Quick Hits

Japan Elections: The rout of the Liberal Democrats in Japan marks the end of a long era of pseudo-democracy in Japan.  The LDP has ruled almost continuously since the end of the post-WWII American occupation.  But it has been rule based on the integration of corporate interests, the permanent bureaucracy, and near-feudal dynastic politics.  For 35 years that led to prosperity, for the past 20 years not so much.  Whether a new order can really take hold in paternalistic Japan is an open question, but at least now it will finally be asked.

Ted Kennedy: The death of Senator Ted brings an amazing era to a close. For baby boomers like myself, one constant of our lives has been the central role of Kennedys in political life.  There may be more Kennedys in our future (Ted's son Patrick is still a Congressman after all), but the death of the last of the brothers means the Kennedy era is over.  Love him or not, it is hard to dispute that Ted's 47 years in the Senate and long list of legislative accomplishments make him one of the most influential Senators in American history.  JFK and RFK will forever be known for the way they died, Teddy will be remembered for the way he lived.  Was Teddy the most consequential of them all?  History will be the judge, but the early indications are he may have been.

Health Care: Kevin Drum neatly summarizes the bottom line of the health care debate:

Let's recap: the United States spends about twice as much on health care as any other developed nation in the world and in return receives just about the worst care.  Can someone remind me again why there's even a debate about whether we should put up with this?

A minor quibble is that our health care is not the worst in all respects, the US ranks high on dramatic interventions such as cancer care, but we trail miserably on more basic measures such as infant mortality and life expectancy.