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The freest and strongest nation on earth is being destroyed from within, as Military Historian Victor Davis Hanson explains, America has been “Sovietized”:

We are starting to see the final denouement with missing baby formula, epidemics of shootings and hate crimes, train-robbings reminiscent of the Wild West in Los Angeles, Tombstonesque shoot-up Saturday nights in Chicago, spiking electricity rates and brownouts, $7 a gallon diesel fuel, unaffordable and scarce meat, and entire industries from air travel to home construction that simply no longer work.

Is it too late to stop the revolution?

[amgreatness.com]

GeeMac 8 June 7
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That´s true: America is destroyed from within, by a stupid tribal culture war that has absolutely nothing to do with reality.
Both tribes pray to their own fetishes (like gender and race on the one side, versus the sacred fetus and guns on the other side), so that nobody is paying attention to the REAL problems / challenges: the rise of China, climate change, energy....

I agree to a point. Donald Trump was the first and only Western leader to push back on China. Although Trump was excoriated for pulling out of the Paris Accord, greenhouse gas emissions actually declined under his administration, while they pulled off the technological miracle of reaching US energy self-sufficiency.

All the concerns you mention are getting worse under Joe Biden, not to mention the economy, fuel prices, inflation and a disaster at the Souther Border.

@GeeMac I don't think we can blame the economy on Biden, or praise Trump for greenhouse gas emissions lowering. Greenhouse gases lowered largely because of covid, and people traveling less, from what I understand.

Regarding the economy...I don't know exactly what we did right and wrong regarding covid...but we'd be taking a gamble no matter what. That impacted the economy. Looking back, the only change I might have made may have been to have fewer lockdowns early...I might have wanted to let covid spread out more so that people get more alarmed by it and more willing to accept policies fighting it later...and more lockdown/school closing-ish things right before and after the Christmas that occurred right before they got the vaccine out. Right before the vaccine came out was the perfect time for lockdowns and school closings, but people were too tired of that due to previous lockdowns and school closings.

Another aspect of the economy has to do with Russian oil sanctions and probably other sanctions too...and I wouldn't have that any other way.

Regarding U.S. energy self-sufficiency...I'm not sure what you mean by that. If you mean something along the lines of the U.S. drilling for oil on or around its own land...I don't see that as achieving energy self-sufficiency so much as tapping into oil reserves that I'd prefer being left for later, when the rest of the world is running low on oil. My definition of energy self-sufficiency would require a lot of electric cars.

Regarding the southern border...personally I don't care about that enough to pay much attention to it. If other people do, that's understandable. I kind of look at it like...people are people and I don't especially care where they come from. Presumably illegal immigrants will result in a mixture of pros and cons for the nation. I don't think much about what those might be...which is no doubt a flaw of mine.

Trump did push back against China. That said...while I have not looked into that in much detail...I'm not sure that's been a success. I've heard pretty bad things about the results of that. I guess I can't blame him for trying though...although maybe I can't. I don't know enough about that issue to be sure.

America is destroyed from within, by a stupid tribal culture war that has absolutely nothing to do with reality.

This conflict being fostered against Western civilizations is an artificial one, instigated by the Left. When at first it was about capitalists against the "proletariat" (which couldn't work anymore because Western workers were already pulling themselves out of poverty), it morphed into conflict between races and sexual orientation. They have to weaken society with infighting so they can come in, be the solution to the problem they created by cracking down on the very people the had set loose as their attack dogs.

@MrShittles too much content there to comment on.

However, let’s be clear. I’m in no way “praising” Donald Trump by stating emissions declined — well before Covid — during his presidency. That’s a verifiable fact that is ignored by the left.

“Self-sufficiency” is the ability to meet one’s own needs.

There are many pros to immigration and the US is the most generous country on earth when it comes to accepting foreigners. Illegal immigration, human smuggling and open borders are a different conversation. No pros there. Only cons.

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It's being "societized" by the right. The right wants a similar culture as Russia has.

Elements of the right admire Russia’s anti-woke agenda, however, I know of no one on the right who sees any value in the pre-1990 values of the communist Soviet Union, which is what Hanson is writing about.

@GeeMac Well...after Trump spurred on an angry crowd who (more or less) tried to sack the capital...there doesn't seem to have been a huge amount of opposition to that (or the lie that Democrats tried to steal the election) from the right. Much of the right just seems to have embraced the view that winning by whatever means necessary is worth the loss of the Democratic process...so I would say the Republican party is more soviet-like in that way.

In recent years, I'd definitely argue that the right has become a lot more blind and fanatical. Some chucklehead who makes money off attention says covid is a myth and covid is a plan for Joe Biden to convert the nation into a communism and everyone believes it.

I would definitely say that the right is slowly becoming more and more frightening...and the Democrats are pretty much just behaving normally. Both sides demonize each other. I don't see one side doing that more than the other. It's just that, on the Democrat side, it's more private organizations doing that because of capitalistic censorship, and on the right it's more stuff like people constantly expressing their ideological and poorly thought out fears of stronger government or social freedoms...keeping in mind that we're without question going to need at least certain forms of stronger government to deal with future trials...so I'd say this ideological opposition to stronger government is a disastrous and shortsighted mentality. I'd definitely say that Republicans are way, way more ideological than democrats, and much more likely to demonize people who don't follow their ideologies...so in that way I'd say the right is more soviet-like. Democrats and leftists tend to be more practical than that, I think.

Regarding the specific people mentioned...I'd have to look into that issue more before having opinions about it...looking at similar cases to see if there is really is bias, and looking into those cases more.


Reading further, I actually see the article linked as an example of the type of right-wing mentality I fear, that I see growing. There's no attention to nuance...no discussion of specific climate change edicts that are bad and good...just a vague condemning of them all. No real intelligent ideas about what to change and what not to...just the typical vague "the left is evil" that I see constantly.


Biden is a Democrat. Therefore...it makes sense that he'd want to do Democrat things. I think it's fairly absurd for the article to describe Biden as if he's some kind of authoritarian, extremist leftist.


They mention reparations. America hasn't been paying reparations in ways beyond the old stuff Native Americans get, so far as I know. Regarding the supposed overreprestation of minorities in popular culture...oh darn. Now there might be both a black man and black woman in movies, as opposed to just the one token black guy. I don't exactly see that as a problem.

Regarding supposed overrepresation of supposed victim groups in admissions and hiring...I'm not sure exactly how true that is. I do know that...there are a ton of transgender and homosexual people out there who are going to be WAY more likely to want to apply to places that are obviously friendly to them...so some of the advertising that may make it seem like certain companies want an overabundance of certain groups may just be the natural impact of capitalism...because companies know they'll automatically drive away many potential employees if they're not obviously friendly towards those groups.

The writing talks about reparations not being part of a meritocracy...but we don't live in a meritocracy, and that's what a lot of left-leaning thought is trying to get across. We get a lot of what we are from the past, or from local culture.


I think the link author is engaging in a lot of vaguely defined anger...and doing just the very sort of thing I see modern republicans doing more of...demonizing their opponents without nuance...that alarms me.

@MrShittles I appreciate your thoughtful response, but with all the points your raise in about ten paragraphs, it’s all but impossible to address them. It makes sense to me to focus on one point at a time in a discussion to avoid going down a rabbit hole.

You say the article offers “No real intelligent ideas about what to change and what not to...just the typical vague "the left is evil" that I see constantly.”

I see the opposite. The author is a classics scholar and a military historian and no where in the article does he suggest that anyone is evil. The article doesn’t mention Covid conspiracies, racial tokenism, or the ridiculous idea that Joe Biden wants to “convert the nation into communism.” No intelligent conservative believes such nonsense.

The article makes a simple point about the contemporary chill over America’s strong tradition of freedom, similar to what happened in other countries, notably the Soviet Union, in the last century.

@GeeMac Well, I made my argument for why I dislike the article already. You talk about how you see the opposite in the article that I do...but most of my typing was focused on expressing why I see what I see in the article - why I see the article as a bad article. If I talked too much about that already, me typing more regarding those topics isn't going to help anything. I just went over various points stated in the article and criticized them.

I don't think it matters what intelligent conservatives want a huge amount. I don't think most people are intelligent.

@MrShittles where does VDH call for anger at the left? And what exactly do you see as vague? The article has a razor sharp focus on dozens of easily verifiable issues. To name a few specifics:

The law is no longer blind.
Increasing crime.
Decreasing consequence for criminals.
Lack of forest management.
Declining educational standards.
Rising fuel prices.
Failing immigration policies/border security.
BLM protest march exemptions from Covid restrictions.
The bungled exit from Afghanistan.
Mandatory diversity statements/employee struggle sessions.
Ideology over consequence (eg hiring, admissions, policy implementation)

The left tends to dismiss as anger or fear any identification or discussion of a problem. That is simply not true. Yes, some individuals are fearful or angry; but I just disagree that any of the problems specifically named in the article can be swept aside on that basis.

@GeeMac

the reason why I saw that article as angry is because it does nothing to discuss those issues you mentioned. It just mentions them. If the reader has already researched those issues, they didn't need to read the article. If they haven't, there article serves no purpose beyond, perhaps, getting them angry at things they don't understand.

Those are all valid points. I'd like them discussed though...not just vaguely blaming the left for them. I don't even think it's especially healthy to reference the "left" at all, when discussing those issues. I think it pushes people to be unnecessarily tribal.

if they do mention "the left" I think they need to make an argument for why the right is less Soviet-like, or else I see them as just stoking people's emotional fires to make them angry without saying much.

With many of those issues...I could argue why I think the left is the more correct side.

@MrShittles okay, lack of detail makes more sense than vagueness. If you’re interested in a more fulsome discussion I’d recommend reading VDH’s books.

A magazine article is usually meant to focus on a single point, in this case how liberty is being increasingly restricted — Soviet style — in the USA. There’s no way a single article, much less a website post, can ever hope to cover the detail needed to understand these issues.

That’s why I commented earlier that the internet is not an effective venue for productive conversation.

Again, I see neither anger, nor blame in the article. I sincerely believe that attributing differing views to anger, fear or blame isn’t the way to foster a conversation.

Here’s an example of what I consider an angry article from someone who openly advocates violence. Massive difference from the scholarly VDH.

I cannot recall another time when protesters took over and burnt down a police station. It was an unprecedented and beautiful moment in the annals of rebellion in this country. By seizing the cops’ home base, rioters showed millions of people that they could defeat the police.

[thenation.com]

@GeeMac So...I'm sure I'll have disagreements with you, but you seem like someone who takes pride in trying to have a sound, reasonable worldview. Thank your for that. It's a simple trait, but I think that's the key to most learning and teaching.

That said...the article only criticizes the left and Democrats. In my opinion the most Soviet-like thing we've done in decades, has been Trump blatently lying about about the Democrats having stolen the election...and most Republicans at least having believed those lies according to polls...and yet he's still popular, even among many Republican congressional representatives. In this way, outright lies, to am immense degree, have taken control of the average voter...and our former president was perfectly comfortable with this, maintaining these lies even after the attempted sacking of the capitol. He's still, probably, the most powerful member of the Republican party.

That's something that frightens me. Your linked article is disturbing...but from what I understand white supremacist terrorism remains the most deadly terrorism out there and I don't see that as being especially common, so that sort of thing is not my primary concern.

That type of...what I see as Soviet-style propaganda used as an attempt to win at any cost does not seem unusual for the modern Republican party...especially regarding issues like climate change and transgenderism...with Trump being the king of that sort of propaganda.

Now, regarding the idea of losing freedoms...why doesn't the article talk about Texas and other right-wing states having extreme limits on abortion?...or Transgender people losing freedoms? Granted, those aren't the sorts of losses of freedoms most Republicans are especially concerned about...but I'm not especially concerned about covid lockdowns either. To me, I felt more optimistic about the future after seeing those lockdowns. to me, all that shows is that our nation is willing to do what is necessary to protect us during our emergencies. I consider that a positive trend. I don't consider that a Soviet-style loss of freedom. I consider that a temporary, common-sense, necessary sacrifice to ensure freedoms...not much different than the draft in WW2.

If the article isn't going to be more specific, it could at least be less one-sided.

I do not object to the article criticizing the things it does. What I object to is it focusing on a few things many of its readers will perceive the Democrats and leftists as having done wrong...but it doesn't delve into a single thing the Republicans have done that removes freedoms or makes the nation more Soviet-like.


Finally...some of the comments in the article are just bizarre. For example, this paragraph (ignoring the Trump part...because that's another more complex issue):

"We have our own Emmanuel Goldsteins who, we are told, deserve our three minutes of hate for counterrevolutionary thought and practice. Donald Trump earned the enmity of the CIA, the FBI, the Justice Department, and the IRS. Now Elon Musk and his companies are suddenly the targets of the progressive state, including repartees from the president himself. To vent, the popular Soviet directs its collective enmity at a Dave Chappelle or Bill Maher, progressives who exhibit the occasional counterrevolutionary heresy."

Why is the article complaining about people being annoyed at any of those people? That's not "Soviety-style" dogma. That's just negative feedback from culture for engaging in behavior culture considers unhealthy. You could say its overkill...but those are just natural reactions from large groups of people. There is no way to stop that, aside from dramatically altering culture in general, and that will never happen in our lifetimes. That will pretty much always just happen if any celebrity does anything lots of people dislike that they find out about.

Every single group in the nation behaves that exact same way, so far as I can tell. I'm constantly seeing Republicans describe very mild views, like white privilege, or toxic masculinity, or systemic racism as if it's sheer lunacy...(often as another one of those, what I see as Soviet-like propaganda campaigns engaged in by right wing celebrities who either haven't researched the terms...or more likely, don't care to, because it's not their goal to be correct, so much as just to get attention, by any means necessary).


I definitely think the right has perfected the art of creating misleading propaganda...and not caring about it being misleading...to a level that's quite creepy. If I see a right-wing article on abortion, I know there's a high chance it involves lies, just through experience. If I see a right-wing article on climate change...again...there's a pretty high chance it'll involve lies. Any right wing sources involving science, psychology, or sociology pretty often involve very effortful lies, in my experience.

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