#573 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Thursday February 2)
Good morning,
Beginning with a bit of inspiration this morning, as we begin the second month of the new year…
“The night of the year is approaching. What have we done with our talent? All nature prompts and reproves us. How early in the year it begins to be late! --Henry David Thoreau, Journal, August 18, 1853
“Those who won our independence believed that the final end of the State was to make men free to develop their faculties.... They valued liberty both as an end, and as a means. They believed liberty to be the secret of happiness, and courage to be the secret of liberty. They believed that freedom to think as you will and to speak as you think are means indispensable to the discovery and spread of political truth; that, without free speech and assembly, discussion would be futile; that, with them, discussion affords ordinarily adequate protection against the dissemination of noxious doctrine; that the greatest menace to freedom is an inert people; that public discussion is a political duty, and that this should be a fundamental principle of the American government.” –Louis Brandeis, in Whitney v. California
THE POST-ROE WORLD
Adam Torson provided some resources regarding the costs of the Dobbs decision on physical and mental health and the economic costs of restrictions on abortion. “This episode of the Strict Scrutiny podcast features an interview with Diana Green Foster, who conducted the research for and authored the book The Turnaway Study, which is the best designed study I've seen on the physical and mental health, economic, and social consequences legal abortion. There also was also a pretty good amicus brief submitted in Dobbs on that subject, from a group of economists. The interview is an excellent discussion of her findings. The second half of the episode is a law professor talking about the legal challenges likely to arise in a post-Roe world, which I thought was particularly helpful in thinking about how to continue the fight going forward.
This article from Brookings has a lot of helpful data about the nature and prevalence of abortion in the United States, and the importance of access to family planning in a post-Roe world.”
HAS “MERIT” BECOME A DIRTY WORD?
There was a day when one was taught that opportunity was something out there to be grabbed. Horatio Alger was the model of hard work and “pulling oneself up by one’s bootstraps.” Certainly, these myths were imperfect and not nearly as generally available as we were taught. That said, American values have always maintained that if someone works hard, one can achieve greater things. Judging one’s aptitude, learning, and accomplishments were determined through demonstrable work product or tests. If you mastered material and excelled at a test, you could achieve greater placements for school or work. These tests are imperfect and, while the desire to level the playing field among people with different circumstances of birth, rearing, or education is laudable, there still is something to be said for having some sense of achieving some performance level. In some sense, these tests help improve the lot of those who attend public schools that often lack sufficient numbers of advanced placement classes.
The consistency of knowledge levels achieved through testing material is going by the wayside—not just in standardized tests but in the grading in classrooms. Many colleges no longer require standardized tests for admission (and some no longer permit the reporting of test results). Meanwhile, many schools, colleges and graduate schools operate many (if not all) of their classes on a pass/fail system, in which relative performance no longer can be measured. The very idea that we measure success seems anathema to some. I, for one, would feel better knowing that my doctor, lawyer, or accountant achieved more than a mere passing grade all the way through their education.
ENCYCLOPEDIAS, ONE MORE TIME
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about my love of encyclopedias and how I tried to donate my set of encyclopedias, without any takers. Several people shared similar stories. Les Bider shares a joke on this theme. Here is a fictitious ad in the British classifieds:
“FOR SALE BY OWNER
Complete set of Encyclopedia Britannica, 45 volumes. Excellent condition, £200 or best offer.
No longer needed. Got married. Wife knows everything.”
Have a great day,
Glenn
From the archives: