When one’s friends and enemies agree on any particular point they are usually wrong.
Saki, The Unbearable Bassington, first page (1912).
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Prohibition Ends
On December 5, 1933, nationwide alcohol Prohibition in the United States ended after Utah became the 36th U.S. state to ratify the 21st Amendment to the United States Constitution, thus establishing the required 75 percent of states needed to enact the amendment that overturned the 18th.
When I was a kid, every December day was like a rocket-launch countdown ’til Christmas.
Republicans in the House of Representatives have fewer days to tick off: the days remaining to do something before Democrats take over. Days left in session? Eight.
We know what Trump wants them to do: pass his negotiated replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Last week, “Trump held a high-profile signing ceremony with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto at the G-20 summit in Argentina,” Eric Boehm writes at Reason. “The leaders of the three countries put their signatures to the final version of the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA), but the deal must still be ratified by each domestic government.”
And some in the Republican House are uneasy, because they “disagree with the Trump administration on trade issues and correctly see the USMCA as moving North America further from free trade.”
Though Donald Trump has given us some reason to think he might have multilateral free trade in mind as his real goal, the current state of the USMCA does not bolster that.
But it could be worse — the Democrats could scuttle the rewrite, just to spite Trump. This would allow Trump to go “nuclear” and withdraw from NAFTA unilaterally without a replacement.
“This would be disastrous for the American economy,” Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) says, “and would kick off a constitutional battle between the branches over trade power.”
That sounds like a lump of coal for Christmas. But I wonder: can a constitutional battle be all bad if it raises awareness of . . . the Constitution?
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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Jack McDevitt
Most government and corporate leaders would have trouble getting people to follow them out of a burning building. One way you can tell the worst of them is that they talk about leadership a lot. I doubt Winston Churchill ever used the word. Or, for that matter, Attila the Hun.
Jack McDevitt, Odyssey (2006), Chapter 5.
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A Farewell to Arms
On December 4, 1783, at Fraunces Tavern in New York City, General George Washington formally bade his officers farewell.
U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin (R-Maine) doesn’t like Ranked Choice Voting.
Last week, I suggested that’s because he lost his re-election to Congress in his state’s first use of Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). Perhaps I spoke too quickly? Congressman Poliquin argues that RCV is a “black-box voting system.”
“We heard from countless Maine voters who were confused and even frightened their votes did not count due to computer-engineered rank voting,” read a campaign statement.
Who wants frightened voters?
The “voting system utilized by the Secretary of State is secret,” Poliquin’s campaign spokesman further complained. “No one is able to review the software or computer algorithm used by a computer to determine elections. This artificial intelligence is not transparent.”
Computer-engineered elections? Artificial intelligence? Oh, my!
“I think it’s time that we have real ballots, counted by real people,” the congressman told reporters. “. . . instead of this black box that computes who wins and who loses.”
By all means, yes.
Nathan Tefft is a professor at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, and claims to be “a real person.” With a PhD in economics. He got all the election data and replicated the ranked -choice process used by the Maine Secretary of State in conducting the count, confirming the state’s results.
“The Maine secretary of state’s office has published all the election results on its website — every ballot, every ranking in every town,” the Bangor Daily News informed. “It’s all there in massive data files that can be inspected and downloaded.”
Wait a second . . . what about the black-box, the secrecy, the dreaded use of AI?
All a fable.
“Yeah,” Dr. Tefft noted, “it’s just math.”
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
» See popular posts from Common Sense with Paul Jacob HERE.
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Mary Wollstonecraft
Society . . . as it becomes more enlightened, should be very careful not to establish bodies of men who must necessarily be made foolish or vicious by the very constitution of their profession.
Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), chapter one.
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Cold War Ends
On December 3, 1989, the leaders of the two world superpowers, the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, declared an end to the Cold War, at a summit in Malta. A little over two years later not only had the Cold War ended, the Soviet Union was itself dissolved.
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Townhall: What’s Right About Starbucks?
The controversial coffee house has its merits. How many do you see? Compare with its demerits. Click over to Townhall for hints. Come back for the full menu:
- Starbucks: Flat White
- Amazon: Liberal Tears Coffee Mug Starbucks Parody White Ceramic 11 oz Coffee Mug
- IBD: Starbucks’ Howard Schultz Just Killed His Chances Of Being President
- Forbes: Howard Schultz’ Open Letter To Starbucks Customers Reflects A Mission That Started 35 Years Ago
- Weekly Standard: Starbucks’ Proud Progressivism Can’t Protect It From Charges of Racism
- Vox: Starbucks’ push to make baristas talk about race sounds like it could be disastrous
- New York Times: Starbucks Ends Conversation Starters on Race
- Eater: A Brief History of Starbucks’ Holiday Cup Controversies
- Market Watch: One reason why liberals drink more lattes
- NBC Today: Jerry Seinfeld Says Starbucks Turned Down His Coffee Show
An archive of this column will appear on this site mid-week. Thanks for reading and sharing!
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Monroe Doctrine
On December 2, 1823, U.S. President James Monroe delivered a speech establishing American neutrality in future European conflicts. The policy became known as the Monroe Doctrine.
Though a much-discussed principle of American foreign policy, it was undermined by the Spanish-American War, and proved a dead letter as the U. S. entered World War I.