THE PRICE OF LAWLESSNESS: Victor Davis Hanson cogently argues that the dwindling respect for the rule of law marks the demise of the U.S.:
Barbarians at the gate usually don’t bring down once-successful civilizations. Nor does climate change. Even mass epidemics such as the plague that decimated sixth-century Byzantium do not necessarily destroy a culture.
Far more dangerous are institutionalized corruption, a lack of transparency, and creeping neglect of existing laws. All the German euros in the world will not save Greece if Greeks continue to dodge taxes, featherbed government, and see corruption as a business model.
Even obeying so-called minor laws counts. It is no coincidence that a country where drivers routinely flout traffic laws and throw trash out the window is also a country that cooks its books and lies to its creditors. Everything from littering to speeding seems negotiable in Athens in a way not true of Munich, Zurich, or London. . . .
Americans, too, should worry about these age-old symptoms of internal decay.
The frightening thing about disgraced IRS bureaucrat Lois Lerner’s knowledge of selective audits of groups on the basis of their politics is not just that she seemed to ignore it, but that she seemingly assumed no one would find out, or perhaps even mind. . . .
Ultimately, no nation can continue to thrive if its government refuses to enforce its own laws. Liberal “sanctuary cities” such as San Francisco choose to ignore immigration laws. Imagine the outcry if a town in Utah or Montana arbitrarily declared that federal affirmative action or gay marriage laws were null and void within its municipal borders.
Indeed. Every time I read a story on Greece, I can’t help but think of Classical Greece in its glory, which became glorious, in part, because of its strong respect for the rule of law, most notably the development of Solonic, Platonic, and Socratic notions of law. Modern Greece is just a shadow of its ancient cousin, devolved to a country of entitled, whiny wards of the state who cannot pay their debts, and refuse to sacrifice in order to do so. Greece has become corrupt, and its laws or contracts mean only what the Greeks say they mean at the moment, and no more.
Sound familiar? The Obama Administration has been utterly brazen in its contempt for the rule of law. But hey, a majority of Americans voted for Obama twice, knowing full well (or they should have, it they’d paid only a modicum of attention) that he was promising them a “fundamental transformation” of America. Well, it’s here.