Why Do Societies Give Up?

by Victor Davis Hanson

Tribune Media Services

Why do once-successful societies ossify and decline?

Hundreds of reasons have been adduced for the fall of Rome and the end of the Old Regime in 18th-century France. Continue reading “Why Do Societies Give Up?”

The Super Bowl Farmers

by Victor Davis Hanson

PJ Media

Chrysler’s Super Bowl Ram Truck commercial praising the American farmer was an unexpected big hit and is still being replayed around the country on talk radio. Rich Lowry[1] and Peggy Noonan[2] both contrasted the authenticity of that commercial fantasy with the falsity of the real event. Continue reading “The Super Bowl Farmers”

People Matter

Bruce S. Thornton

City Journal

A review of Merchants of Despair: Radical Environmentalists, Criminal Pseudo-Scientists, and the Fatal Cult of Antihumanism by Robert Zubrin (Encounter, 328 pp.) Continue reading “People Matter”

Greece Alone and Broke–Again

by Victor Davis Hanson

Tribune Media Services

The recent indecisive Greek elections could be summed up by two general themes: Greeks want to stay in, and expect help from, the Eurozone. But they still do not want to take the necessary medicine to stop borrowing billions of euros from northern Europeans, who want a radical Greek reform of the tax code, deregulation of labor laws, fiscal discipline, massive cuts in bureaucracy, and greater transparency — all unlikely given Greek history and contemporary culture. Continue reading “Greece Alone and Broke–Again”

The Liberal Super Nova

by Victor Davis Hanson

PJ Media

Two parties, left and right, are central to good consensual government — one the perennial check on the other, both within the general boundaries of constitutional free-market capitalism. Continue reading “The Liberal Super Nova”

The Stupid Party

by Bruce S. Thronton

FrontPage Magazine

The presidency of Barack Obama has established once and for all that modern liberalism is now the stupid party. Very little of liberal thought these days represents anything fresh or new, but rather comprises what Lionel Trilling once reduced conservatism to: “irritable mental gestures which seek to resemble ideas.” Continue reading “The Stupid Party”

Decline or Decadence?

by Victor Davis Hanson

Tribune Media Services

Almost daily we read of America’s “waning power” and “inevitable decline,” as observers argue over the consequences of defense cuts and budget crises. Continue reading “Decline or Decadence?”

High-Tech Nothing

by Victor Davis Hanson

PJ Media

Faster or Smarter, Neither, Both?

I am not a Luddite who wants to destroy looms. The modern age has made life comfortable in ways unimaginable just twenty years ago. Continue reading “High-Tech Nothing”

The New Commandments on the Barn Wall

by Victor Davis Hanson

PJ Media

Ten Commandments for Our New Century

If you think our quiet lives of desperation can sometimes become a bit much, relax. Here are some guidelines to soothe your frustration — a few commandments that make sense out of today’s nonsense. Continue reading “The New Commandments on the Barn Wall”

Civilization in Reverse

by Victor Davis Hanson

Tribune Media Services

In Greek mythology, the prophetess Cassandra was doomed both to tell the truth and to be ignored. Our modern version is a bankrupt Greece that we seem to discount. Continue reading “Civilization in Reverse”