How Old Bad Ideas Become Wonderful
American Greatness,
by
Victor Davis Hanson
Original Article
Posted By: Imright,
9/5/2022 9:22:53 PM
There is no end of history. Instead, civilization is a constant fight to embrace what has worked for the common good through the ages—and to reject what in the past has failed abysmally.
Bad and bankrupt ideas, protocols, and ideologies—like McCarthyism, communism, various cults, or fascism—resurface not because of their intrinsic or lasting value or record of success, but because civilizations become less vigilant and allow human vanities, ignorance, arrogance, and evil to reassert themselves.
Joe McCarthy Is Back
Our Tail Gunner Joe (of semi-truck driving expertise and brilliant legal training fame) in a single week smeared roughly half the country as un-American “semi-fascists.” Then in one of the creepiest speeches
Reply 1 - Posted by:
bad-hair 9/5/2022 9:37:23 PM (No. 1269448)
I have some age. I have some land. I have explained to some of my children that unless they stop this lunacy they and their children will pay for it.
25 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
Rinktum 9/6/2022 5:41:57 AM (No. 1269620)
VDH has laid it out perfectly as only he can. My next thought after reading this is what do we do now? How do we return to sanity? Just reading this makes my stomach turn because the people advocating for all this destruction both personally and publicly in every aspect of our lives are committed and capable of doing anything necessary to remain in power. Leaving our fate to the ballot box takes an enormous amount of optimism. We have been pushed into a corner. We must trust our elections to be free and fair when every fiber of my being believes otherwise. Can we win with overwhelming numbers? It is a terrible thing to have to hang your hope on a system that has been proven to be less than honest and fair. God help us is my sincere plea.
50 people like this.
Joe was on their trail, but they got the upper hand with the help of the media.
8 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Clinger 9/6/2022 7:53:52 AM (No. 1269693)
What really matters in the realm of "political ideas" is who has what power to make what decisions and exert what control over whom. The tactics used throughout history to achieve and justify that power, can and have varied widely. We get caught up in the weeds of the tactics and diversions of marketing and packaging of ancient power structures as new ideas. We tend to miss the overall implications of the real power structure that exists somewhere on the spectrum between anarchy and totalitarianism, most often falling into the trap of debating between various forms of totalitarianism.
New vocabulary, titles, labels and wrapping paper do not make for new ideas.
11 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
sparky joe 9/6/2022 8:08:59 AM (No. 1269703)
Says It All
Must Read, Save, Share
14 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
downnout 9/6/2022 8:30:25 AM (No. 1269718)
VDH is so right. I was struck by the photo of the drag queen “performing” at the library…notice the audience. Not to be unkind but they look like they spend their days on a couch watching talk shows and binge eating. I have to wonder if they ever read a book.
15 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Rumblehog 9/6/2022 9:09:59 AM (No. 1269743)
The Federal Government is a criminal enterprise and the Democrat Party are its mafia 'dons'.
13 people like this.
Everything old is new again. Bad ideas, good ideas, they all tumble in society. I would suggest they succeed furthest when a vacuum of leadership exists opening the door to alternatives. It is compounded today by the ability to use media as an ally or a weapon. Politics today is more celebrity-centric than ever. PDT is an example, as are OZ and Herschel Walker on the '22 stump. Obama was a product of Oprah and her ilk. The show is the thing.
The vacuum of political and social leadership in the USA is clear in our lack of a national consensus on anything - not even our own liberty and Constitution. While conservatives point to it, liberals as "So, what?" You have a right to firearms? We have a right to abortion, stolen from us. Everyone has rights...and now you and him fight over what they are. Name a major national interest issue on which Americans can stand together...I cannot. It's all open to debate, even the basic freedom to express an opinion is commonly suppressed.
And that's not just "cancel culture" by so-called liberal trolls. As VDH points out, "The ancient idea of cancel culture—whether tribal banishment, ostracism, scapegoating, witch-burning, blacklisting, or Trostkyization—is back in vogue, despite its antitheses to the U.S. Constitution." And that applies to the left and right.
4 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
ARKfamily 9/6/2022 10:14:19 AM (No. 1269805)
Just think - if there truly was no cheating going on 2020, Joe Biden received 81 million votes. This is the person that 81 million people chose to lead this country?
3 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
mc squared 9/6/2022 10:22:12 AM (No. 1269813)
After reading this, I checked to see that my powder was still dry.
4 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
Zigrid 9/6/2022 11:13:34 AM (No. 1269877)
Victor David Hanson is a political genius...and he nails it here...ole Joe was so jacked up on something that he over/reached with his rhetoric...and I'm sure more than one White House squatter got nervous as biden clinched his fist and railed like hitler and mousilini from the podium about his ruling the country...which WE all know is not happening....he's a puppet with obama's hand stuck up his backside...
3 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
Timber Queen 9/6/2022 12:10:28 PM (No. 1269926)
FTA: "Bad and bankrupt ideas, protocols, and ideologies (snip) surface not because of their intrinsic or lasting value or record of success, but because civilizations become less vigilant and allow human vanities, ignorance, arrogance, and evil to reassert themselves."
Civilizations become less vigilant against human vanities, ignorance, arrogance and evil whenever they abandon God. Western civilization's elite made the wholesale decision against God at the turn of the 20th century. Fabianism and socialism infiltrated elite circles and eventually infested our whole society. Integral to this infestation has been the denigration of organized religion, church attendance and the concept of an Almighty God. Instead people are encouraged to define their own "spirituality". Relativism has replaced moral values. Individual virtues of honesty, hard work and charity are not widely practiced; instead we have mendacity, silent quitting and letting the government take care of the needy.
We cannot heal our country until we turn back to God. We need to gather in our churches and synagogues, just as our founders. For those of us who are churched, joyfully invite your family and neighbors to join you at services. For the unchurched, there is a spiritual home for you out there...find it. This is no time to be alone. We need to petition God for His help and assistance as a nation, and although private daily prayer is necessary, public group worship cannot be forsaken.
It is in the time of persecution that the Church Militant shines brightest and brings forth the most converts. Go forth praying; singing hymns and psalms praising God Almighty even as you walk into the lions den.
In God We Trust. Then MAGA
5 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Omen55 9/6/2022 2:29:56 PM (No. 1270081)
The Left is a cancer & the only cure is to cut it out.
3 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
Hermit_Crab 9/6/2022 3:10:33 PM (No. 1270119)
Just one thing:
McCarthy was right.
And those people McCarthy was after, well, their children and grandchildren, their ideological heirs, are the ones responsible for the horrible condition of the world now.
4 people like this.
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