Ok—after those depressing six “bad” and “ugly” trends, here are three things that bring at least some optimism in otherwise trying times.
The Good
1) Technology. For all the dangers and destruction inherent in access to instant electronic information and communication (cf. the subprime mortgage bundles and computer programs that accelerated innate human idiocy), there often can be much good in such a radically egalitarian enterprise. Today’s peasant in Guatemala with a cell phone or a stop at an Internet café, has more knowledge of market futures at his hands than had aristocratic grandees of the 1940s.
I used to tote books and magazines on trips to do research and write contemporary commentary. Now? I can confirm in 10 seconds on the Internet that once again Sen. Dodd is not telling the truth or reread the Melian Dialogue of Thucydides in Greek, or learn what Sun Maid paid on free tonnage for raisins in 1982—whether in rural Fresno County or in a dingy hotel in Mexico. In a debate once, an audience member with his laptop in the first row was able to correct the record instantaneously during the question and answer period. In some sense, the many have gained an enormous amount of power, and, for good or evil, the old hierarchies are crumbling (Who cares whether the debater has a MD or law degree if he is stating things that can instantly be proven inaccurate?)
Most of us would be long dead without Westernized/globalized medicine—something we seem to forget in the near hysterical demonization of the US health care system. In 1979 an emergency operation and antibiotics saved me from a severed ureter cut by a staghorn calculus; in 2006 the degree to which Libyans had access to Flagyl, Augmentin and Cipro, and Westernized notions of surgical protocoal, saved my life after an operation for a ruptured appendix. Urocit-K (potassium citrate) alone provided relief from nearly weekly kidney stones.
All of us have similar stories of our own possibly short, unpleasant lives had it not been for brilliantly-trained doctors, courageous nurses, wonder drugs, and high-tech instrumentation. Unfettered reason, free speech, rationalism protected from zealotry and tribalism, and free-market capitalism have given us years of physical comfort and relief that premodern man could only dream of. Thousands of Western-trained doctors, researchers, and scientists daily provide us with breakthroughs that are making our lives far less nasty, solitary, poor, brutish and short.
I won’t deny that modern medicine—especially from my experience with lost family members undergoing failed regimens of chemotherapy—can be insensitive, misleading, and often excruciating painful. But by and large, American medicine has improved the lives of billions on the planet.
We forget how life has been transformed just from the 1960s alone. As a student, I used to drive a beat up car with spare points, plugs, an old alternator and starter replacement in the trunk. The clutch went out frequently—so I ended up at the side of rural highways quite often. In 1969 it was common to see California freeways littered with broken down cars; now it is a rare occurrence. I grew up with a father taking apart our dryer, washer, vacuum cleaner, and refrigerators almost monthly; today, they seem to run on autopilot.
In often insidious ways, technology is making daily life ever easier—and providing a much needed counterpoint to a culture and politics that get worse, as popular civility and wisdom vanish. (Wait! Some of you object: ease of life, affluence and leisure brought on by technology explain the end of the old cherished culture. It is not exactly so simple.)
2) Competent people. There is an entire nation of brilliant hardworking and uniquely gifted people within the United States like none other in the world—of all politics and beliefs. Critics of America fault our crime rate, growing illiteracy, and dismal education system (as I pointed out last time). But much of that pathology arises from America’s ambitious plans to educate, house, and take care of 300 million souls at levels found nowhere else in the world, amid all sorts of endemic poverty, the arrival of nearly 1 million illegal aliens per year (12-20 million already here), and millions more who have arrived legally in the last three decades abjectly poor from Asia, Africa, and South America. We notice our failures to ensure a massive equality of result in a generation, never the magnitude of the undertaking.
The fact is that one out of five Americans—an enormously large hidden nation of, say, some 60 million—is better educated, more innovative and optimistic than anyone else abroad. This meritocracy of the hyper-hard-working and talented—of all races, both genders, of varying ages, and no set religion—by and large, commits very little crime, follow the law, and pay their taxes without cheating. They’re either highly educated or magnificently trained by family and vocational schools in the various trades.
Dear Doc:
There is nothing good here. You are an optimist. Wish I had a raisin farm too.
Please keep posting on PJM after March 31.
Thanks for the pep talk Doc but I am still discouraged.
I think we can safely predict that Obama and crew will put the kibosh on technology. With much higher taxes coming I doubt if US firms will have the money to devote to R&D. With aggressive tort lawyers circling like birds of prey, fear of law suits will also put a damper on new technology, especially in the medical field. We could pretty much handle all of our energy requirements through nuclear power but that will never happen, especially with Obama as monarch. Look for other nations to go nuclear in the years ahead (especially with this crisis) while the US lags behind and becomes a third world country.
I think most of the competent people will just quit working. Obama sent a pretty strong signal today when he fired the GM top guy. He’s also forcing Chrysler to merge with Fiat. Funny, how the community organizer gained sufficient competence to run the nation’s big 3 auto makers. Salary caps have already prompted the resignations of some top financial gurus. The brains in New York City and New York State will soon be leaving in droves due to punitive taxes imposed by the liberal governor. Why bother working when it all goes to the government?
As the father of two US paratroopers, I was bursting with pride over your description of our military. You are correct of course, but I am biased in the extreme. Yet, both my sons were mystified when many of their battle buddies said they would be voting for Obama. Of course, once the Messiah goes to work “trimming” our wonderful armed forces most of these brave men and women will be lucky to get jobs at McDonalds.
Any idea when the revolution might begin???
Mother, May I?
By Robert Winkler Burke
Of inthatdayteachings.com
Copyright 3/30/09
Men who are men know what to do,
Are marginalized by the empowered few,
Who fear us because we know what to do,
Which is to get rid of the deceiving few.
But now men can’t do what they’re born to do,
To protect the weak -minded from the brazen few,
Who enslave so cleverly without over shackles,
Men see it, but blind sheep love their wolf hackles.
The prey wolves warn their sheep against wolves divine,
Divine wolves who defrock prey wolves, no pay in mind,
Other than to do right for right’s sake alone,
Get rid of evil and let all make good homes.
Since prey wolves stop divine wolves from power,
What’s needed is a mama bear wolf at this hour,
Once set; good men will ask, Mother, may I?
She’ll nod, and then: prey wolves better hide.
It’s true the Atlases of America are more likely to be John Galt or Eddie Willers than a Wall Street financier (though there’s nothing wrong with being the latter).
But you can forget about Obama taking a nanosecond out to sincerely thank them. Progressives, whom I call Anti(s) because they are opposed to everything good, will never praise the productive (unless they apologize for it by drooling over the needy). It’s contrary to their entire raison d’etre.
Those facts also explain, by the way, why they are so fond of collectivist, socialist Europe and despise individualist, capitalist America.
Many members of the military fill the leadership vacuums in civilian society when they retire from the service.
Combat service can prepare one for the rough and tumble of business conduct better than an MBA can.
And if an MBA is what they want to get, they already have a personal discipline and a culture of dedication to the task nthat will let them through the program faster than anyone else.
All human societies are in a permanent state of shortage when it comes to leadership. The US military is more than our principal agent of national defense. It is also one of our most productive crucible of our future leaders.
Dr. Hanson,
I agree with most, or perhaps all, of your points. I think this goes basically to the “fabric” of the nation. That is what I have always loved and admired about this country.
However, don’t you agree that all of these things are being targeted by the Obama administration? This is why I am so worried (sick actually). I could never have imagined that we would see our country changed in so many fundamental ways. I am in a constant state of shock.
Thanks for your contribution to the analysis and conversation.
VDH:
Our technological prowess will wane if we continue to allow basic science research in this country to become politicized. We may be at a tipping point here, though, brought on by the issue of Global Warming. This is one area where I am now optimistic. Over the next few years we may see the thorough debunking of the “greatest lie ever told”. Scientists are finally speaking out, not only about the weakness of the GW brigade’s faulty models, but also about the rampant political interference with their work. Al Gore’s pet scientist, James “Lysenko” Hansen, has now been discredited. If Mother Nature continues to put the lie to the predictive value of the GW models, Obama and Comrades will be seen as promoting Soviet style science, for the same political ends. With the Commissars gone from the lab, scientists can go back to designing the next era of technological wonders.
This screen is loading incorrectly on my computer.
The vertical ad bar to the right is cutting off words.
One hidden American says thanks to a hidden prof.
You get an A for effort.
(Take that, AB123)
This truly highlighted the “Good,” which much more than offsets the “Bad” and the “Ugly!” However, for me the question is what will the USA be like after I’m gone, which is just done the road relatively speaking. Will my son and his friends have a decent life and will they be able to live as Americans? I never had this fear until President Obama came on the scene and the speed at which he’s moving this country towards Socialism raises question whether we can remain free.
You’ve just reminded us of many good aspects of our current society. Yet the bailouts, TARPs, government takeovers of businesses, government dictates on how to run the auto industry, government waffling on what measures to take to lessen the recession, government hiding its so-called plans for the economy and businesses, repeated demands for a return to the “Fairness Doctrine,” creating a nascent Civilian National Security force in the disguise of AmeriCorp, letting loose ACORN in support of Obama’s policy changes, fellow DNC members running Congress as though it were a single party entity, and denigrating his opponents, all reinforce a feeling that we’re on a very slippy slope towards Marxist Socialism.
Maybe we need to keep Jefferson’s admonition in mind about the need to rejuvenate democracy from time to time; that would bring about the worst of times.
VDH,
We may have the biggest and most powerful military but they are not as well trained and effective as the British. Look at how much better they handled Basra compared to us in Baghdad. Their SAS is better than anything we have, that’s why they were in Iraq before any of our troops
this was like a drink of cool refreshing water on a steaming hot day. Thank you. It good me thinking about all the wonderfull other characteristics our nation has to be thankful for. I have spent most of the last 48 years bouncing around the world and have seen
- Just how remarkable the USA is compared to virtually any other country in the world.
- How countries with a robust national culture can slide into decay over a period of time, via governmental policies that erode said culture.
Prof. Hanson lays out three of a veritable cornucopia of national characteristics that make us special. They are not so special however that they insure against a decline similar to what has happened elsewhere. I fear that the current policies being implemented will take us down this undesireable road and if not brought to a halt, will cause generational damage.
Thank you Dr. Hanson.
I worry constantly that these are the people Obama is trying to destroy; but then, I remember that people like this exist in even the most depraved and corrupt country. I also remember that we’re not that bad yet. So, I can appreciate the good in spite of the bad and remember that the slimeballs shown on the news are not everyone and that there are still a lot of good people out there.
Thanks for the reminder. I needed that.
Dr. H:
Thank you sir for an excellent and uplifting essay. As you’ve shown, our country still possesses the “right stuff” and we will make it through this time, in spite of the challenges.
-an Army MAJ
Good News!
The government now has a great web site-
http://www.samhsa.gov/economy/
I looked up committing suicide-
After reading the journalist links-
Stepping in front of a train would be my first choice.
Bambi is offering us help and a way out.
http://www.afsp.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewpage&page_id=7852EBBC-9FB2-6691-54125A1AD4221E49
Essential vdh
A numeration of the good, however only serves to list the large value of the destruction that is now going on of America
under the current parasitic load of politicians.
A BHO,Pelosi, Dodd, Reid, even a GWB, who sacrificed American values for politeness and the inability to know the difference between politeness and failure to do his duty as needed when needed.
The above mix of political incompetence has served only to create out of Americans, fear, irresponsibility, lack of knowledge of what individuals need, and a dependency that has no foundation in rational thought or the need for individual responsibility.
They, the politicians, have no more knowledge of American history and why America is the high water mark in western culture than what serves them in ridiculous quotes of past presidents or great Americans, quotes designed to assign to them a cover, like a Gilly suit,of their abject ignorance and stupidity.
IdahoCons, let’s remember that Basra ultimately blew up because the Brits were “handling it” by not fixing the problems.
Victor, well done. In a previous post I urged you to discuss the positives but I made a huge mistake to not suggest our military.
With a volunteer Army comes a training grouond for leaders that certainly cannot be attained by our college campuses.
To all those who feel like they are losing faith, everything is going to be ok. Fight the good fight for ideas. Make people think! Do the right thing. Freedom and pursuit of happiness will surely win out if we continue to espouse what our Founders discussed and was granted by God.
IdahoCons: You are very very badly mistaken.
The British enlisted troops are as well trained and motivated as any in the world. Their officer corps has been infected with their liberals.
The British handled Basara so well that American and Iraqi troops had to fight their way back into the city to dislodge the militias the Brits had ceded the city to.
I’m sure some Roman, Greek, British, pundit, wrote the same things about his country during the initial decline. I agree completely, but the momentum of the manic Left, is rapidly overpowering the contributors of this formerly fine republic. The ‘right stuff’ is sadly outnumbered.
IdahoCons:
The British troops are, if anything, suffering under worse treatment by their politicians than their US counterparts. They excel despite this, the mark of a dedicated force. “Esprit De Corps” is and always has been a force-multiplier.
That being said, the Brits simply flubbed their handling of the Basra region. How is retreating to one’s bases and allowing such as Sadr’s militia to run rampant better than we handled Baghdad?
I would not fault their troops, but their political direction of where and how their forces were used was, well, lame. It defacto provided insurgents a sanctuary, and this is well shown by the necessity for Iraqi and US forces to eventually go into Basra proper, and perform the dirty work the British politicians were afraid to allow.
As Doctor Hanson notes, our troops have performed astoundingly well. We should be grateful for the old guard and all that it brings us.
Army, E-5, disabled retired.
Doctor,
I’ve been in the military for over 37 years. I joined during Vietnam and then endured the Carter years and the hollow Army. We then came back after Reagan’s infusion of money and this was aptly demonstrated during Desert Storm. We have recently operationalized the reserves and used them extensively in every corner of the world and at home. Our troops, including our reserves, are simply the best in the world. We spend more to keep them trained and supplied than any other Army. The Brits are good but they can’t do what we do because they don’t have our technology or training. Captains and LT’s are more lethal today than Col’s and Generals were a couple of decades ago. There aren’t enough of them though. They are getting tired but I’m confident we will prevail in Afghanistan if our expectations for victory aren’t too high. Time will tell if this Congress and President will spend what it takes to maintain our edge. We have shown we are resilient and can quickly adapt but there are always limits..
Finally something positive, especially VDH’s 1 & 2.
May I ask, VDH…which of your three illustrations, is not under direct and relentless attack?
Have you seen a movie, watched a humanities professor, watched the homemade posters being carried at Berkeley, seen an AP or Reuters report, watched a nightly news program on the alphabet networks, read a major glossy magazine, or perused a major metropolitan newspaper that did not:
1)Slander our officers in uniform
2)Paint them as monsters
3)Portray them as drug-addled, traumatized, psychotic and in need of long term counseling
4)In some intances, incite treason and call for outright mutiny against them
5)Honor, integrity, loyalty…do you witness ANY of the above places holding that in esteem, or in ridicule?
I know what I see, VDH. Do you see the same at the above mentioned places? Which one is winning over the hearts and minds of the society as a whole?
My dear VDH, in those same gathering places where still the vast majority of your countrymen gather to garner their “facts”…to hear the town criers alert them to coming danger or to educate them on important issues of the day…to whom do they look for a “hero” and what is championed?
From my seat in the cfbleachers, VDH…the entrepreneur, the risk-taker, the businessman who takes a chance, the little guy who digs his livelihood out of the dirt with his fingernails, the guy who creates jobs in his neighborhood, who takes last for years while his employees go first…when he finally…finally…makes it, how is he portrayed?
He moves his family into a nicer home, buys a vacation place for his family to enjoy …finally…what he has worked decades to build, maybe a bass boat or a house boat…how is he looked upon?
I will tell you what I see, VDH. He is looked upon as “the enemy”. Someone FROM whom, things must be taken. The doctor who worked slavish hours, the CEO who built a small business with nothing more than an idea and a willingess to pound the pavement and sweep his own floors, are under assault. Somehow, IF you make it…you become the “enemy”, you are only worth championing…when you are struggling or failing.
(the exception to this, is someone who retains “permanent victim” status, which trumps all other issues. A “permanent victim” retains “victimhood” even into financial success, as long as they do not “cross over” into Non-Victim Society…or worse, become a Republican)
3)Technology, yes it’s wonderful. It can be harnessed for good and we could…if given the freedom to do so, put creativity into the stratosphere for decades to come.
It can also be used to instantly distort our image to the entire world. In an instant, photoshopped pictures can be sent around the world…giving billions of people an intentionally distorted view of something happening in Iraq or Gaza.
It can be used to intentionally demonize the face of a candidate for the highest office in the land in a national publication.
It can be used to forge documents to make a sitting President less likely to win re-election, which can be broadcast to the entire nation.
It can be used to turn off the credit card authorization firewall so that foreign money and “bundled” funds from a Soros can be hidden in the election of those who wish to represent us.
It can be used by those who mean to harm us, who have been allowed to infiltrate the castle walls and sit in stealth silence…cell by individual cell, waiting to ambush the innocent, while avoiding the conventional rules of engagement. As we have seen above…in those gathering places where the guardians of our information sit…who is being championed today? The brave and honorable protectors you described in our defense? For whom do those town criers weep?
The detainees at GITMO garner more empathy, more concern…than our brave men and women in uniform.
We are under assault from our own information stream, VDH. The barbarians are no longer at the gate. They have breached the walls. Our hands are being tied behind our backs, our communications have been cut off and this was an inside job.
We champion hedonism, not heroism. We champion disloyalty, not loyalty. We champion class and racial warfare, not harmony. And it all stems from the poisoned well where we gather to drink in our information.
There is more good than evil in this world. I believe there is still more good, it is just hiding from many people right now. I know you are writing for many people here, but God is here and he is the “Good”.
Dr. Hanson you are one of the “Good”, and you are not hiding.
I agree with you about all three of the” Good ” you point out of our world today, and it gave me a smile to read your whole article.
I would not have talked with someone today, and I would not have picked up a book to read with as much insight and knowledge if I could not come to pajamas media and read your article and that is the “Good” for me today.
We do not need to be a Socialist country that has to wait for our government to give us heart medication or fix our teeth, and we do not need our government to dictate to us where we will place a dying loved one or if we have to keep them at home, because their nursing facilities are full. Ask any honest European and they will tell you that we have it good here.
I know of the woman that waits with her mother struck with Alzheimer for a nursing home in Germany and she has been waiting for almost a year. She is alone, and must work, her mother is alone in a tiny flat they live in while she goes to work. She is waiting for her government to find her mother a bed.
If I want to build a new barn, or paint my house a unique color I can do it, but the good people in London cannot choose these things, and so I am blessed here.
Thank God for our Military, technology and healthcare system.
# 3 Mr. Burke,
I always love what you write.
Doc, when you mention the sinews of war, don’t forget that the men and women who keep them working are the descendants of George Marshall as much as those who do not see “book” learning at odds at all with audacity are the descendants of Patton and MacArthur. That our troops have the stuff to succeed is a testament to him and his ideas.
PS You mention, “Some of the brightest PhDs I have encountered are Army officers at the LTC and colonel level”. As opposed to the poltroons of academia!
Dr. Hanson, excellent and uplifting article. My only worry about our military is that when the time comes, and it will, when they are asked to fire on their fellow citizens, will the middle ranks remember that they swore an oath to uphold the Constitution and not to the commander-in-chief.
Call me crazy, but I’m very suspicious about trapping such a large portion of our armed servicemen in Afghanistan, with only one precarious supply route to reach them. I would not put it past our dear leader to wish to eliminate your #3, which would make his own private civilian army even more imperative.
Thanks Doc, this piece made me wonder how many liberal CEOs hire folks that have honored our country with their service. It would be an interesting statistic to learn. My 14 year old straight A student semi shocked us a couple of weeks ago when she casually mentioned that she wanted to serve in the military when she became of age….But then her grandfather was with the 82ABdiv from the hedgerows of France to Berlin and later served in the 5th, 10th and 1st SF Groups.
Vivo, Make sure you don’t acknowledge anything good about the troops.
If we enter a War we enter to win. Status Quo does not work and will drain the occupying force, history is full with examples of failure.
For all the fluffy talking heads in Media, none study the environment of War. Having The best soldiers in History dont mean a Damn if Leadership does not give them the tools and freedom to search and destroy. Cry Havoc and let loose the dogs of war.
Here’s another thing to make some people happy – government subsidized cell phones, to go with their government-provided houses, government-provided cars and government-provided jobs! Yay for freebies!
http://trackacrat.com/2009/03/30/manna-from-government/
Thank you for spelling out some of the good, Sir.
Honestly, I am just not feeling any hope today but God bless our military. -A military 0bama seems to have more disdain for than respect or pride unfortunately.
I know our tomorrow does not have to look completely bleak but I am very concerned for the future just the same.
Right on, cfbleachers.
Strongly disagree with VDH’s COMPETENT PEOPLE.
There is more education (time in grade) but much less learning, much less knowledge.
VDH must live in a university town. Most Americans you see in normal venues — the voters — are mouth-breathers, gum-chewers and “reality TV” junkies who are carried on the backs of a steadily decreasing number of good and able citizens.
On the military, Carter decimated its competence, Reagen resuscitated it, Clinton cleaved it in three, chasing out all the competent officers and leaving the candy-asses like the French general staff in WWI and II. Then Rumsfeld redefined it all the while being beat up by the Left and the Press. He will die without his reputation restored, but he did the job he was hired to do, bless him.
Now Obama will do a Carter x Clinton cubed on the military.
Sixty million people who are brilliant. Out of 300 million. Less than a million military. Out of 300 million. And I/we are supposed to feel good about a numbers situation that doesn’t even meet the “glass half full vs. glass half empty” test? I can certainly admire those 60 million, and be thankful for/be proud of those soldiers, but the numbers disparity prevents me from feeling good about it. The article is actually depressing.
Oh God, Hanson found yet another way to drag in the Melian Dialogue? Look, history does not come down simply to comparisons of Classical Greece and the contemporary US. I’d have more faith in Hanson’s historical perspective if he knew any contexts besides ancient Greece and modern America. These are the only analogies he makes. Why not Egypt or China? It’s a rather childish, telescoped version of history, consisting of two cities on the hill, Athens and “America,” with a void of more than two millenia separating them.
#15 fear Obama
Thanks for the links. Fascinating how the government is suggesting that a person seeks help from their “spiritual adviser”.
The secularists can’t be happy with that one.
Also fascinating was the gentle suggestions how the media should cover suicides. Toward the end…..
“Homicide-Suicides”
“In covering murder-suicides be aware that the tragedy of the homicide can mask the suicidal aspect of the act. Feelings of depression and hopelessness present before the homicide and suicide are often the impetus for both.”
Now it is becoming clearer why the media covers acts of suicide- murder as the perpetrator feeling hopeless and depressed. Of course blaming the west and Israel is step two, because journalists are famous for investigating the ‘truth’.
Heaven forbid they cover the peoples and governments who are raising ‘some’ of their children to kill themselves and murder others for power and prestige.
Sorry, I guess I’m not ready to read ‘The good’.
Doctor —
A friend of mine (Claire on e-Claire) and her very Significant Other came up with a phrase that I think bears repeating within the context of your article and the comments thereto.
“Dirt and fire.” If you see a jet flying overhead in the sky, remember that it was made through the use of human intelligence, and the harnessing of dirt and fire by that intelligence.
Anytime I get depressed, all I have to do is to think, “we, we puny humans — we dig dirt and use fire and as a result, fly airplanes at 500 miles an hour, everywhere in the world.”
We’ll do allright, yet.
Thank you Professor for your very nice posting. It is a truism that we never seem to appreciate the genius of the American people, and of those wanting to be Americans. I never agree with the “nattering nabobs of negativism.” But we must rid ourselves of this “fifth column” in American society. They need to be totally defeated philosphically and politically. They need to be smoked out of their spiderholes for we to continue our culture.
Doc – I agree that technology, on balance, is a good trend. HOWEVER, one of the dangers that I see the cult of O stepping right smack into is believing that all technology is capable of the remarkable progress that we’ve seen in the microelectronics industry. Moore’s law applies to microchips, and not to energy.
People who don’t understand this tend to delude themselves into believing that windmills can double in efficiency and half in price every 2 years. And when you base energy policy on that, you end up dangerously exposed.
Similarly, there’s a lot of buzz about the “smart grid”, even though no one can define exactly what that is. There’s an unfounded faith that the smart grid will magically multiply the electrons just like Jesus multiplies the loaves and fishes. No amount of technology will create a perpetual motion machine.
If we’re going to make a huge mistake re technology, that’s it. And sure, we have a Nobel laureate as energy czar, but he’s about as knowledgeable about practical engineering as Pauling was about vitamins, or Shockley was about anthropology. A brilliant particle physicist does not a good energy czar make (though presumably he at least understands that there’s no perpetual motion machine).
Also, you’re coming perilously close to the sin of hubris. Yes, our best-of-the-best probably are better than any other country’s best-of-the-best for the time being. But don’t bank on it staying that way. Even if India and China can only produce half as many hypercompetent people in the future, that’s still a lot more than we have.
On top of that, if the political atmosphere here becomes bad enough, we could easily see a brain drain out of the country.
People don’t realize how much American science and technology benefited in the 20th century from the brilliant people discarded by Europe who came here. The best and brightest are fungible. They can leave now just as easily as they came in the 1930s.
# 36 Shef Rogers
I believe Professor Hanson excludes China and Egypt is that Greece was the birthplace of modern democracy, and modern economic theory starting with Aristotle’s attempt to define money. We can examine the history of Greece and perhaps try to learn the lessons of why it eventually failed.
I find it very difficult to apply those same lessons to China or Egypt as their societies were not western and certainly not democratic.
Shef Rogers:
Absurd post. Did you even read the article, or just scan it looking for a Greek word to pounce on. There was no historical comparison made between Classical Greece and America in his reference to the Melian dialogue, or in fact anywhere in this article.
the silent 60 million will most likely not be silent much longer.
In the words of Langston Hughes (himself a repentant ex-commie):
Wind in the cotton fields
Gentle breeze
Beware the hour
It uproots trees.
thanks, I needed that.
Yes these are good things, but that’s not the point. The US is the only country in the world that was founded on ideas. A few simple, powerful ideas written into the constitution and accepted by every American. As long as every American shared this common set of ideas, everything else in their lives became open and possible. Even a blue-spotted martian could become an American by subscribing to and supporting those few ideas.
This produced a great exception to all other countries. It proved by magnificent example, another way to the shrinking of the human spirit caused by collectivizaton, statism and (insert long list of other bad things), in other countries. Yes, the US is also very annoying, hypocritical and seeks to further its own interests. Name another country that isn’t and doesn’t.
Just by existing, the US restrained governments who view their citizens as subjects. The American example also gave credibility to civil dissent within those countries. I’m not just talking Nutrootistan here. I mean countries like Canada, the UK, Australia, Poland, France, Italy, Germany etc.
Now that shining example is leaving the field of battle. For silly reasons, the US has very seriously damaged itself, and by extension has damaged the rest of us. I really don’t like that
1) My bet is that the good professor was never in the military. It is a mess, huge waste of talent and money. Me? Submarine force pacific fleet, 6 years, and seen enough to know better than the picture presented.
2)A computer is a fancy hammer; a simple tool. What good is it in resolving the basic problems we face? I have an MS degree in statistics and yes it does calcs very fast but so what.
etc, etc, etc
So let us clean off our rose color glasses and pretend that any of the above is at all relevant to our current situation.
This is a good list, professor. I think there are actually MORE than 60 million Americans who, with the right leadership, can be expected to step up to the plate in tough times. A lot of them are immigrants or second-generation Americans, but quite a number were born here, and augment the 60 million later in life because instead of succumbing to obstacles and setbacks in their youth, they overcome them. That this does happen is miraculous in our therapeutic age, and it is an American phenomenon that is little replicated, or not at all, elsewhere. In most of the world, it’s fair to say that whatever you are not, by age 30, you will never be; but the door is open much wider here, even today.
We can also recall that many of the people you might not include in the “60 million” are the children of the 60 million, like the 11 nephews and nieces I expect, God willing, to have by the end of October 2009.
The military is a superb graduate (or perhaps baccalaureate :-) ) institution for the 60 million. And the ability of technology to connect the 60 million to each other, and to the record of our past — both accomplishments and failures — is indeed important.
I have to say this: I have not found the majority of Americans to be the vacuous, gum-chewing, slack-jawed, TV-watching fools some others here speak of. I suppose we could say that demographic exists, but in my experience it’s what we might call a part-time demographic. The most lackadaisical nitwit, with a high school diploma barely worth a 5th grade education from 40 years ago, can join the military and in less than 6 months is acting like a grown-up man or woman. I’ve seen it time and again, first-hand: the slack-jawed mall rat turning into a competent adult.
And many people in civilian life respond to high standards with elevated performance. I’ve seen this even at the dreaded DMV — but certainly in private business as well.
The difference in the USA is that we have the OPTION of performing better ourselves, and encouraging others to. Most human interactions are still personal, between two people, and not political activities governed by a policy of the state. Statism, regardless of what the leader is called, discourages initiative, personal excellence, and the personal influences between humans that produce inspiration, kindness, encouragement, mentoring, AND rigor in thought and standard. We still haven’t lost the liberty to engage with each other this way, and that is a huge, huge blessing.
It’s the one I would have added to VDH’s list, I think. Liberty. It’s still there. Getting buried deeper, perhaps, but it’s still there. Left-socialism has been trying to cut off this avenue of alternative leadership in both government and the media, but it’s still there. We shouldn’t waste it.
Give me just one old Roman Cousul leading our Armies and you would see a war on islamic terrorism finished in a very short time. As Machiavelli wrote Discourse on the First Ten Books of Livy, to show the leaders of his day how real leaders lead, VDH shows the leaders of our day, how real leaders should lead.
God Bless the USA
I have not found the majority of Americans to be the vacuous, gum-chewing, slack-jawed, TV-watching fools some others here speak of.
That’s because you are busy working on a weekday, and not out at a mall, or a grocery store, or a student union, or attending Obama rallies.
Every poster here should read #46 WesternCanadian. Truly sums up what America represents. Well said! Let’s get back to what made us great! All is not lost with patriots willing to stand up for what’s right.
The current situation is never one-thing or the other; we evalute the possibilites and look for the avenue of advantage. VDH warns us about trends we should combat and others we may look to embrace. If you simply decide to give up in dispare, well, God keep you. But battle is not over until the last shot is fired.
Essential vdh.
#47 + Caution = Zero I love it when individuals, unknown of course, spew their ignorance not about any particular subject but just a string of words that in the entirety make one ask: “What the hell is this idiot talking about?”
To # 47, A Mr. Caution I believe, yes their is a simpler tool look in the mirror and then look for the manual it will be a single sentence or less.
THE FOLLY OF PUTTING GOVERNMENT IN CHARGE
The result is rarely, if ever, good.
http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2009/03/hapless-federal-control-wont-work.html
#47 Caution….. So your suggestion is _______________?
I can’t get all that excited about “competent people” on the list. I think much of our government, even the top echelon, are as dumb as a box of rocks. (Even the ones labeled “brilliant.”) These are not competent people, and now they want to run our businesses? As far as I can tell, they all flunked Econ 101. Geithner is a communist. Senators gave him a pass.
I think the electorate was idiotic and incurious. So was the press. I am so angry at anybody who voted for Obama, just for the silly reason that it was “anybody but Bush.” Now Obama thinks he’s King, and will push the envelope as far and hard as he can to be de facto emperor.
WesternCanadian #46, your last sentence broke my heart.
Yes, the United States possesses a great many competent people and the finest military in the world. But … the majority voted for a President with no experience, leadership ability, management skills, honor, decency, credentials, wisdom or ethics. A poll today said that 66 precent of respondents still approve of the way he is handling his job. The sorry fact is that the majority of voting Americans are now simply ignorant. A threshold has been reached where the voting ignoramuses outnumber the informed competent. They will vote for the party of snake-oil salesmen that promises them everything and tells them the government “owes” them a good living. The veneer of “civilization” is far thinner than they realize. When the economy collapses, and they realize the promises were empty, it will be too late.
At that point, our military, still great despite President Teleprompter’s best efforts, will have a difficult choice. They will understand that the government is responsible for ruining the economy and causing the resulting massive social chaos. Will they be the tool of that government and support martial law or will they quietly depart to take care of their own families?
Western Canada you, yes you, are personally responsible for your politicians and what they produce. If you don’t like it you can change it. Unfortunately, we seem to be rushing headlong into the same abyss.
Perhaps a quarter of the country realizes what is happening to our great nation. Another quarter is actively promoting the collapse in hopes of obtaining power forever after. The remaining half mostly doesn’t have a clue as to what is going on and really doesn’t care. It could well be vicious when the two quarters that see actually come to clash…and they may. o’s new “Americorps” legislation seeks to propagandize the children, just like Stalin and Hitler did. If you decide to buy guns and ammo now, make sure you carefully hide some of it for future use.
Institutions.
Competent people working for and supporting great institutions. Law enforcement and education to name just two. People around the world still send their children to the U.S. for an education knowing that, for the most part, they’ll learn something and be safe.
Ya, things arn’t what they used to be, but we still have dedicated folks getting up and doing their thing each and every day.
My own experience. I have never had a cop hit me up for a bribe. All of the teachers I have had have cared about my sucess. Librarians and nurses; the most helpful people in the world.
having said that, I do recognize that some institutions are approaching fail. the news media and the financial system come to mind, but hey! at least the jurnos can learn a new trade and we can throw the bankers in jail if need be! Checks and balances, man. checks and balances.
Mr Hanson,
Your “good” points seem to create a dynamic where a society balances upon an idealistic impulse towards brute force as the primary qualifier for leadership when you begin by adulating praise towards a technology that allows “idiocy” easier and greater access into sanctioned offices of intellectual and social empowerments and then end with military relience….It seems natural that such a society will be compelled more and more towards military guidence, (not defensive measures), as internal tensions increase and divide the merits of individual and national protections. Why? From what I’ve witnessed, it is exactly because that shifty Guatemalean or Kenyan has lived under a state of martial law for most of his life and see’s how a cel phone can jump the sharks in America…All he has to do is get there…without bein’ shot in his own country for his own ambitions of self indulgence that could have got him easily killed in his native land. America doesn’t sway that ambition..nor does it ammend the shiftiness…it just encourages the immigration surge.
While that is happening the problem stands when the military becomes up occupied by those who can either distract their attentions or hold them in check long enough for the very same shifty and the idiots to enlist at the bottom, kiss- ass to the officers and safely buckle into the seats of said machinery and society.
If it’s the machines doin’ all the buisness an labors…the “tech” on autopilot, as you speak,…then it doesn’t really matter who’s pushin’ buttons…it’s probably in the machines interest that it’s just such idiots, that’s who they been built for…To the machine it’s jest more sense of purpose, more reason of bein’, more fuel to burn…pretty soon we’ll design machines smart enough to see that…smart enough to use men as tools.
Really smart men would see the waste in it.
It’s like a dildo society.
VDH: The Good-Military
My nephew, in the Air force since he was 18 and now a Spec. Op. team member has deployed and operated in combat zones over 20 times around the world since 2003. A special breed he is and it didn’t necessarily come from his parents since no one in the family is even remotely close to what he is. He comes home occasionally and will enter ironman competitions or goes skiing on some high mountain or will just run 25 miles for the fun of it, during his “time off”. In his team he is not unusual just one of many called for a special purpose and is up to the task some how. He has earned several degrees while in the service and is a serious minded individual who is not out for glory but seems to be responding to an inner challenge.
To me these are miracle men and women and someday we may see them as an even greater generation than the greatest generation of world war two. How do we deserve these men and women? We don’t. It is the grace of God and His promise to our fore-fathers that has brought this generation forth in a time when it seems impossible to do so. The men and women of generations past paid in faith with their blood and their lives to ensure we could live peacefully in the freest land on Earth.
We’ll be the dammed generation if we don’t start earning the sacrifice of these soldiers by protecting their rights and freedoms here at home from the evil they are fighting on the battlefield as it manifests itself before our eyes right here at home in the political leaders of this day.
And just to clarify things..I do believe in the “few good men” conduct…I contend that Democracy is not defended by the immoral…It’s just that when you allow 50-100 bad ones to bury the good ones an’ sing their praises…instead of the other way around..that’s when you start runnin’ into trouble. There’s sumethin’ mighty Christian about it in a very perverse kind of way.
I do appreciate your support & praise of the military. My husband is retired from the army as a 1-star general after 30 years of service in the medical corps. We both miss working with people in the army, and just recently I was able to put the reason why in words. Being around military people always seems to restore my faith in humanity & give me hope for the future. We are very proud of our son, who is currently serving as a captain in the infantry at Ft Benning. He joined almost exactly on September 11, after receiving a Masters degree at Yale in international relations. Unfortunately, he has been unable to deploy (although he spent time in Korea), because he was diagnosed with cancer at the end of 2004, but he has been in remission for almost 2 years now. He hopes to become a foreign area officer. Many thanks for your fine words about our military!
Thank you for the good news, VDH. This was refreshing to read, and unlike many others in this forum, I will take it to heart and be encouraged by it, rather than allow the powers that be reduce me to depression and hopelessness.
Actually, the powers that be have reduced me to pissedoffness.
It’s too late for Canada. We are now “pod people” (I refer to Invasion of the Body Snatchers). As long as our government keeps importing 3rd world socialist/marxist refugees, they will vote Liberal, and the socialist cycle will continue, ad infinitum. That was the plan that Trudeau destroyed Canada with over 35 years ago. Save yourselves America, lest you go the route of the drones to your North.
It’s too late for Canada. We are now “pod people” (I refer to Invasion of the Body Snatchers). As long as our government keeps importing 3rd world socialist/marxist refugees, they will vote Liberal, and the socialist cycle will continue, ad infinitum. That was the plan that Trudeau destroyed Canada with over 35 years ago. Save yourselves America, lest you go the route of the drones to your North.
What happens to warfare with the advent of directed energy (laser) weapons? Recent reports suggest a symbolic threshold of 100 kw weapons may be near, doesn’t this suggest an entirely new methods that render much of what we know now as modern warfare obsolete? This sounds more like a quantum leap than an warp speed evolution.
When talking about these gifted hard working people with military backgrounds, Chesley Sullenberger certainly comes to mind.
Dr Hanson is on the mark in this article.
36 Shef Rogers
If you would read any of the professor’s books you’d find he’s quite informed about Patton and World War II, Sherman’s march to the sea and a multitude of locales, people, and situations. We all have favorites and we’re all thinking about these times in the good ole USA.
But to add to the positive theme, I’m constantly amazed when I walk down the produce aisle at any number of grocery chain stores in my home in eastern Missouri. How many kinds of apples. An abundance of fresh green vegetables. Then on to another aisle to the cheeses, meats, wine, cereals, spices, juices, condiments, on and on and on. How fortunate we are and how we take this bounty for granted.
We lived through the stage of putting $50 to $75 into our gas tank every so often. Now, $28? That’s a gift too.
Good streets, available electricity and natural gas, hot water. In London in the 70′s there were still a lot of cold water flats. The mail, UPS, FedEx, AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, the airlines…we can be everywhere.
To be positive is a discipline.
Essential vdh
A study of History shows how people can and have won out. It also shows why people destroy civilizations and themselves.
History however is essentially an end to a story being written and the outcome then is printed. To be studied for sure.
However a history of successes, the good, is unlikely to tell us what we need to know at the time of a crisis like the BHOs and his like unless we are reading the appropriate story and try to find the core or key to the actual existing problem and cure it before it is to late.
Bad news the solutions in place have been dismantled without a whimper.
History repeats itself but use of history for a solution not likely. History repeats itself but not exactly so a solution is not likely to happen.
It is unlikely that the current facts and actions that are now destroying America will be resolved until the destruction is complete.
Why, easy, we are a democracy and a Republic designed by our founders to fight this problem. It was foreseen. A built in solution to preserve America from human weaknesses well understood.
This protection has been dismantled over the last 60 plus years. By judges,Acorns,Ivy League manipulators,Vote hungry inept politicians, illegal immigration, and welfare that has created generations of victims who now vote to survive their lack of everything needed to function as a normal human.
America taken over by essentially what could be called a parasitic and victim attitude and action due to a natural phenomenon of weakness in humanity. Supported by ignorant judges, politicians and armchair humanitarians.
Unique organisms of humanity that no longer needs to function as designed by nature, or God. They are now only identifiable as a “group”. Consolidated by pollsters.
A slide down into “hell” thinking that it is heaven due to a “sirens” song by inept humans breeding more failure into each succeeding generation like the BHOs, from his “white” and “black absent” parents and other friends,associates advisers. Birds of a feather. Taking the low road.
Rationalizations built in using the language of the con artists. Conversing with ignorance,greed and envy. A sly, cynical game.
A story of atrophy seen in all animals and in humans. A lion in the zoo that does not know how to hunt. When fed meat he can procreate but not hunt for his own survival. It is a familiar tale in “History”. Self feeding and funding.
A non organically functioning “victim” will not run out of steam,can reproduce,mostly reproduce the failed ideas. He so wants other people to agree with his illusions of “profound thought”he trumpets them.
A BHO in a crowd of hangers on. Victims all getting theirs as promised. Voters justifying their own thievery and weakness.
In the light of day and truth,just stupid fictions. Until all has run out of capital, or food, made by others.
A coward for a leader who will slink back into the darkness when confronted to late with failures that even now are accelerating with every pronouncement that destroys whole areas of legitimate employment for non victims. A opportunistic net now trolling form new BHO victims.
Reality comes to all and he must hide under rocks from the elements and the hunters who will try to destroy him because he destroyed their lives. Recognition will eventually come to all.
A parasitic victim does not have to know anything about how the world really works and especially how he was designed to work.
In America he only has to vote. Or lead voters with a Sirens song. Acorns take the rest that are in doubt and feeds the parasites.
He was told by men that created BHO, who pass it forward and like BHO will seek power through votes to take from others what he has not earned because it is “owed” to him. So the story line is repeated down the line. A rationalization for thievery, extortion, cowardliness and ineptitude. American and Unconstitutional. Oh Well.
In a democracy where it is essentially no longer a Republic, but a nation bent on suicide by allowing the growth of “Victim” voters that now outnumber the workers that vote. The outcome is inevitable.
Who will disagree that can do any thing about it. A civil war could break out due to the loss of constitutional rights. Not likely.
Remember that half of the 300 million people in this country are children, and they are not included in the 60 million figure. Things are a lot better at the base than the 20% figure sounds, but this is only good news if we train up the next generation right, lest they exceed their parents’ generation in their abominations. Knowledge without morality only makes a sinful person more dangerous.
Yeah, what’s with Mr. Rogers at #36 and the Melian Dialogue? I contend it’s impossible for a Westerner to read it and not get a powerful sense of intellectual connection across time that we don’t get with anything else except the Bible.
Sure, there are other things to cite besides the Melian Dialogue, but there aren’t actually all that many — and none that convey, simply by their citation, the enduring nature of our perspective on political concepts across 25 centuries. You definitely don’t find them in the heritage of Egypt or China, as I think someone else here pointed out. We can learn from all cultures, but they don’t all resonate with us the same way.
Getting late here… in my last I was referring not just to the Melian Dialogue but to Thucydides’ whole Peloponnesian War. Still, the Melian Dialogue by itself remains a jewel of political dialogue in the Western style. By that I don’t mean that only Westerners ever expressed these thoughts — but that it’s the Western tradition that recorded and analyzed them, and approached them through philosophy and argument.
Reading all these Comments, I’m shocked Hanson still spends his time and effort writing for you people. All these cowards and cynics and babies typing such weak a– comments! Did you even read the entry? Have you ever walked through a well-stocked supermarket? Have you ever survived a life-threatening illness in a modern American hospital? Flown cross-country on a well-designed, well-built and expertly piloted airplane?
That’s what he’s talking about, the every day miracles and wonders (and people) we all take for granted. And unless we value and appreciate and support these miracles and wonders, they will go away.
30. trangbang68:
I didn’t comment on #3 because I didn’t read it. Now I did and it seems that everybody is happy in the armed forces.
Kudos, Mr. Hanson, for recognizing the logistics end of things that is the marvel of our modern military.
This was the unheralded transformation of the 1990′s, when the Defense Logistics Agency studied UPS and FedEx and started to incorporate the ‘lessons learned’ or critical supply delivery and competent delivery of cargo on a many-to-many basis. For the first war in history the supplies that couldn’t be delivered were not ones stuck at depots, but because they hadn’t been made to be delivered, something unheard of for an expeditionary force far from home. Creating that was no small task and is overlooked by many, and yet the strategy of war is determined by logistics, and the US is King of Delivery.
Right are the worries of our troops in Afghanistan getting 10% of their supplies by air and the majority of the rest coming through a single port in Pakistan and along a sinuous supply route into the mountains… a second supply route is necessary there, and yet we do not have the human expertise in the administration to address this. By not studying war, they have no idea of what matters and let the need to say ‘we can keep you supplied no matter what goes on in Pakistan’ fall by the wayside.
As for the technology… well… did not Rome have a magnificent road system and one of great trade as well? Was not Wilusa situated to prosper as a Hittite ally, with so many good friends from central asia and Axum in Africa, set to still take a fall to a ten year struggle depriving her of her outer cities and finally have the Achaeans win, despite their lesser technology? Was not the Old Hittite diplomatic and trade system a wonder before that, and was it not startling how quickly it collapsed? Superior technology and skills are not a single force of survival when society collapses that supports it. And just as in the times of the late Bronze Age or the slow collapse of Rome, do we already not see the barbarians waging war on the most primitive of ideals, and find those within our sophisticated world unable and unwilling to say that supporting our culture is a good all of its own?
The technology is a veneer of the human society, and can look so very beautiful that you don’t notice the dry rot underneath it, until the slightest weight is placed upon it… that, too is a lesson from history. And like previous large trade regimes that need such able backing, when it comes down it comes down fast, hard and deep. Ask the Achaeans. The Old Hittites. The Romans. And all of those who thought that you don’t really need to support society or win wars to prosper or just survive. They are dust, now. And yet their patterns clear, if we but dare to look.
The only thing in our government that works is the military…given the time ob will destroy that too…
Steve@12
I fear that the current policies being implemented will take us down this undesireable road and if not brought to a halt, will cause generational damage.
Undesirable road? Of course, one could be alarmed, outraged, not much interested in compromise or further reaching across the aisle, and prepared to march on April 15th. Even if it’s outside the resthome. Video at 5:00 and at 6:00 and at 7:00 and….tens of thousands of videos.
Generational damages…like enslavement of everyone going forward, worldwide. That’s all that’s at stake here. As goes the US, so goes everybody else.
If you are not actively recruiting at every opportunity, you don’t understand the situation, or you’d rather not talk about it, cause that might be outwardly, openly politically conservative or patriotic or angered. Confrontational even, with your elected officials. Learn what we’re up against, on every front.
Generational damages…as in it will take us generations simply to unwind the damages already inflicted in 4 months, if we were to ever have the chance?
Obama just ordered Chevy and Dodge out of NASCAR. Unnecessary expense. Them racecar folks are pretty much US, politically. Disenchantment at 200MPH.
Don’t be fearful. Be rationally terrified. But we can’t get all paralyzed or the terror wins, effortlessly. We need to be increasingly active, because the tipping point gets ever closer. We won! You lost! With US or against US, etc.
Get prepared to think along the lines of sedition trials, and at minimum prison terms for the culprits. No matter which side wins. It’s always been implemented that way by the Left, when they win. Won’t any greater/further destruction wrought by these Anti-Americans deserve longer sentences, perhaps harsher rewards? Isn’t intentionally wrecking the Nation more than just offensive?
Think about the moral gumption (ruthlessness) required of good people to serve up justice, at any future time IF/when we might be called upon to do it. If you don’t think about it and get right with it, you’ll end up appalled and in chains.
Ponder our challenge: by 2012, we’ll need the FBI working for us, against a committed and increasingly automated totalitarian establishment – Executive, Congress and Bureaucracy – plus we’ll need sympathetic Courts. If conservatives can’t recover a big enough majority by 2010, that can’t even start. It’ll be a de facto win for the Left, soon thereafter to be de jure.
VDH,
Your “First 70 Days” essay at NRO
Truly frightening.
Thank you for your continuing voice of reason and truth.
Another excellent article Dr. Hanson, but… what the heck does getting up at 0500 and being in bed by 2200 have to do with anything?
Don’t diss the people who look out after you during the nighttime hours, so you early-bird softies can sleep soundly in your beds, with someone there to look out after you when something goes terribly wrong at an unexpected hour.
Groundless early-bird moral preening doesn’t become you at all, Professor!
PM:
That is an excellent article by VDH over at NRO. The gist of it is: look at what Obama is doing and that tells you how he thinks and who he really is. The enigmatic One is showing his true colors.
In 70 days he’s shown us something else as well. He is not infallible. He’s made more gaffes and mistakes in two months than he did in two years of campaigning. Manning his Administration has been a debacle. Sibelius is the sixth tax cheat he’s nominated. “Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, the third time is enemy action”. What’s the sixth time tell you?
When Obama’s acting presidential he appears to be… uh, acting. The economy teeters and he goes shopping for a swing set. Discussing his proposals on camera he turns not just glib, but downright giddy. In short, he goes to Washington to walk on water, and steps on his crank.
In a way this is “Good”. It’s painful to watch, but maybe now more people will look past the false prophet persona and take a gander at his bankrupt policies.
Gee, BLF at #73, I don’t think you read ALL the comments.
TLM,
Sooner the better!
TLM — I agree VDH’s NRO piece is very well done and on-target.
The thing is, it could have been written a year ago. Obama was never that big an enigma. We already had his books to go by, his professional history, his voting record, and his personal and professional associations, which are the most one-sided and single-note of any president’s in my lifetime.
Everything about Obama pointed to exactly the performance we are seeing now — before we elected him. The only thing that has surprised me is how quickly and nakedly he has gone to the fascist progressivism.
J.E. Dyer:
“Obama was never that big an enigma.”
You, of course, are absolutely right. Walk the dog back and it is clear that NRO article could have been written a year ago. Calling Obama enigmatic, ever, was wasted hope he would turn out to be a liberal version of Bill Clinton instead of the nakedly fascistic progressive he obviously is now, and was back then. That is the second reason I gag when I use the word “hope”. I am sure you can figure out the first.
The good news is: since Obama has dispensed with his charade, so can we. Bipartisanship, centrism and civility in political dialogue are dead. That NRO article would not have been believed a year ago. Now it is established fact. By foisting a radical Leftist agenda on this country, the Democrats have declared open war on conservatives and Republicans. The fog lifts, the field of battle is clear and the lines are drawn. This is good. There is nothing more energizing than clarity of vision, and of purpose.
Dr. Hansen,
“American medicine has improved the lives of billions on the planet.”
It ultimately depends on what we mean by “improved”. If we simply speak of length of life then yes it has improved lives. But mere life is not the good life. What do we make of Book X of Aristotle’s Ethics? If the contemplative life is the one most likely to bring happiness, and the length of that ability for contemplation seems to play little or no role, then it would seem that the only human thing that is worth preserving for the life is the mind. So when we “improve” the lives of those in the developing world, teaching them to rely on modern medicine, brought to us by modern mathematical physics, we in fact make them more ignorant of the intellectual problems of the science behind that medicine, thus perhaps making them more ignorant. So did we improve their lives or not?
No, J. E., not all the comments were weak a–. I’m just surprised and irritated to see how many “Surrender Monkeys” are reading the blog.
There is a bill now in Congress that will effectively give the impostor control over the Internet. There is talk in Congress about making the “GIVE ACT mandatory. Per Barney Frank, Congress is not interested in legislation on whether or not Obama can control the auto industry. Not one so-called European ally is going to increase their support in Afghanistan. Our field commanders asked for at least 30,000 more troops. WObama has only authorized 21,000 and the “allies” none. Behind his back, the Russians are laughing at this useful idiot. In everything that Congress is doing they are setting the foundation for total loss of freedom. With a dishonest media, academics indoctrinating rather than teaching, I would not even bet that there will be a vote in 2012. With this fascist administration there is no longer a Constitution. America as a free country with individual freedom is on its deathbed. Congress has complete control already, and if they could write legislation any faster they would, after all, no one is expected to read it. You can bet, though, that ignorance of the law will not be an excuse for anything in the future. As for Eliot Smith’s comment from Aristotle, he sounds more like Bill Clinton trying to define “is”. A person’s happiness depends on the individual, not some blanket mentality, which only exists in the minds of those that want to control others. Looking for “sameness” in people is nothing more than a ploy to control. For some people contemplation works. For others it does not bring happiness, only doing things brings happiness. If we were all “equal” there would be no progress of any kind.
Australia has a small defence force,and our SPECIAL AIR SERVICE REGIMENT is one of the best in the world,but our defences are hamstrung by petty civil servants,party politics and a policy of special ops being a gentlemanly warfare and not a fight to the death with Islamists who wish to enslave Afghanis and other nations.To top it off the intelligentsia -the unelected elite-view any force to meet terrorism as being repulsive,and make snide remarks about patriotism.We need to be sending our officers-except for Special forces- over to you so that the sense of duty that your guys have will rub off onto them again