Christian college professors Matt Parks and David Corbin explore the ideas behind today's headlines.
Part 1: Headlines - The presidential candidates accuse each other of being too soft on China while analysts suggest competing visions of US-China relations and the strategic challenge China poses to US interests. Links: Thomas Wright in The Atlantic: How Should Biden Handle China?; Rachel Esplin Odell and Stephen Wertheim in The New York Times: Opinion | Can the Democrats Avoid Trump’s China Trap?; Michael Rubin in The National Interest: China's Path To Self Destruction Starts in Hong Kong; David Goldman in The Claremont Review of Books: The Chinese Challenge; Trump Administration, US Strategic Approach to the People's Republic of China, May 20, 2020.
Part 2: Required Reading - Professor Corbin assigns George Washington's "Farewell Address" to understand American grand strategy and a foreign policy both grounded in a clear-eyed assessment of the world and informed by the Romans 12:18 imperative: "If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peacably with all." Also: George Kennan's classic analysis of the "Sources of Soviet Conduct." Links: George Washington, Farewell Address; Kennan, "The Sources of Soviet Conduct."
Part 3: Open the Grade Book - We assign grades to some suggested quarantine hobbies: jigsaw puzzles, baking bread, learning a foreign language and more. Links: New York Magazine; Shape.
Part 4: Tocqueville's Crystal Ball - After winning the crystal ball challenge last week (picking the winner of the Woods/Manning v. Mickelson/Brady golf match), Matt challenges Dave to pick which major sport will announce its return date next week...and when.
Opening and closing music are from the beginning of "Happy Life" by Ryan Andersen from his 2018 album, Americana volume 1. Available here. Licensed by Creative Commons.
