Hoover Digest
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
HOOVER DIGEST RESEARCH + OPINION ON PUBLIC POLICY WINTER 2021 NO. 1 THE HOOVER INSTITUTION • STANFORD UNIVERSITY The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace was established at Stanford University in 1919 by Herbert Hoover, a member of Stanford’s pioneer graduating class of 1895 and the thirty-first president of the United States. Created as a library and repository of documents, the Institution enters its second century with a dual identity: an active public policy research center and an internationally recognized library and archives. The Institution’s overarching goals are to: » Understand the causes and consequences of economic, political, and social change » Analyze the effects of government actions and public policies » Use reasoned argument and intellectual rigor to generate ideas that nurture the formation of public policy and benefit society Herbert Hoover’s 1959 statement to the Board of Trustees of Stanford University continues to guide and define the Institution’s mission in the twenty-first century: This Institution supports the Constitution of the United States, its Bill of Rights, and its method of representative government. Both our social and economic systems are based on private enterprise, from which springs initiative and ingenuity. Ours is a system where the Federal Government should undertake no governmental, social, or economic action, except where local government, or the people, cannot undertake it for themselves. The overall mission of this Institution is, from its records, to recall the voice of experience against the making of war, and by the study of these records and their publication to recall man’s endeavors to make and preserve peace, and to sustain for America the safeguards of the American way of life. This Institution is not, and must not be, a mere library. But with these purposes as its goal, the Institution itself must constantly and dynamically point the road to peace, to personal freedom, and to the safeguards of the American system. By collecting knowledge and generating ideas, the Hoover Institution seeks to improve the human condition with ideas that promote opportunity and prosperity, limit government intrusion into the lives of individuals, and secure and safeguard peace for all. HOOVER DIGEST RESEARCH + OPINION ON PUBLIC POLICY WINTER 2021 • HOOVERDIGEST.ORG THE HOOVER INSTITUTION STANFORD UNIVERSITY HOOVER DIGEST RESEARCH + OPINION ON PUBLIC POLICY WINTER 2020 • HOOVERDIGEST.ORG The Hoover Digest explores politics, economics, and history, guided by the HOOVER scholars and researchers of the Hoover Institution, the public policy research DIGEST center at Stanford University. The opinions expressed in the Hoover Digest are those of the authors and PETER ROBINSON do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Hoover Institution, Stanford Editor University, or their supporters. As a journal for the work of the scholars and CHARLES LINDSEY researchers affiliated with the Hoover Institution, the Hoover Digest does not Executive Editor accept unsolicited manuscripts. BARBARA ARELLANO The Hoover Digest (ISSN 1088-5161) is published quarterly by the Hoover Senior Publications Manager, Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, 434 Galvez Mall, Stanford University, Hoover Institution Press Stanford CA 94305-6003. Periodicals Postage Paid at Palo Alto CA and additional mailing offices. HOOVER POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the Hoover Digest, Hoover Press, 434 Galvez Mall, Stanford University, Stanford CA 94305-6003. INSTITUTION © 2021 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University THOMAS F. STEPHENSON CONTACT INFORMATION SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION Chair, Board of Overseers Comments and suggestions: $30 a year to US and Canada SUSAN R. McCAW Vice Chair, Board of Overseers [email protected] (international rates higher). (650) 723-1471 http://hvr.co/subscribe CONDOLEEZZA RICE Tad and Dianne Taube Director Reprints: Phone: (877) 705-1878 [email protected] (toll free in US, Canada) ERIC WAKIN (650) 723-3373 or (773) 753-3347 (international) Deputy Director, Robert H. Malott Director Write: Hoover Digest, of Library & Archives Subscription Fulfillment, PO Box 37005, Chicago, IL 60637 SENIOR ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS ON THE COVER CHRISTOPHER S. DAUER This Hungarian poster offers a biting KAREN WEISS MULDER satire of a communist trope: here the DANIEL P. KESSLER familiar “Red worker,” generally shown Director of Research smashing capitalism with his sledge- hammer, has accidentally smashed ASSOCIATE Hungary itself. The image refers to DIRECTORS the implosion in 1919 of the Hungarian DENISE ELSON Soviet Republic, which ruled—under SHANA FARLEY Lenin’s direct control—a mere 133 days. JEFFREY M. JONES The communist regime, brutal and COLIN STEWART unpopular in the countryside, dissolved ERYN WITCHER TILLMAN amid a welter of wars with neighboring (Bechtel Director of Public Affairs) nations. Further violence was to follow. ASSISTANT See story, page 214. DIRECTORS VISIT HOOVER INSTITUTION ONLINE | www.hoover.org SARA MYERS SHANNON YORK FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA DOWNLOAD OUR APP TWITTER @HooverInst Stay up to date on the latest FACEBOOK www.facebook.com/HooverInstStanford analysis, commentary, and news YOUTUBE www.youtube.com/HooverInstitution from the Hoover Institution. ITUNES itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/hoover-institution Find daily articles, op-eds, blogs, INSTAGRAM https://instagram.com/hooverinstitution audio, and video in one app. Winter 2021 HOOVER DIGEST HOOVER’S NEW LEADER 9 “We Need Really Good Answers” New director Condoleezza Rice has her eye on both continuity and challenge—and how Hoover can help answer some of our most urgent questions. By Peter Robinson THE ECONOMY 16 A Path to Economic Freedom How to revive and strengthen our defenses of free market capitalism. By John B. Taylor 24 Don’t Go Overboard A wave of pandemic debt threatens to overwhelm future generations. We must make sure they don’t drown. By Raghuram G. Rajan 29 Billion-Dollar Strawman Protesters have been accusing Amazon mogul Jeff Bezos of being, well, rich. But he’s made the rest of us richer too. By Jesús Fernández-Villaverde and Lee E. Ohanian 33 The Fed: A Time for Vigilance The central bank has great power. We need to make sure it exercises great responsibility—and great independence. By Kevin Warsh HOOVER DIGEST • Winter 2021 3 37 No Trust-Busting Required Accusations notwithstanding, the tech business is not a monopoly business. Competition, driven by innovation, is still the name of the game in tech. By David R. Henderson DEMOCRACY 44 Socialism’s False Promise Socialism cannot satisfy people’s hunger for autonomy, dignity—or even food. But bitter new politics have revived this failed ideology and hidden its failings. By Ayaan Hirsi Ali 53 Real Power to the People Only a liberal democracy can protect individuals and restrain rulers, and liberal democracy demands liberal education. By Peter Berkowitz 58 Unchecked, Unbalanced For centuries, federal power has been expanding at the expense of states’ healthy, proper role—and of individual freedom. By John Yoo THE ENVIRONMENT 63 Markets Defeat Malthus Only free enterprise has the power to harmonize environmentalism with people’s needs—and to protect land, water, and air for future generations. By Terry L. Anderson 4 HOOVER DIGEST • Winter 2021 73 Green Power The world won’t recycle its way out of climate change. We need new and affordable sources of energy. By Bjorn Lomborg CHINA 79 No More Mr. Nice China Beijing’s “peaceful rise” no longer serves the country’s rulers. Instead they have adopted “sharp power.” By Larry Diamond 86 Turmoil in the Home Waters Beijing isn’t seeking control over the high seas—where US fleets remain dominant—but over the “inner seas,” where dangerous clashes with other nations are likelier. By Michael R. Auslin EDUCATION 95 Charter Schools Rising Black and low-income students are making faster gains in charter schools than in traditional ones. By David Griffith and Michael J. Petrilli 102 The Coronavirus Scar How can we reduce the lifelong learning losses many students have suffered? By making education’s “new normal” a better normal. By Eric Hanushek and Ludger Woessmann FOREIGN POLICY 106 Strategy for a New Age Why has US policy in the Middle East lost its way, and America its authority? Because we have failed to embrace our new role in an age of freedom. By Charles Hill HOOVER DIGEST • Winter 2021 5 110 The Mideast, with No Illusions In the Middle East, the United States can face its limitations, simplify its aims—and still represent a force for good. By Russell A. Berman 116 At Home in the Anglosphere Post-Brexit Britain need not go it alone. A new federation with Canada, Australia, and New Zealand would create an economic superpower, an ally for the United States, and a bulwark against China. By Andrew Roberts LAW 121 Checks, Balances, and Guardrails The Constitution leaves the “how” of government largely to citizens’ wishes. Rule of law and individual rights shield us from political self-destruction. By Michael W. McConnell 130 Faithless Guardians Federal oversight over land and development has kept Native American tribes in shackles. A recent legal ruling might loosen them. By Terry L. Anderson and Adam Crepelle RACE RELATIONS 134 Self-Canceling Culture “Systemic racism” is a myth and a dodge. By Harvey C. Mansfield 6 HOOVER DIGEST • Winter 2021 138 How to Undo Racial Progress Reparations for black Americans would create a new class of victims ex nihilo—and violate every principle of justice. By Richard A. Epstein CALIFORNIA 144 California Leavin’ Wildfire smoke comes and goes, but California’s haze of overregulation and high taxes never clears. Why businesses are getting out. By Lee E. Ohanian 150 Going Dark Rolling electrical blackouts don’t just happen. They result from unwise commitments to solar and wind power. By David R. Henderson INTERVIEWS 158 “Afghanistan Will Never Be Denmark” Discussing his new book, Battlegrounds, Hoover fellow H. R. McMaster surveys the strategic landscape. By Peter Robinson 166 America, “a Force for Good” Economics professor Glenn Loury sees not “systemic racism” but systemic problems—problems we can address without violence or attacks on American ideals.