Author: victorhanson

Victor Davis Hanson is the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow in Residence in Classics and Military History at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, a professor of Classics Emeritus at California State University, Fresno, and a nationally syndicated columnist for Tribune Media Services. He is also the Wayne & Marcia Buske Distinguished Fellow in History, Hillsdale College, where he teaches each fall semester courses in military history and classical culture.

Medieval Liberals

victorhanson

Unlike classical liberals, the liberals of today hew to doctrine in the face of the evidence.

by Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online 

A classical liberal was characteristically guided by disinterested logic and reason. He was open to gradual changes in society that were frowned upon by traditionalists in lockstep adherence to custom and protocol. The eight-hour work day, civil rights, and food- and drug-safety laws all grew out of classically liberal views. Government could press for moderate changes in the way society worked, within a conservative framework of revering the past, in order to pave the way for equality of opportunity in a safe and sane environment. Continue reading “Medieval Liberals” →

Prestige and Power in Statecraft

victorhanson

History teaches us that nations must always respond vigorously to an enemy’s challenge, a lesson the U.S. should remember in Syria.

by Bruce S. Thornton // Defining Ideas

President Obama, responding to widespread criticisms that his handling of the Syrian chemical weapons crisis was clumsy and ad hoc, said, “I’m less concerned about style points, I’m much more concerned about getting the policy right.” For the president and many politicians in both parties, problems, whether domestic or foreign, are about policy solutions; perceptions of the policy or its implementation, what Obama calls “style,” are irrelevant. As he said about Syria, “The chemical weapons issue is a problem. I want that problem dealt with.” Continue reading “Prestige and Power in Statecraft” →

Foreign Policy Magazine Covers Up Syrian Sex Jihad

victorhanson

by Raymond Ibrahim // RaymondIbrahim.com 

Foreign Policy magazine recently demonstrated why U.S. foreign policy, especially in the Middle East, is a disaster: because the establishment has a hard time factoring the foreign in their policies (more’s the irony).  Put differently, whatever information doesn’t comport with modern Western epistemology—our subjective worldviews—must simply be false, unreal, to be discarded from any consideration in Western foreign policy. Continue reading “Foreign Policy Magazine Covers Up Syrian Sex Jihad” →

‘Game Changers’

victorhanson

by Victor Davis Hanson // Tribune Media Services 

When — not if — is the only mystery about an Iranian nuclear bomb.

All the warning signs are there.513px-Crocodile_warning_sign_02.svg

‘Game changers’

In 2008, presidential candidate Barack Obama on two occasions went out of his way to warn the Iranians that the development of a nuclear weapon “would be a game-changing situation, not just in the Middle East, but around the world.” Obama later added, “It is unacceptable for Iran to possess a nuclear weapon; it would be a game changer.”

Strong language. And Obama twice this year again used “game changer” in reference to Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, warning him not to dare use chemical weapons. In March, Obama announced to Assad that “the use of chemical weapons is a game changer.” A month later, Obama again warned Assad not to resort to WMD use: “That is going to be a game changer.” Continue reading “‘Game Changers’” →

Rich, Arrogant, and Stupid

victorhanson

by Bruce S. Thornton // FrontPage Magazine 

The modern West demonstrates a phenomenon unknown in history––750px-Bicentennial_Lunch_Boxunprecedented wealth, technology, and access to information combined with abject stupidity. Wisdom once known by every village explainer and cracker-barrel crank has been discarded and replaced with phony “sciences” making claims about human nature and behavior that are based on nothing other than false assumptions, political ideology, and wishful thinking. Whether it’s foreign policy, managing the economy, or teaching the young, our leaders institute policies that violate the traditional wisdom accumulated by generations of human experience. Continue reading “Rich, Arrogant, and Stupid” →

Obama: Transforming America

victorhanson

From energy to foreign policy to the presidency itself, Obama’s agenda rolls along.

by Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online 

“We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.” — Barack

Photo Credit: Michael Shane via Flickr
Photo Credit: Michael Shane via Flickr

Obama, October 30, 2008

“We are going to have to change our conversation; we’re going to have to change our traditions, our history; we’re going to have to move into a different place as a nation.” — Michelle Obama, May 14, 2008

There certainly is no question that Barack Obama wants to change the United States. And there clearly is no doubt that such fundamental transformation is difficult, given our tripartite system of government — even though Obama entered office with large Democratic majorities in Continue reading “Obama: Transforming America” →

What Iran Is Asking Us to Believe

victorhanson

by Victor Davis Hanson // NRO’s The Corner 

To believe in the current Iranian, post-Syrian peace initiative, we would have to believe that the Iranian theocracy concedes, in a stunning Qaddafi-like turn-around, that its decade-long effort to obtain nuclear weapons was a terrible strategic mistake that earned it only ostracism and crippling sanctions that have no chance of being ended by a resolute West. Continue reading “What Iran Is Asking Us to Believe” →

Overseas Contingency Operations and Such

victorhanson

by Victor Davis Hanson // PJ Media 

On the occasion of the outreach from Iran, and the embarrassment in Syria, it is wise to remember why and how our leaders became so inept at dealing with Islamists. Continue reading “Overseas Contingency Operations and Such” →

A Man for the Times

victorhanson

by Victor Davis Hanson // NRO’s the Corner 

Al Gore is at it again, recently charging that “American democracy has been hacked” by 8655627250_bc8235032cspecial interests and accusing his political opponents of “political terrorism.”

This comes from a big-government, high-tax advocate who raced to unload his share of a hyped, but failed cable station to avoid newly enacted higher capital-gains taxes. Gore sold his wares to an anti-Semitic and often anti-American Continue reading “A Man for the Times” →