‘It’s a Free Country, Brother’
National Review,
by
Victor Davis Hanson
Original Article
Posted By: Pluperfect,
4/23/2020 4:58:46 AM
In this current crisis, the longest if not the first complete shutdown in U.S. history, the freedoms of American democracy are being tested in ways we scarcely ever imagined. Out of nowhere little Napoleonic governors arise to enact decrees prohibiting gardening or strolling on an empty beach — decrees that seem to have little purpose other than to reflect that they can do so. Snitches volunteer to out felonious social deviants who are seen cooking in the backyard with a neighbor. A little horned-devil virus seems to be trying to do what those Russkies never could.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
ARKfamily 4/23/2020 6:32:51 AM (No. 388430)
Proverbs 6:6-11
Go to the ant, you sluggard!
Consider her ways and be wise,
Which, having no captain,
Overseer or ruler,
Provides her supplies in the summer,
And gathers her food in the harvest,
How long will you slumber, O sluggard?
When will you rise from your sleep?
A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to sleep--
So shall your poverty come on you
like a prowler,
And your need like an armed man.
It is time that we Americans start taking a serious look at what we do. Let's get busy taking care of ourselves by exercising and eating right, put cleaning and sanitation back into our schedules, and look to energetic ways rather than sluggish ways.
Ecclesiastes states that wisdom comes from God only. Open your Bible and start reading. The Old Testament and New Testament - both of them to get the broader picture.
Clearly, there is one question here for you after reading the Bible verse from above. Would you rather be an ant or a sluggard. Your choice. Your life. I know it is a free country but with it comes responsibility from us as individuals not laziness.
22 people like this.
It's a free country... HAHAHA!!!! Good one Victor!!! Good one!!!
17 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
franq 4/23/2020 7:16:02 AM (No. 388465)
He's right. Look at all the free money they've been handing out.
10 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
BaldGuy 4/23/2020 8:33:07 AM (No. 388557)
when I come back into the next life, I want to have VDH's brain.....there's hope for all of us yet based on his observations....excellent read....
23 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Kafka2 4/23/2020 9:35:20 AM (No. 388638)
The Democrats have done a complete job of ripping up the Constitution during this crises. It will take a lot to restore it.
20 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
Strike3 4/23/2020 9:38:56 AM (No. 388645)
When the decree comes out from the little Mussolinis that it is now okay to open back up for business, they are going to find, to their everlasting embarrassment, that we are already open. Judges all over the country are going to drop the fines and tickets that were issued, if they know what's good for their careers.
12 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
privateer 4/23/2020 9:49:47 AM (No. 388658)
Thanks to the anti-American commie leftists, we are becoming the Land of Freaked, and the Home of the Craven.
7 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
HotRod 4/23/2020 10:07:50 AM (No. 388679)
Mr. Hanson does a good job of expressing the mood of the people.
Please excuse me if I digress, but, you know: Cabin Fever.
I appreciate Mr. Hanson's correct use of the word ''myriad.'' It is a word often misused by many people, because they see it misused in the media.
Myriad is to be used like the word ''many.'' The difference is that it signifies that there are differences. Let me explain:
If you have a bowl of carrots, you can say that you have many carrots for sale.
If you have a bowl of mixed vegetables, you can say that you have myriad vegetables for sale.
You would not say that you have ''a many'' carrots for sale. So you would not say that you have ''a myriad'' of vegetables for sale.
Also (my apologies for boring you) the word ''utilize'' means exactly the same thing as the word ''use.''
You use a hammer, just like you utilize a hammer.
Utilize came out of political speak, because it is pretentious and seemingly makes the speaker think it makes them sound more intelligent. It is a clumsy word. It clutters up a sentence unnecessarily.
I fear it's too late for any change now. The words are ingrained in the language, but I always appreciate the correct use when I see/hear it.
Thank you, Mr. Hanson, for sparking my interest in something other than more of the same we have heard for weeks!
Now, I know my grammar is bad, so I await correction. Thank you in advance!
Back to cabin fever...
24 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Madinmaryland 4/23/2020 10:35:16 AM (No. 388719)
Awesome, awesome,awesome. Love this.
7 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
VietVet68 4/23/2020 10:35:22 AM (No. 388720)
Talk about a teachable moment...with very little real data to go on the left launched into a full on totalitarian approach to the COVID-19 epidemic taking their edicts far beyond what the constitution allows. Pretty much every one of these dictators reside in the democrat party. I guess it's safe to assume this streak of authoritarianism was in them all along just waiting for an opportunity to get out.
14 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
cor-vet 4/23/2020 10:38:33 AM (No. 388724)
I'm still upset with our little NAZI sheriff and his 9pm to 5am curfew. The bug doesn't come out hunting victims at night, while businesses are closed, and attack people in their automobiles!
10 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
bad-hair 4/23/2020 10:58:15 AM (No. 388751)
I have a short go to argument when people start talking constitution and their RIGHTS to free stuff.
Under the constitution I have the right to go rob banks, with a gun, no question. Pursuit of happiness and all that.
I also have the right to take the consequences when I'm caught because our country has seen fit to pass laws constitutionally that prohibit robbing people.
3 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
MDConservative 4/23/2020 10:58:39 AM (No. 388752)
"We are witnessing the fading moments of Baby Boomer–generation authority."
No, we are witnessing the rise of post-Boomer "moral authority", which supersedes any law or Constitution because it serves a higher purpose for mankind. This is the future. The post-Boomer genrations see the Constitution does not ensure "social justice", and is a document terribly flawed by the racism and sexism of its authors...thus its basic nature is questionable. it allows "hate speech" and other atrocities. It denies the popular choice of the nation the Presidency.
We ain't seen nothing yet.
11 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
planetgeo 4/23/2020 12:11:17 PM (No. 388844)
We're way past the Boomer generation in who/how we are governed now. We are way into the Nanny generation...the Gretchens and the "Karens" of all genders, which includes the Daddy Nannies like Gavin and Jared and Tim. You know the type...Nazi Hall Monitor in elementary school...Pep Club nerds in Middle School...got wedgied and stuffed into lockers in High School. Went into government rather than into a real job straight out of elite liberal arts college for one and only one reason, to get hellacious REVENGE on every single one of us normals. Order us on every little detail of our lives (straws, toilets, water usage, light bulbs, solar bullshiite, everything) to make our lives as miserable as possible.
If they had only been born Chinese, THEY would have designed and unleashed a bioweapon on us. They are now just grateful that somebody else has done that for them.
8 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
little guy 4/23/2020 12:22:28 PM (No. 388871)
The article dances around the fact that many of our fellow Americans are truly willing to give up freedom in exchange for security ... even when the government doesn't really guarantee security. And these idiots are slowly starting to out number us!
The election for POTUS this November will be the straw that either breaks the back of America or buys us a 4 year reprieve . Look where we are with the Dems in only partial control. Now imagine giving them total control! Both houses of Congress and the presidency!
8 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
RedWhite&Blue2 4/23/2020 1:08:30 PM (No. 388960)
So many “little Napoleons”...
VDH nails the bastids!
4 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
Timber Queen 4/23/2020 1:25:54 PM (No. 388980)
I submit we are in the final ideological battle of the Baby Boomer generation, upon which hinges our nation's future. Did we ruin America or did we save it?
As a member of the 1954 cohort, reported to be the peak year of the boom, I'm the baby sister of the families started in 1945. While moving through life's institutions I always found myself living the last of the good old days. I started Girl Scouts in the days of merit badges and camping trips, but when I was a college student summer-camp counselor the focus was already trending environmentalism and less emphasis on competition. The big student protests had died down by the time I got on campus and I had WWII vets as professors, but the radicals still had their bull horns in the quad and were swelling the ranks of assistant lecturers. When I started working employers still gave great office Christmas parties, by the end of my career we had scaled down and sober "holiday gatherings" at ubiquitous hotel ballrooms. I'm not alone in having lived the slow cultural Marxist transformation of our society orchestrated by freedom's enemies.
However, the radicals are not and never were the majority of Baby Boomers. They were just the loudest and the wedge used to usher in the Cloward-Priven strategy and the slow "fundamental transformation" of America. The majority of Boomer men served their country in the military during the Vietnam War years, if not in-country. They returned often to howling mobs, yet set about building businesses, careers and families. Boomer women graduated from college in growing numbers and worked alongside their husbands for greater economic security. Despite all the societal changing experiments of the Commie Left in their battle against freedom, the American spirit of individual liberty ran deep and strong.
Donald J. Trump is a leading edge Boomer that was never infected with the Marxist Virus. His life of triumphs, failures and rebounding is the embodiment of the American Spirit. When the professional political class steadfastly embraced the globalist dream and Trump saw there was no one left with the skills to set right the wrongs, he entered the arena on behalf of all patriotic Americans; past, present and future. Did Boomers ruin America or will we save it?
MAGA:KAG - Trust Trump.
10 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
YorkieMom 4/23/2020 4:17:30 PM (No. 389176)
I’m doing my part to ignore the napoleons. I’m still getting my hair done, so sue me.
3 people like this.
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