"Spoiled by Convenience"

 With an old-fashioned winter storm arriving Sunday, I thought it appropriate to show the beauty winter can bring. The photo is of a painting by one of our grandchildren. It depicts the house in Old Lyme we lived in for twenty-five years. Our talented grandson begins an internship next week with the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C.

 

Enjoy the weather and stay indoors – a fire in the fireplace, a hot cocoa and a good book!

 

Sydney M. Williams

 

More Essays from Essex

“Spoiled by Convenience?”

January 24, 2025

 

“I have known some people of very modern views driven by their distress to the use of theological

terms to which they attach no doctrinal significance, merely because a drawer was jammed tight...”

                                                                                                                                G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

                                                                                                                                All Things Considered, 1908

 

We have all been reduced to the use of profanity when things go wrong, often over minor inconveniences. A few weeks ago, it was the hot water. It wasn’t as though we had none, but it trickled, not gushed. Shaving was difficult and showering more so. I swore and felt better

 

Nevertheless, I was able to shave and bathe. And I thought of how my life has become easier over the decades. If I am warm, I adjust the air conditioning. If it is cold outside and must go to the grocery store, I start my car remotely. So, I ask myself: have I become spoiled by convenience?

 

Innovation, fostered by individual initiative, abetted by aspiration and fueled by capitalism, has led to products and services that have made our lives easier and more comfortable – everything from flush toilets, refrigeration, heated sidewalks to instant communication. We don’t think about them; we accept them.

 

Man has been around for, perhaps, 300,000 years, yet as recently as 500 years ago life for most people had not changed. Yes, cities and governments had been established, cast iron plows were used in Europe in the 14^th Century, and Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1440, but estimates are that in 1500 half of Europe’s population were homeless or lived in poverty and only about 7% of Europe’s population could read. Disease, wars and accidents killed millions. The Black Plague (1346-1353) killed somewhere between 30% and 60% of Europe’s population. In 1700, life expectancy was still under forty years.

 

The Industrial Revolution radically changed people’s lives. Health improved. A vaccine for smallpox was invented in the last decade of the 18^th Century. Anesthesia was first used in 1846. Antiseptic practices, which we accept as commonsensical, go back only to the 1860s – to a time when my great grandparents were young adults. Communication and transportation changed, with the development of the telegraph and railroads. Central heating dates back just to the late 19^th Century.

 

Autos replaced horse-drawn carriages, steam ships replaced sailing vessels, and air flight made the world smaller and more accessible. Air conditioning only became widespread in the 1950s. There is so much that we take for granted that earlier generations never knew – frozen foods, gas ranges, movies, television and penicillin. And the proliferation of labor-saving inventions, from dishwashers to push-button windows in cars, to on-line shopping, and the streaming of movies have made life easier.

 

Maps have disappeared as auto navigation systems became ubiquitous. “Find my Friends” app allow parents to track their children. One downside is that cell phones have replaced telephone operators. 

 

Standards of living have risen beyond what previous generations could have imagined, and today we have the free time that only the wealthiest could have imagined a hundred years ago. Yet we complain. Polls measuring happiness indicate declines. Have we become spoiled by convenience?

"Separating the Wheat from th Chaff"

Today is the day we celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday. It is also the 40^th anniversary of the first Martin Luther King Day, a federal holiday signed into law by President Reagan on January 20, 1986.

Sunday was wintry in Essex, Connecticut, a good day to get one’s mind off politics and curl up with a good book. Thus, the photo. The stump in the lower left of the photo is from the first log I chopped, a memento saved by my parents almost eighty years ago.

 

Sydney M. Williams

www.swtotd.blogspot.com

 

Thought of the Day

“Separating the Wheat from the Chaff”

January 19, 2026

 

“The wise will strive to manifest a brave new world, while

the foolish and unkind will suffer for their lack of common sense.”

                                                                                                Anthon St. Maarten

                                                                                                Divine Living: The Essential Guide to Your True Destiny

                                                                                                2012

 

The title of this essay comes from the Bible, Matthew 3:12: separating the wheat (useful grains) from the chaff (useless husks). It means we should distinguish between the good and the bad, what is important and beneficial from what is superficial and harmful. To the media, it should mean to report the truth of events and restrain biases. To politicians, it should mean to focus on the agendas that are important to the people and to avoid the mean-spiritedness of personal attacks. 

 

The world always faces threats. History does not end. There will always be people and nations attempting to accrue power, to unseat the United States of America. That is the wheat that we should target. While Russia is a nuclear power with a recidivistic leader, China is the biggest threat. Russia has an aging and declining population, engaged in an unending war, and with an economy that faces hurdles. Keep in mind, the EU plus Britain have a population 3.5X bigger than Russia, with a GDP almost ten times that of Russia.

 

The bigger threat comes from China. They have a population of 1.4 billion, and a GDP almost equal to the EU and Britain. Over 150 countries and international organizations, spanning five continents and Oceania, have signed cooperation agreements with China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Norh America’s Canada has not signed up as a full partner, but last week’s trip to Beijing by Prime Minister Mark Carney – and given President Trump’s disrespect for the man – suggest that Canada is looking to forge a new strategic partnership. No one should underestimate the goals of Communist China. It is why President Trump wants to halt their expansion in South and East Asia, limit their incursions into Central and South America, and stop their progress in the arctic. Past Presidents have underestimated the will and the aims of the Chinese. As well, at home we face unsustainable debt and the lure of Socialism with its promises of false hopes. 

 

But President Trump has failed to cull the chaff. The prosecution of his political enemies consumes too much of his time. I understand that he was unfairly treated in his first term, but he should move on. Closing the border and deporting criminal migrants are to be praised. But jailing and deporting law-abiding people who have jobs and families undermines the good he is doing. Fighting with the Federal Reserve in senseless and, in fact, dangerous to our economy. His spat with Jeremy Powell is part of what I call chaff. I recognize that the Fed has become politicized. In the fourth quarter of 2008, in response to the credit crisis, Fed Funds were reduced to .25 basis points from 2% in the third quarter (and 4.25% in the first quarter.) Despite the fact that the economy recovered in the 2^nd half of 2009, and remained positive for the next ten years, Fed Funds were not raised again until late 2015. When President Obama left office in January 2017, the rate was still only 1.50%. Does anyone believe that Mr. Obama did not pressure the Fed? Low rates for so long have been a boon to asset prices, including speculative ones like crypto currencies, and they helped give rise to our unsustainable debt.

 

There are other issues that either distract or harm us, more chaff. That the Supreme Court should be forced to define a woman is the peak of silliness. We are not assigned – as was the question on a medical form I recently filled out – a sex when we are born. We are either male or female. Perhaps doctors and nurses no longer study anatomy? Allowing men, who claim to be women, to compete as women in sporting events, or to use their bathrooms, is unfair and an expression of deviant behavior. There are public schools where equity is deemed more important than Shakespeare or calculus. Sitting where it sits, and atop rare earths, Greenland is strategically important militarily, a fact that did not seem to concern the Obama and Biden Administrations. But Denmark is an ally. There is no need to bulldoze our way in. Moving on. Jeffrey Epstein was a pervert. Too many leaders of both parties were his friends. They all should be ashamed of themselves, but the story titillates; it does not inform. Tariffs, no matter how defined, are a form of taxation. For consumers, they raise the price of imported goods. To classify them as an asset, as Mr. Trump has done, is the height of ludicrousness. Should the $4.9 trillion raised in federal taxes in 2024 be considered an asset? It is on the federal government’s balance sheet, but for citizens taxes are a liability.  

 

Back to the wheat. Fraud in Minnesota confirms government corruption permeates our society. It shows how much we need a department devoted to uprooting governmental dishonesty, graft and inefficiencies. Violent protests in Minneapolis and other cities against ICE contrast with Martin Luther King’s call for peaceful protests. The shooting of Renee Good was unfortunate. There should be an investigation into her death, and it should include both federal and local officials. Let the legal system prevail. We are, after all, a nation of laws. However, the responses of Minneapolis Mayor Democrat Jacob Frey and Minnesota Governor Tim Waltz remind me of Southern governors like George Wallace of Mississippi and Arkansas’s Orval Faubus when they refused to adhere to the nation’s anti-segregation laws.

 

The number one issue for voters, as is almost always true, is the economy. Polls reflect nervousness. We are in the midst of a technology revolution. Jobs are threatened by Artificial Intelligence. While down from its highs, inflation remains above the Fed’s target. Raising minimum wages discourage small businesses from offering “starter” jobs. Birth rates below replacement will have negative economic consequences a decade or so out. Gallup finds that 68% of Americans say the economy is worsening. According to Morningstar, the U.S. has fallen from 11^th place to 24^th in global happiness rankings. 

 

I am unsure what this means for the future or for midterm elections, though it does not look good for Republicans. According to Gallup, President Trump’s approval ratings have dropped from 47% last February to 36% today. Things can change; that I know. But my advice to Mr. Trump: ignore conservative pundits. Instead, take heed from the Book of Matthew, and start separating the wheat from the chaff.

"End of the West? Not so Fast"

 The accompanying photo has nothing to do with today’s essay, but I loved the contrast of the snow-covered branches silhouetted against the bright blue sky.

 

Sydney M. Williams

www.swtotd.blogspot.com

 

Thought of the Day

“End of the West? Not so Fast.”

January 7, 2026

 

“In this character of the Americans, a love of freedom is the

predominating feature which marks and distinguishes the whole.”

                                                                                                                Edmund Burke

                                                                                                                Speech on Conciliation with the Colonies

                                                                                                                March 22, 1775

 

“What we once called the normative West no longer exists in this form.”

                                                                                                                Friedrich Merz, German Chancellor

                                                                                                                Speaking to business leaders in Berlin

                                                                                                                December 9, 2025

 

“My single most important responsibility as President is to keep the American people safe,” stated Barack Obama during his Presidency, a sentiment echoed by his successors, Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump. But what about their responsibilities to ensure those freedoms cited in our Declaration of Independence and guaranteed by our Constitution? Safety appears to have superseded freedom. Keeping people safe is an important government responsibility, but ensuring individual freedom is its most important duty.

 

In his first inaugural, Thomas Jefferson wrote of the need for “a wise and frugal Government, which will restrain men from injuring one another, [but] shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement...” In his letter from Birmingham jail (April 16, 1963), Martin Luther king wrote: “We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom.” Ludwig von Mises, in The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science: An Essay on Method, defined what differentiates Western governments: [1] “The essential characteristic of Western civilization that distinguishes it from the arrested and petrified civilizations of the East was and is its concern for freedom from the state.” One has only to look at the plight of citizens in dozens of nations, from China to Venezuela, to recognize that freedom is our most valuable possession.

 

For many politicians, however the dependency of the people on government is an asset. What politician wants to ask their people to work harder or to save more to help ensure a brighter future. Yet, when the state assumes responsibilities better left to individuals, personal freedom lessens as restraints on choice take over. As the power of the state expands, people may feel safer, but it becomes riskier to speak out in opposition. 

 

Those politicians who prefer safety to freedom cite those places where individual freedom leads to personal choices, which, combined with differences in abilities and diligence, leads to vastly different outcomes. People are not equal in abilities. The best gymnast and the best physicist are masters of their respective crafts, but they could not switch places. Those who prefer freedom to safety have history on their side. Individual freedoms, along with the rule of law, the right to own property, tradition and personal virtue, are fundamental to the foundation on which Western civilization was built.   

 

Of course those who carry the greatest influence, teachers and the media, are overwhelmingly of the left, yet voter registration suggests a more nuanced nation – roughly 37% of voters nationally are registered as Democrats, 31% as Republicans, 28% as Independents, according to BallotPedia. In Connecticut, where I live and where all Congressional seats are held by Democrats, unaffiliated voters represent the largest bloc of registered voters at 42%. However, big government is still the preference of most politicians on the right as well as on the left. Benefits once granted are almost impossible to remove. Nevertheless, expanding welfare states have been accompanied with declines in marriages and births. More welfare spending impedes economic growth as investment dollars get diverted. They have, however, increased debt to a level where the easiest decision for a politician is to cheapen the currency. In this, Republicans have been as guilty as Democrats.

 

It is important to understand that individual freedoms, inherent to democracies and fundamental to our concept of the West, are always at risk, as they confound and hinder those who seek political power for personal purposes. “Freedom,” Ronald Reagan said in a 1961 speech in Phoenix, “is never more than one generation away from extinction.” Even so, as long as thought, debate and speech are not cancelled, the West has a weapon unavailable to tyrants – the power of individuals to speak and act.

 

Twice in my lifetime the West was threatened – in the mid 1930s through 1945 from Nazism and Fascism and from 1945 to 1991 by Soviet Communism. In both cases the West was ultimately triumphant, though at enormous costs in human lives. Today, external threats come from Islamic terrorists, a nuclear-armed Russia, and an aggressive Communist China. The latter seeks to extend her military, technological and economic control throughout the world. As well there are internal threats from those who seek to enlarge the role of government, by providing goodies, citing “fairness” and promising to keep us safe. In his January 1^st inaugural address as New York City’s new mayor, Zohran Mamdani spoke for those who see government as the answer to all life’s ills: “We will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve, and no concern too small for it to care about.” Contrast his words with those of President Reagan (the greatest proponent of individual freedom in my lifetime) at a 1986 press conference where he cited the languages’ nine most terrifying words: “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.”  

 

What gives me hope is that there are indications that some in the West are backtracking on the nanny state – an excessively protective state that interferes with personal choice. Some signs: the declining influence of climate tyrants, skepticism regarding men competing against women in sports and “gender-affirming” (sex changes) for minors, expanding acceptance of the University of Chicago’s 1967 Kalven Report, which declared that a university is “the home and sponsor of critics but is not itself the critic,” and an acknowledgement that Black Lives Matter (BLM), always a divisive organization in a nation where all lives matter, has lost support. In 2020, when Nancy Pelosi took a knee, along with other publicity seekers, BLM had the support of 67% of the population. Today that is around 45%. The re-emergence of talk, at least in some quarters, of accountability, responsibility, mutual respect, and the celebration of our nation’s semiquincentennial all suggest the early stages of a return to the virtues that propelled Western civilization. 

 

Western civilization is not Utopia, it is not perfect. But it has provided more innovation, better economic and social outcomes, and more individual freedoms than any other. Can the West survive today’s assault on its bulwarks from without and within? The honest answer is no one knows.  But, despite Hollywood’s despicable reimaging of George Orwell’s Animal Farm to be released this spring, I suspect the answer is ‘yes.’ Threats to the West in the past have arisen and fallen. Current ones may worsen, but the call of freedom has echoed through the ages with a clarion tone. It is heard by people around the world.

 

 

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[1]What is referred to as the “West” should not be construed as a geographic term, but as those nations who adhere to the concept of individual freedom, so includes countries like Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.