Episode 8

MLK Day. Policies among states matter. Election reform is needed, but not what's being pushed. Meanwhile, Progessives face a backlash, while some find a backbone to push back at China.

Today is MLK Day.

1) Mark Perry took a look at net domestic migration data from the US Census Bureau and found that our eyes aren’t lying to us. People really are moving from blue states to red states.

Perry looked at the policies and political makeup of the top ten inbound states like Florida, Texas, and Georgia, with those of the top ten outbound state like California, New York, and Illinois.

There is empirical evidence that Americans and businesses “vote with their feet” when they relocate from one state to another, and the evidence suggests that Americans are moving from blue states that are more economically stagnant, fiscally unhealthy states with higher tax burdens and unfriendly business climates with higher energy and housing costs and fewer economic and job opportunities, to fiscally sound red states that are more economically vibrant, dynamic and business-friendly, with lower tax and regulatory burdens, lower energy, and housing costs and more economic and job opportunities.

Buzz’s Thoughts: Policies matter and these trends aren’t new. The top ten inbound states have been growing rapidly for some time now. However, like most things, the covid19 pandemic has accelerated these trends.

2) Progressives face backlash as faith in institutions crumbles. So says Joel Kotkin.

So, here’s the good news. On what sometimes seems the inexorable course towards progressive capture, we can see multiple fronts of resistance, and the early congealing of independent-minded forces, from the rational Right to the traditional liberal-left. Our society may never regain the feistiness of previous eras, and our new elites might continue marching through our institutions. But as they become increasingly discredited, they would be unwise to forget that all long marches one day come to an end.

Read the entire article.

Buzz’s Thoughts: The declining support for most of our major institutions has been going on for a long time. Faith in the military and public schools had remained strong, but as Kotkin points out, now our support for those institutions has cratered. Repairing the institutions needed for a healthy society will take more than simply discrediting the progressives who run them. It will require those in the various institutions to remember the true purpose of those institutions and refocusing them back on that purpose. No small task.

3) Yuval Levin writes that both Democrats and Republicans are undermining faith in our electoral system, and that their complaints about what is wrong with the system simply isn’t true. He suggests both sides work together to reform certain post election activities such as the Electoral Counting Act, which was put under tremendous stress as Trump pressured Vice President Pence to toss out enough electoral votes to overturn the 2020 election.

If we take both parties’ most high-minded arguments at face value, they are worried about problems that barely exist. It is easier than ever to vote: Registration has gotten simpler in recent decades, and most Americans have more time to vote and more ways to do so. Voter turnout is at historic highs, and Black and white voting rates now rise and fall together. These trends long predate the pandemic, and efforts to roll back some state Covid-era accommodations seem unlikely to meaningfully affect turnout.

Meanwhile, voter fraud is vanishingly rare. The most thorough database of cases, maintained by one of the staunchest conservative defenders of election integrity, suggests a rate of fraud so low, it could not meaningfully affect outcomes.

Buzz’s Thoughts: I ran for Georgia Secretary of State in 2018. In virtually every speech I gave, I expressed my concern that growing numbers of Republicans and Democrats no longer trust the election results, unless their preferred candidate wins. This is a dangerous path for our country to be traveling down. Yet, here we are, with Trump and his “Big Lie,” and Democrats claiming unless their legislation passes the country will lurch toward dictatorship. As Levin points out, neither group making these claims have facts on their side. We must step back from this precipice and work on issues that really do exist.

4) Malcolm Gladwell contrasts how the Women’s Tennis Association’s Steve Simon responded to the Peng Shuai situation with how the NBA’s Adam Silver responded to Daryl Morey’s tweet in support of protestors in Hong Kong back in 2019. The difference is stunning. Gladwell ends with good advice for leaders of sports leagues and everyone else:

So here’s my advice to any future CEO caught in a difficult spot. Put your values first. Remember that your obligation is to your own community. Don’t embarrass yourself in public, in defense of whatever random dictatorship you’ve found yourself in bed with. When it comes to responding, tell the lawyers and the crisis-managers to stay home, so you have a chance to say what you mean. And if you don’t want to? Use Steve Simon’s response as your template. Here you go. Feel free to cut and paste as necessary:

“If powerful people can suppress the voices of ______ and sweep allegations of _______ under the rug, then the basis on which the _____ was founded — [insert moral values here] — would suffer an immense setback. I will not and cannot let that happen to _____ and its ______.”

Buzz’s Thoughts: During the Cold War, the thinking was that trading with the U.S.S.R. and its satellite nations would eventually wear them down. Economic freedom and political freedom often go hand in hand. That approach hasn’t worked thus-far with China. It seems they have influenced our corporations, who mostly quake in fear at the loss of revenue from the humongous Chinese market. We need corporate leaders, who are quick to lecture Americans who stray from certain left-leaning moral beliefs, to regain their courage when dealing with abusive regimes such as China.

5) Speaking of tennis…the Australian government has kicked the world’s top men’s tennis player out of the country for being unvaccinated.

Novak Djokovic will be denied the chance to defend his Australian Open title after the Federal Court validated a federal government decision to deport him because of his stance on vaccination.

The tennis champion’s dramatic, week-long legal challenge failed about 5.45pm on Sunday when a full bench of the court ruled unanimously that he should be removed from the country because of the danger he would stoke anti-vaccination sentiment.

He boarded an Emirates flight to Dubai on Sunday night, a journey expected to take 14 hours.

Buzz’s Thoughts: Australia is an island, and their stance on letting in people who may have various bugs or diseases has always been more strict that other places. Djokovich thought he had things worked out to allow him to play, but alas, public officials, and it seems Australian public opinion, changed and turned against him. We don’t have to like their decision, but it is the Australian government’s decision to make. No special treatment for superstar athletes Down Under it seems. Still, it will be a shame not to see Djokovich defend his title, and have the chance to surpass Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for most career Grand Slam victories.

6) Safer, more efficient EV batteries using rubber?

Georgia Tech engineers have solved common problems (slow lithium-ion transport and poor mechanical properties) using the rubber electrolytes. The key breakthrough was allowing the material to form a three-dimensional (3D) interconnected plastic crystal phase within the robust rubber matrix. This unique structure has resulted in high ionic conductivity, superior mechanical properties and electrochemical stability.

This rubber electrolyte can be made using a simple polymerization process at low temperature conditions, generating robust and smooth interfaces on the surface of electrodes. These unique characteristics of the rubber electrolytes prevent lithium dendrite growth and allow for faster moving ions, enabling reliable operation of solid-state batteries even at room temperature.

“Rubber has been used everywhere because of its high mechanical properties, and it will allow us to make cheap, more reliable and safer batteries,” said Lee.

Buzz’s Thoughts: Automakers are spending a lot of money developing electric vehicles. But a major stumbling block to wide acceptance has been the efficiency of the batteries, as well as the speed and availability of charging stations. This research at Georgia Tech seems to be a big step in addressing a big stumbling block to more widespread EV adoption.