/S6X3TWmDX7
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) December 31, 2023
• Quick movie review? Saw Wonka. A delightsome, enchanting film. It is moral, too. (What an old-fashioned word.) It has a sense of right and wrong — truth and falsity; justice and injustice. Furthermore, I can hardly imagine a better marriage of actor and part than Timothée Chalamet and Willie Wonka.
I saw the movie in a theater — just like the “old days.” (And how much better to see Wonka on a big screen than on a phone, say.) As the closing credits rolled, a little boy in my vicinity said to his family, “I want to stay and see it again.” An understandable response.
• Sometimes you don’t know a person until he dies and you read about him — even if that person is famous. Tommy Smothers has died at 86. I would like to quote a chunk of his obit in the New York Times:
Thomas Bolyn Smothers III was born on Feb. 2, 1937, on Governors Island in New York Harbor, where his father, a West Point graduate and Army major, was stationed. The family relocated to Manila when Major Smothers was reassigned. Shortly before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the family moved again, to the Los Angeles area, where Tom and Dick’s mother, Ruth (Remick) Smothers, had grown up. She found work in an aircraft factory.
Dick Smothers, as you know, was Tom’s partner in comedy. They were the “Smothers Brothers.” Dick, a year younger, is still with us today.
The obit continues,
Major Smothers remained on Corregidor in Manila Bay to fight and was taken prisoner on the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines. He survived the Bataan death march, but in 1945 he died of injuries sustained when American planes mistakenly bombed the prison ship transporting him to a camp in Japan.
So, Tommy was seven or eight, and his brother six or seven. I thought of the current war between Israel and Hamas. By mistake (obviously), Israeli soldiers killed three Israeli hostages. This is something bitter in the hell of war.
One more thing: In 1955, Tom “graduated from Redondo Union High School, where he was a state champion on the parallel bars.” State champion? In California?
One gifted dude.
• A little music? For a review of a new production of Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera, go here.
• I overheard a couple talking as they boarded a plane. They were obviously returning home from the holidays. They seemed in their late twenties or early thirties. The man said to the woman, “I’m so sick of ‘80s music.” The woman responded, “Yeah, but we have to be tolerant of our parents.”
Ouch.
• May I show you some photos of South Carolina? Cherokee County? There is a bit of political controversy:
According to some people, there are enough Dollar General stores in the area. Another would be a blight. Would represent an injurious commercialization. Me, I have no position . . .
This scene, I like a lot:
As this:
Ever seen cows in the woods? I hadn’t.
My best to you, and happy new year.
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