Victor Davis Hanson: A Country Unhinged

Private Papers ^ | November 15, 2012 | Victor Davis Hanson

[2ndDivisionVet]

In the last week, it is almost as if the entire American moral landscape has been turned upside down in eerie fashion — in matters that vastly transcend fornication and adultery. The Petraeus-gate matter is the stuff of tabloids now; but soon the real issues relating to when and what Eric Holder knew, and by extension the president, and how exactly Benghazi (the crime of indifference to the besieged, the cover-up of the truth, the actual mission of our consulate and annex) fits into this labyrinth of deceit, both petty and fundamental, may overshadow the present sensationalism.

Nothing seems real anymore, not pre-election federal data on jobs or food stamps or the release of such “facts”; not foreign-policy information like an Iranian attack on a drone; not the supposedly competent federal relief in response to Hurricane Sandy. Even Saddam Hussein’s plebiscites could not achieve margins like the 19,605 to 0 we saw in 59 Philadelphia precincts. Does anyone care?

Susan Rice, who flat out deceived five times in a single day on national TV, is supposedly seriously being considered as Secretary of State when Ms. Clinton leaves — the latter now plans to be “busy” when hearings on Libya resume. (If a John Bolton cannot be confirmed as a UN ambassador, how could Rice avoid a filibuster?) How can anyone now read Broadwell’s book and assume the research and analysis are disinterested?(continued)

[7thson]

It is amazing the mental gymnastics some perform in order to justify evil. If all four of you believe the “Yankees” started corrupting the South starting in the 1850’s so that the South can keep enslaving other humans, than all of you are no better than leftists.

[csmusaret]

I guess it all depends on whose evil is being justified.

[robowombat]

I have no idea what the writer meant by ‘corrupting the South’. However, for sanctimonious types such as you a bit of perspective is useful. Every colony recognized slavery. The pious Quakers of Rhode Island were the most notable for the scale of their slave trading operations. When the economy of northern colonies and later states shifted to commercial and industrial from maritime and home manufacture slavery became uneconomical and could then be considered bad. Well bad after most of the slaves got shipped to places like North Carolina for resale. States from Maryland south entered the federal union with their slaves. Slavery was recognized within the federal union from its foundation. The economy of the South was based on staple agriculture and slavery. Abolitionists were people who could dine out on their morality because they had no economic interest in the South. It is always easiest to be loudly virtuous when there is no monetary sacrifice and a big ego boost for being so virtuous. You seemed to have assimilated the attitude of these people perfectly.

[ohioman]

Excellent post. I will definitely check those books out! I have often thought of writing about some of my direct ancestors from Missouri - three of them rode with Quantrill during the Civil War. They fought because another family member (an innocent farmer working in his fields) was murdered by Red-legs. In fact, one of them was close with Quantrill and Frank James and was with Quantrill when he was killed in KY.

[Albion Wilde]

witness the joke at Judy Woodruff's Election Night table in 2008, about North Carolina and their "Dukes of Hazzard" voters, ha ha, who...are losing their state to snotty Up East parvenues who act like they now own the place and plan to drive the Tarheels back up into their hollows and mountain forests...

I hear you. There are now fewer North Carolinians born in NC than born elsewhere. It's sad to see; not even to mention the traffic jams throughout the Triangle.

[Albion Wilde]

It is amazing the mental gymnastics some perform in order to justify evil. If all four of you believe the “Yankees” started corrupting the South starting in the 1850’s so that the South can keep enslaving other humans, than all of you are no better than leftists.

It's amazing the mental blinders you are wearing to avoid the complexities of the War Between the States. None of my posts expressed support for the "peculiar institution" -- far from it. I will always be the first to admit it was the main and perhaps the only flaw in our original Constitution.

But your paint-with-a-broad-bigoted-brush dismissal of the South and its defense of the Federal system is naïve. Besides ending slavery, that war ended the Republic and began the Socialist system we now inherit. There might have been a third way that would have ended slavery and preserved the Union without bloodshed, but for hothead haters on both sides.

However, the victors wrote the history and continue to congratulate themselves on their blundering, wasteful and bloody conquest/occupation/snobbery towards the most patriotic region of our land, which since 1776 has produced more of the military defenders of our Bill of Rights and unique freedoms than any other region.

Imagine the "history" your great-grandchildren will read as the post-Obama version of today's conservative opinion, if contemporary MSM and leftwing blogs are any example.

[csmusaret]

I guess it all depends on who is avoiding which complexities.

[Albion Wilde]

I guess it all depends on who is avoiding which complexities.

Say what you mean.

Our firebrand opponent in this discussion only wished to see the slavery edge of a two-edged sword; I say, fighting broke out because the South was invaded and the fighting was as much about state's rights as it was about slavery. In the course of the war, the baby (republican government) was thrown out with the bathwater.

In conclusion, for the detail-disabled:
U.S. Civil War = two opposite outcomes:
Ending slavery = good.
Ending republicanism = bad.

[csmusaret]

I guess it all depends on which right the states were fighting for.

[Albion Wilde]

I guess it all depends on which right the states were fighting for.

That would come down to the individual soldier's heart, wouldn't it? I do not know how many slaveowners vs. sharecroppers and small farmers did the fighting, but I would venture a guess that in most wars, the wealthier men (i.e. the plantation owners) can find more ways to avoid service.

[csmusaret]

I guess that depends on whether we are talking about soldiers rights or states rights.