Trouble: Mexico, Davos, and California

Victor Davis Hanson and cohost Sami Winc examine the problems in Mexico, Davos dandies and dallies, and California’s unmistakable mistakes.

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8 thoughts on “Trouble: Mexico, Davos, and California”

  1. Victor, I don’t understand what you said here. Your 2nd sentence contradicts your 1st sentence.

    “It’s (border crisis) a Western disease. It’s a Western LACK of CONFIDENCE brought on by affluence and leisure and utopianism. That they HAVE the POWER TO CREATE utopia, and that they CAN CHANGE HUMAN NATURE.”

    That’s not lack of confidence, that’s over-confidence!

    You are super intelligent, but sometimes when I really want to understand, and analyze every word you said, a lot of time, it doesn’t make sense. That’s why we need Trump back! He’s so easy to understand. 🙂 Sorry Victor.

    1. Maybe we could say “a lack of confidence in the culture that produced them and an overconfidence in their own ability to do better going their own way”. It’s like they climbed a tree and then decided to saw off the branch they were sitting on because they didn’t like some of the twigs and a particularly annoying nest of squirrels.

      1. Thanks James for your clarification. I guess Victor dropped some words while he spoke. I should read his books instead. But, I don’t think “lack of confidence” accurately describes their mindset. I think they are more of ANTI GOD . I’d say they are anti Judeo Christian values

        1. Yeah, they are self-proffesedly anti Judeo-Christian at this point. I’ve only read Victor’s books on Classics, and the WWII one. They really helped me at some confusing times in my career. Victor is EXCELLENT at making book-length arguments that are very carefully researched and organized, but make for a compelling read. I definitely understand these podcasts better having read a few of his books. I hope “The Dying Citizen” can be a real game-changer for you!

  2. My son has figured it out. I’m sure I had some input. He calls it Operation ‘The Whole Enchilada.’

    Just take Mexico.

    Beaches, Oil, Food, No Muslims, Sheeple, Hard workers (way harder and workers then the Central Americans). There’s a lot of good stuff to take. Heck minus the cartels Mexico might be considered “The Promised Land”.

    Just annex Mexico and if they complain just give them the finger. Half their people want it anyway.

    I’m sure some folks won’t like that suggestion, to them I give them the finger too. They know I’m right. It’s the right thing to do. Save lives. Improve lives. Hopefully wipe out the cartels.

  3. Hmmm. Gonna take Victor to task on late antiquity here. There’s been a lot of water under the bridge since A.H.M. Jones invented the discipline. The idea that the Empire couldn’t assimilate the Germanic peoples runs into trouble pretty quick.

    1. The Eastern Empire was so horrible at integrating Gothic migrants that it kept them in concentration camps until they rebelled under Alaric and destroyed themselves and the Eastern army (including the Emperor) at the apocalyptic battle of Adrianople. As for Huns, Alan’s, and others, the Eastern Mediterranean always had bank, so they just bought them off.
    2. Gaul had already reached near collapse and even tried becoming and independent kingdom before the 400s. The main culprit was Roman dynastic wars that killed people and destroyed farms. Who was supposed to go live there and rebuild the economy? The Burgundians were willing. On the other hand, Italy and Spain had the population to integrate the Visigoths and thus Spanish and Italian language and customs are much closer to those of Rome than is the case in La Belle France. Italy would have retained even more of Roman culture if the East had legitimized Theodoric instead of intriguing to depose him. Roman chauvinism strikes again!
    3. Reading what Late Roman officials had to say about the Germanic peoples shows that they were pretty confident that Roman culture was superior. The Visigoths in Spain agreed (as we saw above). The East was a financial, cultural, and economic powerhouse wi

    1. … with Syrian farmers putting lands under the plow that have been deserted ever since the Byzantines left. Many Goths, being attracted to Roman religion, were Arian Christians (a heretical sect that had proselytized in N Europe). Those Visigoths knocking on Augustine’s door spared people who fled to Augustine’s churches.

      Bottom line: reconsideration of the textual evidence plus new archeological discoveries over the last forty years have changed our understanding of the forces that led to Western Rome’s political disintegration quite a bit.

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