I oftentimes hear people complain that they watch too much TV or spend too much time on their computer or talking on their cell phone. Usually it ends there or at some sort of vague remark on how they should cut back, but sometimes this observation is followed up by an actual self-challenge, or a swearing off the use of the object for a certain time period. The object can be anything. I read that Kim Kardashian swore off makeup for two months after her divorce (but ended up resuming her makeup routine at closer to one month).

For my whole life, I’ve lived in a world with the U.S. as its sole superpower. Throughout my life, the federal budget has always been over a trillion dollars. Starbucks has always been available to me, and I apparently don’t remember a time when “cut and paste” meant using scissors, paper, and glue.

A couple weeks ago, my wife and I were enjoying a fine summer evening on the porch of our new house (light breeze in the air, streetlights just coming on, a little red left in the western sky, neighborhood quiet and content), when my wife said, “Your columns haven’t been so great lately.”