{"id":11214,"date":"2018-06-07T11:56:34","date_gmt":"2018-06-07T18:56:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/?p=11214"},"modified":"2018-06-07T11:56:34","modified_gmt":"2018-06-07T18:56:34","slug":"ten-paradoxes-of-our-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ten-paradoxes-of-our-age\/","title":{"rendered":"Ten Paradoxes Of Our Age"},"content":{"rendered":"

Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ Hoover Institution<\/p>\n

The 21st century is reminding of us of some uncomfortable truths. Abroad, recent controversies over the rise of Chinese mercantilism, the specter of Iranian and North Korean nuclear weapons, tensions in the European Union, the calcified Palestinian question, mass migrations, and the resurgence of Islamic terrorism all offer a number of lessons. At home, just as instructive is the strange juxtaposition between Obama\u2019s suave progressivism and Trump\u2019s coarse conservatism. Here are 10 takeaways from our current controversies.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The prosperity of consumer capitalism does not necessarily lead to constitutional government. China\u2019s haphazard embrace of quasi-market capitalism simply made Beijing richer, more regionally aggressive, and more internally authoritarian once the state allowed its elite and those who were well connected to make all the money they wanted. In the long term, more economic growth\u00a0may<\/em>\u00a0enhance greater personal freedom, but there likely must be preexisting conditions or ongoing political reforms to benefit from economic liberalization.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Read the full article here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ Hoover Institution The 21st century is reminding of us of some uncomfortable truths. Abroad, recent controversies over the rise of Chinese mercantilism, the specter of Iranian and North Korean nuclear weapons, tensions in the European Union, the calcified Palestinian question, mass migrations, and the resurgence of Islamic terrorism all offer a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[275,1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-2US","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10386,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/10386-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":11214,"position":0},"title":"From an Angry Reader: Hello\u2026","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 13, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"From an Angry Reader: Hello Dr. Hanson, While it's hard to argue with \"be happy day by day\", our current form of capitalism - which Hoover seems to endorse - makes that near impossible. Over the last 30 years, Friedman's nutty idea of maximizing shareholder value as the only responsibility\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Angry Reader"","block_context":{"text":"Angry Reader","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/angry-reader\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1374,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/please-no-more-teachable-moments\/","url_meta":{"origin":11214,"position":1},"title":"Please, No More Teachable Moments","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 25, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services The president of the United States has it hard enough without needlessly wading into, and fanning, local controversies. The economy is battered by sluggish growth, high unemployment, record annual deficits and near unsustainable national debt. 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Nonetheless, many of those caught up in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "FBI"","block_context":{"text":"FBI","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/fbi\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1376,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-enigma-of-our-age-from-arizona-to-ground-zero\/","url_meta":{"origin":11214,"position":3},"title":"The Enigma of Our Age: From Arizona to Ground Zero","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson PJ Media The recent controversies over the Ground Zero mosque and Arizona\u2019s anti-illegal immigration law are windows into our collective souls. Think of the paradoxes. A self-professed ecumenical Islamic organization picks a spot next to the site of the mass murder of 2,700 New Yorkers by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "August 2010"","block_context":{"text":"August 2010","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2010\/august-2010\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12277,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/viral-prerequisites-and-nationalist-lessons-in-time-of-plague\/","url_meta":{"origin":11214,"position":4},"title":"Viral Prerequisites and Nationalist Lessons in Time of Plague","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 31, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ American Greatness President Donald Trump has courted endless controversies for promoting nonconventional policies and entertaining contrarian views. 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