{"id":13781,"date":"2021-07-23T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-23T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/?p=13781"},"modified":"2021-07-22T10:52:21","modified_gmt":"2021-07-22T17:52:21","slug":"eeyores-cabinet-cannibalism-suicide-or-what","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/eeyores-cabinet-cannibalism-suicide-or-what\/","title":{"rendered":"Eeyore’s Cabinet: Cannibalism, Suicide, or What?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Image by francescoch \/\/ Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ Private Papers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part One<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The two-parties used to have coherent, if antithetical, agendas. The Left believed foremost in equality of result (now renamed \u201cequity\u201d), the Right far more in an equality of opportunity. The former distrusted individuality and considered liberty problematic; the latter even more so feared government and its plan to reengineer income, and the daily lives of Americans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Often on matters of defense, building infrastructure, and public education they used to agree\u2014somewhat. So America prospered, given it was the freest nation on the planet, and its singular idea of a multiracial consensual society, based on a constitutional republic, worked well enough where it had usually failed both in the past and in the contemporary world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

In other words, both the in-party and the opposition were often coherent, whether in pursuit of a left or right agenda. But what we see in the Biden administration\u2019s first six months today makes no sense; there is no logical agenda except apparent chaos and year-zero nihilism, or a Samsonite notion of toppling the temple down upon us all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The world hinges upon viable citizenship, security, and prosperity; why then undermine all three essentials?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Item:<\/strong> Why would any sane person welcome in an envisioned two-million illegal aliens over 12 months in the midst of a resurgent pandemic\u2014all entering from COVID-19 variant hotspots, the vast majority untested, and unvaccinated? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, I know: altering the demography of the US is the Left\u2019s way of promoting an agenda that 51 percent of Americans otherwise will never support. And yes, I accept that the more na\u00efve believe that poverty and injustice anywhere in the world indict America. And, of course, I concede elites believe in abstract social justice whose consequences in the real world usually fall on someone else (e.g., in a nation of 330 million, the odds are good for the liberal elite that 2 million will not move into their neighborhoods.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But all that said, why try to roust out unvaccinated Americans, door-to-door, while luring in 2 million who will only fuel the pandemic? What is the Leftist logic, other than chaos, given that an open border undermines the inoculation program, spreads the plague, and alienates the public (well over 60 percent of voters now oppose open borders)?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Item:<\/strong> The perfect storm of defunding the police, the Soros-subsidized district attorneys\u2019 dropping charges, and the media\u2019s embrace of critical race theory has destroyed classical law-enforcement deterrence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crime, especially its most violent types, is soaring. The surge accounts for anti-Asian hate crimes, attacks on Jews, and a new acceptable venom against so-called \u201cwhite people.\u201d Looting is now defended as a non-crime. The perpetrators are disproportionally (as in 6 percent of the population committing 30-50 percent of violent crime depending on the nature of the offense) young African-American males, who rightly have little fear of the police, less of arrest, even less of indictment, and even less still of conviction and confinement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But why would the Left destroy deterrence, when the most prominent victims will certainly be inner-city elderly, poor, and those often most vulnerable non-white residents? Why at a time when the Left has embraced Kendi\u2019s \u2018discrimination to end discrimination\u2019 crack-pot theme, would it excuse or contextualize the breakdown in civil order and society? Is the assumption to appeal to the suburban swing voter that crime is no big deal, to get the youth vote out, on the premise that college campus safety is a construct, to ensure solidarity of the non-white by appealing to Latinos and Asians, or to remind the black inner-city dweller that the neighborhood assaulter is not responsible for his violence? Or is the logic simple pandemonium and bedlam, as if the \u201csystem\u201d stands indicted of something or other?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ Private Papers Part One The two-parties used to have coherent, if antithetical, agendas. The Left believed foremost in equality of result (now renamed \u201cequity\u201d), the Right far more in an equality of opportunity. The former distrusted individuality and considered liberty problematic; the latter even more so feared government and its plan […]<\/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":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-3Ah","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13829,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-culturalist-liberty-and-equality\/","url_meta":{"origin":13781,"position":0},"title":"The Culturalist: Liberty and Equality","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 1, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ Art19 and Just the News https:\/\/art19.com\/shows\/the-victor-davis-hanson-show\/episodes\/c143f3c0-bbd0-44f5-b460-1df5c6c263cf","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11627,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-issue-is-not-roger-stones-lurid-personal-life-but-equality-under-the-law\/","url_meta":{"origin":13781,"position":1},"title":"The Issue Is Not Roger Stone\u2019s Lurid Personal Life but Equality under the Law","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 29, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review The issues of special Robert Mueller\u2019s indictment of Roger Stone have nothing to do with his personal life. His sexual habits should be of no concern to anyone. And what is so funny about the Internet jokes about (a still presumed innocent) Stone enjoying\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Donald Trump"","block_context":{"text":"Donald Trump","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/donald-trump\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6913,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-idol-of-equality\/","url_meta":{"origin":13781,"position":2},"title":"The Idol of Equality","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"To put equality ahead of liberty is to war against human nature. by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/\u00a0National Review Online\u00a0 \u201cThere is, in fact, a manly and lawful passion for equality which excites men to wish all to be powerful and honored. This passion tends to elevate the humble to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Identity Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Identity Politics","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/american-culture\/identity-politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/447px-Alexis_de_tocqueville-223x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11045,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-rapid-progress-of-progressivism\/","url_meta":{"origin":13781,"position":3},"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 "Liberals"","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":11944,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-strange-case-of-white-supremacy\/","url_meta":{"origin":13781,"position":4},"title":"The Strange Case of \u2018White Supremacy\u2019","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 14, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ American Greatness Any majority population must be careful not to revert to pre-civilized tribalism and oppressing minority groups. The United States, like every other country that enjoys diverse populations has struggled from its beginning to ensure equality, sometimes unsuccessfully, and only at the cost of thousands\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2806,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/nothing-new-under-the-sun\/","url_meta":{"origin":13781,"position":5},"title":"Nothing New Under the Sun","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 6, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson PJ Media The Same Old Equality of Result Rather than nitpick about Obama\u2019s envisioned brave new world, I think it wiser to see it in the larger context of age-old divides over the nature of Western democratic and liberal society. Nothing that we have seen proposed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "May 2009"","block_context":{"text":"May 2009","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2009\/may-2009\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13781"}],"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=13781"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13783,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13781\/revisions\/13783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}