"America Is Racing Backward Into The 19th Century Wild West" - 'If You Don't Learn From History, You Are Bound To Repeat It'!

 

The Thinnest Veneer of Civilization

10/2/2022 - Victor Davis Hanson Townhall.com

To be able to eat, to move about, to have shelter, to be free from state or tribal coercion, to be secure abroad, and safe at home - only that allows cultures to be freed from the daily drudgery of mere survival.

Civilization alone permits humans to pursue sophisticated scientific research, the arts, and the finer aspects of culture.

So, the great achievement of Western civilization - consensual government, individual freedom, rationalism in partnership with religious belief, free market economics, and constant self-critique and audit - was to liberate people from daily worry over state violence, random crime, famine, and an often-unforgiving nature.

But so often the resulting leisure and affluence instead deluded arrogant Western societies into thinking that modern man no longer needed to worry about the fruits of civilization he took to be his elemental birthright.

As a result, the once prosperous Greek city-state, Roman Empire, Renaissance republics, and European democracies of the 1930s imploded - as civilization went headlong in reverse.

We in the modern Western world are now facing just such a crisis.

We talk grandly about the globalized Great Reset. We blindly accept the faddish New Green Deal. We virtue signal about defunding the police. We merely shrug at open borders. And we brag about banning fertilizers and pesticides, outlawing the internal combustion engine, and discounting Armageddon in the nuclear age - as if on autopilot we have already reached utopia.

But meanwhile Westerners are systematically destroying the very elements of our civilization that permitted such fantasies in the first place.

Take fuel. Europeans arrogantly lectured the world that they no longer need traditional fuels. So, they shut down nuclear power plants. They stopped drilling for oil and gas. And they banned coal.

What followed was a dystopian nightmare. Europeans will burn dirty wood this winter as their civilization reverts from postmodern abundance to premodern survival.

The Biden Administration ossified oil fields. It canceled new federal oil and gas leases. It stopped pipeline construction and hectored investors to shun fossil fuels.

When scarcity naturally followed, fuel prices soared.

The middle class has now mortgaged its upward mobility to ensure that they might afford gasoline, heating oil, and skyrocketing electricity.

The duty of the Pentagon is to keep America safe by deterring enemies, reassuring allies, and winning over neutrals.

It is not to hector soldiers based on their race. It is not to indoctrinate recruits in the woke agenda. It is not to become a partisan political force.

The result of those suicidal Pentagon detours is the fiasco in Afghanistan, the aggression of Vladimir Putin's Russia, the new bellicosity of China, and the loud threats of rogue regimes like Iran.

At home, the Biden Administration inexplicably destroyed the southern border, as if civilized nations of the past never needed such boundaries.

Utter chaos followed. Three million migrants have poured into the United States. While some cross over clandestinely, others clear border stations without an adequate audit, and largely without skills, high-school diplomas, or capital.

The streets of our cities are anarchical - and by intent.

Defunding the police, emptying the jails, and destroying the criminal justice system unleashed a wave of criminals. It is now open season on the weak and innocent.

America is racing backwards into the 19th-century Wild West. Predators maim, kill, and rob with impunity. Felons correctly conclude that bankrupt postmodern "critical legal theory" will ensure them exemption from punishment.

Few Americans know anything about agriculture, except to expect limitless supplies of inexpensive, safe, and nutritious food at their beck and call.

But that entitlement for 330 million hungry mouths requires massive water projects, and new dams and reservoirs. Farmers rely on steady supplies of fertilizer, fuels, and chemicals. Take away that support - as green nihilists are attempting - and millions will soon go hungry, as they have since the dawn of civilization.

Perhaps nearly a million homeless now live on the streets of America. Our major cities have turned medieval with their open sewers, garbage-strewn sidewalks, and violent vagrants.

So, we are in a great experiment in which regressive progressivism discounts all the institutions, and the methodologies of the past that have guaranteed a safe, affluent, well-fed and sheltered America.

Instead, we arrogantly are reverting to a new feudalism as the wealthy elite - terrified of what they have wrought - selfishly retreat to their private keeps.

But the rest who suffer the consequences of elite flirtations with nihilism cannot even afford food, shelter, and fuel. And they now feel unsafe, both as individuals and as Americans.

As we suffer self-inflicted mass looting, random street violence, hyperinflation, a nonexistent border, unaffordable fuel, and a collapsing military, Americans will come to appreciate just how thin is the veneer of their civilization.

When stripped away, we are relearning that what lies just beneath is utterly terrifying.

 

Democrat Hypocritical Immigration Agenda HAS Destroyed Sovereignty Of The Republic!

 

This Is Not about the Migrants

By Chris J. Krisinger www.americanthinker.com

Since April, thousands of migrants have been bussed to Democrat-controlled "sanctuary" areas like New York City; Chicago; and Washington, D.C., sent north by border state governors to send a message and call needed attention to the overwhelming numbers of migrants illegally entering our nation across its southern border because of President Biden's failed policies.

Those transfers have, in turn, drawn the melodramatic ire of Democrats, who responded with accusations against Republican governors of cruelly using migrants as political pawns.  Perhaps none of these moves has riled Democrats more than Florida governor Ron DeSantis's recent flying of 50 migrants to the liberal Democrat enclave of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.

Democrats' supposed beef with Governor DeSantis — at least publicly — runs the gamut, from accusations of exceeding his authority to expend funds to luring migrants onto the flight with misleading promises to "cruelly" using the migrants as pawns for political gain.

Now comes their latest attack: a letter, sponsored by Reps. Gerry Connolly (Va.), Sylvia Garcia (Texas), Ted Lieu (Calif.), and Mondaire Jones (N.Y.), further signed by 41 Democrat members of Congress (oddly, only one from Florida), and addressed to Attorney General Merrick Garland asking the Department of Justice (DOJ) to "investigate these migrant flights for any evidence they may have violated federal law."

Let no one be under any illusions.  This is not about the 50 migrants Governor DeSantis flew to Martha's Vineyard.  They could care less about helping the migrants than citizens of the Vineyard did.  This is about Democrats pulling out all the stops to hamstring Governor DeSantis, who they tacitly know could well be the Republican (and very popular) presidential nominee for 2024.  It is he whom Democrats seek to attack and, most of all, must work to diminish.  (Any doubts?  Watch how progressive media cover Governor DeSantis as Florida recovers from Hurricane Ian.)

On whole, Democrats attacking the governors for orchestrating these transfers to call attention to the overwhelming migrant flow is already tin-eared.  Americans from all demographics and political persuasions across the nation very well understand — just as the governors do — that the nation faces an immense challenge with illegal immigration.  Democrats would better serve their constituents by focusing on the issues created by the continuing border surge than by spending unproductive time and resources dogging the governors for calling attention to it.

Governors DeSantis (Fla.), Abbott (Texas), and Ducey (Ariz.) are succeeding in exposing the nation to what the border states have endured with the difficulties, issues, and burdens caused as a direct result of President Biden's border policies.  While Vineyard Democrats were rattled by 50 migrants, border states are on pace for two million–plus migrants in 2022 alone (after 1.7 million in 2021) with no outrage, empathy, or action from Democrat lawmakers.  If the affluent denizens of the Vineyard can't handle 50 migrants, how is the rest of the country, the less well off part, supposed to handle two million–plus migrants?  That's something Democrats avoid answering, and it underscores the merit of the governors' perceptive gambit to reveal the double-standards of progressives on illegal immigration while leaving Democrats exposed as selectively outraged.

It is also not a good look for these representatives to criticize Governor DeSantis and the other governors for their actions, knowing that the Biden administration has flown planeload after planeload — in the dead of night, no less — to destinations across the U.S. to offload these migrants on someone else.  Do President Biden and Democrats think cities like El Paso, Yuma, Eagle River, and Del Rio (to name a few) are any more prepared to deal with the enormous numbers of migrants than a prosperous, wealthy, but liberal location like Martha's Vineyard or a Democrat-controlled city that declares itself a "sanctuary"?

Lastly, also given the illicit flow of drugs — namely fentanyl — it is sinful what the administration is not doing, or what Congress is not demanding be done, to protect and defend Americans by securing the border.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that more than 108,000 Americans died of drug overdoses between February 2021 and February 2022.  Of those, more than 70% involved fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, much of which is smuggled in across the southern border.

Customs & Border Patrol agents seized an unprecedented 10,500 lbs. of the deadly drug in 2021, and seizures have already surpassed 12,000 lbs. so far in 2022 — the most fentanyl ever seized in a single year in the United States and enough to kill the entire U.S. population eight times over, a memo circulating on Capitol Hill reads.  The bipartisan American solution is straight forward: secure the border and with that, stop—or at least reduce—the flow of illicit drugs.

The problems with President Biden's open border policies are real and deserve solutions "for the common and greater good" of all American citizens.  These governors have drawn rightful and much needed attention to the issue for the nation by, admittedly, somewhat unconventional and unexpected means.  But every minute Democrats spend grumbling — now with this latest House Democrats' letter to the DOJ — about the governors' efforts to compel a national conversation and action to deal with this humanitarian and security debacle is another minute spent avoiding the actual challenges and costs to the nation of President Biden's disastrous open border policy.

 

 

Fraudulent Biden Chaotic Border Policy HAS Totally 'Transformed the United States of America'

 

Biden’s Open Border Invasion — The Real Numbers?

10-1-22 Patriotpost.us Mark Alexander

What percent of the 330 million people within the United States arrived illegally since Biden took office?

 “The bosom of America is open to receive…the oppressed and persecuted…whom we shall welcome to a participation of all our rights and privileges, if by decency and propriety of conduct they appear to merit the enjoyment.” —George Washington (1783)

Two weeks ago, after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called Joe Biden’s border bluff and flew 48 illegal immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard, that leftist playground for the rich and famous where Barack Obama maintains his summer mansion, the Democrat Party’s glitterati and Leftmedia talkingheads burst into flames of outrage and contempt.

As Sen. Mitch McConnell noted, “These well-to-do blue enclaves are finally witnessing the smallest fraction of the challenges that open borders have forced on working-class communities all across our country.”

It took less than 24 hours for MVI officials to declare a “humanitarian crisis,” and a day later, residents booted the new arrivals off their island — despite the fact they could certainly have accommodated them in accordance with Massachusetts’ high-minded “sanctuary status” for illegal immigrants.

For his part, Biden protested: “Republicans are playing politics with human beings, using them as props. What they’re doing is simply wrong. It’s un-American. It’s reckless.”

Actually, Biden is a notorious “human trafficker,” and it is his Democrats’ intentional and deceitful open-border policy that is “un-American” and “reckless.”

What a cesspool of consummate hypocrites.

As I noted at the time, in 2021 alone, Biden authorized almost 1,000 large charter “ghost flights” to many U.S. locations, including planes loaded with children — most under cover of darkness.

If 48 illegal immigrants flying onto the charmed and idyllic Martha’s Vineyard Island constitutes a “humanitarian crisis,” consider the impact of Biden flying 148 THOUSAND immigrants into undisclosed locations around the nation in the middle of the night. Notably, he sent 70 flights to Florida.

Predictably, Gov. DeSantis has been accused of illegally luring illegal immigrants onto the MVI flights with promises of housing and jobs, accusations he has completely debunked. And he is now being sued by immigration activists. Never underestimate the Demos’ ability to collude with the Leftmedia to change the subject.

DeSantis responded to all the leftist noise: “When Biden is flying these people all over the fruited plain in the middle of the night, I didn’t hear a peep out of those people. … The state of Florida offered transport to sanctuary jurisdictions because it’s our view that the border should be secured, and we want to have Biden reinstitute policies like ‘Remain in Mexico’ and making sure that people aren’t overwhelming. … What’s not humane is what Biden is doing. He’s given a false promise, the border’s open, luring people to come here for political purposes, and then basically cutting these people loose and leaving them high and dry.”

Gov. DeSantis has promised more flights!

So, let’s take a look at the law-breaking illegal immigrants Biden has lured across our increasingly deadly but “secure” border, as Border Czar Kamala Harris absurdly called it.

The actual numbers are staggering.

On Biden’s watch, more than 3.7 million illegal border crossers have surrendered to or been captured by DHS since Biden took office. About 1.8 million have been expelled based on Title 42 pandemic restrictions still in place, though Biden just declared the pandemic is over, so maybe those expulsions are about to come to an abrupt halt.

The other 1.8 million illegal immigrants were logged by DHS and then released, most swamping the towns and resources of border states and resulting in a real and sometimes deadly humanitarian crisis.

New illegal immigrant records were set in August, but — and it is a BIG “but” — there are many more who cross undetected.

DHS officially estimates there were more than 900,000 “known gotaways,” those who entered but were not captured, counted, and released. And that estimate is likely to be substantially under the actual number of “gotaways.”

The total number of illegal immigrants Biden has invited across our border in the first 20 months he was in office is closer to 3.3 million. That surge includes criminals who are bringing record amounts of deadly fentanyl into the country, resulting in record deaths of American citizens. Notably, it also includes increasing numbers of terrorists and other violent offenders.

Consider that 3.3 million number again — you don’t have to be a math scholar to do a quick percentage calculation.

There are about 330 million people in the United States, and 3.3 million is 1% of that population. In other words, the number of illegal aliens Biden has allowed into our nation since he has been in office is equivalent to 1% of our total population.

If that stat does not shock you, then you must live in some tony gated community like Martha’s Vineyard.

What might also shock you is that Democrats were opposed to illegal immigration before they realized their political future was in jeopardy and decided to replenish their ranks by throwing open our southern border.

For the record, remember when Biden was for border security before he wasn’t?

As incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2006, Biden declared we must secure our border, including more border fences: “People are driving across that border with tons, tons — hear me — tons of everything from byproducts for methamphetamine to cocaine to heroin. And it’s all coming up through corrupt Mexico.”

Then-freshman Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and many other Senate Democrats voted to authorize $1.4 billion for 700 miles of border fencing. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) wanted walls along the entire Mexican border.

In 2007, Biden declared some timeless “truisms,” the first being, “It makes sense that no great nation can be in a position where they can’t control their borders.” As a matter of fact, that does make sense, but Biden said it before he began his slow decline into non compos mentis fog. Biden added: “The second truism is that this nation is such that people in the country should have the first opportunity to be able to have jobs that pay well and have jobs that are decent and that after that, the second crack goes to what we may need from other parts of the world or any other input.”

Remember when Biden criticized George W. Bush for “putting a higher value on tax cuts for the wealthy than he did on protecting the border”? He complained about “our conservative business friends” who plan to bring in workers on “work permits that will take away jobs of Americans,” and decried “the allowance of a significant increase — several hundred thousand people a year — to take regular jobs, particularly in the construction industry.”

Got that? “Several hundred thousand people a year” versus the 3.3 million Biden has invited in.

In 2013, every Senate Democrat voted to authorize $7.5 billion for additional border walls proposed by the Obama/Biden regime.

Remember when Obama insisted: “We are a nation of laws. Undocumented workers broke our immigration laws, and I believe that they must be held accountable. When I took office, I committed to fixing this broken immigration system and began to do what I could to secure our borders. Today our immigration system is broken and everybody knows it. … We will [add] additional [border] resources for our law enforcement personnel, so that they can stem the tide of illegal crossing and to speed the return of those who do cross over. If you are a criminal, you will be deported. … We expect people who live in this country to play by the rules.”

Video: Obama’s Immigration Lies

Remember when Chuck Schumer declared: “People who enter the U.S. without our permission are illegal aliens, and illegal aliens should not be treated the same as people who enter the U.S. legally. … When we use phrases like ‘undocumented workers,’ we convey to the American people that their government is not serious about combating illegal immigration. … I think it is illegal and wrong.”

Video: Democrats then and now

Remember when Hillary Clinton had this to say about illegal immigrant children: “The numbers are increasing dramatically. … We need to do more to provide border security this side of Mexico. … We have to send a clear message that just because your child gets across the border, that doesn’t mean the child gets to stay. We don’t want to send a message that is contrary to our laws.”

And both Hillary and Bill Clinton were once staunch advocates for a border wall.

Video: Bill Clinton on “illegal aliens”

But despite Biden’s “truisms,” amid record deaths from the far more deadly fentanyl flooding across our border now, Biden insists, “Building a wall will do little to deter criminals and cartels seeking to exploit our borders.”

Our border has never been more unsecure than now, and American citizens are paying a heavy price, except, of course, for those on Martha’s Vineyard.