The Terrifying New Normal

by Victor Davis Hanson

PJMedia

The World We Don’t Question

I’ve witnessed two of the most radical developments in my lifetime the last four years — changes far greater than those brought on by the massive new increases in the national debt, the soaring gas costs, the radical decrease in average family income, the insolvent Medicare and Social Security trajectories, or the flat housing market. Continue reading “The Terrifying New Normal”

Eating America’s Seed Corn

by Victor Davis Hanson

Tribune Media Services

As gas prices climb back toward $4 a gallon, the Obama administration — facing a tough re-election campaign and rising Middle East tensions — is once again considering tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. For years, administrations have bought and stored oil for emergencies, in fear of a cutoff of imported oil, as happened during the Arab embargo of 1973-74. Continue reading “Eating America’s Seed Corn”

Are We Doomed?

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

Sometimes societies find themselves in pernicious cycles in which the perceived medicine seems worse than the known disease. The Roman satirist Juvenal lamented the ill effects of free food and free entertainment for the masses (“bread and circuses”) in part because he knew there was no remedy for the pathology in sight — and thus only a slow decline toward fiscal insolvency or riots were on the horizon. Continue reading “Are We Doomed?”

California: The Road Warrior Is Here

by Victor Davis Hanson

PJ Media

Where’s Mel Gibson When You Need Him?

George Miller’s 1981 post-apocalyptic film The Road Warrior [1] envisioned an impoverished world of the future. Tribal groups fought over what remained of a destroyed Western world of law, technology, and mass production. Survival went to the fittest — or at least those who could best scrounge together the artifacts of a long gone society somewhat resembling the present West. Continue reading “California: The Road Warrior Is Here”

Tuning Out a President

by Victor Davis Hanson

PJ Media

Tuned-out Presidents

Somewhere around early 2006, the nation tuned out George W. Bush for a variety of reasons, some warranted, but many not. Continue reading “Tuning Out a President”

Biden Unbound

by Victor Davis Hanson

NRO’s The Corner

Joe Biden is at it again, accusing the president’s opponents of hoping for bad news and the Republicans in particular of rooting for dismal economic reports, by virtue of opposing legislation of the sort they supposedly earlier would have supported. I am sure, as in every campaign, there are such hyper-partisans. Continue reading “Biden Unbound”

Good News–What Good News?

by Victor Davis Hanson

PJ Media

I have a confession to make: I don’t quite understand the jubilation among the conservative-Republican forces during the last two months of the Obama crack-up, and here, unfortunately, is why: Continue reading “Good News–What Good News?”

Legal Illegal Immigration

by Victor Davis Hanson

Tribune Media Services

President Obama recently issued an edict exempting an estimated 800,000 to 1 million illegal aliens from the consequences of federal immigration law. Ostensibly that blanket amnesty applies to those who arrived before the age of 16 and are younger than 30; who are in, or graduated from, high school or have served in the military; and who have not been convicted of a felony or multiple misdemeanors. Continue reading “Legal Illegal Immigration”

The New American Helots

by Victor Davis Hanson

Tribune Media Services

Ancient Sparta turned its conquered neighbors into indentured serfs — half free, half slave. The resulting helot underclass produced the food of the Spartan state, freeing Sparta’s elite males to train for war and the duties of citizenship. Continue reading “The New American Helots”

The Way of the Community Organizer

by Victor Davis Hanson

NRO’s The Corner

As the campaign heats up, and the self-imposed restrictions of 2008 disappear, we will likely hear more about the once proud associations and friendships of Barack Obama that were all Trotskyized by the media ministries of truth during the unhinged summer of 2008. Continue reading “The Way of the Community Organizer”