Victor Davis Hanson
American Greatness
America has been in a veritable cultural revolution since the 1960s. Nearly all our major institutions finally became woke—the administrative state, traditional and social media, universities, K-12, the corporate boardroom, entertainment, professional sports, and the foundations.
So the Obama and the Biden administrations finally seemed to have achieved their aims, in what the Obamas once boasted would be the “fundamental transformation” of America into something unrecognizable by its Founders. But what they gave us was nihilism—the destruction of norms, laws, and customs. There is no border, no criminal justice system, no real president any more.
The citizen is a serf, the illegal alien the veritable citizen. The former needs a passport to reenter the country, the latter is waved on through. There is a slob in gym shorts and a hoodie establishing dress codes for the Senate, teen murderers bragging that they won’t spend a day in jail, and a would-be state legislator filming herself doing sexual gymnastics while begging for cash only to be upset over the invasion of her “privacy.” So the Left got what it wanted and gave us our new America.
The curious result, however, is that even the elite Left is now forced to live among, and cannot always escape, the ruination it created—and for the first time is becoming slightly unhappy with what it birthed.
Critical legal theory has now trickled down into most of our large cities. It insists that criminals are not criminals at all, but rather victims of prior racial and class oppressions. Thus their victims should blame society for their injuries, not their predatory victimizers. Critical legal theory is a sort of Marxist redistribution schema—the middle class almost deserves its equal share of violence commensurate with that of the inner city.
As a result, in Chicago and Oakland and hundreds of other cities, prosecutors let out criminals without bail or sometimes even indictments—in part out of spite and hatred of middle- and upper-middle-class America that supposedly deserves a payback for its bourgeois indifference, in part out of sheer ignorance of the unleashing of human nature once all deterrence is removed.
And the result?
Anxious liberal professionals are fleeing our major cities in the greatest out-of-state migrations since the 1930s. Or they simply avoid their own downtowns. Or sometimes they are reduced to putting placards in their parked cars begging criminals not to smash and loot them, or, for the richer, hiring their own security guards, or using apps to warn others against deposits of urban human excrement on downtown sidewalks.
The Left, aside from their desire for new dependent constituents, felt borders were anachronistic constructs that unfairly denied the inherent and universal human right of the poor and oppressed to go anywhere they pleased, without legality or permission of their targeted hosts. So they erased the southern border. Some 7-8 million illegal entries followed since January 2021.
And the result?
African-Americans in Chicago are demonstrating against mass influxes of illegal aliens into their cities who bury entitlements and social services. The Left used to calls such protests “xenophobia.”
Leftwing New York Mayor Eric Adams has gone from calling those racists who opposed illegal immigration to becoming a veritable nativist. He is now screaming that illegal aliens are “destroying” his city, damning the Biden administration, and warning of bankruptcy. Adams too is unhappy that leftists like himself finally got what they wanted.
Progressives recalibrated a tiny sliver of the population—well less than 1 percent—experiencing historically documented biological “sexual dysphoria” and announced that transgenderism was now both commonplace and an existential civil rights crisis involving anywhere from 5 to 20 percent of American youth and up to 40 percent on college campuses that appeal to the elite leftwing rich kids.
The Left demanded official recognition of multiple genders, the green-lighting of biological males competing in women’s sports, the mainstreaming of risqué drag queen shows often before audiences of minors, and the preemptive smearing of anyone who believed that sexuality is biologically determined rather than fluidly socially constructed.
And the result?
Corporate pile-ons and trendy transgendered advocacies have ruined Bud Light, once American’s premier beer brand. The once beloved but now woke and arrogant Disney Corporation is bleeding audiences, customers, and subscribers. Due to its provocative arrogance, Disney managed to become all but despised by half the nation. Ditto other woke major corporations from Target to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Parents—many of them doctrinaire liberals—of gifted female athletes whose careers are derailed by transgender males, of teenage girls who must use locker rooms with biological males, of small children who witness in-your-face drag queen exhibitions—now feel bushwhacked by their own prior advocacy.
The Left has waged a war on fossil fuels for decades. But once in power it has cancelled critical pipelines, restricted federal oil and gas leases, hectored oil and gas lenders, shut down entire oil fields, and issued arbitrary deadlines when internal combustion engines are to be banned, and clean burning natural gas appliances to be phased out.
And the result of turning the nation “green”?
Gasoline prices spiked to all-time highs, hurting most the poor and minorities, the supposed political base of the Democratic Party. When elections near, only then does a panicked Left begin draining the strategic petroleum reserve, while begging illiberal regimes abroad to pump more oil that they we will not—in a desperate effort to lower gas and diesel prices, at least temporarily until elections are over.
Bicoastal wealthy elites lecture down to Americans about the existential crisis of “climate change” and the radical revolutions necessary to “transition” (a favorite, multipurpose woke word) to solar, wind, and battery power.
And the result? Those who can least afford high energy prices now pay over $5 a gallon for gas and more for diesel in our wealthiest coastal blue states—on the directive of their affluent utopian advocates.
Leftwing rich liberals for a half century have virtue signaled their support for affirmative action and de facto racial quotas. The unspoken presumption was that they would always have the wherewithal to navigate around such systemic discrimination to ensure their own still went to the “right” colleges and universities and onto prestigious jobs and positions.
But then the woke revolution redefined affirmative action as “reparatory” admissions and hiring. That radical expansion of racial quotas meant elite universities like Stanford and Princeton soon bragged in racist fashion that they would only admit so-called whites as 20-30 percent of their incoming classes, despite their traditional proportional representation of 65-70 percent of the general population.
Soon such progressive discriminatory policies meant that after athletes, so-called legacies, the children of faculty and administrators, and the offspring of multimillionaire donors were accommodated, the new tiny white quotas were completely exhausted—even for the anointed children of the bicoastal left.
High-paid suburban and progressive professionals whose privileged, and high achieving sons and daughters with 4.0-plus grade point averages and near perfect SAT scores, with an array of “community service” blue-ribbon resumés—were summarily rejected en mass from America’s most prestigious schools.
Prior SAT camps, prep schools, tutors, “extracurricular” enrichment summer excisions, and prestigious internships and apprenticeships went all for naught under the new racism.
And the result of the war on meritocracy? Elite liberals were shocked, shocked!
Such reverse-discrimination had traditionally targeted solely the children of deplorables, irredeemables, and clingers, the meritocratic lower white working classes, who were usually preposterously written off as white privileged and supremacists and thus usually summarily rejected. Yet the architects of affirmative action never dreamed that their Frankensteinian creation would devolve into a quota monster devouring its parent.
As far as the professors, who opportunistically applauded the new -studies therapeutic courses, the DEI-apparat, the reparatory admissions, as well as the end of SAT and ACT scores and of the comparative ranking of high-school GPAs?
For those who taught real disciplines—languages, traditional history and literature, science, math, and engineering—they faced three dilemmas under the new nonmeritocratic admissions: 1) inflate their grades, 2) reduce class requirements, or 3) maintain grading and course standards and thus be targeted by DEI commissars should their grading reveal a “systemic” pattern of “racism.”
After spending their careers damning administrative “bloat,” and the siphoning of university resources from teaching to fund administrative fiefdoms, suddenly faculty were forced to agree that they needed thousands of DEI supervisors and commissars, who were even more superfluous but also far more intrusive into faculty autonomy than the old-boy functionaries of the past. The result? Is it now “All administrators are bad, but some are not as bad as others?”
These examples of liberal utopianism backfiring on its godfathers are becoming endless as the Jacobin revolution known as woke destroys meritocracy, the ancient laws of human nature, pragmatism, and common sense. Will the revolution then finally wither away once it continues to gulp down its own privileged woke sacred cows?
Perhaps, but perhaps not.
Woke is a religion, not an empirically based revolution. It requires blind faith and ideological zealotry that ignores data, smears apostates as blasphemers, and is fueled by a climate of fear as it uses public shaming, cancel culture, doxing, shadow banning, ostracism, and career destruction to bulldoze ahead.
That it is now mowing down its originators may not matter much, even if for the short term the current boomeranging should be teaching leftists that their ideology is unworkable and ultimately destructive of civilization. History, after all, is replete with misguided zealots who even to the very first shot of their own firing squads still believed in the catastrophic cultural and political upheavals they had unleashed on others.
Partly woke continues, then, because its privileged creators still cling to the belief, “What I create for others, certainly will not apply to me and mine.” And when it does, as it is beginning to now, they stay long in denial and continue their woke advocacy because they still hope their progressive piety and fides will someday earn them heaven on earth.
It is going to get worse before it gets better. We live in times of cutural and social denial of consequences ,not only by those in power, but by the enablers who do not cry out until their ox has been gored. Like any other addict the country must hit a bottom, the woke left as addict,the fellow travelers as enablers, and the rest of us the family members trying to keep the lights on and tolerate the growing collateral damage.
Great comment. I hope you are right that we will hit rock bottom and perhaps come back. It maybe that the Messiah will return and we will be judged before that happens. We the people of sanity are the vast majority. We could stop all of this if we just refused to go along or decide to push back. But we do not. I had a small sign next to my porch. It simply read: “Bring Back Free Speech”. I took it down when my wife’s job was subtlety but clearly threatened for having inappropriate political material in he yard that might offend clients. The fact that she and I said the sign was mine, not hers, did not matter. Woke policy run amok—it is an accounting firm for goodness sake. As a lawyer this did not sit well with me. So I ordered a big sign that said the same thing. My wife pleaded, bc she likes her job and needed to keep it as I have terminal cancer. I decided that her future was more important than mine, so I took the sign down. That should have been something where there was no controversy. 22 states actually prohibit firing an employee bc of their political views. Mine does not. Many of the 22 states don’t enforce the law and blue state courts write ridiculous rulings saying that the situations are such that the law does not apply.
Goodly husband,
fear not
It is not you
who has terminal cancer
it is u.s.
sincerely,
Humbled.
https://www.shouselaw.com/ca/labor/harassment/political-retaliation/#:~:text=Under%20California%20employment%20law%2C%20employers,political I had the understanding that California prohibits an employee to be fired because of their political views.
OH!!!! Love those three truthful words – “growing collateral damage”. Right On !!!!
Your optimism has no place on Reality’s fence
to perch.
The professional military has actually done well resisting woke nonsense, as the price of failure is death. Slow erosion and decay is everything else. The left actually understands that those institutions who risk their lives for the rest (military, intelligence, foreign service, police) will not accept the loss of meritocracy. That will (and has) get people killed, lose wars, high crime etc. Defunding the police was all the rage among the loudest of the leftist elite….with almost immediate results. Cowards. Let Portland, Seattle, Chicago and New York die from their own folly. Great article VDH!
Were it the case that the military still performs by meritocracy, Milley would not believe he is unfairly criticized for his behavior with the Chinese lead general and now has hired extra security for protection. He understands so little but now feels more secure in his delusion.
I agree 100 percent.
Trouble is:
None of us should be tolerating what is going on.
How, exactly, do we “not tolerate it”? What are the action steps? (Other than loudly complaining…)
What do individuals do to stop the cultural onslaught? What is the first step? Where does one go to join the opposing forces? Who do we fight when we get to the “war”?
“rock bottom” may include war, so prepare yourself for the deprevations of war. No food, no electricity, no fuel. No communications as we know it today. No security.
We have no security and haven’t for sometime. Thankfully we have the Second Amendment or we would be more screwed than we could ever imagine.
Excellent analysis. The said thing is, we told the Woke so, we pointed to historical examples. But that is like trying to reason with a 3-year-old throwing a tantrum. And that’s what Wokism is, what Leftism is, what Progressivism is-immaturity expressed as a political philosophy.
And we get to watch now as society crumbles, as enough of its props have been undermined.
History is the abstinent bartender perpetually polishing
the gilded mirrored shelving
The 21st century cognitively unconscious
cannot comprehend
the
“Self-Serving” sign
encounter…
Well said; immaturity expressed as a political philosophy.
Evil isn’t happy. I never saw a smile in the Politburo pictures.
Brilliant and oh so true!
So much rings true. Especially about the inner city
Excellent article
Outstanding! Thank you!
Very well written and SO true!
Disney is now having a “Halloween spooktacular” sale as it charges $104 for a ‘day pass’ that used to be a place families could afford. Do they still have the long waiting lines for the better rides? I haven’t been to a Disney theme park since 2007. Even then the ticket prices were high as we stood in lines for 20-45 minutes for coaster rides. Are people willing to put the cost on credit with the rates nearing 30% on unpaid balances?
My Asian wife is afraid to travel to the USA and I am unable to convince her crime is only rampant in the big cities, which is where she like to go. But that is becoming a lie I tell her as homes near me have had drive by shooting and I am not near a big city. Crime is coming to cities large and small near all of US.
Conservative anger is directed, rightfully so, at the corrupt Joe Biden but the problem is much greater than demented Joe. The Left Jacobins have taken control of a majority of the federal and numerous state governments. We used to elect those to represent us, we now elect them for the freebies they will hand out. Unfortunately they have expanded the ‘handouts’ to non citizens in the hope they can garner their votes in the near future. In the meantime, they’ll just rig the elections in their favor while the feckle GOP allows them to get away with it.
Has the conservative right finally had enough to take back control for the People
The conservative right will have to take back control of the Republican Party first. Not looking good so far…
The liberal , the progressive and the woke clan all summoned with in one party applying their torrid agenda where it is easy to notice , they have no intentions to diminish , measure , rectify ,recalibrate , anything at all , but to the contrary they are doubling down on their naughtiness, madness , fakeness and arrogance based on something not mentioned at all in this excellent piece and analisis … it is their life insurance … politically called “Fraud “… electoral integrity the spine of democracy , reflecting the true voice of the People , has been infiltrated , kidnapped , twisted , gagged and this on going crime has been censured , avoided , silenced and turned into a taboo , by those who count on it to continue in power and control tower … in this nosedive resulting for everything is wrong with this torrid circus , applauded only by the usual useful fools who allowed and vote for it no matter what , is where one concludes that stupidity is not a crime , but a tragedy that in the end , we all pay for !!! We gonna hit soon a point of no return as this generation is already lost , brainwashed , conditioned and enslaved … we are being invaded by millions , not for humanitarian reason but as votes that will loyally , gratefully and gladly support their fake benefactors , all people who have nothing but need everything … ironically “everything” , we do not have anymore !!!
WELL SAID
What for? The so-called “conservative right”, the also so-called Freedom Caucus is holding up the already determined budget and will force a shutdown soon imperiling MANY Americans including our beloved military. This is, somehow, to be admired and encouraged?
Are there enough of the conservative right to take back control?
Yes! Thank you, Dr. Hanson. This is very well written. I did see some very troubling footage this morning of the left attacking NYers (Staten Island, I believe) who are opposing the border crisis. They are not opposing legal immigration at all; but, this Biden border crises is destroying their small-knit communities. I was shocked at how violent the lefters are when attacking people, snatching flags and stomping/kicking them. The sheer hostility caught on video is frightening. I live this every day in Portland and it really scares me.
Entrenched arrogance does tend to block insight/remorse, even as disastrous consequences mount and come home to bite. Are we witnessing–and hostage to–a massive and tragic debacle? Will the bite and voices such as yours impact in time?
Is this in some ways similar to anything in history? A small inside minority making national changes to the detriment of the majority.
Wow, Professor Hanson. So wise, and so frightening. How can so many apparently smart and educated people have swallowed something so patently ridiculous? I will never understand that.
Nothing will change until George Soros stops buying DA’s. If he can’t be stopped it’s only going to get worse.
Now, It’s Georgie’s son who visits the WH. More frequently than listed, and DE and Camp David…..
THANK YOU! Soros is taking the right sub-rosa steps to control America’s once highly regarded legal system which used to be a cornerstone of our (now-fragile) democracy. One of the problems is that few Americans understand our legal system and those that do, usually are perpetrators, victims, and or their lawyers. https://www.knowyourdainpa.org/power-of-your-da-suggested
I am asking that Mr. Hansen bring some serious light onto this Sorosian Cancer so that it can be treated appropriately … excised!
Thank you Victor, for writing of this all-inclusive damage that has been done to so many American institutions, K-12 schools, universities, small & large businesses, the family unit and individual adults & children nationwide.
It has been such depressing and stressful times since Biden took office. I Pray that we can take back the Presidency, Senate & Congress.
I would not say small business; I’ve never met a small business that’s for this nonsense and I have a small business in a left wing city.
As usual, the piece is brilliant and illuminating.
VDH is a gift. If only more would accept that gift and wake up from being so stupidly woke.
The world needs to understand this before it is too late, and the world needs to understand that “cool” Obama is an absolutely horrible despicable disaster of a person and leader.
Isn’t it odd that a country so racist ejected this person not once but twice whose wife was never proud of this country A man who felt obligated to apologize to the world for everything except his multiple mansions built upon areas that will be under water
So while we “proved “ we are not racist , the price was this
Wonderful article by a level headed brilliant man. I appreciate Victor Davis Hanson’s writings about current events and the struggles our country faces. God bless him for his thoughtfulness.
Welcome Mad Max…….
I’m sure Danton and Robespierre also never figured anyone would be coming for THEM
The point which is difficult to extract is WHY?
I,myself am an MD,JD, PhD. Now age 70. Would I have been successful in this environment ?
Jews , which I am , were 10 per cent of the class in medical school year in, year out. Since this was a private school , I figured they could do what they want Eliminating the act and the sat is madness. The very perpetrators of this would themselves be found on the outside looking in. No one supports racism Exceot the people who SAY they are against it. Raised in a home where never once did I hear anything other than meritocracy should be respected , I now find myself doubting literally everything From commercials with absurd representations of United States family life , to honoring individuals who at best are bums , and probably thugs. When the Dantons of the modern day cry out when their heads are the next to go ?
Who will help them ? And why should they get any ? I remember when people were hoard with water in Birmingham and it was ghastly Brave people stood up and it ended People who think this society is “bad” ought to spend a while in their shoes. Or the cries of “you’re a Nazi or fascist “ ?
Spend some time in fascism Like Treblinka , where it is thought mere dozens survived out of hundreds of thousands Dr Hanson is correct. The reason this cannot ultimately succeed is the very flimsy support this movement stands upon . It will never win.
Bravo for hitting the nail on the head. These words needed to be said, and unfortunately, are the harvest of leftist seeds planted over the years.
Once again Dr Hanson has written a superb commentary on the Left driven lawlessness in America. The Left has replaced the traditional wrong as right and what is right as wrong. Fortunately some liberals are starting to experience the unintended consequence of their misguided social policies. Consequences that adversely impact them or their children,
It’s somewhat reassuring to see several Blue State officials repudiate immigration policies they once favored. These leaders now realize they “got it wrong”. Despite this, they will maintain their unquestioned fealty to the Party which caused their immigrant problems in the first place. Otherwise, they would lose their jobs
The left is exhausting! It’s difficult to have a debate or argue with them because their ideas make NO SENSE! Why people don’t protest this horrible administration is a mystery to me. I’m so glad VDH is here to help us understand.
Magical thinking is a hallmark of the Left. They believe in their core that things will work out, as long as they stay in charge. They’re sexy leaders, they’re knowing pundits, their media outlets all reassure the Left they’re the better people who can fix the mistakes of the past. When they lose that power — they pull the temple down on everyone.
Great analysis of the woke Tri-Cult of gender, racism, and environment, which all go hand in hand with Liberal Progressives. When they finally begin to reap what they sow (or lose elections), we can start a return to decency and common sense.
Why is this site changing my “their” and they’re”s …?? Not very VDH. 😁
The woke deny science, deny logic, deny natural selection. Eventually though, that is, eventually natural selection favors the denial of wokeism. Mother Nature is a bad dudette.
Ah, the simpler title would have been: “Emotions trumps logic and reason until they don’t.”
Dr Hanson…..I don’t know you, so I’m uncomfortable with addressing you as “Victor”, but I can say that I am so glad that your voice is out-there. I’m finding that those of us who feel the same way are those who still want the world to play-by-the-rules (unfortunately)….that’s the Queensbury thing isn’t it?
** When do you think all of us will finally decide we’re in Goldfield NV and it’s time the gloves came off? (an Okie here is jest wondering).
PASS
Pull. Pull pin at the top of the extinguisher, breaking the seal.
Aim. Aim the nozzle or outlet towards the base of the fire.
Squeeze. Squeeze the handles together to discharge the extinguishing agent inside.
Sweep. Sweep the nozzle from side to side
Thanks again Dr. Hanson for your erudition and writing.
Secession is certainly an attractive idea in the abstract. What would a path to its successful realization look like?
The left is never content nor happy — just smug and hypocritical as they advance in their long march while conservatives dither.
Here’s a more casual 299 word version:
This article tries to say woke liberals messed everything up in America – crime, immigration, gas prices, transgender stuff, affirmative action, etc. It acts like complex stuff is all the left’s fault.
Now, there are legit things to debate here. Border policy, college admissions, and people feeling institutions got too progressive – those are real talks to have.
But the article goes overboard a lot. It claims entire institutions are totally destroyed or useless now, which is crazy exaggerated. Comparing wokeness to religion and acting like there’s malicious intent also seems meant to provoke emotions more than reasonable debate.
Have illegal border crossings gone up? Yep. But gas prices have a ton of factors affecting them. Quotas based only on race are already illegal in affirmative action too.
The article rarely acknowledges nuance, other perspectives, or facts that go against its point of view. It takes some valid stuff and twists it to fit the bias. But that’s probably why its audience digs it – it takes arguments with some truth and blows them up.
A thoughtful look would recognize these issues are complex and include more voices and interpretations. This article is a one-sided attack meant to get folks angry rather than think deeper.
So yeah, it raises some fair critiques about changes in America. But it exaggerates big time and leaves out key facts and context. The article is partisan spin rather than an objective take.
These issues are not complex. You sound like Kamala Harris’s speechwriter saying we need to talk about the root cause of illegal immigration before we do anything. We need to figure out what’s going on in those Cental American countries. It’s all deflection. You’re a wokist and the chickens are coming home to roost and you don’t like it.
Do I detect a dissenting “voice in the Wilderness”? I agree with your analysis. Maybe Victor should debate Noam Chomsky? What is “wokeness” anyway but an abstract, arbitrary, invented concept. What is wrong with being awake anyway? Should we, by contrast, be asleep?
This could be taken apart, piece by piece and successfully too. Maybe, we have the time after banging my head against the wall several times, I may join in.
Netwatcher,
And your argument is??? Do you expect VDH to make it for you?
you say ” illegal border crossings gone up? Yep. But gas prices have a ton of factors affecting them.
Your answer to 8 Million illegals is “GAS Price? thank you Capitan non sequitur.
explain your own nuance, your key facts, and context.”
Listen to VDH podcast, read the books, you will gain wisdom.
Having grown up in the 1960s and coming of age in the 1970s, I am shocked and saddened by the social deterioration I have witnessed within this short lapse of time. Hemingway’s description of going bankrupt in two ways: “gradually and then suddenly,” is quite apt…I clearly remember the time when the ubiquitous complaint was the subtle difference, if any, between the two major political parties, raising protestations by some the virtue in voting. What a change just three generations have made to bring both political parties to an unbridgeable chasm…There is no room for compromise, one side is going to win and the other will lose…Lets pray that like 1865, a fourth birth of freedom will not be aborted into a pool of blood…
Extremely well written Sir, this article should be the headline of every US paper, the lead story on every US news station, and the topic of serious conversation across the nation from colleges to kitchens. Do you think Trump can win the election and clean this mess up? I pray to God he can!
The Left are unhappy with what they created, but they blame it on someone else, not on their ideas and policies. They create chaos, don’t like it, but it wasn’t their fault. Even worse is that when they move out of the environment they created, they try to create the same results to where they’ve moved. Because again it’s not their fault.
Liberalism is an effort of people who want to distinguish themselves by advocating and adopting beliefs or practices that will make them superior to those who don’t accept their “new” way of looking at things. How can you look down your nose at another person if you are both alike? So it comes from a place of, ironically, inferiority.
In The Art of War, Sun Tzu teaches that winning a war without actively fighting it is the best case scenario.
Kruschev vowed to take us down, without firing a shot.
And so the Commies are destroying the American Way:
We are witnessing WW lll, occuring in real time.
This IS war…
Thank you Dr. Hanson for bring a light in an ever darkening future .. I want to be prepared and aware! You are a brilliant historian – I look forward to your insight 🇺🇸
I have lived in an extremely supportive leftist region of the country. Crime of all sorts of insanity is a constant. Police are portrayed as villains. The streets are out of control as police naturally pulled back to perform clean up duty after leftist protagonists finish their criminal rituals. My blood used to boil reading support for failing leftist policies and results on the neighborhood Nextdoor platform, but now my emotional state has “transitioned” towards amusement and laughter. Recently two known leftist policy agitators on the platform provided a lengthy exchange to figure out the root cause of why police would neither arrest, approach, or issue tickets to street racing participants. Street racers have owned the streets with dangerous activity on most decent weather nights since 2020/2021 starting in early evening to about 2/3 am. Not only dangerous, destructive and disruptive to traffic, but the noise is unbelievable for anyone trying to sleep within a mile of these raucous events. Sane adult citizens have been forced to keep quiet leaving a vacuum for dysfunctional leftist discussion on Nextdoor. They now begrudgingly admit in disconnected terms that leftist policies might be a problem. An ever growing circular emotive logic discussion pattern with lots of “why…?” You learn common sense is not a core strength of the left. It feels bad for leftists to admit their solutions are flawed, and giving ground to political opponents who support police is catastrophic.
We traditional American Catholics see a collapse not only our national governance and culture but also of our traditional institutions, values and sadly, our beloved Church itself. Unimaginable just 20 years ago. But as a follower of the Way I have trust that history belongs to God and path of history is known only to him. No empire is forever except Christ the King’s. Thank you VDH for your wisdom and a forum in which to commiserate with like minds.
Do I detect a dissenting “voice in the Wilderness”? I agree with your analysis. Maybe Victor should debate Noam Chomsky? What is “wokeness” anyway but an abstract, arbitrary, invented concept. What is wrong with being awake anyway? Should we, by contrast, be asleep?
This could be taken apart, piece by piece and successfully too. Maybe, we have the time after banging my head against the wall several times, I may join in.
Back in 1956, the sci-fi movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers, came out in theaters across the country. It wasn’t a hit then but since has become a cult classic. The plot was simple and horrific: an alien species of human duplicates, grown from plant-like pods, takes over the small fictional town of Santa Mira, California. In the movie, the only way to avoid becoming an alien duplicate of yourself was not to fall asleep, because once you fell asleep the transition took place.
Today, our country is rapidly transitioning because most have fallen asleep and ‘wakened’ to a new version of themselves that worship the alien religion of wokism. It’s not too difficult to see how this happened. We outsourced our God-fearing, law-abiding, hard-working, family-centric, civil society building to very expensive ‘experts’ who obliged us with new programs (DEI, ESG, BLM, Defund, WEF, Green, etc) intended to repair and solve our societal ills. It all sounded good and fair and just at first, until it didn’t.
We all know where the road leads that is paved with misguided good intentions. The wokesters have created the express lane to Hell. We need to detour fast lest we reach the destination.
Shoot, it’s not going to get any better in my life time. It’s going to get worse and then real bad. Somewhere in there the government will 86 me I reckon.
Great summary of the nation today. Problem is what can be done to change it? Most believe in America and it will self correct. They won’t realize what has happened until it’s too late!
I just dont understand how so many people buy into all of this crap. Are there really that many …….. well…….dont know any other way to say it, dumb people?
Yes, there are that many cognitively challenged. We should consider the students of the Baltimore school districts. They should NOT be allowed to vote.
Superb analysis of the woke cult.
Hard to tell whether we are riding a pendulum or sliding down a long, slippery slope.