The Deep State, Coddling, and the Gubenator! Also, apres-ski! Who knew?!
RWL #377
Greetings from the LHH! The lovely wife (I think I might start referring to her as TLW) and I had the opportunity to go skiing this past weekend up in North Conway to ski at a little ski area called King Pine. Sadly, we received our first major snow storm of the year on Sunday as we were driving back - on Saturday when we were skiing there were only a few slopes open because we have had an unusually warm winter so far. We are not skiers - the last time we skied was 2018 - so mostly I was happy to go down the green slopes and not get hurt. I did a really good job at the lodge holding down the fire pit, sipping a nice Moat Mountain Boneshaker at the end of the day while our friends went and did a few more runs at full speed. Apparently this is called “après-skiing” - meaning after skiing. I feel I am very good at apres-skiing - I can compete with the best.
Something else fun I’m thinking about is making my own vanilla extract. Apparently it’s super simple and inexpensive relative to the store price. I posted about it on FB and it seems half of my friends were like, “Duh - where have you been? Hiding under a rock?” and the other half were, like me, “Brilliant! Who knew?” You basically have to soak vanilla beans in vodka (or bourbon, according to some of my know-it-all friends) for six months and you get real vanilla extract. Instructions here if you are interested.
OK - on to the links: a couple of thoughts on political economy, raising resilient kids, and the Gubenator has written a book! As usual, willing good for all of you!
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Read
What: Government Executive, 10 surprising things about the ‘deep state’—starting with the Roman Emperor Caligula
Why: I believe one of the things we have learned in the study of development - how societies go from being poor to being rich - is that a rules-based order is necessary for sustained growth and progress. When a society operates as a republic, it means that all members of society are governed by a set of laws known by all. Democracy is just one way of coming up with the laws, but a democracy is not necessarily a republic. Many societies have feared broad-based democracy because it can easily descend into mob rule, where the mob imposes arbitrary and capricious laws on minorities. The term deep state is often used pejoratively to refer to the bureaucracy that enforces the rules of a society and makes it difficult for political leaders to enact rapid change. As a classical liberal, I am in favor of a deep state, though not necessarily a broad one (by which I mean, the government should be very good at doing a limited set of tasks, and it should stick to those limited tasks). It should be difficult for politicians to change the rules that govern a society. Individual actors seeking to better themselves take into account the established rules as they lay out their plans. If the rules are changed arbitrarily and capriciously by politicians to favor politicians’ supporters, then it makes it difficult for citizens to enact plans to create wealth except by cronyism.
This is a short, fun article that highlights some of the challenges of an arbitrary state vs. a deep state. Thanks to DS for the link.
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What: National Review, Why We Should Recoil from the 14th Amendment Strategy Against Trump
https://recoil-against-14th-amendment-strategy-trump.tiiny.co/
Why: In line with my comments above, I am very concerned about this legal effort to get Trump stricken from the Republican primary. I have not made it a secret that I am not a Trump fan, but I see this as an attempt to manipulate the rules of society to get a particular outcome. The problem with manipulating the rules is a double-edged sword. The rules that work to get your desired outcome today may be used against you tomorrow. While we could argue Trump is a once-in-a-generation figure, I am afraid that if we manipulate the rules to block him, that process will be abused in the future, probably by Republicans, to block some Democratic nominee, and we will see our rules-based process damaged. Like the author, I see this as an abuse of rule-making and rule-enforcing authority. The author talks about our constitutional system as having a spirit underlying the legal and technical wording. From the conclusion:
The problem with the anti-Trump 14th Amendment strategy isn’t that it isn’t democratic, but that it isn’t constitutional — both in the legal sense and in the deepest kind of political sense.
This is a very balanced argument from a writer, who, like me, is not a fan of Trump, but that doesn’t matter. We are a republic of laws, but the spirit underlying the laws has to be respected, too. In fact, I think, to be charitable to my friends who are Trump fans, this argument that legal processes have been abused by those who oppose Trump is one of their central, animating principle. They feel wronged by a legalistic, deep state that overstepped its bounds. I don’t happen to agree, but that is the benefit of democracy.
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Watch
What: Jonathan Haidt, Why modern America creates fragile children (10 min)
Why: Haidt is the author of the Coddling of the American Mind, among other books. He covers a few points in this short talk that he discusses in more depth in the book. I’ve read the book and recommend it. His work is especially focused on Gen-Z (my kids’ generation). I see some of the negative parenting behaviors in my own choices - safetyism, for example. I know I was very protective of my kids. My wife and I were very involved in their lives, and through our best intentions, probably contributed to their fragility. Don’t get me wrong - I think my kids are great - but I see where some of what we were doing collectively as a society for this cohort made them all more fragile. Some of that is now coming home to roost as Gen-Z reaches adulthood, particularly in safetyism on campus. I particularly like the segment Haidt has at about the 6:30 mark where he talks about tribalism. Definitely worth 10 minutes of your day.
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Listen
What: People I mostly Admire, Arnold Schwarzenegger Has Some Advice for You (39 min)
Why: Schwarzenegger has a new book out, and it probably comes as no surprise to you that I love the title: Be Useful. He claims in his book to have distilled his secrets to success down to “seven rules to follow to realize your true purpose in life”. I like anything that suggests we should make our lives useful and follow a true purpose. A lot of these “I was super successful, and you can be, too, if you follow my example” books are often retrofitting rules onto lucky outcomes, but I also believe that there are good rules out there to follow. Much of life’s outcomes are determined by luck, but certainly not all. You can certainly prepare for opportunity and you can prepare for adversity. I enjoyed this interview and Schwarzenegger talks about some of his rules in it. The audio book is available free if you are a Spotify member. I plan to listen to it, but in the meantime, I recommend the pod.