by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/\u00a0National Review Online<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Two quite different 21st-century Americas are emerging. The nation is not so much divided by \u201cwars\u201d between the rich and poor, men and women, or white and non-white. Instead, there is the world of reality versus that of triviality.<\/p>\n In the vast plains of the Dakotas and the American West, thousands of men and women of all classes and colors are fracking oil and gas to create new energy for millions of homeowners and commuters \u2014 while giving America a second chance at strategic energy independence.<\/p>\n Yet the beneficiaries mostly ignore these elemental efforts. They instead prefer to fixate on the alleged sexual creepiness of big-city political mediocrities like Bob Filner and Anthony Weiner.<\/p>\n As we sleep, 7,000 miles away there are still thousands of American soldiers of all races, ages, classes, and genders in godforsaken conditions fighting the Taliban to allow millions in Afghanistan the chance for an alternative to medieval theocracy and to deter terrorists.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, back home, the nation is focused not on such existential struggles but is transfixed by racial melodramas.<\/p>\n Was Oprah victimized by racial insensitivity in a Swiss boutique when inquiring about purchasing a $38,000 crocodile purse? Were ten black\u00a0American Idol<\/em>\u00a0contestants really victims of \u201ccruel and inhumane\u201d treatment because their arrest records were brought up on the show? Should a rodeo clown \u2014 whose stock in trade is humor \u2014 be sent to \u201csensitivity training\u201d for wearing an Obama mask?<\/p>\n At the end of two years of near-record drought in California, the fate of hundreds of thousands of acres of irrigated farmlands, which feed millions of Americans and earn billions of dollars in critical foreign exchange, hinges on a snow-filled winter in the Sierra Nevada. You might never know of that razor\u2019s edge from the state legislature. Rather than discussing new dams and canals, it debated whether transgendered youth in public schools could use the bathrooms of their choice and whether residents should need a permit to buy ammunition.<\/p>\n The historic role of government is changing before our eyes. President Obama is making the argument that the executive branch by presidential fiat can pick and choose which laws should and should not be faithfully executed \u2014 whether Obamacare, immigration amnesties, or No Child Left Behind statutes.<\/p>\n The fate of the entire concept of voluntary tax compliance is currently endangered by the politicization of the Internal Revenue Service. Whether the government can monitor the communications of either reporters or average citizens depends on getting to the bottom of the National Security Agency and Justice Department\/Associated Press scandals.<\/p>\n Instead, the media seem more interested in whether Obama is playing golf on Martha\u2019s Vineyard.<\/p>\n Why is the country consumed by the trivial while snoozing through the essential? We have become a nation of instant electronic communications \u2014 Twitter, Facebook, cell phones, and the Internet \u2014 even as reading and math scores plummet in our schools, and newspapers and magazines go broke. We can communicate information at the speed of light but have trouble finding anything meaningful to send back and forth.<\/p>\n In prior times, writers, directors, and actors endeavored to present television drama characterized by good acting and engaging scripts. Now, it is more profitable and apparently more entertaining just to film pseudo-celebrities talking, eating, and agonizing over the day\u2019s banalities, as withKeeping Up with the Kardashians<\/em>.<\/p>\n Yet sometimes we get vicarious pleasure from watching oddballs do what most of us won\u2019t or can\u2019t do. Nineteenth-century-style men who cut timber, mine gold, drive big rigs, and catch fish on the high seas are now the subject of big reality-television hits. Apparently, those who did not go to Ivy League schools or make a pile on Wall Street appear as more genuine Americans \u2014 at least in our dreams and fantasies.<\/p>\n Yet part of America\u2019s confusion about what is important and petty begins at the top.<\/p>\n Reggie Love, the erstwhile presidential assistant and \u201cbody man\u201d to President Obama, recently reported on the critical moments of the mission to kill Osama bin Laden. The president apparently was not glued to live video feeds, as the photos from his reelection campaign suggested.<\/p>\n \u201cMost people were like down in the Situation Room,\u201d Love said, \u201cand [the president] was like, \u2018I\u2019m not going to be down there, I can\u2019t watch this entire thing.\u2019 So he, myself, Pete Souza, the White House photographer, Marvin [Nicholson], we must have played 15 games of spades.\u201d<\/p>\n The commander-in-chief was playing cards while Navy SEALs risked their lives to kill America\u2019s No. 1 enemy \u2014 only later to use photos of himself watching live feeds for his reelection sloganeering: \u201cBin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive!\u201d<\/p>\n That pretense sums up the growing void between real and trivial America.<\/p>\n Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. His new book,<\/em>\u00a0The Savior Generals<\/a>,<\/span>\u00a0is just out from Bloomsbury Books.<\/em>\u00a0You can reach him by e-mailing<\/em>\u00a0author@victorhanson.com<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n \u00a9\u00a0 2013 Tribune Media Services, Inc<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Kardashians and Anthony Weiner are deemed more worthy of attention than what affects the security and prosperity of our nation. by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/\u00a0National Review Online Two quite different 21st-century Americas are emerging. The nation is not so much divided by \u201cwars\u201d between the rich and poor, men and women, or white […]<\/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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[11,86],"tags":[1025,207,88],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-1EF","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9339,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/america-historys-exception\/","url_meta":{"origin":6365,"position":0},"title":"America: History\u2019s Exception","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"We should seek to preserve the ideals that made America successful. By Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Online The history of nations is mostly characterized by ethnic and racial uniformity, not diversity. Most national boundaries reflected linguistic, religious, and ethnic homogeneity. Until the late 20th century, diversity was considered\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Europe"","block_context":{"text":"Europe","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/europe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8080,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/america-continues-to-thrive\/","url_meta":{"origin":6365,"position":1},"title":"America Continues to Thrive","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Even in its current malaise, the U.S. still soars above the global competition. by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Online Germany\u2019s first chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, supposedly once said that there was \u201ca special providence for drunkards, fools, and the United States of America.\u201d Apparently, late 19th-century observers could\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/europe\/economy-europe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo via NRO","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/pic_giant_121114_SM_Flags_0-500x291.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8979,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/still-polarizing-after-all-these-years\/","url_meta":{"origin":6365,"position":2},"title":"Still Polarizing after All These Years","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 25, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"By Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ Works and Days hosted by PJMedia Polls confirm that Obama is the most polarizing president in recent memory. There is little middle ground: supporters worship him; detractors in greater number seem to vehemently dislike him. Why then does the president, desperate for some sort of\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8345,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/is-race-following-gender-in-becoming-a-fluid-identity-construct\/","url_meta":{"origin":6365,"position":3},"title":"Is Race Following Gender in Becoming a \u2018Fluid\u2019 Identity Construct?","author":"victorhanson","date":"April 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Among many careerists and politicians, tweaking one\u2019s ethnic identity is becoming increasingly widespread. by Victor Davis Hanson\u00a0\/\/ National Review Online Not long ago, the New York Times uncovered the artifact that Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush had once listed himself as \u201cHispanic\u201d on a Florida voter-registration form. 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