Stephen Kotkin answers five more questions on Iran, China, Ukraine, and America’s future, arguing that the United States remains the world’s dominant power — if it can avoid defeating itself from within.

The Battle of Seven Pines (or Fair Oaks, depending on the account), part of the Peninsula Campaign, marks one of the most consequential days of the American Civil War.  Confederate Commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, Joseph E Johnson, was severely wounded.  Jefferson Davis appointed his own military advisor, Robert E Lee, as Johnson’s replacement.

The battle could have been, should have been, a resounding Confederate success.  Union General George McClellan was making a methodical push towards Richmond, moving east to west up the Virginia Peninsula, his army astride the Chickahominy River.  Three of McClellan’s five corps sat on the north bank.  Two Corps sat on the south bank.  What Southerners knew, which McClellan didn’t, was that the Chickahominy ran high in the Spring and the two corps on the southern side of the river were nearly isolated from the rest of the Union Army.  Meanwhile, all of Johnson’s strength was south of the river.  Johnson sought to concentrate his forces against the Union forces south of the river and destroy them before Union assistance could cross the river with support.  It was a solid idea.   

You know, when you’re young you think you always will be. As you become more fragile, you reflect and you realize how much comfort can come from the past.

Today’s quote comes from the man who portrayed both Andy Taylor, America’s favorite 1960s small-town sheriff from 1960-1968, and Ben Matlock, America’s favorite corny country lawyer from 1986-1995.  Andy Griffith, who died in 2012, would have been 100 years old today, June 1, 2026.

Dear Governor Mills, (or Dear Janet, May I call you “Janet”? If not, please ignore and go back to the initial salutation),

I know it is unlikely that you are reading this, especially if this post is still stuck in the Ricochet Member Feed. But if, for some reason, perhaps a staff member doing op research comes across this, I have a most sincere request.

I’ve always been more interested in internecine debates.

Consider two people who strongly disagree about EVERYTHING.  They really can’t debate anything.  If their opinions are that polarized and inflexible, they’ve probably converted their ideology into their identity, which makes even reasonable questions seem like vicious personal attacks.  And they respond accordingly.  So their efforts at debate will end up being, best-case scenario, stupid.  Or, worst-case scenario, violent.  Neither is interesting to me.

I think this partially explains why elections only work when deciding unimportant questions.  If most citizens agree on most things, but seek consensus on, say, how much tax money to spend on schools, then that election can be a useful tool to guide public policy.  But if the citizens have divided themselves into two antagonistic groups who agree on almost nothing, and then we have an election regarding the future of Western Civilization, then that election almost can’t be helpful.

This is today’s San Antonio Express-News print edition.  We started home delivery in 1987 when we moved to a San Antonio suburb (also the competing San Antonio Light, long since closed).  Some years back, we converted to a digital subscription with a paper copy on Sundays only.  When we moved to this home in 1997, the newspaper delivery guy would spend an hour in our neighborhood, but nowadays he is in and out in ten or fifteen minutes.  The Sunday paper back in the day was enormous.  The ad sections on Sunday and sale flyers were bigger than the rest of the paper.  The paper is also physically slightly smaller and the paper thinner than old school newsprint.

I know the rise of the internet killed daily papers all over the place, but it’s sad to see them go.  My wife was working an EMS shift a couple of years ago and was sitting in the break room with the newspaper spread out on the table.  Another paramedic (about 25 years old) walked in and said he had literally never seen someone read a newspaper.  RIP.

What should you do?

A. Alert the Secret Service medical team so they can provide immediate life-saving medical assistance.

B. Try to slide down in your seat so that no one can see you.

Criminals get caught when they brag. They seemingly cannot help it.

All these “hidden camera” interviews where government workers or politicians let the cat out of the bag to a perfect stranger over a drink (with perhaps some sexual attraction thrown in for good measure) are pretty much the same thing. Look at all the leaks to journalists by people whose job it is to keep a secret, yet are somehow incapable of doing so.

This year, my junior high school and my seminary will both be closing.

Comstock Junior High in Santa Rosa, California, which I attended for three years, and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, where I was a student for three and a half years, provided me with so many stories about gym classes and eschatology classes, dances and sermons, editing the school paper and organizing Sunday services at a rest home. They also provided countless tales about students and teachers, janitors and secretaries.