Bean Ball

Getting hit by a pitch is not the worst thing in the world.  It is not even the worst thing in baseball.  Granted, this is coming from a guy who has not played organized baseball since high school, but just look at the film.  Even getting hit by a major league fastball is rarely enough to take a player out of the game.  More often than not, the hitter winces, probably swears, and trots down to first.  The batter takes one for the team.  Such is the nature of the game.

Taking one for the team, in fact, is often seen as heroic.  The batter gets a welt, but the team gets a person on base.  The hitter will nurse a bruise, but the team may very well win the game because of that involuntary sacrifice.

In recent months, the Affordable Care Act has hit millions of American families in the arm.  Despite assurance to the contrary, health insurance premiums are going up while health insurance benefits are going down.  My family took a bean ball as well.  We winced, said some choice words, and trotted down to first.  We will readjust the budget and learn to live with less.  

Like millions of Americans, we took one for the team.  Such is the nature of the game.

This past year, the Illinois legislature hit public employees, teachers included, in the gut.  The retirement age at which to receive pension benefits is going up while the benefits themselves are going down. Because my wife and I are both teachers and are therefore ineligible to receive or pass on social security benefits to our children, we took the bean ball twice.  As before, we winced, we muttered, we trotted down to first.  We will readjust our IRAs and learn to live with less. 

Like tens of thousands of other Illinois teachers and public employees, we took one for the team.  Such is the nature of the game.

Before continuing, I want to point out that I was a history major in college.  This may seem like an irrelevant aside, but having studied history means I have a tendency to take the long view on things.  So, I know that neither the Affordable Care Act nor this pension nonsense is the worst thing in American history.  It isn’t even the worst thing in Illinois history. I know that in the grand scheme of things, being required to work a few more years than anticipated or paying higher insurance premiums is not the same kind of sacrifice as say, being drafted to fight in the Vietnam War, struggling through the Great Depression, or trying to escape slavery.  2014 is not exactly the worst year to be alive.   

Thus, it’s important to understand that I am not against personal sacrifice.  I am well aware that Illinois is in dire financial straits and something profound needs done in order to make sure that we don’t someday live in a state called North Kentucky. 

It just seems to me that if you are so far behind in the score that your offensive strategy is to have people lean into a pitch and get smacked, shouldn’t everyone get the chance to be a hero?  If we have reached the point in the idea bucket where all that is left is taking money away from one small group of people who has earned it, so that that money can be managed and spent by a much smaller group of people who clearly do not know how to do either, then let’s go all in.  Let’s all walk up to the plate like a bunch of crazy people and get hit in the head.

After all, look at the score.  We’re billions of dollars behind.  Time for shared sacrifices, right?  If we’re all in this together, why weren’t pension benefits cut for all public servants?  In fact, if we’re all in this together, why stop at pension benefits at all?  Wouldn’t it make more sense, if you’re trying to bridge the gap between what you owe and what you have, to trim the fat from all your expenses across the board?  

It would, probably, at least financially, but it certainly would not make any sense at all politically, and thus comes the rub.  A pitcher who hits one batter has thrown a wild pitch.  A pitcher that hits them all gets thrown out of the game.

Thus, it isn’t so much that I’m against taking one for the team.   It’s just that I would feel much better about it if I knew the guys throwing at me knew how to pitch.