VDH on the writing process for his books and columns, examine how “World War II” has earned that name, and preview his upcoming book, The End of Everything: How War Becomes Armageddon.
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6 thoughts on “Victor Davis Hanson, Part II: The Contrarian Agrarian”
Peter
Victor – Thank you for your sharing your wisdom and life experience. In regards to some of your closing comments, all of our lives are short and soon gone (Psalm 90:10, 1 Peter 1:24). There is a natural progression in our humanness and a certain amount of toil that occurs even in learning and the making books (Ecclesiastes 12:1-13). My hope for you is that you will find refreshment and joy in a vivacious relationship with the living God (John 17:3). Jesus said that “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'” (John 7:38) Through our brief time under the sun, our greatest need is a forgiven and mutually loving relationship with God through Christ (Romans 3:21-26). May God bless you always.
With respect to criminal justice Europeans argue that USA has much higher incarnation rates than USA I.e. a higher per capita prison population coupled with double the rate of violent crime. Even Trump attempted sentence reform. What is the answer to the Soros DAs who argue for softer penalties?
Thanks for your thought provoking post. In order to decrease the incarceration rate lies not in making the penalty of the law more lenient but to actually decrease the number of criminal actions which can be achieved by the following –
1. Deter criminal behavior by increasing the penalty for crime.
An example is the application of capital punishment for all murderers. Cases involving murder need to be tried in a timely manner and convictions need to be executed swiftly. Not only does a higher standard deter crime but capital punishment for murder decreases the incarceration rate.
The death penalty is an appropriate punishment for those who take the lives of others as it is commensurate to the crime. Genesis 9:6 teaches that murder is a capital crime because all men are created in God’s image. To destroy another person is a gross infraction because out of all God’s creatures people are made uniquely to be like God and reflect his character.
See also, Romans 13:1-5 on the role of government to punish wrong doers with the sword as God’s servant as an avenger of God’s wrath for the wrong doer.
2. Deter criminal behavior by teaching that all men are responsible before God for how they lived their life and face judgment in the eternal state.
Men need to know that God is the ultimate judge and upholder of a moral standing and will punish all men justly. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction (Proverbs 1:7).
The difference between Kennan’s time and our time, is that the culture was more homogeneous in his time, in terms of our values, than it is today. We can’t agree on what we want the country to be. More people today believe in a worldview in which the State takes care of its citizens, or better, subjects. They don’t believe as much in personal liberty, personal responsibility, objective truth. And their worldview informs education and the media. Their worldview is held by those striving to increase the power of the State and thereby, their own power.
It makes it very different to bring them back to the values on which America was founded.
And the point that our technology is a narcotic is a good one, too.
Without those classic values, we might not be able to come back from this point.
Good points made. The Left has so infiltrated education that children grow up with a worldview that America’s founding and subsequent history is dishonorable and needs to be overturned. American principles are not taught and patriotism is looked down upon. There is no context for the criticisms made. American exceptionalism relative to the world as it was is not acknowledged. The Left’s indoctrination of children has become successful.
Victor, you spoke at some length of the fabulous wealth of the Silicon Valley billionaires whereas only thirty years ago there were only about five billionaires (in the world?, S.V.?
So, I have taken the liberty to copy and paste a comment I made earlier today, elsewhere on the “Blade of Perseus”. I believe if implemented it will go a long way of solving the societal problems their immense wealth and sense of privilege has wrought. It will no doubt need a constitutional amendment to implement. Not an easy path.
This woke madness we are experiencing could not be funded if we had the logical and necessary campaign finance reform I have previously suggested in posts.
To sum up:
Only those people with a pulse can contribute to a candidates campaign, and then only if they are eligible to vote for that candidate. (This would exclude corporate and union contributions.)
If enacted, would we have any woke DA’s as we have now? Would we have woke activists on school boards? Both now gain power only because they have tons of money for their campaigns from the likes of Soros and Zuckerberg.
Until such campaign finance laws are changed this is a fight that will continue. If the conservative Lion awakes to combat it, once it feels unthreatened it will again go into slumber, only to have the threat re-emerge with another generation.
Thank God for the likes of Youngkin and DeSantis. They are restructuring their schools so that impressionable students will appreciate our history.
Victor – Thank you for your sharing your wisdom and life experience. In regards to some of your closing comments, all of our lives are short and soon gone (Psalm 90:10, 1 Peter 1:24). There is a natural progression in our humanness and a certain amount of toil that occurs even in learning and the making books (Ecclesiastes 12:1-13). My hope for you is that you will find refreshment and joy in a vivacious relationship with the living God (John 17:3). Jesus said that “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'” (John 7:38) Through our brief time under the sun, our greatest need is a forgiven and mutually loving relationship with God through Christ (Romans 3:21-26). May God bless you always.
With respect to criminal justice Europeans argue that USA has much higher incarnation rates than USA I.e. a higher per capita prison population coupled with double the rate of violent crime. Even Trump attempted sentence reform. What is the answer to the Soros DAs who argue for softer penalties?
Thanks for your thought provoking post. In order to decrease the incarceration rate lies not in making the penalty of the law more lenient but to actually decrease the number of criminal actions which can be achieved by the following –
1. Deter criminal behavior by increasing the penalty for crime.
An example is the application of capital punishment for all murderers. Cases involving murder need to be tried in a timely manner and convictions need to be executed swiftly. Not only does a higher standard deter crime but capital punishment for murder decreases the incarceration rate.
The death penalty is an appropriate punishment for those who take the lives of others as it is commensurate to the crime. Genesis 9:6 teaches that murder is a capital crime because all men are created in God’s image. To destroy another person is a gross infraction because out of all God’s creatures people are made uniquely to be like God and reflect his character.
See also, Romans 13:1-5 on the role of government to punish wrong doers with the sword as God’s servant as an avenger of God’s wrath for the wrong doer.
2. Deter criminal behavior by teaching that all men are responsible before God for how they lived their life and face judgment in the eternal state.
Men need to know that God is the ultimate judge and upholder of a moral standing and will punish all men justly. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction (Proverbs 1:7).
The difference between Kennan’s time and our time, is that the culture was more homogeneous in his time, in terms of our values, than it is today. We can’t agree on what we want the country to be. More people today believe in a worldview in which the State takes care of its citizens, or better, subjects. They don’t believe as much in personal liberty, personal responsibility, objective truth. And their worldview informs education and the media. Their worldview is held by those striving to increase the power of the State and thereby, their own power.
It makes it very different to bring them back to the values on which America was founded.
And the point that our technology is a narcotic is a good one, too.
Without those classic values, we might not be able to come back from this point.
Good points made. The Left has so infiltrated education that children grow up with a worldview that America’s founding and subsequent history is dishonorable and needs to be overturned. American principles are not taught and patriotism is looked down upon. There is no context for the criticisms made. American exceptionalism relative to the world as it was is not acknowledged. The Left’s indoctrination of children has become successful.
Victor, you spoke at some length of the fabulous wealth of the Silicon Valley billionaires whereas only thirty years ago there were only about five billionaires (in the world?, S.V.?
So, I have taken the liberty to copy and paste a comment I made earlier today, elsewhere on the “Blade of Perseus”. I believe if implemented it will go a long way of solving the societal problems their immense wealth and sense of privilege has wrought. It will no doubt need a constitutional amendment to implement. Not an easy path.
This woke madness we are experiencing could not be funded if we had the logical and necessary campaign finance reform I have previously suggested in posts.
To sum up:
Only those people with a pulse can contribute to a candidates campaign, and then only if they are eligible to vote for that candidate. (This would exclude corporate and union contributions.)
If enacted, would we have any woke DA’s as we have now? Would we have woke activists on school boards? Both now gain power only because they have tons of money for their campaigns from the likes of Soros and Zuckerberg.
Until such campaign finance laws are changed this is a fight that will continue. If the conservative Lion awakes to combat it, once it feels unthreatened it will again go into slumber, only to have the threat re-emerge with another generation.
Thank God for the likes of Youngkin and DeSantis. They are restructuring their schools so that impressionable students will appreciate our history.