Commentary by Victor Davis Hanson,
In modern times, as in ancient Rome, several nations have suffered a
“systems collapse.” The term describes the sudden inability of
once-prosperous populations to continue with what had ensured the good
life as they knew it.
Abruptly, the population cannot buy, or even find, once plentiful
necessities. They feel their streets are unsafe. Laws go unenforced or
are enforced inequitably. Every day things stop working. The government
turns from reliable to capricious if not hostile.
Consider contemporary Venezuela. By 2010, the once well-off
oil-exporting country was mired in a self-created mess. Food became
scarce, crime ubiquitous.
Radical socialism, nationalization, corruption, jailing opponents,
and the destruction of constitutional norms were the culprits.
Between 2009 and 2016, a once relatively stable Greece nearly became a
Third World country. So did Great Britain in its socialist days of the
1970s.
Joe Biden’s young presidency may already be leading the United States into a similar meltdown.
Hard Left “woke” ideology has all but obliterated the idea of a
border. Millions of impoverished foreigners are entering the United
States illegally—and during a pandemic without either COVID-19 tests or
vaccinations.
The health bureaucracies have lost credibility as official
communiques on masks, herd and acquired immunity, vaccinations, and
comorbidities apparently change and adjust to perceived political
realities.
After decades of improving race relations, America is regressing into a pre-modern tribal society.
Crime soars. Inflation roars. Meritocracy is libeled and so we are governed more by ideology and tribe.
The soaring prices of the stuff of life—fuel, food, housing, health care, transportation—are strangling the middle class.
Millions stay home, content to be paid by the state not to work. Supply shortages and empty shelves are the new norm.
Nineteenth-century-style train robberies are back. So is 1970s urban
violence, replete with looting, carjackings, and random murdering of the
innocent.
After the Afghanistan debacle, we have returned to the dark days
following defeat in Vietnam, when U.S. deterrence abroad was likewise
shattered, and global terrorism and instability were the norms abroad.
Who could have believed a year ago that America would now beg Saudi
Arabia and Russia to pump more oil—as we pulled our own oil leases, and
canceled pipelines and oil fields?
Our path to systems collapse is not due to an earthquake, climate change, a nuclear war, or even the COVID-19 pandemic.
Instead, most of our maladies are self-inflicted. They are the direct
result of woke ideologies that are both cruel and antithetical to
traditional American pragmatism.
Hard-Left district attorneys in our major cities refuse to charge
thousands of arrested criminals—relying instead on bankrupt social
justice theories.
Law enforcement has been arbitrarily defunded and libeled. Police
deterrence is lost, so looters, vandals, thieves, and murderers more
freely prey on the public.
“Modern monetary theory” deludes ideologues that printing trillions
of dollars can enrich the public, even as the ensuing inflation is
making people poorer.
“Critical race theory” absurdly dictates that current “good” racism
can correct the effects of past bad racism. A once tolerant, multiracial
nation is resembling the factionalism of the former Yugoslavia.
The culprit again is a callous woke ideology that posits little value
for individuals, prioritizing only the so-called collective agenda.
Woke’s trademark is “equity,” or a forced equality of result.
Practically, we are becoming a comic-book version of victims and
victimizers, with woke opportunists playacting as our superheroes.
Strangest in 2021 was the systematic attack on our ancient
institutions, as we scapegoated our ancestors for our own
incompetencies.
The woke have waged a veritable war against the 233-year-old
Electoral College and the right of states to set their own balloting
laws in national elections, the 180-year-old filibuster, the
150-year-old nine-person Supreme Court, and the 60-year-old, 50-state
union.
The U.S. military, Department of Justice, FBI, CIA, Center for
Disease Control, and National Institutes of Health until recently were
revered. Their top echelons were staffed by career professionals mostly
immune to the politics of the day.
Not now. These bureaus and agencies are losing public confidence and
support. Citizens fear rather than respect Washington grandees who have
weaponized politics ahead of public service.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, Attorney General
Merrick Garland, former FBI heads like James Comey and Andrew McCabe,
retired CIA director John Brennan, and Anthony Fauci head of the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases—have all
politicalized and vastly exceeded their professional purviews.
They sounded off in public fora as if they were elected legislators
up for reelection. Some lied under oath. Others demonized critics. Most
sought to become media darlings.
This governmental freefall is overseen by a tragically bewildered,
petulant, and incompetent president. In his confusion, an increasingly
unpopular President Joe Biden seems to believe his divisive chaos is
working, belittling his political opponents as racist Confederate
rebels.
As we head into the 2022 midterm elections, who will stop our descent
into collective poverty, division, and self-inflicted madness?
Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
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