Posted on 11/21/2021 3:29:56 AM PST by Kaslin
Defining terms is always a good place to begin a conversation and Victor Davis Hanson’s The Dying Citizen. How Progressive Elites, Tribalism, and Globalization Are Destroying the Idea of America (Basic Books) weaves a rich definition of citizenship into his discussion of the current threats to this profoundly Western idea.
The idea of citizenship originated in the 5th-century B.C. Greek city states, the concept being nourished by the likes of one Alkidamas, who wrote, “Nature has made no man a slave.” This was in profound contrast to the rigid stratification that most all societies then and most non-western societies still maintain: top-down social systems wherein certain privileges are awarded to the favored few by regnant earthly powers as opposed to the God-given, non-negotiable, inherent rights citizens in the West enjoy.
This truly revolutionary idea of a self-reliant citizenry produced an empowered and independent middle class which itself created most all of the West’s material productivity and civilized discourse. This tradition was inherited from the Greeks by Rome and enshrined in those qualified to be called “Roman citizens.” The idea of citizenship advanced further, extending up the Italian peninsula and on to other parts of Europe and then to England from which it was bequeathed to the United States where it was confirmed and codified in our Constitution.
But as Hanson knows, constitutional republics composed of citizens uniting for mutual protection are short lived. Thus, his treatise shows how the blurring of the distinction between “citizenship” and “residency” is proceeding at a dramatic pace as America opens its borders and accommodates the newcomers by the reintroduction of an ethnic spoils system which resegregates citizens into ethnic tribes, duplicating the tribal societies that they are supposedly fleeing.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
This talk by VDH is well worth watching.
Victor Davis Hanson on Citizenship - Western Conservative Summit 2021
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y66u_zSNolE
I intend to read the book. His The Second World Wars is next on my stack. His series of lectures on that at Hillsdale College is also worth the time.
https://online.hillsdale.edu/landing/the-second-world-wars
I’ve been watching a lot of VDH lately.
No one who is not born in the United States, to legal U.S. citizens, should ever hold the right to vote.
No one that is not born in the United States to legal U.S. citizens should ever hold the right to hold elected ,legislative , office , over native born and ancestral U.S. citizens.
The rights to vote ,and hold elected ( or appointed) office in the United States should be earned by successive generations of LEGAL U.S. citizen residents. It should be earned , in that way and time span. To ensure loyalty and fidelity to the true principles of the American way.
We DO NOT need our nation infiltrated, subverted and its population controlled , or governed by , non native born Americans . They can live here , but they need to earn such rights over time . You should only own what you earn and they must earn it in own to own it ( U.S citizenship and all its attendant rights) . Not just be politically afforded that which they have not earned , nor deserve .
Don’t agree ? Stay in your original countries....
To make a long story short she loves Trump more than I do and hates The Big Guy more than I do.I could go on...but as far as voting is concerned we can trust her completely.
You are jumping to conclusions without watching what Hanson said. He is discussing citizenship, not immigration. In the presentation, a leftist mentions immigration and immediately Hanson introduces legal vs. illegal immigration. He is all for legal immigration and assimilation. He is talking about the tribalism that illegal immigration and the devaluing of citizenship bring.
I was specifically responding LeoWindhorse...not to the general article.Take a peek at his post and you’ll see what I mean.
Mexico and Central America are tribal societies?
We already had natural born citizen as a requirement written into the Constitution for just ONE office for those born with ONE nationality, ONE allegiance, ONE loyalty and not ONE of our elected or appointed would uphold it.
Bumperoonie
My wife of 33 years is also a ( legal) immigrant. It’s fine if LEGAL immigrants come here . I maintain that regardless of their immigration status , immigrants should not be allowed to ability to rise to positions of legislative power and control over native Americans .
It is insane that we allow this . In no country on earth do they allow Americans the same rights to political power and control of their citizens in their countries. But we allow it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.