Dakota Beacon

Calling all citizens! Calling all citizens! Come in please!

I have just finished reading Victor Davis Hanson’s new book The Dying Citizen. If you read only one book this year, this is the book to read. It was largely written between 2018 through early 2020 although the accumulated research extends much earlier. Hanson’s views cannot be dismissed as mere “conspiracy theories.” Nonsense! He is far too intelligent and well-read for that. As an eminent historian and classicist he authored several dozen well received books. They offer a range of material dealing with the comparison of historical and current demographics and cultural customs.

He begins his book with the history of the concept of citizenship and then explains the forces trying to destroy that idea today. Hanson summarizes hugely important historically significant events in an incredibly clear manner. His footnotes, short essays in themselves, document his assertions.

According to Hanson, ancient Greeks and their heirs conceived the ideal citizen as a middle class person free in both a civil and religious sense, responsibly serving and voting and earning a good living, and knowledgeable and independent. The book offers details to verify his statements.

To the heart of the book, Hanson believes American citizenship is being eroded by several factors. First, unelected bureaucrats wield power never granted them by the Constitution. Hanson’s concise and incisive discussion of the “unelected” is so well put that only direct quotes clearly state his point. The following I find to be most interesting and my favorite part of the book.

“By 2019 some 450 federal agencies were staffed by 2.7 million bureaucrats. The Federal Register now numbers 175,496 pages of various codes, encompassing 235 volumes. Its size increased yearly – until 2017 and Donald J. Trump’s last-ditch efforts at radical deregulation and some thinning of the bureaucracy. An unfathomable amount of power has been transferred from state and local governments. The US Congress has ceded to federal agencies, manned by the unelected, the power to make regulations, administer them with the force of law, punish perceived offenders, and muster unlimited resources to quash citizens’ appeals and objections.” (p. 157) In effect, federal agencies function in three capacities: executive, legislative, and judicial.

Hanson continues, “Contrary to popular belief, the term ‘deep state’ never implied a secret cabal. Much less does it now convey any notion of official membership. Rather, it is a natural and loose alliance of those who see themselves as permanent custodians of US power, morality, and influence. The hierarchy is an anointed class, self-defined by its members’ educations, resumes, incestuousness, and contacts. All too often they exude disdain and condescension for what they see as transitory, mostly clueless elected officials who come and go in Washington – and the ill-informed citizens who put them in office.” (Ibid.) There you have it – as concisely as anyone can state it.

Second, Hanson contends that there is a deliberate effort to degrade the idea of American citizenship through an evolutionary process. “Evolutionaries” view themselves as architects destined to dismantle constitutional citizenship. They believe the foundational idea of citizenship has weakened in recent decades. They conclude a) the public has either lost confidence in its ability to control the Republic or b) the public prefers a radical equality of outcome rather than equality of opportunity. Consequently, they wish to move the Republic beyond the original ideas of the founders. They prefer a very powerful presidency (staffed by an administration of handlers) that can bypass Congress on issues such as immigration, climate change, and income redistribution. That’s why “progressives” desire to change the way we elect presidents and make laws.

Third, Hanson sees “globalists” as a factor at work in the dying American citizen. As a current fad, globalism constitutes a further erosion of citizenship. Critiquing the belief held by some that we are "citizens of the world" instead of citizens of a specific country with well-defined borders, Hanson shows this to be incompatible with republican government (republican with a small “r”). This impractical cosmopolitan idea is driven by privileged utopians empowered by global travel, finance, and communications. They are critical of American exceptionalism and nationalism. Still, they fantasize about extending American democracy and liberal tolerance around the world without understanding where these ideas came from and why they are resisted.

As the idea of citizenship evaporates, degrading the foundation of our nation, the middle class is being swept away and replaced by an underclass wholly dependent on the government. Instead of a thinking and dynamic middle class that is self-sufficient and not dependent on Washington DC, the US will transition to a near peasant class that will not oppose whatever the government does.

He concludes the book with a short epilogue updating the reader. Overall, Hanson does an excellent job explaining why things we thought were strong, familiar, and reassuring about American citizenship are dissolving. His warnings are timely and should be taken seriously.

The Dying Citizen by Victor Davis Hanson. Find it! Buy it! Read it!

And, as a supplement, watch the short series of recorded lectures by Hanson published at the Hillsdale College website called, "American Citizenship and Its Decline." You may find it even better than the book.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).