“Our institutions, if they do not erode entirely, can survive periods of decadence brought on by our material success, eras when the whole notion of civic militarism seems bothersome, and in which free speech is used to focus on our own imperfections without concern for the ghastly nature of our enemies.” IfsWholeSeemsUsedEnemyFocusMaterialsPeriodsSpeechConcernInstitutionsNotionErasImperfectionFree SpeechCivicsDecadenceMilitarismGhastlyErode Author:Victor Davis Hanson
“Offering 'comprehensive' reform usually means years of arguing and horse-trading among pressure groups to get anything done. By the time all the special interests are appeased or bought off, the resulting elephantine legislation typically looks nothing like what was intended. In short, big-government medicine usually doesn't work on big-government sickness. If President Obama wants 'comprehensive' change, it would be better simply not to spend any more money we don't have.” IfsWantYearsLooksMeanDoneBigsGovernmentWould BePresidentInterestGroupsSpecialHorsePressureMedicineArguingReformSicknessPresident ObamaOfferingMore MoneyLegislationTradingComprehensiveSpecial InterestsBig GovernmentPressure Groups Author:Victor Davis Hanson
“If the Democrats feel they have lost the public's confidence in their stewardship of national security, then the threat of Iran offers a Hillary Clinton, Howard Dean, or John Kerry an opportunity to get out front now and pledge support for a united effort - attacking Bush from the right about too tepid a stance rather from the predictable left that we are 'hegemonic' and 'imperialistic' every time we use force abroad.” IfsFeelsUseOpportunityLostLeftForceUnitedEffortSupportSecurityFrontsOffersThreatClintonDemocratIranNational SecurityAttackingStewardshipPledgePredictableDeanStanceJohn Kerry Author:Victor Davis Hanson
“It's very difficult, historically, to define what an elite is. But whatever it is, people are very angry at that idea, I think, not so much because of wealth or privilege as much as attitude that the populous masses, if I could use that overused term, feel that a particular government or cultural group is not subject to the ramifications of their own ideology.” PeopleIfsThinkingFeelsIdeasUseGovernmentDifficultTermWealthAttitudeGroupsSubjectsParticularMassAngryPrivilegeIdeologyIf I CouldElitesRamificationsOverused Author:Victor Davis Hanson
“It's radical Islamic terrorism. And yet, when you see the last eight years, something's gone wrong to call it violent extremism or man-caused disasters. It would be as if we were looking at [Adolf] Hitler in the 1930s. And we were afraid to say that he was a Nazi.” IfsMenYearsWould BeLastsGoneEightTerrorismDisasterViolentRadicalIslamicNaziExtremism1930sIslamic Terrorism Author:Victor Davis Hanson
“If I talk to rural people where I live - mostly Hispanic but also poor white - they're not sympathetic to the Black Lives Matter movement.” PeopleIfsMatterBlackWhitePoorMovementBlack Lives MatterSympatheticHispanicBlack Lives Author:Victor Davis Hanson
“If I talk to black students on campus, they're not sympathetic to the people who are not sympathetic with [Black Lives Matter movement]. The fact that you want to argue rather than find some common ground, I think, has gotten a lot worse in the last years.” PeopleIfsThinkingWantYearsMatterFactsLastsBlackCommonMovementStudentsArguingLast YearBlack Lives MatterSympatheticCampusCommon GroundBlack Lives Author:Victor Davis Hanson
“There's just no - nothing like this country, which is the only, really, multiracial country that's tried to share in a common culture in the history of civilization that's pulled it off. A lot of the times, we want perfection. If we're not perfect, we're not good.” IfsWantCountryCulturePerfectCommonShareCivilizationPerfectionNot PerfectMultiracialCommon Culture Author:Victor Davis Hanson
“Western elites - the beneficiaries of 60 years of peace and prosperity achieved by the sacrifices to defeat fascism and Communism - are unhappy in their late middle age, and show little gratitude for, or any idea about, what gave them such latitude. If they cannot find perfection in history, they see no good at all.” IfsYearsLittlesIdeasShowsAgeHistorySacrificeMiddleGratitudeLatePerfectionWesternDefeatProsperityUnhappyCommunismFascismElitesMiddle AgesLatitudeBeneficiaries Author:Victor Davis Hanson
“It is rather the nature of America - our freewheeling, outspoken, prosperous, liberty-loving citizens extend equality to women, homosexuals, minorities, and almost anyone who comes to our shores, and thereby create desire and with it shame for that desire. Indeed, it is worse still than that: Precisely because we worry publicly that we are insensitive, our enemies scoff privately that we in fact are too sensitive - what we think is liberality and magnanimity they see as license and decadence. If we don't have confidence in who we are, why should they?” IfsThinkingShouldStillsFactsAmericaDesireLibertyEnemyWorryCitizensShameSensitiveWho We AreMinoritiesShoreHomosexualLicenseProsperousHave ConfidenceDecadenceInsensitiveOutspokenMagnanimityLiberality Author:Victor Davis Hanson
“Apologizing for our past sins may reveal character and for a time lessen anti-Americanism abroad, but if it is done without acknowledging that the sins of America are the sins of mankind, and that our remedies are so often exceptional, then it only earns transitory applause—and a more lasting contempt that we ourselves do not believe in the values we profess.” IfsBelieveMayDoneCharacterAmericaPastValuesSinMankindLastingContemptRemedyApologizingOur PastExceptionalApplauseTransitoryAmericanism Book:The Father of Us All: War and History, Ancient and Modern Source: The Father of Us All: War and History, Ancient and Modern
