Cleveland, Chicago, America

I heard it on the radio this morning. Cleveland won its twenty-second consecutive game. They already have the American League record. The National League (and the Major League) record was set in 1916 and belongs to the New York (now San Francisco) Giants. It's twenty-six and surpassing it, or even reaching it would be quite an accomplishment. But that's not the point. The team has worked together to set the AL record, and they're deserving of enormous praise for that feat.

The Chicago Cubs won the World Series for the first time since 1916. They'll probably get into the playoffs this year, but they're 14½ games behind the Dodgers, who have the best record in the NL thus far. They've slipped.

What happened? What's the difference between the two teams? Three things: talent, teamwork, and confidence. Not to belittle the Cubs, but Cleveland has it and they're inconsistent. Cleveland expects to win each day and they perform. The rest of the league fears and respects them. The Cubs play reasonably well, but it's a day-to-day affair.

And that's the story of America. We're Chicago. It's a place we earned following, first of all, a revolution that surprised the world (or at least Europe). A long period of international political dormancy, then premier status, and now, at best, inconsistency. We used to be the envy of the world, but now, though we have a better than even record – our people are doing well economically by world standards – our performance is inconsistent.

Following World War II the United States was viewed favorably by our friends and with great respect by our enemies. We were the leader of the “free world.” We were rich enough to help out many of our friends and strong enough to keep out our enemies. We showed that strength during the Cold War and held our own until the Soviet Union imploded.

It is not surprising that our riches and the strength offended many nations and people, even if these attributes had been courted with so much solicitude before. When the threat was lifted the solicitousness turned to envy and any offers we made were seen as attempts to impose our values on others. We abandoned our friends and pandered to our enemies. Our rulers backed off and apologized for our behavior without pointing out how our generosity had helped others. And we surrendered to the United Nations our obligation to take action when it was indicated. Some may view it as a virtue to be one of many rather than a leader in difficult times, but we ended up as an ignoble, ignorable, and disrespected nation. Even those we relied on looked at their own situations paying no heed to anything we said. We had counted on them but they no longer counted on us.

Current blusters intended to show determination and dedication are viewed as hollow threats. No one takes our current administration seriously. The demonstrations that our president can not control himself or his own party bring into question our ability to deal with our own needs, let alone those of others. We decline to take actions around the world when we consider them as justified. Someone else has a veto. Our foreign policy is no longer our own.

What can help? Only a pattern of strength, support, loyalty, and honesty. And confidence coupled with teamwork. Talk won't do it. As the cliché states, “Actions speak louder than words.” That, however, is all to the good since most of us are embarrassed by the words.

Chicago is the “Second City.” Has America lost its first place status and dipped into the second tier of countries? Time will tell. But it won't take a century.

September 15, 2017