The End of Citizenship and Our Current Cultural Crisis — A Conversation with Victor Davis Hanson

In this edition of the popular podcast series "Thinking in Public," Albert Mohler speaks with Victor Davis Hanson, the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Professor Hanson's scholarship has earned him numerous awards including the National Humanities Medal and the Bradley Prize. His latest book, The Dying Citizen, explores the history and importance of citizenship and the many threats it currently faces by our culture. It is the topic of this "Thinking in Public" episode.

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[rubenmejia]

53:12 To hear such an educated person talk about the value to society of a tradesperson warms my heart. We really are the backbone of our society.

[Dbulkss]

Victor is excellent. He thinks thoroughly before he speaks. You can tell all that he says is backed by detailed observation of history and statistics. Which is what this nation needs more of.

[billorights]

I’m a total VDH disciple.. I read and or listen to something from him every single day of my life without any exception.. the only voice that keeps me from becoming insane

[karlstrauss]

Whenever I wanna improve my vocabulary, I just listen to Victor Davis Hanson

[periclesithaca]

Kim Kardashian and The Rock and too many inconsequential celebrities have millions of followers, while extremely consequential and careful, thoughtful, well read and highly intelligent thinkers like VDH and Thomas Sowell have thousands. THAT, my American CITIZEN friends is one of the more pressing problems in our Republic!

[justicewokeisutterbs]

Thank you for this program. Every time I hear Dr. Hansen speak about the founders I get a greater appreciation for the incredible accomplishment their drafting of our system of government was. At the same time my anger deepens toward the malicious ideologues who relentlessly work to destroy it and the worthless fools who follow them. Please, God, gather them all in one spot and drop a flaming meteor on them.

[maryhooper]

I wish I could have been taught by this gentleman. Thank you

[forcedanonymity]

VDH is a national treasure. I’m 44, a member of Generation X and as the millennial generation has emerged like mindless, ravenous locusts, I’ve come to look back to the minds of my parent’s generation in hopes they could impart wisdom to those who would listen who might help save the nation from the wolves at the door. Often I think many of us who are secular but moral take for granted how important our parent’s and our childhood’s exposure and emphasis on the church was in forming our sense of morality and I regretfully admit to being a young 18 year old father who didn’t allot enough importance to Christianity when raising my son. And though he has a very similar morality to mine, I see what he’s missing and where I’ve gone wrong as a father, now that he’s 25 and has not met the challenge of fatherhood as well as I did, as flawed as I was as a father. Fortunately for my two grandchildren, they were both born to Mexican-American mother’s who still retain stronger religious traditions within their families than existed in my own upbringing. So in that I can find temporary solace, but I hope the culture finds God again, at least in the best sense so that morality can be reestablished so that America can once again know that it’s best days lie ahead once more. I’m very concerned at how technology was used to blindside and subvert the population while they were distracted with fabulously vacant technological distractions.

[coniwatson]

VDH should be an advisor to any WH cabinet. He's the American common sense.

[brianpatrickbarnes]

VDH is an Oracle and a National Treasure!

[JosephLupoli]

Victor Davis Hanson has the amazing ability to speak smoothly, bluntly, and quickly enough to hold my attention indefinitely.
Hanson tells me a great deal while using no "filler" words whatsoever.
This is why he's my primary go-to guy when I need accurate answers to a given pertinent issue that concerns me.

[geraldarcuri]

I have lived in California for 56+ years. No one has the pulse of this culture better than Victor Davis Hanson. Like me, he has lived the deliberate decline in citizenship here, and he was paying close attention.

California is the poster state for the disintegration of the roles and responsibilities of citizenship. And, progressives want it that way. No distinctions between people who are invested in these things and those who are not are permitted. To a progressive, distinctions are mere discrimination. When everyone has the privilieges and rights once reserved for citizens, then no one is really a citizen, because citizenship is an empty concept. It was gutted by social justice zealots.

Illegal immigration is at the heart of this catastrophe. It won't be reversed.

[PastorBrianLantz]

I have followed VDH for many years and can deeply empathize with him as a Californian as well as an ex-border patrol agent. His commentaries are both adroit and informative, not just about conservative personal opinion. In your discussion Dr. Hanson reference Augustine Hippo's comment regarding the 'earthly' city imploring the citizen not to allow fields to go fallow and plant and return to the virtues of the citizen farmer and how American society have discarded the work ethic of physical labor exporting such labor abroad for cheaper costs. I can remember the days of the Washington- Labor union corrupt marriage where especially the steel/auto/trucking unions extorted wages from those corporations making them wholly non-competitive as the union workers literally paid into the coffers of such corrupt politicians. The idea of joining something like that was anathema to me! But the greater anathema that has not passed but become much worse are the woke religious denominations and theologians propelling them. The autonomy of the local church under the spiritual gifts as as illustrated in Ephesians 4 is really our only hope against this cosmic onslaught of a very perverse moralism ensuring that this bankrupt nation never makes it to "Chapter 11' as it were. In short, pastors need to start studying and teaching daily and the gifts of their congregations must begin supporting ministries like Dr. Andy Woods of Sugarland Bible Church and R. B. Thieme Jr of Berachah church. They actually TREAT their professions as professions.

[oldsachem]

An orphan who is a ward of the State learns a kind of citizenship that veers near Tyranny. Citizenship needs the institution of Family to bestow meaning in the ideal sense.

[dallaswinston]

Victor David Hanson is Brilliant!
I've read and recommend his books.
He Truly is an American Treasure.

[Rgraceful]

VDH has that rare wisdom that this world truly lacks .

[SteveTheFazeman]

Our Founding Fathers understood the fragility of man. They knew that halfwits would be elected to govern. Hence, the balance of powers.

[petrolo]

Enjoyed this great dialogue. There are some fantastic insights throughout the duration of this podcast. 💯

[gbpjnsx]

Man! These two men need to have more talks on whatever public avenue they can. I love these men...and such intelligence and subject matter. Thanks for posting.

[alcoholly]

I think this interviewer got a better discussion out of VDH on citizenship than anybody else I've seen. Great stuff!