by Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n
Tribune Media Services<\/p>\n
2<\/span>007 reminded us that our easy way of life comes at a price, and that there are consequences and tradeoffs in almost everything we do. Let’s go down the list.<\/p>\n Illegal Immigration<\/strong><\/p>\n President Bush’s comprehensive immigration bill collapsed this summer, following public outrage from the middle and poorer classes of both parties. These Americans reminded their politicians that first they want their southern border closed to illegal immigration \u2014 and discussion of anything else second.<\/p>\n They are not racists, nativists or protectionists \u2014 much less “anti-immigrant.” Instead, a substantial number of Americans \u2014 from all backgrounds \u2014 simply believe that once illegal immigration ceases, the problem becomes manageable.<\/p>\n Employers will have to hire our own poor and unemployed, and thus raise wages. Mexico will have to deal with its own problems rather than blaming the United States. Tribalists and ethnic provocateurs will have to relearn that integration and the melting pot are not going away. And immigrants crossing the southern border will have to wait in line like everyone else and come here legally.<\/p>\n The Housing Crisis<\/strong><\/p>\n Housing prices tanked in 2007. Millions of home mortgages by this past spring were behind or in default.\u00a0The media rushed to blame government and lenders \u2014 as if poor buyers had a gun to their heads when they bet that housing would continually appreciate.<\/p>\n Yet most Americans who buy homes judiciously, and pay their mortgages promptly, were probably more philosophical than outraged. Homes had become way overpriced. Anyone who rushed out to borrow heavily to buy in such an overheated market was intent on recklessly profiting by quick resale \u2014 or hopelessly naive.<\/p>\n Food Is Not Cheap<\/strong><\/p>\n Farm prices soared. For 40 years, Americans had become used to the idea that\u00a0their food would stay cheap, and that farmers were invisible or irrelevant. Now we are learning that farmland and irrigation water are finite resources, while world population continues to rise. Before we can solve global warming, convert to ethanol fuels or restore ancestral rivers, we first have to eat \u2014 and thus make sure there is enough land and water to produce food.<\/p>\n Oil<\/strong><\/p>\n Oil reached $98 a barrel by November. Conservatives thought that the market alone might easily correct the problem. Yet they are starting to see in the meantime that petrol-rich, anti-American dictatorships, flush with American cash, won’t be so patient with us.<\/p>\n Liberals tend to claim that we won’t have to find and burn far more of our own oil and coal, or build nuclear plants. But they are learning that for now that would only make Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez, Vladimir Putin and the House of Saud even happier.<\/p>\n Iran<\/strong><\/p>\n The recent National Intelligence Estimate told us that Iran ceased efforts to acquire nuclear weapons in 2003. The news was as unexpected as it was widely distrusted. What’s clear, at least for now, are the effects of the report: Hawks’ ideas of preemptively bombing Iran are fortunately off the table. But, unfortunately, so are serious economic and diplomatic efforts to persuade the Iranians to stop. This flawed report will come back to haunt us.<\/p>\n Iraq<\/strong><\/p>\n In recent months, we’ve seen a reduction of violence in Iraq as Sunni tribal insurgents joined American troops in hunting down al Qaeda terrorists. The insurgents’ turnabout may have been influenced by the U.S. troop surge, a change in the American military’s tactics, worry over the Shiite-dominated government, confidence in an oil-fed prosperity or a growing awareness of the savage nihilism of al Qaeda.<\/p>\n The fact that the insurgents approached us for help after being defeated or demoralized suggests that the present truce could evolve into a peace in ways no one had foreseen.<\/p>\n Anti-War and Over-the-Top<\/strong><\/p>\n After Moveon.org ran its infamous “General Betray Us” ad \u2014 in\u00a0The New York Times<\/i>\u00a0no less and originally at a reduced rate \u2014 the entire vocal anti-war movement never quite recovered. Before the ad, Cindy Sheehan, Code Pink and Michael Moore were all seen as just vehemently anti-war. After the lunatic ad, all such critics were suspected, unfairly or not, of being anti-military and potentially undermining the thousands of Americans who serve in it.<\/p>\n Hollywood<\/strong><\/p>\n The American people go to the movies to be entertained and occasionally enlightened. They do not pay to be lectured to, brainwashed or made to feel ashamed of their own country and military. Brian De Palma’s movie “Redacted” did all three and came and went from theaters faster than you could say “agitprop.”<\/p>\n “Lions for Lambs,” “Rendition” and “In the Valley of Elah” did little better. The fates of these films should remind those in Hollywood that when we want to be preached at, we prefer church.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u00a92007 Tribune Media Services<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services 2007 reminded us that our easy way of life comes at a price, and that there are consequences and tradeoffs in almost everything we do. Let’s go down the list.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[746],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-SB","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3590,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-revolt-on-illegal-immigration\/","url_meta":{"origin":3385,"position":0},"title":"The Revolt on Illegal Immigration","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 9, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services After the utter collapse in the Senate last week of a comprehensive immigration bill, Washington insiders\u00a0are blaming everyone and everything. Supposedly, talk-radio hysteria killed the bill. Or was it the purported racism of yokels?\u00a0Or did most of us fail to appreciate the hidden\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "July 2007"","block_context":{"text":"July 2007","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2007\/july-2007\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3610,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/who-is-illiberal-on-immigration\/","url_meta":{"origin":3385,"position":1},"title":"Who Is Illiberal on Immigration","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 18, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services The collapse last week of a comprehensive immigration bill in Congress that called for a huge guest-worker program, fast-track visas and a sort of earned citizenship for illegal aliens has unleashed a backlash against those opponents of it who prefer to close the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "June 2007"","block_context":{"text":"June 2007","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2007\/june-2007\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2178,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/voting-present-on-illegal-immigration\/","url_meta":{"origin":3385,"position":2},"title":"Voting Present on Illegal Immigration","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 3, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services Immigration activists and Hispanic groups are demanding that President Obama deliver on his promised comprehensive package of immigration reform. Already, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has derided federal sweeps of illegal aliens as \"un-American.\" And recently the Obama administration stripped the federal authority\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "November 2009"","block_context":{"text":"November 2009","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2009\/november-2009\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":665,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/legal-illegal-immigration\/","url_meta":{"origin":3385,"position":3},"title":"Legal Illegal Immigration","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Immigration"","block_context":{"text":"Immigration","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/immigration\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4018,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/illegal-immigration-and-the-english-language\/","url_meta":{"origin":3385,"position":4},"title":"Illegal Immigration and the English Language","author":"victorhanson","date":"April 17, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services In the fierce debate over illegal immigration, the particular terms used by those who argue our porous borders are not a serious problem can tell us a lot. There are somewhere between 8 and 15 million citizens from Mexico and Latin America in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "April 2006"","block_context":{"text":"April 2006","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2006\/april-2006\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8628,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/how-illegal-immigration-finally-turned-off-the-public\/","url_meta":{"origin":3385,"position":5},"title":"How Illegal Immigration Finally Turned Off the Public","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 31, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"If there were not a Donald Trump, he would likely have had to have been invented.\u00a0 by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ PJ Media Why did the illegal-immigration issue launch Donald Trump\u2019s campaign? Why did his recent tense press conference exchange with Univision\u2019s Jorge Ramos please even some of Trump\u2019s liberal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Shot and chaser: Democrat activist Jorge Ramos of Univison badgers Donald Trump; is (temporarily) deported from presser by Trump\u00e2\u0080\u0099s security. (AP Photos\/Charlie Neibergall)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/trump_ramos_8-30-15-1-500x213.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3385"}],"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=3385"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3386,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3385\/revisions\/3386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}