This Friday, Hoover invites you to a special live taping of Uncommon Knowledge; Stephen Kotkin explains why communist ideology itself creates the greatest risks for communist regimes; Bill Whalen and Lee Ohanian review the policy implications of the midterms in California and beyond; and Peter Robinson reflects on the meaning and legacy of the 1987 Berlin Wall Address that he wrote for President Ronald Reagan.
Hoover Event Opportunity
The Hoover Institution invites you to a public recording of Uncommon Knowledge with Peter Robinson on “The Intellectual Odyssey of James Burnham.” This event, to be held on November 18 from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. PT, will feature Senior Fellow Stephen Kotkin in a discussion of this landmark work of political theory. In 1941, James Burnham published The Managerial Revolution to great acclaim. The book introduced a theoretical framework that is enjoying a renaissance today among analysts across the political spectrum. Robinson and Kotkin will discuss this pioneering work and Burnham’s enduring influence on American politics. If you register now, you will have the opportunity to submit a question that may be addressed during the event.
Both online and in-person registration is available.
Additionally, the Hoover Institution Library & Archives will present James Burnham: Political Theorist / Conservative Influencer, a pop-up display of items from the Burnham papers, to view before and after the event. Learn more and register here.
Revitalizing History
“Why did the Communist regime collapse in the Soviet Union? Why has it survived in China? The answers might surprise you,” Senior Fellow Stephen Kotkin writes to open this essay at Works in Progress. After ruling out as “decisive” various drivers of the collapse of the Soviet Union—including “the pope, nationalism, dissidents, economic collapse, Afghanistan, the military-industrial complex, [and] Reagan”—Kotkin identifies the greatest agent of the regime’s destruction: “Communist ideology.” As he shows, “Communists have never found a way to limit political liberalization to the confines of the party’s monopoly.” Kotkin then discusses how the case of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) diverges somewhat from the Soviet experience. The Chinese regime has managed greater economic liberalization than the Soviet one ever could, while maintaining centralized political control. But, the distinguished historian concludes, the CCP is stuck with the “fateful flaw of a Leninist system,” in that it must maintain its monopoly on power even as its “rule is profoundly out of sync with the dynamism and aspirations in Chinese society.” Read more here.
California Policy & Politics
A new episode of Matters of Policy & Politics examines the results of this week’s midterm elections and considers their implications for governance in California and elsewhere across the United States. Senior Fellow Lee E. Ohanian and Distinguished Policy Fellow Bill Whalen review how California rode atop the “blue wave,” keeping all statewide offices in Democratic hands while reducing Republican congressional representation to only 4 of 52 House seats across the state. The fellows discuss how California’s ballot slate yielded mixed results, from the defeat of the proposed billionaire tax to the permanent extension of a once-temporary income tax on high earners. Ohanian and Whalen assess the extent to which governance under incoming Governor Xavier Becerra will represent continuity or change compared with the Newsom years. They also ask what the future might hold for Los Angeles, as a new mayor faces challenges including chronic homelessness, a dwindling entertainment industry, and preparations for the 2028 Summer Olympics. Watch or listen here.
Freedom Frequency
Two years before the Berlin Wall cracked open in 1989, President Ronald Reagan stood at the Brandenburg Gate and challenged Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “open this gate . . . tear down this wall!” In this essay, Distinguished Policy Fellow Peter M. Robinson, the former White House speechwriter who composed those stirring lines, tells the story of the momentous event—and sets out on a quest to see what enduring impact the address has had on modern, democratic Europe. Robinson finds that Reagan’s challenge clearly inspired Germans to continue agitating for democratic reforms. But he also says there’s work to be done tracing the full impact of the speech. Robinson shares how he and Visiting Fellow Tom Weber will now seek to document its traces in the world that emerged from the Cold War. As he notes, this project will culminate in a documentary commemorating the 40th anniversary of the tearing down of that once-formidable wall. Read more here.
Healthcare Policy
“A few centuries of experience shows us that letting markets set prices blows central planning out of the water,” Policy Fellow Tom Church writes at his Substack. “The resulting innovation, abundance, and downward pressure on prices is what drives progress and improves the lives of everyone, especially those with low incomes.” Yet, Church explains in this piece, prices in the American healthcare system do not work like this. Rather, with limited exceptions, “any hospital that accepts Medicare patients either has to accept the government’s prices or stop offering their services to all Medicare patients.” Looking to possible reforms, Church suggests making it legal for doctors to open new facilities to treat Medicare patients; ceasing to pay “more for the same service just because it happens in a facility owned by a hospital”; and no longer hiding prices from consumers. Read more here.
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