10 Steps to Save America

American Thinker ^ | 18 Dec, 2022 | Victor Davis Hanson

[MtnClimber]

Yes, there is a way. But is there the will?

Most Americans know something has gone terribly wrong—and very abruptly—with the United States. They are certain that our wounds are almost all self-inflicted. The current pathologies are not a result of a natural disaster, an exhaustion of natural resources, plagues, or an existential war.

Crushing national debt and annual deficits, spiraling food and fuel costs amid “normal” seven-percent-plus annual inflation, bread-and-circuses entitlements, a nonexistent border, a resurgence of racial tribalism, pandemic violent criminality, and humiliation abroad—all these pathologies are easily cited as symptoms of a sick patient. Our crises are not as the Left maintains—a nine-person Supreme Court, the Electoral College, or the filibuster—all distractions from existential problems the Left largely created.

So, what are the therapies and prognoses for America?

In the spirit of constructive rather than blanket criticism, here is a partial, 10-point plan of national recovery.

Cut the Debt

Americans’ national debt is now $31 trillion. That is about 123 percent of current GDP. The liabilities are unsustainable. We run annual deficits of $1.6 trillion. These financial obligations will eventually ensure that rising interest rates to service the debt crowd out essential spending for national defense and the general welfare.

Or in extremis, in the not too distant future, the government will be forced to default on what it owes the “rich” bondholders and foreign debt holders. Or the government will be forced to confiscate private wealth, as for example occasional crazy suggestions to nationalize and absorb 401(k)k retirement plans into the soon-to-be-insolvent Social Security system. Or the state will simply print millions of dollars to pay off obligations, Weimar-style.

In addict style, the more we come to realize that our binging habit cannot go on, the less we can practice self-restraint.

[MtnClimber]

There are so many things broken and no will to fix them.

[MtnClimber]

VDH ping

[central_va]

GD II will “fix” everything.

[bert]

There is only one solution

Total destruction and extermination of the progressive cancer.

There can be no co existence

[ClearCase_guy]

Pretty much everything Trump tried to do. The Deep State didn’t like it.

Says a lot about what the Deep State wants: our destruction.

[tired&retired]

We are beyond repair.

We cannot tax enough to pay the interest on the debt.

It’s beyond the point of correction.

Sorry

😭

[tired&retired]

They will self destruct. We cannot lower ourselves to their level or we will become like them.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

"Americans’ national debt is now $31 trillion."

Absolutely insane, and the bastards are still spending more and more.

[CFW]

I just finished reading VDH’s latest and had come here to post it. Glad to see someone else has already done so. With men of Hanson’s caliber available, how did we end up with such a motley crew of evil governing our nation?

If you look at the election map over the past few decades, it’s obvious that the majority of the people are more conservative than the media portrays. Yet those clustered in the liberal enclaves we call “blue cities” dictate to the remainder of the nation as to how we are governed. It’s no coincidence that those cities also have the most crime and corruption and total lack of civility.

[Rummyfan]

Marking for later.

[glennaro]

To nearly all professional politicians, each one of these requires a compreshensive political calculation to determine what their position and action will be. Principles and their oath are so archaic ....

[xenia]

I was hoping there would be some reality to this....things that we the people can do.

What the author laid out is true but it takes willing leaders to accomplish it. They do NOT EXIST anymore. They are performing the opposite and seem to want it that way.

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
― Ronald Reagan

[Mr. Jeeves]

The debt - really, the spending addiction - will never be cut voluntarily. If some day the US dollar loses reserve currency status austerity may be forced upon government. Until that time, the dollar remains backed by the full faith and credit of the United States Marine Corps and government will make the world buy its debt - and like it.

Spending control has almost no political constituency except a few alarmed economists. Even Trump wouldn’t touch it. Better a future crash that can be blamed on one’s successors than imposing a wildly unpopular form of discipline on voters, today. And our betters continue to believe inflation can hide all of their sins.

[DeplorablePaul]

VDH prescribes conservative solutions. At this point, only a national catastrophe will change the direction America is heading. There is no silent majority to arouse. There is no political solution. We are beyond voting our way out of the mess we are in. We need an act of God. Depressing.

[Right_Wing_Madman]

We cannot tax enough to pay the interest on the debt.

But it's not enough to pay just interest on the debt. When a t-bill matures, the creditor must be paid in full (principle + interest). All the debt must be paid back, or else there's a default.

The solution will be for the Federal Reserve to print money to pay creditors. That process began in 2009 and accelerated in 2020. Take a look at the Fed's M1 and M2 charts. We're in the beginning of the end.

[texas booster]

Ping! Out to the Victor Davis Hanson list

In the spirit of constructive rather than blanket criticism, here is a partial, 10-point plan of national recovery.

Cut the Debt

Secure the Border

Tap Natural Resources

Oppose Discrimination

Disrupt and Reform Higher Education

Revive the Armed Forces

Fix Voting

Drain the Swamp

Upend the Welfare State

Restore Norms

Excellent read!

FR Index of his articles: Victor Davis Hanson on FR

Town Hall: Victor Davis Hanson on Town Hall

American Greatness: Victor Davis Hanson on American Greatness

His website: Victor Davis Hanson

Please let me know if you want on or off this new VDH ping list.

As a reminder, Professor Hanson has asked that we do not post the full article of his writings. Thank you for following the link to finish his article.

[TigerClaws]

Agree. All of these issues were on the ballot and the voters continue to vote for inflation, open borders, high crime, etc.

Dems live in a complete bubble separated from reality. The machine makes them one issue voters and they vote out of fear. “Republicans will turn you into baby-making machines.... will take away your voting rights... will put y’all back in chains... etc.”

There’s no debating or reasoning with them at this point.

Only thing I can see is a limited exchange of nuclear weapons with Putin. Take out 10 big Democrat-run cities and we’d have a “Great Reset” of American politics.

Short of that don’t see a solution. Perhaps if there were a Great Awakening 2 with blacks now voting 95% Democrat taking over their party and remaking it... but only God can save us at this point. As always.

[Theoria]

"The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation".

-Vladimir Lenin

[Tell It Right]

Agree. All of these issues were on the ballot and the voters cheat-by-mailers continue to vote for inflation, open borders, high crime, etc.

There. Fixed it fer ya.