{"id":8219,"date":"2015-02-18T07:53:25","date_gmt":"2015-02-18T15:53:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/?p=8219"},"modified":"2015-02-18T07:53:52","modified_gmt":"2015-02-18T15:53:52","slug":"the-reckoning-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-reckoning-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Reckoning"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n

by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ PJ Media<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Photo
Photo via PJMedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Let us start our grand tour of an increasingly out-of-control world in Russia. Putin plays a two-bit Hitler in trying to gobble up his neighbors. The West responds with\u00a0 a one-bit imitation of 1930s Britain and France. ISIS reminds us that beheading and human incineration are contemporary, not premodern, practices. The only difference is that we video them on iPhones now<\/a> [1]<\/sup> rather hear rumors about them by word of mouth a year later.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Jews are wise to leave Europe<\/a> [2]<\/sup> in the manner that some of the lucky got out in the 1930s. The danger is not that we are facing a sudden war on any one front, but that all these fronts \u2014 the former Soviet republics, the Islamic caliphate in Iraq and Syria, the roaming Islamic terrorist gangsters inside the West, and the Iranian soon-to-be-nuclear co-prosperity sphere from Yemen to Lebanon \u2014 are combining to create chaos as the new normal.<\/p>\n

Whole swaths of the globe are becoming badlands that sane people avoid \u2014 the former Soviet republics, Russia, the Middle East, North Africa, Persia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina, Cuba, and perhaps soon Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus \u2014 as if they were the national no-go-zone versions of our own New Orleans or Detroit.<\/p>\n

Ceding prior U.S. influence to regional hegemons \u2014 China in Asia, Russia in the former Soviet Union, ISIS and Iran in the Middle East \u2014 is turning the world into a pre-globalized Wild West. Think of travel plans. See the Parthenon? But will Greece be bankrupt and on strike from the airport to the Acropolis? See the Dead Sea? Will the rockets come in from Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon, or Iran? See South America? Tiptoe around the mess in Argentina, Nicaragua, Peru, or Venezuela. See Paris or Copenhagen? Just don\u2019t walk near a synagogue or kosher market. See St. Petersburg? Make sure there is not the next war nearby in Tallinn. See Turkey? The Hagia Sophia will probably be a mosque again soon.<\/p>\n

The American Economy?<\/b><\/p>\n

Hardly confidence there either. Bill Clinton slashed defense, hiked taxes and at least won a year or two of balanced budgets. Obama slashed defense, hiked taxes, and now brags that a $600 billion annual deficit is success \u2014 as if he still might not in his eight years double the amount of debt of all previous administrations combined.<\/p>\n

What have zero interest rates accomplished? Another Wall Street bubble to implode, the end of passbook savings as we knew it for a century, and the encouragement of running up more national debt at a low annual service cost?<\/p>\n

The Government?<\/b><\/p>\n

What is terrifying about government now is not just that Obama has made it a tool of fundamental political transformation, by ignoring the enforcement of laws, overriding statutes through executive orders, and expanding entitlements to create new Democratic dependent constituencies. Scarier is the new 1984 state. The IRS is a rogue, but politicized organization that considers your politics in choosing audits. What exactly is NASA doing? The Justice Department sees the law as a hindrance to social justice. We can\u2019t seem to find a secretary of Defense who can stand the White House effort to turn the Pentagon into something other than the military.<\/p>\n

Government measurement of GDP and unemployment has been altered to suggest a robust economy. There is no such thing as an enforceable border, or perhaps a border at all. An illegal alien no longer exists. Amnesty is not so much a new law, as simply the relaxation of all immigration laws<\/a> [3]<\/sup>. The U.S. border is resembling the badlands between Syria and Iraq, where smugglers, cartels, and drug lords do as they please. What exactly is the status of ICE? Do agents arrest and release illegal entrants, or simply not arrest them at all? And if so, what then exactly are they doing?<\/p>\n

Popular Culture?
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

Is Brian Williams<\/a> [4]<\/sup> our Eric Sevareid? Is Miley Cyrus<\/a> [5]<\/sup> an update of Shirley Temple? Is Kanye West the new Lou Rawls? Is Fifty Shades of Grey <\/i>just an updated Lolita<\/i>? Is global warming<\/a> [6]<\/sup> just a new phenology?\u00a0 Is curvy Kim Kardashian just Rita Hayworth? Is Al Sharpton<\/a> [7]<\/sup> just Martin Luther King? The latest snuff video game just resembles an updated pinball machine? Maybe Tiger Woods is just a petulant young Jack Nicklaus?<\/p>\n

Civic Harmony?<\/b><\/p>\n

Racial relations have hit a new low<\/a> [8]<\/sup> in the age of \u201cmy people,\u201d \u201cpunish our enemies,\u201d and a \u201cnation of cowards.\u201d If an African-American entertainer does not win a Grammy, a celebrity rushes the stage<\/a> [9]<\/sup> to intimidate the winner. If an all African-American Little League team breaks the rules to win a crown, then the enforcement of the rules is deemed racist<\/a> [10]<\/sup>. If an Israel prime minister speaks to Congress without President Obama\u2019s approval, then he is racist<\/a> [11]<\/sup>. What can be racism when almost everything is racist?<\/p>\n

Is the new racism something akin to integration and assimilation, racially blind criteria for admissions and employment, a wish to make skin color incidental not essential to our characters, and a desire for legal, measured and ethnically blind immigration?<\/p>\n

Where Does the Center Hold?<\/b><\/p>\n

For bewildered and increasingly quietist<\/a> [12]<\/sup> Americans, the center holds mostly in family, religion, a few friends, the avoidance of the cinema and nightly news, the rote of navigating to work and coming home, trying to stay off the dole and taking responsibility for one\u2019s own disasters \u2014 as the world grows ever more chaotic in our midst.<\/p>\n

All sorts of escapism from the madness is now epidemic. Home-schooling. Gun ownership. A second home in the mountains. A trunk of freeze-dried food. Kids living in the basement. A generator. Some gold coins. A move to Wyoming. An avoidance of the old big cities. A tough choice between death and going to the nearby emergency room (at least your relatives are safe as you pass away at home). A careful and narrow selection of channels on cable TV. A safe room or escape plan. And on and on.<\/p>\n

There is a strange new and dangerous sentiment brooding below the spoken surface that whatever is going on in the world and in America today cannot go on much longer \u2014 although as the sages say, there is a lot of rot in the West to enjoy for some time yet.<\/p>\n

The postmodern world of our new aristocracy and the premodern world of those they both avoid and romanticize won\u2019t hold. The old caricatured middle shrinks and turns inward. Even if the doomsday mood is a mere construct of the new instantaneous media, it is a dangerous mood nonetheless.<\/p>\n

We all know what follows from this \u2014 either the chaos grows and civilization wanes and tribalism follows, or the iron hand of the radical authoritarian Left or Right correction is just as scary, or a few good people in democratic fashion convince the mob to let them stop the madness and rebuild civilization.<\/p>\n

I hope for option three<\/a> [13]<\/sup>. I fear option one is more likely at home. And I assume that option two will be, as it always is, the choice abroad.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Article printed from Works and Days: http:\/\/pjmedia.com\/victordavishanson<\/strong><\/p>\n

URL to article: http:\/\/pjmedia.com\/victordavishanson\/the-reckoning-2\/<\/strong><\/p>\n

URLs in this post:<\/p>\n

[1] we video them on iPhones now: http:\/\/pjmedia.com\/eddriscoll\/2014\/08\/08\/isis-are-fast-track-nazis\/<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

[2] are wise to leave Europe: http:\/\/twitchy.com\/2015\/02\/15\/netanyahu-condemns-extremist-islamic-terrorism-in-copenhagen-encourages-mass-immigration-from-europe\/<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

[3] the relaxation of all immigration laws: http:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2015\/02\/15\/boehner-obama-defied-his-oath-of-office-and-constitution-with-executive-amnesty-video\/<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

[4] Brian Williams: http:\/\/pjmedia.com\/eddriscoll\/2015\/02\/08\/williams-will-return\/<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

[5] Miley Cyrus: http:\/\/pjmedia.com\/eddriscoll\/2013\/12\/09\/never-go-full-weimar\/<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

[6] global warming: http:\/\/moelane.com\/2015\/02\/13\/gore-effect-yale-global-warming\/<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

[7] Al Sharpton: http:\/\/www.thesmokinggun.com\/documents\/investigation\/al-sharpton-lies-657391<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

[8] have hit a new low: http:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/articles\/335286\/ripples-election-victor-davis-hanson\/page\/0\/1<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

[9] rushes the stage: http:\/\/www.usmagazine.com\/entertainment\/news\/kanye-west-explains-grammys-stunt-voices-in-my-head-told-me-to-do-it-2015112<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

[10] is deemed racist: http:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/video\/2015\/02\/11\/chicago-sports-talkers-speculate-race-could-be-part-of-little-league-scandal\/<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

[11] then he is racist: http:\/\/theconservativetreehouse.com\/2015\/02\/10\/white-house-telling-congressional-black-caucus-netanyahu-speech-is-racism-against-obama-so-dont-attend\/<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

[12] quietist: http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Quietism_%28Christian_philosophy%29<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

[13] for option three: http:\/\/pjmedia.com\/rogerlsimon\/2015\/02\/14\/wonderful-copenhagen-lessons-for-2016\/<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2015 Works and Days. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ PJ Media Let us start our grand tour of an increasingly out-of-control world in Russia. Putin plays a two-bit Hitler in trying to gobble up his neighbors. The West responds with\u00a0 a one-bit imitation of 1930s Britain and France. ISIS reminds us that beheading and human incineration are contemporary, not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","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":[844,145,11,86],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-28z","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11279,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ten-commandments-of-the-supreme-court\/","url_meta":{"origin":8219,"position":0},"title":"Ten Commandments of the Supreme Court","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 17, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review What is sacrosanct? Whatever advances progressive causes. 1)\u00a0Right to Left.\u00a0The majority of post-war Republican Supreme Court nominees, who were initially perceived as conservative, turned liberal on the bench (Harry Blackmun, William Brennan, David Souter, John Paul Stevens, Earl Warren), or went from right-wing to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Supreme Court"","block_context":{"text":"Supreme Court","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/supreme-court\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12112,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/former-intelligence-chiefs-fit-perfectly-into-media-advocacy-culture\/","url_meta":{"origin":8219,"position":1},"title":"Former intelligence chiefs fit perfectly into media advocacy culture","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 20, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ Fox News Former FBI Director\u00a0James Comey\u00a0and Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, former CIA Director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper have lots of things in common. One,\u00a0they ran the nation\u2019s key intelligence and investigatory agencies under former\u00a0President Barack Obama. They were deeply involved\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2512,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/why-i-read-the-new-york-times\/","url_meta":{"origin":8219,"position":2},"title":"Why I Read the New York Times","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 23, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton FronpageMagazine.com I\u00a0get a lot of ragging from my fellow conservatives for reading\u00a0The New York Times\u00a0every day. But as I tell them, you have to know how the other side thinks. Progressive ideology reflects a narrative founded on unexamined ideas long exposed as unworkable, incoherent, or just\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","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":12783,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/is-the-wisdom-of-homer-immune-to-cancel-culture\/","url_meta":{"origin":8219,"position":3},"title":"Is the Wisdom of Homer Immune to Cancel Culture?","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 8, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ The Patriot Post Amid the current hysteria of toppling statues and renaming things, we keep mindlessly expanding the cancel culture. We are now seeing efforts to ban classics of Western and American literature. These hallowed texts are suddenly being declared racist or sexist by preening moralists.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12598,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/victor-davis-hanson-the-cowards-of-cancel-culture\/","url_meta":{"origin":8219,"position":4},"title":"Victor Davis Hanson: The cowards of ‘cancel culture’","author":"victorhanson","date":"September 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ The Hill Each generation deals with its own manifestations of age-old mob frenzies, bullying and public shaming. Salem, Mass., had its witch trials in the 1690s. The 1950s endured its McCarthyism. And we now are enduring our \u201ccancel culture.\u201d\u00a0 But 21st-century public shaming reaches not thousands\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11549,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/victor-davis-hanson-on-contemporary-american-society\/","url_meta":{"origin":8219,"position":5},"title":"Victor Davis Hanson On Contemporary American Society","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 3, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ Hoover Institution Traditional values, whether manifested in public policy or contemporary culture, are besieged in today\u2019s America but can still be found in the right places, says\u00a0Victor Davis Hanson. Hanson is the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow at the\u00a0Hoover Institution. His focus is on classics\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8219"}],"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=8219"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8222,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8219\/revisions\/8222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}