What the President Might Say:It is about more than just Fallujah.

National Review ^ | April 30, 2004, 8:33 a.m | Victor Davis Hanson

[Eurotwit]

VDH ping.

[Atlantic Friend]

Now, that's a superb article ! Blimey, it is almost an adress to the world ! Who is this Hanson fellow ?

[Captain Kirk]

Hanson is a Woodrow Wilson fan who believes that the U.S. should bring democracy to every nook and cranny of the planet. It is because we followed his advice that we are now mired in the Iraqi sinkhole.

[Captain Kirk]

Hanson is a Woodrow Wilson fan who believes that the U.S. should bring democracy to every nook and cranny of the planet. It is because we followed his advice that we are now mired in the Iraqi sinkhole.

[MEG33]

Hanson is an Americon writer,professor in California,author of several books and an American treasure.

[Eurotwit]

Captain Kirk doesn't like VDH much :-)

[Atlantic Friend]

That's too bad - well, he has his reasons. Me, I was quite taken aback by the clarity of Hanson's adress.

[billbears]

But if our economy is to remain strong — as it must to provide for our soldiers in battle — then Congress must accept compromises on both spending and taxation. We can neither spend nor tax our way out of our present difficulty, so let us agree that no Democrat shall propose another dollar of spending without providing for an addition dollar of revenue; no Republican shall cut another dollar of taxes without guarantees of a like reduction in spending

I guess Victor must have somehow missed the latest $450 billion and growing healthcare 'plan' (read waste) passed by a Republican Congress and signed by a Republican President

[F14 Pilot]

PING!

[68skylark]

Americans believe that freedom and consensual government — far from being the exclusive domain of the West — are ideals central to the human condition and the shared aspirations of all born into this world.

I have a lot of admiration for VDH. However, I'd like to respectfully disagree with this sentence. If anyone feels I'm right or wrong I'd love to know what you think.

I think we believe something darker than what he's writtern. We believe that the natural aspirations of all men born into the world is to dominate his surroundings -- including other people, food, treasure, and anything else around him. But since this produces a state of perpetual war, poverty and chaos, people can eventually learn over time to settle for something less than their real aspiration -- they learn that liberty for all is a better ideal. The dark drive to dominate can then be turned in peaceful and useful directions -- into sport, science, business, art, etc.

I hope I'm not belaboring the point -- it just seems to me that freedom and consensual government are emphatically not natural at all, and we shouldn't be surprised if other cultures don't accept these ideals right away. It takes time and work and education, and even then there is no guarantee of success.

So when we see the worst kind of barbarism around us (in Iraq, Haiti, N. Korea, Africa, etc, etc) we shouldn't be surprised or think it's unnatural. And we shouldn't think it will be easy to change.

[Irene Adler]

I agree with you, and I couldn't have said it half as well.

[lewislynn]

It is because we followed his advice that we are now mired in the Iraqi sinkhole.

Has anyone else noticed no one even jokingly uses the word "quagmire" around here anymore?

[Dog Anchor]

The U.S. Congress is a quagmire...

[lewislynn]

The U.S. Congress is a quagmire...

I know the Republican Congress is a quagmire, but we need to continue to vote for the one that's electable then change the party from within...GAG!

[Tolik]

Victor Davis Hanson moral clarity huge BUMP

[please freepmail me if you want or don't want to be pinged to Victor Davis Hanson articles]

If you want to bookmark his articles discussed at FR: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/k-victordavishanson/browse

His NRO archive: http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson-archive.asp

His blog: http://victorhanson.com/index.html     BIO: http://victorhanson.com/Author/index.html

Yes, he is listened by the Bush Administration; they like him maybe as much as we do: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1085464/posts?page=6#6

[Valin]

Bump for later.

[Captain Kirk]

Yet, is quite interesting. Remember all the quagmire alerts? I guess that that it is "so funny" anymore.

[AZLiberty]

I previously nominated VDH for Secretary of State. If that's not available, I nominate him for Presidential Speechwriter.

[AZLiberty]

The movie version will be:

Dr. Hanson Goes to Washington

and VDH will be played by Jim Caviezel.