One common denominator that explains why previously successful societies implode is their descent into fantasies. A collective denial prevents even discussion of existential threats and their solutions.
Something like that is happening in the United States. Eight million illegal immigrants have entered the United States by the deliberate erasure of the southern border.
Apparently, the Biden administration sees some unstated advantage in destroying U.S. immigration law and welcoming in would-be new constituents.
Yet, the more the millions arrive, the more Joe Biden and his Homeland Security director Alejandro Mayorkas flat out lie that “the border is secure.”
They both live in a world of make-believe, passed off to the American people as reality.
And the more the Americans are lied to that the border is secure, the more they poll—currently 77 percent—that it is not.
Biden apparently has reversed course and begun using the former pejorative “Bidenomics” as a term of pride.
He now praises this three-year effort to borrow $6-7 trillion, and spike interest rates threefold to 7% on home mortgages—even as prices on essentials like food and fuel have spiked 25-30% since he entered office.
The more that Biden brags about what he did to the economy, the more people poll—over 60%—dissatisfaction with his alternate reality of “Bidenomics.”
Do we remember the humiliation in August 2021 in Afghanistan?
The more Gen. Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and Joe Biden assured that the American military presence was stable, the more swiftly it crumbled and descended into the worst mass flight of an American army since Vietnam.
Consider natural gas and oil. The Biden administration waged war on both by canceling pipelines, drilling on federal lands, and entire oil fields.
When the price soared and the 2022 midterms neared, Biden suddenly begged formerly shunned illiberal regimes like Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Venezuela to pump all the hated oil they could to lower the price.
A desperate Biden drained much of the strategic petroleum reserve—he has yet to refill it—simply to lower the price of gasoline and thus win voters back to the Democratic Party.
When the midterms passed, Biden resumed his attack on once bad, then good, and now bad again fossil fuels—at least until the 2024 election.
Stranger still is the denial of the current crime wave in our major cities. Predators and thugs have turned once iconic downtowns into either war zones or ghost towns or both.
Smash-and-grab swarming of stores and matter-of-fact shoplifting are destroying commerce in our major cities.
Unsustainable stores either leave or shut down. Communities who vote for politicians who defund the police blame the stores for leaving—but not the criminals whose brazen thefts made it impossible to do business in the inner city.
Now modern-day pirates with impunity storm, sink, and rob boats of all kinds in the Oakland marina and estuary.
Leftwing journalists and activists, and even Democratic politicians, who all supported defunding the police, now cannot escape the resulting street violence and unleashed murderous predations.
Everyone knows the culprit is the post-George Floyd effort—with Biden administration complicity—to defund the police, end cash bail, institutionalize catch-and-release of criminals, and show more sympathy toward victimizers than victims.
Yet neither state nor local officials nor Joe Biden himself even admits to a crime wave. The more the public is attacked and avoids major downtowns, the more it polls furor over the crime wave.
The more our officials, in gaslighting style, claim such alarm is all in our collective heads, the more they themselves are attacked by the very criminals their policies empowered.
Sometimes the fantasies extend to the trivial. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Penn) for months has dressed like an utter slob while on the Senate floor. As a gesture of approval, Democrats junked the dress code so he could wear his sloppy cut-offs and hoodie.
Americans were to assume his slovenly costume was normal apparel—and they were hypercritical for thinking otherwise.
Recently Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) pulled a Senate fire alarm to disrupt and delay a vote on continuing the funding of the government. But he got caught on a Capitol surveillance video committing the crime.
Bowman whined that he got confused. He preposterously claimed by pulling the alarm he thought he was opening a door to go vote.
All of that was pure fantasy. The alarm was clearly marked. A sign in front of the door warned not to enter. And the door itself was placarded with cautions that any attempt to open it would set off emergency alarms.
No matter. Bowman assumed by calling his critics “Nazis” and using the race card, he could invent a virtual reality.
Despite our epidemic of fantasy, there remains reality.
And we will soon rediscover it all too soon.
In a world gone mad, you are the voice of reason.
Thank you for your words of wisdom and intelligence. I read your articles and listen to your podcasts daily. You are a treasure.
The thing is, as liberals and Leftists begin to feel the effects of the policies they vote for and force on everyone, will they rethink their beliefs, or double-down on them? Will they follow their worldview and demand that the government-the State-do something, up to and including suspending our civil liberties? It’s their instinct.
When Republicans controlled all three branches of government, could they have passed a law to make illegal aliens and their offspring born in America ineligible to vote under any circumstance or future legal standing?
I am for some reason sadly reminded of the old Paul Simon song, “Slip Slidin’ Away”.
To liberals, supporting “the narrative” is more important than simple, unadorned reality. What is real is counter to their aspirations.
Some say that the intel agencies “own” legacy media. If this is true, then having nonstop and unequivocal support from media helps to spread and enhance the “narrative”.
A narrative is a story. In this case, the narrative is a collection of fairy tales. When met with reality, sparks will fly. Like the border wall.
Physical reality is not cooperative with the Left. Examples: crime in the cities; inflation as it hits you at the supermarket; millions of illegal aliens storming our borders and confounding sanctuary precincts; Afghanistan; justices not having the ability to define what a woman is; massive federal debt; the death of meritocracy; public schools trying to take parents’ rights away; the devastation caused not by covid, but rather by the lockdown/mask/distancing/vaccines imposed by the government.
But the narrative is their path to power.
So it will continue, even though it is not, in any way, related to physical reality.
With no connection to realistic good results, the narrative almost guarantees failure.
And that is where we are.
Very well put!
The Left’s alternate reality is more destructive than any interior force we have ever faced! Moral decay has ended many, if not all, the great empires of history. If we don’t rid ourselves of the left, there will be no place for freedom to be lit anywhere in the world! We are on the precipice of a global disaster of the kind the world has yet to see
A dire warning. We can only hope reality can be rediscovered. Thank you for educating us about what we are facing.
I agree. The leaders live in an alternate reality. Their fantasy club is focused on all the wrong things. At one time our society shared an imaginary world called Christianity. This moral universe taught us to strive for the good, the just and the beautiful. There was a sense of the universal in human kind that lifted us up and united us. Now our shared imaginary world has collapsed. This new Woke society stives for inclusion and sustainablity only. They have no God and therefore no higher level aspirations. Because of this, their goals quickly devolve into corruption for the elites. It takes a tanscendent God, watching our every step, to keep the leaders accountable to the common man. God also empowered the common man to demand accountability from his leaders. Without this dynamic, there is only tyranny. Average Americans will suffer because of the new mythology, promoted by the elites. It was our greatest defense against despotism.
I agree with Dr Hanson’s analysis. I do take issue with his statement that the Afghanistan debacle was the “worst mass flight of an American army since Vietnam.” The US combat units were withdrawn from Vietnam in 1973 with a mere 5,000 personnel remaining, which included U S Embassy staff. The “Vietnamization” of the conflict had begun while I was still there in mid-1970.
So, the American Army did not leave in a “mass flight.” The mass flights were evacuations of civilians -mainly Embassy folks & families- by some U S units still in the region. The bulk of the “mass flight” was South Vietnamese military units and their families fleeing to Thailand and to off-shore vessels including U S Navy carriers.
I listen to your podcasts every week, you are thinking/speaking like most of the rubes I associate with. Psalm 37 (NIV) verse 1: Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; Verse 2: for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away,
History Lesson: I live in Idaho, I used to live in California (Graduated from Cal Poly, SLO, left in 1973). Grew up in the Bay Area (Menlo Park/Atherton/Redwood City), Parents and other relatives went to Stanford. Father graduated from High School in Butte, MT. Sophomore at Stanford on a scholarship in the December 1941, joined US Army Air Corps, landed his B-17G in England on June 6, 1944 (he was co-pilot first 8 missions, then pilot after the first pilot was wounded in action and sent off for medical treatment.) Finished his 35 missions on December 4, 1944, his first mission in combat was 8/4/1944. He was with the 545th Squadron of the 384th bomb group (Heavy), flying from Grafton – Underwood, England.
Idaho became a territory on March 3. 1863 when President Lincoln signed the act. Since law enforcement and the ruling authorities were so corrupt, a vigilance committee was formed by December of 1863. The Deputy US Marshall for eastern Idaho and Montana, Henry Plummer was in cahoots with the Highway men and scoundrels. He had built a gallows for dispatching pesky citizens. The vigilantes gave him a necktie party on his own gallows in early 1864.
Speaking of Fetterman, why is there no investigation into how he was elected after being disabled by a stroke?
“Everyone knows the culprit is the post-George Floyd effort—with Biden administration complicity—to defund the police, end cash bail, institutionalize catch-and-release of criminals, and show more sympathy toward victimizers than victims.“
You forgot to mention- legally handcuffing the police and instantly and publicly trying and convicting cops as racist murderers every time an upstanding, productive citizen commits a crime, puts others in danger and resists arrest while brandishing a weapon and is tragically killed. At least that’s how it works here in Philly with DA Larry “Jean-Jacques Rousseau” Krasner.
Captain Kirk: “Spock, what are we to do, the repo men are here to take command of my ship?” Spock: “Captain, we live in an alternate reality created by Hollywood writers and television produces. In real life you and I are just ordinary actor who now need to look for work elsewhere.” “But Spock, this can’t be true, we have gone where no man has gone before.” “Not true Captain, we have always been stuck in this studio and on the set. Don’t make me use the Vulcan Mind Meld to correct you sense of reality.”
Thank you Victor for “staying the course”. Your resolve against the idiocy of the biden regime sets an example of what we must do to compliment your courageous work!
One word: anomie best describes the USA. As you know, it is derived from the Greek word ‘anomia’. The American Far Left adheres to the Green Agenda, but they ignore the ongoing social pollution via an open southern border.
So sad to see what has happened to our beautiful Country. It blows my mind to consider this could all be happening while there are still some WW2 veterans such as Jake Larson still alive: https://youtu.be/hrEei6yrZaM?si=QLJKoeXi3gUAqEFP
And every Democcrat will say :”yes there are a lot of bad things happening. Only Biden / my Dem city council can save us now. I will never vote GOP.”
I think there is a path forward by a) Moms groups take the lead st school board levels, and b) focus on policies the candidate will implement, downplaying party. Call yourself a Dem, period.
Their bipartisan fantasy of supplying more weapons and supporting money to Ukraine will give them a win hasn’t much hurt the ability of Russia to stay put and still destroy every weapon the west sends to Ukraine. Once the west has drained out their weapons stockpiles and Russia is still as strong as ever what then? Will they surrender to Russia or will they resort to nuclear and hide in bunkers until they get an all clear to come out and see what’s left of the world they have destroyed?
Russia could easily beat the USA-Nato alliance with only half of their amazing military. Even the old USSR could have overpowered all of the then present-day forces. We knew that back then & just pretended that we could beat them & they believed it enough. I was in Combat Intel Ops for nearly 7 years so I knew our gig was just a huge psyop.
Big fan here, Chan, son of an ex-Marine drill sergeant and a long line of Irish men named Charles.
It is the widespread ignorance of our republic’s foundations as compared to the rest of human history that is at fault. We have failed miserably at teaching the glaring faults in human nature that always allow despots to gain power. The media, schools, and government have been blinded by simple ignorance. There are no viable conspiracies, only rampant stupidity about what has, throughout history, followed mobocracy.
Redefinition covers a multitude of sin!
VDH will always be the smartest man in the room . . . Now, if only we would listen.
Common hard working Americans (tax paying) share these sentiments but feel like we are the minority. I pray the people who have bought into these fantasies sober up and heal soon or we re all condemned to a brutal fate.
Everything in this article is true!!!
People know it too. Anyone who actually voted for pResident *Biden is an idiot, and anyone who may vote for this bag of skin if it runs in 2024 is truly deranged.
Spot on. Keep it up Mr. Hanson.
Great article. But you don’t mention the fantasy that the waste of treasure and (God forbid) blood in the corrupt state of Ukraine improves our country or the world.
I own and have read most of your books – Carnage and Culture is my favorite. Your support of Ukraine still befuddles me.
Tribalism rules the day.
In his original state, men and women lived in tribes.
You have spoken to tribalism…
It’s paganism:
We have met and are meeting the Pagan instinct in many.
George Carlin said that imagining how dumb the average human is, remember that 50% are dumber than average….
We are now tasting the bitter fruits of a malignant tree and its offshoots planted in 2008. Evidently, if our leader is not with it, then who is really in control ?
Doesn’t sound like there’s a solutions. Is vigilantism the only answer?
Will reality bite back soon and hard enough to save us?
We are doomed. I no longer believe we can recover from the overspending, illegal
aliens, crime, big business, elites, et al.
We are now a third world country.
The man speaks the truth and has spoken such for manny years. We are lucky to has his words. Perhaps he will be one of a very few who lead “US” out of this mess.
However this mess will not be done with, without fire.
I don’t know whether this will ever reach you. I followed you through the years and rea many of your eloquent and intellectual comments. But now, it’s time for some my comments.
PLEASE DISREGARD THE EVENTUAL MISTAKES. I may exhibit some controversial ideas, but here they are.
The Whigs disappeared because they became useless to the political life of the time. The Republican party took its place. Fast forward to the 21st century and now we have a useless, headless Republican party. The Republican party MUST go the way of the Whigs because it became completely useless for our present political life.
The new leadership MUST be forceful and dogged. Its membership MUST be immersed into the political life of The Republic. It MUST come to the aid of our beloved Republic whenever it appears to be in danger. Otherwise, what will happen to her is what happened to the Weimar Republic 100 years ago. The assault over the Republic is old news, but just like what happened in Germany the results will be catastrophe, this time from the hard left.
If a major turnaround did not happen, this country will very much resemble Venezuela, with its communist party eternally in power, but maintaining an opposition, completely marginalized and impotent. ‘What do you mean we are not a democracy, don’t you see we have an opposition?’ Maduro may say, while he remains in power forever. No changes ever occur in a country where the far left (or far right, for that matter) grabs the power. I know, for I l
I see my phone made changes to the text. It’s a scandal. I need a new phone:(
keep this information in front of everyone, thank you
Nailed it
Brilliant as always
VDH, you rock!
Spot on.
There is a coherent argument to be made that all of it (illegal immigration, energy suicide, lawlessness) is all part of the plan to weaken America in the Marxist belief that soceital power is zero-sum. And the “Useful Idiots” play their parts within the Great Reset, Globalism, Green Energy, and similar gangs. It’s all the same thing. Lift up the downtrodden by demolishing the systems that generated enormous power for Americans for two centuries.
First of all Democrats have not, to a person, called to “defund the police”. Period! And has absolutely nothing to do with the smash and grab crime pleauging certain cities. The majority of these claims are false and darlings of the right wing media echo chambers that has now become mainstream that was once on the fringes. So just stop with the nonsense and propaganda and actually try to come up helpful solutions that are actually conducive to making constructive change? Or keep chasing these glorifying headlines for clicks, knowing the majority of what’s actually going on has been extremely exaggerated.
Time to get back on your meds.
You are wrong James. I have a business in Philadelphia and when the riots were going on the police I spoke to said that they were instructed to stand down and not stop any of the looting. The local township on the border took the opposite approach and lines up cruisers on the border shopping center and nothing happened there. I have witnessed 1st hand the looting and violence.
The DA and Mayor in Philly 100% proclaimed the defunding of the police and that’s what they got. I know police who do NOT stop for gas in the city because of the exponential possibility of crime- car jackings are at historic levels in Philly and so are shooting and murders.
Why are you either being dishonest or ignorant of the facts? I suspect you are another fool that voted for Biden and will do the same no matter how much violence and disorder he encouraged with his foolish policies.
I challenge you to name anything this corrupt and incompetent administration has accomplished.
James,
With all due respect, the only people calling for the defunding of the police since the George Floyd hysteria have been Democratic leaders.
For example, you may recall that it was Senator and future vice president Kamala Harris who publicly stated in reference to the George Floyd rioters that,
“They’re not going to let up and THEY SHOULD NOT (my caps) and we should not.”
She also proudly contributed to a bail fund for the rioters whom she was apparently in solidarity with. These are the same Democratic affiliated groups – ie. Antifa and BLM – who caused $2 billion in property damage, killed 35 people and injured hundreds more.
Democrat mayors and city councils have voted to slash police funding and invoke cashless bail in many blue cities such as Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, LA, Chicago, New York, D.C., Baltimore, and Atlanta in a Quixotic effort to combat “institutional racism.”
For example, Seattle mayor Jenny Durkan, actually called the armed takeover of several square blocks of the city (AKA the CHAZ) the “Summer of Love.” Never mind two teenagers would later be murdered.
And radical George Soros funded DA’s (Soros is one of the largest contributor to the Democratic Party) have either refused to prosecute violent crime or have offered slap-on-the-wrist plea deals to violent criminals which are insulting to the victims and their families.
If you think I’m exaggerating, you’ve lost touch with reality.
James, Please detail a few of the false claims and suggest a few possibility helpful solutions.
So many politicians and thought leaders advocate for the “marginalized” in favor of the “people” (sovereign) in so many areas. That tactic represents low hanging fruit, making it easier to cull out a constituency, with media support, and drive a generally passive, apathetic public toward that “marginalized” effort. Such tactics leave “we the people” in its wake; and at risk! Where’s the balance? Perhaps more emphasis on the perils of such tactics needs addressing, including possible solutions where the majority, “we the people” remain intact yet the “marginalized” are not shunned. I’d welcome a public discussion on such a subject, perhaps with a more open interviewer, Tucker Carlson, for instance.
Enjoy your insights! At 82, I find them refreshingly stimulative, augmenting my private reading of the “classics” on so many subjects, noting how history “treated” “resolved” so many similar issues.
Be well,
Joe Noga
We hate big brother.
Those who can get you to believe absurdities can get you to commit atrocities ~ Voltaire
Class of 68 very proud of you!
May God always shine a light on your life
Jeff Carter
Having been born in a communist country, the signs of destruction and behaviors you described are all too familiar. I truly appreciate how loudly and clearly you are ringing the bell. Thank you!
Mr. Hanson,
I’ve always admired your educated reality statements. This article explains America’s dilemma with the so called Democratic Party that is now in power. Blindly leading the blind down the path of blowing apart our
Republic.
Voting is our only method for change.
But, they have been able to invade and conquer that institution as well. True Americans need to stand up to this tyranny, just as you have. SIR.
This would be a great topic for a at-length video discussion with Jordan Peterson. Do you think?
This administration has used govt instruments of power to inflict great harm to our country and citizens. Diplomatically, he has failed internationally with give away cash to Iran and pay to play hostage negotiations. Militarily, through Executive Orders that turned DoD into a transvestite chop shops and horrific withdraw from Afghanistan caused great moral harm to veterans who fought the just war. Economically, Inflation is destroying our purchase power and home availability is mostly out of reach for the modern workers. Information, this administration has distorted the truth and used DoJ to attack his political enemies. The GOP is wondering why McCartney was removed. Snap out of it. Can’t u see what is happening.
None of what we are witnessing is incompetence or even well intentioned. This is all being done on purpose, in an effort to FUNDAMENTALLY TRANSFORM AMERICA. The “Biden” administration is but a third term for the Obama created DEEP STATE. Elections are now rigged, so we have little hope of winning it back, unless a new FRAUD PROOF VOTING METHOD is forced on our political system by the courts. If you don’t believe me, just wait until Democrats control the House of Representatives, the Senate, AND the White House after our 2024 election. They will of course have assasinated Trump by that point in time.
Why do people believe the fantasy? Is it the degradation of education? The new adults who become “leaders” do not have a solid foundation of truth in science and history. What is scary is the long lag between the initial sin of poor education of the young and the drastic consequences when the misinformed become the decision makers. It is like the mutations that lead to malignant cells that initially have no consequence, but by the time symptoms appear the disease is well advanced. How bad will things get before the origin of our problems will be appreciated so that the appropriate corrections will be embraced?
My son stopped reading at the beginning of the article which related the story of Mr. Hanson engaging a woman using an EBT card to purchase a TV, claiming it a lie as it is impossible to use EBT cards for any purpose other than food. Please respond with a rebuttal to his (my son’s) claim as I attempt to cite VDH’s writings to move him away from his nearly Marxist views. Thank you.
Hogwash