Observations From Two of Our Best Thinkers
Steve Dittmer | AFF Sentinel
Colorado Springs, CO
Originally sent to subscribers 06/05/24
Yes, history is relevant. It is instructive.
One of our most favorite farmers lives and farms in California but is an erudite Classics and military historian and astute observer of the political scene in America. Victor Davis Hanson is, also, a Senior Fellow with the Hoover Institution, and has written a new book (“The End of Everything”) about four of the world’s most famous and successful empires -- that no longer exist. Carthage existed for 800 years, Thebes for 1,100 years, Constantinople for 1,100 and the Aztec nation for 300 years.
Hanson explained to Mark Levin* recently how these empires existed for so long, relied on the inevitableness of their existence and disappeared suddenly because they ignored the warning signs, their weaknesses and the new challenges outside their walls. Suddenly, e.g. Alexander the Great was at the walls.
These nation states relied on their longevity. America is 250 years in but we are not the same nation we were 2 years ago, or 5 years ago, 50 or 100 years ago, Hanson said. These declines happen gradually, almost undetectably and then chaos, confusion and decline and -- disappearance.
As an aside, as 80 years since D-Day approaches, have you noticed the veterans of that era lamenting we are not the same people as those who went to war, stormed the beaches in Europe or the islands in the Pacific?
Levin noted that those who would change or revolutionize America never sleep, they are constantly working on the revolution, while we go about our business. Hanson said like those people of long gone civilizations, we have “no appreciation for the type of people that are outside the walls, who want to destroy us and we misinterpret the intent of the enemy.”
Hanson didn’t use the analogy, but we see our preeminent universities, our parties, our bureaucracies as just such Trojan horses inside the walls.
Levin, we think, made a brilliant, cogent statement that encapsulates the Achilles heel of our great civilization.
“Mankind has never figured out: how do we promote liberty without tyranny exploiting our liberty to destroy liberty?”
As a teacher at universities, Hanson said our students today “are arrogant, are not well-trained, don’t know the basics of analysis, language, composition or computation…”
Musing that our country is not the same as but a few years ago, Hanson said he thought much of society woke up about a year ago and said, “What the heck happened to America?”
We can vouch roughly for that timing, as at a time when our readers might have gotten tired of politics and its effect on our lives, our percentage of readers engaging and paying more attention to political ramifications on their lives and our industry increased to the highest levels in our history.
Of course, we are nowhere near the level of intelligence or knowledge as Hanson or Levin. But we can find and bring you their -- and others -- thinking, their passion and their analysis of our situation.
Hanson had a prescription:
“It’s not enough to say I’m going to isolate myself on my farm. I’m not going to get active. I’m going to small town America and see if I can create an island in a sea of insanity. It’s not enough anymore.
“We can’t be fearful…we have to be common sensical.
“We are borrowing $1 trillion every 100 days. We can stop that. We can stop ten million people coming in…”
So, we all have to start from where we are. We must aggressively promote and protect our industry.
For nearly 20 years, AFF has been providing you with the information, an analysis of what’s going on, our suggestions for action and involvement. The politics, the overbearing interference of our government agencies, the political leadership is critical to our survival and prosperity.
We will share more of the thoughts of Hanson and Levin soon.
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*Life, Liberty and Levin, Fox News Channel, 05/25/24