Posted on 07/27/2006 4:28:38 AM PDT by Tolik
Let me know if you want in or out.
Links: FR Index of his articles: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=victordavishanson
His website: http://victorhanson.com/ NRO archive: http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson-archive.asp
What a way to start my morning!
The thin veneer of civilization...
--excellent, as usual from VDH. I keep reminding younger people to remember that booms are followed by busts-usually falls on deaf ears.
"Think of civilization as a great, inverted pyramid.
The point it balances on is the first step man took, when he picked up a stick to use as a tool.
Each layer above that is built, thicker and higher, on successive steps of technology, until you get to today's world.
Instant messages, Ipods & cell phones, "poor" in America really more like middle class in other countries.
Now, imagine how easy it is to push that pyramid over, it being so topheavy, balanced on a point..."
That's key. The distinction between rights and privileges has been largely lost--thanks to dimwit teachers, the boob tube and pandering politicans.
Sometimes, it is good to see something that deals with the core issues of what it means to be conservative.
I'm sure some here will dismiss this but I found it a good reality check.
(Go Israel, Go! Slap 'Em Down Hezbullies.)
Nor should they. IMO, Presidents don't make or break the economy.
The warnings of Cassandra.
And right along with it the destruction of the required link between freedom and responsibility.
Yes, and this is very likely the way that we reduce our national debt; just inflate it away.
Not exactly the average person's favorite topic. Most tend to simply push the subject away and think about day-to-day survival or the enjoyment of special privilege and status that came to them with relatively little effort.
Unfortunately we also have bred generations of the clueless. Social overhead which can instantly turn to midless mobs literally everywhere, but primarily in and around our large cities.
How do you convince millions that their future life depends on continuous effort when they have been told that they have "rights" with no corresponding responsibilities? Children are society's problems, not my own. With a straight face, people of all ages, but primarily the young and healthy can and do expect that statements like "not enough government help!" is the final solution to all their problems.
Imagine this: If a mob of toughs breaks your door down and announces that they are "moving in" with you, and the police phone lines are "busy", what will you do? Preposterous? That is exactly the life of millions where neither law nor social conscience or expectations exist.
We are "different" from them only by a matter of a few weeks.
Three days into empty Wal-Mart shelves you'll see anarchy.
Hanson's right, of course. Too many Americans see our country's affluence as a birthright, an entitlement. They have forgotten that our liberty was purchased by the blood of patriots and that it continues only because we have patriots who are willing to sacrifice themselves for our country. They harp on the failings of our country while helping themselves to generous bounty that our political and economic freedom have created. They reject traditional, Judeo-Christian morality even though they benefit from the moral capital that morality created. But that moral capital is running out and when it does, this nation will collapse. Unless we do something to restore the moral underpinnings that made America great, the America that we know could soon cease to exist. The barbarians are at the gates. Is anyone paying attention?
"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other."
- John Adams, Oct. 11, 1798 Address
Good point.
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