Victor Davis Hanson and host Jack Fowler cover the decline of late-night comedy, the rise of the thought police in the Anglosphere, some favorite Clint Eastwood movies, VDH’s personal Mount Rushmore of Political Awfulness, and more.
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4 thoughts on “Late Night TV, R.I.P., Clint Eastwood, and the Sorry State of Freedom in the Anglosphere”
Nicholas Mosvick
Dear Victor,
Thank you, as always, for you vibrant and deep discussions. A quick comment on the English Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Thomas Jefferson did, of course, advocate for a Bill of Rights to be added to the Constitution and wrote to his friend James Madison to push him to keep his mind on the necessity of it. But Jefferson was not in the country for drafting of the Bill of Rights–it was Madison who introduced and championed it through a disinterested in Congress between June and September 1789.
One source for the Bill of Rights was the English Constitution–unwritten, but based in statue, precedent, custom–looking to the English Bill of Rights of 1689 passed in the wake of the Glorious Revolution based on complaints about James II’ abuse of the royal prerogative. The 1628 Declaration of Rights and Magna Carta were also sources.
Of course, the American tradition was the greater resource–not just the state Bills and Declarations of Rights, especially Virginia’s drafted by George Mason in 1776, but going back to the 17th century and especially the Massachusetts Body of Liberties in 1641. So the fall of the English constitutional tradition, which was deeply influential upon our own founding, should aggrieved we conservatives much.
thebaron@enter.net
“I don’t know why they’re doing this.”
Leftism, Victor, that’s why. The Statist, anti-liberty, totalitarian worldview, whose roots trace back to the Jacobins in the French Revolution, as you yourself have described.
That’s why. Enough people support the worldview, not in its entirety but in the things it promises them. A State that will take care of all of their needs, and take care of the needy. People can feel good about themselves. And they succumb to that narcotic.
That’s why. We’re fighting it here, but we have a different cultural basis than the Europeans. Our forefathers came here to get away from tyranny. So it’s harder for Statism to find root. And even with that difficulty, look how successful it has been.
If I were to use religious terms, I’d say it’s Satan, the Deceiver, making empty promises that are so easy to believe. They play to the weaker part of human nature.
That’s why.
thebaron@enter.net
No surprise that Colberttt is like a whiny adolescent. He’s a Leftist, and that what Leftism is-immaturity expressed as a political philosophy. They are all overgrown adolescents who pout, scream, rant, and throw tantrums because the world doesn’t fit their wants.
Paul Scofield
Are you guys sure The Man with No Name bit the dust? I think he is still alive and kicking, as much as anyone is at 95. FWIW.
Dear Victor,
Thank you, as always, for you vibrant and deep discussions. A quick comment on the English Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Thomas Jefferson did, of course, advocate for a Bill of Rights to be added to the Constitution and wrote to his friend James Madison to push him to keep his mind on the necessity of it. But Jefferson was not in the country for drafting of the Bill of Rights–it was Madison who introduced and championed it through a disinterested in Congress between June and September 1789.
One source for the Bill of Rights was the English Constitution–unwritten, but based in statue, precedent, custom–looking to the English Bill of Rights of 1689 passed in the wake of the Glorious Revolution based on complaints about James II’ abuse of the royal prerogative. The 1628 Declaration of Rights and Magna Carta were also sources.
Of course, the American tradition was the greater resource–not just the state Bills and Declarations of Rights, especially Virginia’s drafted by George Mason in 1776, but going back to the 17th century and especially the Massachusetts Body of Liberties in 1641. So the fall of the English constitutional tradition, which was deeply influential upon our own founding, should aggrieved we conservatives much.
“I don’t know why they’re doing this.”
Leftism, Victor, that’s why. The Statist, anti-liberty, totalitarian worldview, whose roots trace back to the Jacobins in the French Revolution, as you yourself have described.
That’s why. Enough people support the worldview, not in its entirety but in the things it promises them. A State that will take care of all of their needs, and take care of the needy. People can feel good about themselves. And they succumb to that narcotic.
That’s why. We’re fighting it here, but we have a different cultural basis than the Europeans. Our forefathers came here to get away from tyranny. So it’s harder for Statism to find root. And even with that difficulty, look how successful it has been.
If I were to use religious terms, I’d say it’s Satan, the Deceiver, making empty promises that are so easy to believe. They play to the weaker part of human nature.
That’s why.
No surprise that Colberttt is like a whiny adolescent. He’s a Leftist, and that what Leftism is-immaturity expressed as a political philosophy. They are all overgrown adolescents who pout, scream, rant, and throw tantrums because the world doesn’t fit their wants.
Are you guys sure The Man with No Name bit the dust? I think he is still alive and kicking, as much as anyone is at 95. FWIW.