Peggy Noonan and Kaitlyn Marie

I must tell you about a major change in my life and, as it happens, the subject of this post. My oldest daughter, Suzanne, has made me a grandpa. There is a new girl in my life. Her name is Kaitlyn Marie and her picture is alongside. As I am sure you will agree, she is beautiful. And as you can also see, she has a sparkling personality. 

We haven't been formally introduced, but I have fallen in love from afar. When we do meet, I know that she will immediately bewitch me. I have always been a sucker for pretty girls with flair. Just ask my wife and daughters.

Though I am new to it, I suspect that being a first time grandpa is different than being a first time dad. Having been a dad, I remember it as being very immediate. It comes like an avalanche and leaves you gasping for air. One day you are a carefree child in a man's body. The next you are an adult. The humdrum things of your life are suddenly changed beyond recognition. There is this little person that is totally dependent on you. What had been a drive to the grocery store in normal traffic and a simple suburban home yesterday, was now an environment full of danger. Drinking a few beers after work now seemed like very risky behavior in case something happened.

I am very new to the gig, but I think grandpa's have a different perspective than dad's do. I probably won't put the pacifier in boiling water when Kaitlyn drops it on the floor or the dog licks it, unless her mother is looking anyway. We did that for Kaitlyn's mom, Suzanne, who was our first. But as our family grew, we just couldn't keep that up. Which helped us learn that kids are pretty tolerant of dirt and germs.

But grandpa's worry too, just about different things. Which brings me to Peggy Noonan. Ms. Noonan, who was once Ronald Reagan's speechwriter, writes a column for the WSJ that I look forward to every week. She has a rare gift of putting into words what we, as a society, are feeling. At least those of us who are of a certain age and cultural sensibility. Last week she titled her column, "Remembering the Dawn of the Age of Abundance". Coming at the same time as Kaitlyn's birth, it affected me powerfully.  

Ms. Noonan is old enough, as am I, to remember when we didn't live in an Age of Prosperity. Back then, the nightly news carried pictures of burning US helicopters in the Iranian desert, Soviet tanks rolling unopposed through Afghani villages and lineups of blindfolded hostages in front of AK-47 wielding students. Inflation roared through our economy, we waited in lines a block long to fill up our cars with exorbitantly priced gasoline and our cities were crime infested warrens that had seen little new construction in decades. Our wise men told us that things would only get worse in the future because our culture was a failed one that would be replaced by cultures better able to cope with a world of declining resources.

Then things began changing. Slowly we dug our way out of the funk we were in. We started to believe in ourselves again. We worked, we invested, we dreamed. Once more our country became a beacon of freedom, a place where people came because they wanted a future for themselves. 

Our economy boomed because we were inventing things. We celebrated entrepreneurs like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs who were building exciting new industries. Our economy was growing in productivity by leaps and bounds. Inflation was stopped in its tracks, our cities got cleaner and safer, energy became cheap. The Soviets were chased out of Afghanistan, the Berlin Wall was pulled down and Francis Fukayama wrote an influential book about the end of history because Western Civilization had proven itself so superior that it could have no credible future competition.

But then we started to read our own press clippings. We started to live beyond our means. Yesterday's luxury item became today's necessity. We created the "aspirational consumer"; that is someone who was living beyond their means, but who hoped to someday be able to afford the lifestyle they were living today. I think we know in our gut that we will not return to that economy anytime soon. Our political class is busy enacting reforms eerily reminiscent of the late 1960's which led us into the economic horrors of the 1970's.

Kaitlyn will grow up in this future that we are now creating. Most of the news today is bad and there doesn't seem to be any bottom to the economy in sight. The danger level in the world is rising sharply as political opportunists realize that the world's policeman has gone home. Our government is out of new ideas and falling back on failed ideas from the past.

But like Ms. Noonan, I am optimistic about the future. The excess of the past years needed to come to an end. There is a lot of poison that needs to be drained from the system. We need to find our way again and will try many bad ideas until we are ready for good ideas. We will have foolish leaders until we again develop wise leaders. We will get back to basics. We will rediscover our greatness and Kaitlyn will grow up and live in a great country.