Victor Davis Hanson: The season of our discontent

jewishworldreview.com ^ | Oct. 14, 2005 | Victor Davis Hanson

[Tolik]

Americans — never more affluent or privileged — are in a gloomy mood.  

Take energy. The current average cost of gasoline, $2.85 a gallon (based on Tuesday, Oct.11), is still less, when adjusted for inflation, than it was in 1981. But what is different today is that the relatively sudden surge in gas prices is assumed to be no mere spike.  

Instead the spiraling price seems like something permanent that could grow even higher as known world reserves decline. And it is made worse by our voracious consumption and the entry of China and India into the global energy market.  

In response to Americans' anxiety over energy and other, sometimes real, sometimes perceived problems, we are witnessing ideological stubbornness and inconsistency from both sides of the political aisle.

 

<...snip...>

[Milhous]

Dane. And I see you are doing your part by putting risk capital in looking for more oil or other alternative energy sources.

Over the past couple of decades a client of mine sunk millions into an oil well. During that period they entertained environmentalists with feats of directional drilling. One of these days that first drop of oil might just flow from it.

[Red Boots]

True, Republican-endorsed tax cuts have led to more net federal revenue in 2005 than in 2001. Yet — even with the unanticipated costs of the 9/11 attack, the ongoing war and Hurricane Katrina — if the Bush administration had kept entitlement spending to Bill Clinton's levels (with small increases for inflation), we would today have a balanced budget and a small surplus.

*sigh*

Instead, 2001-2005 marked the wildest growth in nondiscretionary domestic outlay in our recent history. Even with an expanding economy, vast amounts of new federal income could not keep pace with even more vast expenditures.

**Big sigh**

[mtntop3]

America has become too materialistic & hedonistic - we need someone to tell it like it is & lead us into a time of self-restraint & real conservatism.

Indeed - including at least some sharing of the responsibility in defending this nation - even if it's national service in medical facilities and situations.

Many Americans don't want to be "bothered" by the fact that a hell of a lot of crazed fanatics are, yes, fervently seeking to kill us. After all, it's "disturbing" and "depressing" to hear this.

Being entertained and mesmerized from birth to death by the two-dimensional television image flickering in the homes is one, huge cause of it all.

If our ancestors had succumbed to such debillating aspects, we wouldn't be here today.

Some 60 million persons were killed in WWII because Americans and others didn't take seriously enough the openly stated goals of Hitler and Imperial Japan - and they "didn't want to get involved.".

[mtntop3]

America has become too materialistic & hedonistic - we need someone to tell it like it is & lead us into a time of self-restraint & real conservatism.

Indeed - including at least some sharing of the responsibility in defending this nation - even if it's national service in medical facilities and situations.

Many Americans don't want to be "bothered" by the fact that a hell of a lot of crazed fanatics are, yes, fervently seeking to kill us. After all, it's "disturbing" and "depressing" to hear this.

Being entertained and mesmerized from birth to death by the two-dimensional television image flickering in the homes is one, huge cause of it all.

If our ancestors had succumbed to such debillating aspects, we wouldn't be here today.

Some 60 million persons were killed in WWII because Americans and others didn't take seriously enough the openly stated goals of Hitler and Imperial Japan - and they "didn't want to get involved.".

[mtntop3]

America has become too materialistic & hedonistic - we need someone to tell it like it is & lead us into a time of self-restraint & real conservatism.

Indeed - including at least some sharing of the responsibility in defending this nation - even if it's national service in medical facilities and situations.

Many Americans don't want to be "bothered" by the fact that a hell of a lot of crazed fanatics are, yes, fervently seeking to kill us. After all, it's "disturbing" and "depressing" to hear this.

Being entertained and mesmerized from birth to death by the two-dimensional television image flickering in the homes is one, huge cause of it all.

If our ancestors had succumbed to such debillating aspects, we wouldn't be here today.

Some 60 million persons were killed in WWII because Americans and others didn't take seriously enough the openly stated goals of Hitler and Imperial Japan - and they "didn't want to get involved.".

[SuzyQue]

"...the two horn-locked parties see these solutions as either/or rather than compatible...The result of this petrified leadership is that while things are not nearly as bad as they seem, the public in its frustration feels they are far worse. "

While this may indeed be true, I think that it a natural response to the lifting of the information monopoly that the MSM has held for so long.  With new, opposing sources of news, information and opinions available, many of us are questioning and rejecting "commonly-held beliefs" that we had accepted (albeit with some conflicting feelings and free-floating suspicion) in the past.  This has lead to a healthy difference of opinion and political fractiousness, but which can cause anxiety and frustration in those who are not comfortable with questioning the status-quo (which pretty much requires abandoning "political correctness", since PC is a means to squelch any meaningful exchange of ideas.)

[nosofar]

America has become too materialistic & hedonistic - we need someone to tell it like it is & lead us into a time of self-restraint & real conservatism.

I think the problem is that we always look to someone else to 'lead' us here or there. (I'm as guilty as the next person.)