Victor Davis Hanson
American Greatness
First, you would surrender our prior energy independence.
Reduce new gas and oil leases on federal lands to the lowest levels of any president in history. Cut back production at precisely the time the world is emerging from a two-year lockdown with pent-up consumer demand.
Make war on coal and nuclear power. Drain the strategic petroleum reserve to make the pain for consumers more bearable for midterm election advantage.
Cancel the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge oil and gas field. Block pipelines like the Keystone oil pipeline and the Constitution natural gas line.
Overregulate and demonize frackers and horizontal drillers. Ensure there is less investment for their exploration and production.
Make use of internal combustible engines or fossil fuel power generation prohibitively expensive. Achieve a green oil-dependency along the lines of contemporary Europe.
Second, print trillions of dollars in new currency as the lockdowns end, demand rises, and consumers are already saturated with COVID-19 subsidies. Keep interest rates low, well below the rate of inflation, as you print more money. Ensure that passbook holders earn no interest at the very time prices skyrocket to the highest per annum level in 40 years.
“Spread the wealth” by sending money to those who already have enough, while making it less valuable for those deemed to have too much. Ensure runaway high prices to wean the middle class off its consumerism and supposedly to inspire them to buy less junk they don’t need. Damn the rich in the open and in the abstract, court them in the concrete and secret of darkness.
Third, end America’s physical boundaries. Render it an amorphous people and anywhere space. End any vestigial difference between a citizen and resident. Up the current nearly 50 million who were not born in the United States —27 percent of California’s population—to 100 million and more by allowing 3 million illegal aliens to enter per year.
Fourth, destroy the public trust in its elections. Render Election Day irrelevant. Make proper auditing of 110 million mail-in/early ballots impossible. Normalize ballot harvesting and curing.
Urge leftist billionaires to infuse their riches to “absorb” the work of state registrars in key precincts to ensure the correct “turn-out.”
Blast as “election denialists,” “insurrectionists,” and “democracy destroyers” anyone who objects to these radical ballot changes, neither passed by the U.S. Congress nor by state legislators. Weaponize the FBI, CIA, and Department of Justice.
Fifth, redefine crime as one rich man’s crime, another poor man’s necessity.
Let those who need “things” exercise their entitlement to them. Rewrite or ignore laws to exempt the oppressed who take, or do, what they want as atonement for past systemic racism and oppression.
Six, junk the ossified idea of a melting pot and multiracial society united by common American values and ideals. Instead, identify individuals by their superficial appearance. Seek to be a victim and monetize your claims against perceived victimizers. Call anyone a “racist” who resists.
Encourage each tribe, defined by common race, ethnic, gender, or sexual orientation affinities, to band together to oppose the monolithic “white privilege” majority. Encourage social and tribal tensions. Racially discriminate to end discrimination.
Greenlight statue toppling, name changing, boycotting, cancel culturing, ostracizing, and Trotskyizing. Erase the past, control the present, and create a new American person for the future.
Seven, render the United States just one of many nations abroad. Abandon Afghanistan in shame. Leave behind thousands of loyal Afghan allies, billions of dollars in equipment, a billion-dollar embassy, and the largest air base in central Asia. Appease the theocracy to reenter the Iran nuclear deal.
Beg enemies like Venezuela, Russia, and Iran to pump more oil when it is politically expedient for us to have abundant supplies—oil that we have in abundance but won’t produce. Discourage friends like Guinea from producing more energy and cancel allies’ energy projects like the EastMed pipeline.
Trash but then beg Saudi Arabia to pump more oil right before the midterms for domestic political advantage.
Eight, neuter the First Amendment. Enlist Silicon Valley monopolies to silence unwanted free speech while using Big Tech’s mega profits to warp elections. Declare free expression “hate speech.” Criminalize contrarian social media.
Nine, demonize half the country as semi-fascists, un-Americans, insurrectionists, and even potential domestic terrorists. Try to change inconvenient ancient rules: seek to pack the court, end the filibuster, junk the Electoral College, and bring in two more states.
Twice impeach a president who tried to stand in your way. Try him when he is an emeritus president and private citizen. Raid his home. Seek to indict a future rival to the current president.
Ten, never mention the origins of the COVID virus. Never blame China for the release of SARS-CoV-2 virus. Exempt investigations of U.S. health officials who subsidized Chinese gain-of-function research. Ignore the Bill of Rights to mandate vaccinations, mask wearing, and quarantines.
We have done all of the above. It would be hard to imagine any planned agenda to destroy America that would have been as injurious as what we already suffered the last two years.
But yet, people continue to “vote” for these policies. Fascinating..
Nope. People by and large are not voting for these police’s. Elections are rigged. The question is will anything be done about it?
Wish I could “like” this post.
Ditto –I agree that WE are voting, but the new “system” of harvested mail-in ballots changes the results…in a bad way.
Sadly, much of this column could just as easily be written about Canada. The same devaluation of the country’s past, the same crackpot green policies and suppression of our oil and gas industry, reckless governmental spending, and a mendacious, cynical governing party whose sanctimony and self-righteousness explain away its abuses of power. Add in a heavily subsidized, hence lickspittle media to provide cover, a docile electorate with little sense of the country’s history and traditions, and an ideologically warped educational system (at every level), and we seem to be following the same path over the cliff. As someone who once taught AP US History, I like and admire the United States and share Professor Hanson’s dismay at the needless ruination of a very great country. I can only hope that Ron de Santis and a new wave of politicians worthy of their country can turn this around.
at least Canada has a somewhat secure border. but other than that we are all screwed.
Echos very well Colorado Governor Lamm’s famous speech a few decades ago entitled “I have a plan to destroy America”. Linking it here, though not sure if such is allowed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFAQNjqH1zA
It started small and has grown immensely with assistance from “big tech and social media.” Actually, maybe it should be called, “antisocial media.”
Regardless, the speech of Gov Lamm was lame.
Sorry.
Please display the intestinal fortitude to publicly state, unequivocally, that this was in fact, planned and executed. There is no other realistic explanation, none at all. Thank you. Mark R.
See the column, “NONE DARE CALL IT TREASON; NONE DARE CALL THEM TRAITORS” at plainsenseandsanity dot substack dot com – you can sub free.
Thank you once again for your honest and accurate summation of the situation. I agree that if we had set out to destroy public confidence in government and the medical profession; indeed to destroy the country itself, we could hardly have done a better job. What a mess.
You left out zoning laws designed to prevent housing being built in favor of tiny, rent controlled apartments that being unprofitable to build are simply not built in great numbers, thereby eliminating for many the long time American dream of a house of your own, .
In addition to trying to destroy the oil and gas industry, which employs a lot of people, you might add a general hostility to any industry that actually requires blue collar workers and which may kick up a little dirt. And which may have a need for diesel fueled vehicles and equipment.
And yet, the Democrats kept control of the Senate. Heaven help us!
Not the Democrats–the vote-counters.
Preach
I live in California and most of my neighbors actually believe the democrats are doing us good. yes, heaven help us.
Yes, hopefully Heaven helps us. But, i for one am not holding my breath.
Actually, i believe comedian Dennis Miller also hit the nail on the head when he predicted a few years ago that things will have to get desperately worse before sufficient numbers of citizens elect a change. Otoh, my opinion is that by that time it will be far too late since the Biden/Mayorkus southern border is going as they had hoped and by that time there will be just too many illegal votes to provide much hope of a correction.
As Paul Simon would have sung, “There Must Be Fifty Ways To Leave Your Republic.”
Biden’s ability has exceeded even our grimmest expectations.
WOW. Very well articulated. Too bad it’s all true. Blessed is the nation who’s God is the LORD!
Spot on, sir
Have you read “According to Plan” by Kevin Freeman?
Hello, gents. While discussing various forms of suicide (specifically the insanity of “reparations”) in your recent podcast, you overlooked the big K, Kamala Harris. If I remember correctly her great grandfather owned black African slaves, so does she get or give? I’m confused.
Your undying fan (that goes for you, too, Mr. Fowler_don’t listen to the detractors) Mr. Bozeman
P.s. VDH I voted you president in 2016. I still stand by that.
All true……and the silence from the republicans says it all: they were in on all of it or too cowardly to risk their positions and wealth. time for you to draw out the parallels to the fall of ancient empires as we are surely done unless the vaccine deaths cull all the grifters.
Amen
My question is when and how did all this happen seemingly under our noses? I remember feeling some unease when “class struggle”, occupy Wall Street was moral fashion rage in 2011. Most swept up by college students or people in their 20s. But it the tribalism and irrationality didn’t go as far as truly incendiary things such as race and sex just yet. Things that very much define how we see and correlate value to the world.
Seemingly almost overnight like a virus, tribalism infected almost every aspect of our daily world. In our politics, news, entertainment, fashion, schools and even popular culture. Even Disney which used to be an oasis from harsh reality has become a megaphone for identity politics.
I don’t think this current race to the bottom for America is organic at all.
I think you could amplify number five by adding to ossify, subvert and undermine law enforcement and the legal system. Regarding number seven, you could expand this to include diluting any sense of national cohesiveness. Attenuate this further by degrading or eliminating any notions of duty, honor, country that would compel the next generation to service in the defense of the nation.
Victor, you failed mention the eleventh and most important item, ‘vote Democrat.’ That is a sure and guaranteed way to destroy America!
Excellent, as always, Dr. Hanson. Predictable results of your Number Four above. I said after 2020 that 2022 would see the continuation of practices that worked in 2020. Why not? I was right. Now I can say quite confidently that 2024 will see the continuation of practices that worked in 2020 and 2022–unless someone steps up to stop them. But who will do that? Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?–“Who will watch the watchers?”
VDH has an uncanny way of hitting the nail on the head, day after day. To bad he doesn’t get to as many people as Tush Limbaugh did. We really need another Rush but that’s not going to happen. VDH is the next best thing to Rush that we have right now. Tucker Carlson comes close but he talks too fast and over the heads of too many people.
TC must be doing something right. His numbers are enormous. He has a lot of information to present in a limited time. Younger watchers can handle the fire-hose of information. Their short attention spans demand a rapid-fire presentation.
VDH said on a recent podcast, “The period from March 2020 through the end of November 2020 have been the most consequential in American history.”
Key points cited: COVID, lockdown, Floyd killing on video resulting in 120 days of riots, killing, etc. Then the leftist tactics to change election laws and finally the leftist media censoring all conservative thought, hiding the Hunter Biden laptop prior to the election, throw in the collaboration of the FBI, CIA, CDC, FDA and virtually every federal agency for the 2020 election and you have the Perfect Storm for US destruction. Add in the January 6th debacle which was known and planned by the FBI (Pelosi knew, Bowser knew) and you have even more evil. It set the stage for what the last two years have been in the US…absolute catastrophic policies to the US.
1000% regarding energy/oil & gas issues. Insane, borderline treasonous policy.
Much of the rest of your column tho is in the eye of the beholder. Not least there are always reckonings in the present due to the past.
Another question: why are we, the so-called “people” not doing anything effective about it? If Theye (those in effective power) are destroying America, which implies the destruction of Americans as such, then why do we stand idly, failing to seek to destroy Themme, physically if necessary?
We are made war upon by Themme, are told “don’t worry, be happy”, and have stooped to such corruption that we obey as a matter of pure and immediate convenience.
All I can say is get your minds straight. One man cannot fight Themme, but tens of millions could.
Keep your powder dry, and for the sake of all that is right and decent between human beings, don’t go quietly into the pitch black night that is the annihilation of the Good. The only thing you should fear is the dread that drives each of us to inaction.
Our indolence in the face of destruction is precisely what Theye want, and we are giving it to them on a giant silver platter.
Damn the rich in the open and in the abstract, court them in the concrete and secret of darkness.
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