"Suicide of a Superpower", by Pat Buchanan

When I got done with law school 48 years ago and went out into the adult world to practce law, the thing that shocked and upset me the most was the blatant racism exhibited by judges and fellow lawyers I came into contact with. I expected it among my blue collar clients, becuase they didn't know any better, but not among other professionals. How could people with 19 years of education still be so racist? It made no sense to me.

Living and working in this hostile world was a source of continuing disappointment to me. I always felt like a reluctant visitor to an alien environment. I was a stranger in a strange land.

In the reading and studying I have done in my retirement, I have come to understand that racism is a natural part of the human condition, which is to say that we are a tribal species. This is the central theme of Pat Buchanan's 2011 book, "Suicide of a Superpower". Buchanan gives numerous examples from all around the world of the emergence of tribalism as the dominant force in the world today. The more general, and probably more accurate, term he uses is "ethnonationalism".

Concerning the United States, the superpower which Buchanan correctly diagnoses as dying, he says this: "Eisenhower's America was a nation of 160 million with a European-Christian core and culture all it own. We were a people then. And when, in 2050, we have become a stew of 435 million, of every creed, culture and color, fron every country on earth, what will hold us together".

Buchanan's general point is that countries based on ideology do not survive. Considered in that light, the miracle is not that the United States republic is dying, as it surely is, but that it has lasted this long. The Soviet Union's ideology-based country lasted only 74 years; ours has lasted an amazing 247 years and counting.

Buchanan's idea that we are a tribal species has received strong support in recent years from a perceptive article in "National Affais" by Jonathan Rauch. Rauch notes that "tribalism has been the prevalent mode of social organization for all but approximately the most recent 2% of years that humans have lived on the planet". He concludes that "the more parties weaken as institutions whose members are united by loyalty to their organization, the more they strengthen as tribes whose members are united by hostility to their enemy". So, the rancor today among different political and ethnic groups, so condemned by most of us, is really quite natural in human history.

The Dubious Value of an Ivy League Degree

The recent epidemic of anti-Semitism on college campuses, and Ivy League colleges in particular, has drawn my attention to a long-simmering issue, which is, why do we think an Ivy League degree is so valuable? So much of what we hear from Ivy League campuses these days reflects a moral degeneracy. In an encouraging, though belated, indication of some pushback, some prospective employers are now asking for a list of Harvard students who signed onto a declaration blaming Israel for the 10/7 Hamas slaughter of 1,400 Israeli civilians, for the purpose of denying those misguided students future job interviews.

With the benefit of this new insight, it seems absurd to me that the most prominent affirmative action cases all involve entry into universities. Bakke (1978) involved an application to a University of California medical school; Gratz and Gutter (2003) both involved applications to the University of Michigan law school; and Fisher (2016) involved admission the University of Texas; All of these cases upheld race-based admissions. But now we have two companion cases decided this past summer, one involving Harvard and the other the University of North Carolina, in which the Supreme Court broke with the past and struck down race-based admissions.

I am incredulous at this obsession with what college you go to. To my way of thinking, a degree from a quality liberal arts college is more valuable, in any meaningful sense of the word, than a degree from one of the "elite" universities. The three things employers value most in an employee--integrity, honesty, and a good work ethic--are most likely to be found in a college setting which encourages and nurtures those values.

To the extent that employers still over-value the elite degree, I say, so what? No man ever lay on his death bed and rued that he didn't spend more time on his business. The very thought is silly, what they always say is that they regret not spending more time with their family.

If we look at the Supreme Corrt justices, almost all in recent years have been graduates of Ivy League colleges. And the result is that the Court has a historically low approval rating, because the Court is out of touch with the country. The prevalence of Ivy League graduates has been almost as damaging to the country as the prevalence of Catholics on the Court.

"Day of Reckoning", by Pat Buchanan

In this book, published in 2007, Buchanan expounds on the themes he has explored in his other books, like "A Republic, Not an Empire" (1999), "The Death of the West" (2002), "Where the Right Went Wrong" (2004), "Churchill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War" (2008), and "Suicide of a Superpower" (2011).

"Day of Reckoning" is Buchanan's resposne to Geroge W. Bush's war on Iraq, which Buchanan considers the greatest blunder in United States history. In fact, Buchanan felt so strogly about this that in 2002 he launched a new magazine, "The American Conservative", dedicated to opposing the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

The main concept Buchanan explores is the idea of ideology. He examines Bush's speeches after 9/11, and concludes that Bush became consumed by ideology, making statements lie "moral truth is the same in every culture i every time, and in every place", "the requirements of freedom apply fully to the true Islamic world", and "We are in conflict between good and evil, and America will call evil by its name". Bush became consumed by his dsire to overthrow Iraq's ruling regime, and substitute a democratic state in its place. Buchanan calls this the use of ideology to justify war as nothing more than "war propaganda".

Buchanan says that "ideology really means poitical fanaticism". He examines past U.S. wars, and concludes that couching our justification for involvement in ideological terms was, in every caase, an after-the-fact justification for wars which were entered into out of nationl interests.

Applying Buchanan's principles to the current Israel-Hamas war, it can be easily seen that Isael is making a big mistake in invading the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu is couching it in terms of "fighting against evil", which it surely is, but to justify war on that basis is wrong. We also see tht Netanyahu, like Bush, is ignoring the Pottery Barn Rule, which says that "if you broke it, you bought it". Who is going to run the Gaza Strip when Hamas is destroyed? Another similarity is that by waging war on Muslims, you are simply creating more future terrorists. In referring to Islamic terrorists, Buchanan likes to say that "they're over here because we're over there". Hamas might be destroyed, but so what? Another group will be formed in its place. Then there is the problem of innocent civilians being killed.

The 2023 World Series

The Texas Rangers won in five games over the Arizona Diamondbacks. I was thrilled by this, as the Rangers had never won a championship in their 63 years of existence. They were twice within a strike of winning in 2011 against the Cardinals, only to have it cruelly ripped away from them. This time, hpwever, they were not to be denied.

The first game was a classic, with the Rangers tying the game with a late-inning homer, and then winning in the 11th on another homer. The other four games were rather mundane by comparison.

MVP for the Series was Rangers shortstop Corey Seager, who honmered in three of the five games. He became only the fourth player to win two World Series MVP awards, and only the second position player, joining Reggie Jackson in this regard. (Seager had previously won in 2020 with the Dodgers, while Jackson won in 1973 with the A's, and in 1977 with the Yankees.)

A disappointment is the mediocre broadasting team which FOX Sports foisted on us. How I miss the halycon days when Joe Buck and Tim McCarver called the games! The pre-game and post-game team of ex-ballplayers was equally disappointing. The knowledgeable team at ESPN, folks like Tim Kurkjian and Karl Ravech, would have been light-years better than this group.

Rangers manager Bruce Bochy made history by becoming only the third manager to take three different teams to the World Series (Bill McKechnie and Dick Williams being the first two). Well done, Bruce!

An oddity is that in this World Series the visiting team won every game. And, most impressive, the Rangers went an amazing 11-0 in the postseason as the visiting team!

Rangers second baseman and leadoff hitter Marcus Simien set an interesting record with the most plate apperances in a season (including postseason), in MLB history. He got to the plate an amazing 835 times! This was made possible by the enhanced playoff system in effect this year, but still an impressive record.

The Election of 2023

Yesterday's election was a good day for Democrats and a good day for freedom. The two Ohio ballot issues passed easily. Issue One on abortion received 56.6%, and Issue Two on marijuana received 57.0%. This was a great win for freedom of citizens from big government overreach into our private lives.

Kentucky's Democratic governor Andy Beshear won re-election. He gave a great victory speech, with the theme of the people of Kentucky not wanting to go left or right, but forward. His Repubican opponent had embraced Trumpism, and had enthusiastically touted Trump's endorsement. As with most Trump endorsements, this one fell flat, continuing quite a horrific losing streak for Trump-backed candidates.

The third key election was for control of the Virginia legislature. Control had been split between the two houses, but now Democrats will control both. A huge loss for Virginia GOP governor Glenn Youngkin, who had spent much of his political capital trying to gain full control of the legislature.