It’s become almost a cliché that the United States of America, once a shining beacon of freedom to the world, is increasingly becoming less of a model and more of a bad experiment of political culture, a country that is losing its moral compass and is becoming more and more dysfunctional with each passing year. Until some time ago such kinds of observations were typical of left-wing intellectuals and activists, but in the last few months/years they have become bipartisan, though of course for opposite reasons.

One of the maîtres à penser—probably the most prominent one—of this new approach to understanding the evolution—or, better, involution—of American political culture is Victor Davis Hanson, a senior fellow in military history at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and a professor emeritus of classics at California State University, Fresno. A good summary of his views on how America has changed in these past few years is a recent American Greatness article that explains how, by whom and for what purpose American civilization has been turned upside down, which is why “we have a rendezvous soon with the once unthinkable and unimaginable.” In the last six months, he says, we have borne witness to a series of iconic moments evidencing a self-induced collapse of American culture. “The signs are everywhere,” he explains, “and cover the gamut of politics, the economy, education, social life, popular culture, foreign policy, and the military.”  Although he doesn’t explicitly say it, the implicit message is that America is descending into a sort of madness.

How else can we explain why the Biden administration fled from Afghanistan, leaving behind billions of dollars of advanced military weaponry and equipment in the hands of Taliban?  Or why has the Pentagon revolutionized the entire system of recruitment, promotions, and tenure in the armed forces, “by predicating them in large part on race, gender, and sexual orientation rather than merit or battlefield efficacy?”

But the list of devastating effects of this politically induced “madness” is very long. To give some other examples:

Would anyone have believed that leftists, gays, and feminists would have done their best to destroy a half-century of female athletic achievement by allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports and thereby erase the record performances of three generations of women?

Would anyone have believed that a feminist and accomplished swimmer like Riley Gaines would be cornered, swarmed, threatened, and barricaded in at a university for the crime of daring to state the obvious: that transgendered women are still, in terms of their musculoskeletal physiques and frames, males and thereby have no business competing in women’s sports?

Would anyone have believed that a gay senate aide would have engaged in passive, unprotected sex in a public and hallowed Senate chamber, filmed in graphic detail his act of sodomy, had it circulated among friends and social media, and then, when outrage followed, claimed victimhood by accusing those offended of being homophobic toward him and his active homosexual partner?

Not to mention the steady erasure of jurisprudence, both civil and criminal, at the hands of prosecutors subsidized by George Soros, the woke drift in academia (the case of Claudine Gay at Harvard University is emblematic), and “the end of sovereignty,” as some 10 million illegal entries will have crossed unlawfully and with impunity in the first Biden term.

The picture painted by Professor Hanson is as frightening as the above mentioned “rendezvous,” to which he refers at the end of his article. Is he right? And more importantly, is there still room for a u-turn? To the first question, the answer is, unfortunately, yes. And of course I don’t believe that there is a single answer to the second. There are too many variables in play. Generally speaking, political experience teaches us that the potential for a u-turn depends on various factors such as political will, public sentiment, and external circumstances. Political landscapes are complex and dynamic systems that can change over time due to shifts in public opinion, leadership changes, or external events. Changes in public sentiment and political leadership may lead to a reevaluation of existing policies and the implementation of new ones. 

So what? Well, to be honest and fair, several indicators suggest that a shift in public sentiment is taking place. The woke ideology is getting more and more annoying every day. The perception that freedom of speech is under attack—in public schools, universities, workplaces, state government agencies, and the media—is becoming increasingly popular. As for leadership changes, according to RealClearPolitics, Biden’s average approval ratings are under water by double digits on every major issue, including the economy, foreign policy, immigration, inflation, and crime.  In contrast, a December Wall Street Journal poll shows Donald Trump bumping up against a ceiling of about 47 percent of the popular vote. A recent New York Times and Siena College survey shows Biden trailing Trump in five out of six battleground states. Trump leads in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and Pennsylvania, with Biden ahead in Wisconsin. It’s interesting to note that Biden beat Trump in all six states in 2020, but Trump now leads by an average of 48% to 44% across these states in a hypothetical rematch.

Perhaps enough to let us cope, and even thrive. Or at least as long as the Dems don’t manipulate the vote tally with mail-in votes. But that is another story.

Samuel Robert Piccoli is a blogger and the author of the books Being Conservative from A to Z (2014) and Blessed Are the Free in Spirit (2021). He lives in the Venice area.

Image: Free image, Pixabay license, no attribution required.