{"id":11752,"date":"2019-04-02T15:20:12","date_gmt":"2019-04-02T22:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/?p=11752"},"modified":"2021-07-26T09:07:20","modified_gmt":"2021-07-26T16:07:20","slug":"the-virtuous-can-never-be-guilty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-virtuous-can-never-be-guilty\/","title":{"rendered":"The Virtuous Can Never Be Guilty"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since ancient times, it has always been scary when moral auditors audit their own. Or as the Roman satirist Juvenal put it of male guardians entrusted to shield chaste girls from randy males,&nbsp;<em>Quis&nbsp;<\/em><em>custodiet<\/em>&nbsp;<em>ipsos&nbsp;<\/em><em>custodes<\/em><em>?<\/em>&nbsp;(\u201cWho will watch the watchmen?\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When humans sense that there\u2019s neither an earthly nor divine deterrent between them and social acceptance, power, riches, or their appetites, what follows is a foregone conclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Such exemption is precisely the problem with modern American progressivism. It currently enjoys almost a captive mainstream media. It assumes the lockstep approval of the university. The movies that come out of Hollywood pound progressive themes. Most foundations fund race, class, and gender agendas. Popular culture has defined cool and hip as left-wing. In sum, all the secular dispensators of moral approval are hard left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The result is that progressive actors and institutions understand that even their bad behavior will be contextualized rather than audited. Such medieval-style exemption gives them a natural blank check to overreach and to act unethically, crudely, and even unlawfully \u2014 as they might not have if they had expected ramifications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2019\/04\/progressive-virtue-signaling-jussie-smollett-morris-dees\">Read the full article here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Since ancient times, it has always been scary when moral auditors audit their own. Or as the Roman satirist Juvenal put it of male guardians entrusted to shield chaste girls from randy males,&nbsp;Quis&nbsp;custodiet&nbsp;ipsos&nbsp;custodes?&nbsp;(\u201cWho will watch the watchmen?\u201d) When humans sense that there\u2019s neither an earthly nor divine deterrent between [&hellip;]<\/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":[1167,1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-33y","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12201,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/reaching-peak-progressivism\/","url_meta":{"origin":11752,"position":0},"title":"Reaching Peak Progressivism","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 19, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ American Greatness In 2020 we have finally hit peak progressivism. The adjective \u201cpeak\u201d\u2014apex or summit\u2014 is often used to describe something that has reached its maximum extent but thereafter will insidiously decline\u2014like supposed U.S. domestic oil production in 2000 when more oil was purportedly taken out\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11045,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-rapid-progress-of-progressivism\/","url_meta":{"origin":11752,"position":1},"title":"The Rapid \u2018Progress\u2019 of Progressivism","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 8, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review It leads to an endless race for equality and erodes prior rules.Not long ago I waited for a flight to board. The plane took off 45 minutes late. There were only two attendants to accommodate eleven passengers who had requested wheelchair assistance. Such growing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Liberals&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Liberals","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/liberals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8347,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/l-ron-obama-and-the-church-of-progressivism\/","url_meta":{"origin":11752,"position":2},"title":"L. Ron Obama and the Church of Progressivism","author":"victorhanson","date":"April 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S.Thornton \/\/ FrontPage Magazine The HBO documentary about Scientology, \u201cGoing Clear,\u201d is a must-see. Not so much because it exposes Scientology as a moneymaking, totalitarian cult, something most people already have known for 50 years. More useful is the film\u2019s description of Scientology\u2019s ideas, techniques, and tactics, for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Religion&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/religion\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo via FrontPage Magazine","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/obama1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":700,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/obamas-presidency-and-the-pathologies-of-progressivism\/","url_meta":{"origin":11752,"position":3},"title":"Obama&#8217;s Presidency and the Pathologies of Progressivism","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton FrontPage Magazine Obama\u2019s presidency has failed miserably, but it has accomplished one thing: it has revealed for all to see the lethal pathologies of progressive ideology. This doesn\u2019t mean progressivism will go away. We thought the New Democrat Bill Clinton had put progressive ideas to rest\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bruce S. Thornton&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11253,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/progressives-should-back-up-their-rhetoric-on-immigration\/","url_meta":{"origin":11752,"position":4},"title":"Progressives Should Back Up Their Rhetoric on Immigration","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Liberals, invite illegal aliens to live in your communities. There are lots of short-term solutions to address the wave of immigrants who have swarmed the border in an effort to enter the U.S. illegally. Why not use the thousands of currently half-empty residence halls\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Liberals&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Liberals","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/liberals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11305,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/progressive-regression\/","url_meta":{"origin":11752,"position":5},"title":"Progressive Regression","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 31, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ American Greatness Donald Trump has certainly changed the rules of presidential behavior, through his nonstop campaign rallies, tweets, and press conferences. What his critics call lowering the bar of presidential decorum by unfettered and often crude invective, Trump dubs the \u201cnew presidential.\u201d His style has become\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Progressivism&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Progressivism","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/progressivism\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11752"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11752"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11752\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11753,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11752\/revisions\/11753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}