I have recently refreshed myself on Books VIII and IX of Plato's Republic. It is shocking to see the elements of a democracy in decline as if they were written today and not two millennia ago. The hypersensitivity, the reflexive recoil of the lightest touch of the state, and the erosion of authority are all harbingers of a democracy that is ready to flip to tyranny. You are quite correct to remind your readers of the principles that we should all acknowledge and renew our commitments to, Bari. Keep up the good work. P.S. My own prediction is that the far left's embrace of autocracy will kill freedom and then the tyrannical man will take over in a counter reaction. Plato does a stunningly accurate portrait of the tyrannical man that resembles both Trump and Putin.
I am amazed by the comments here. Since when did so-called "conservatives" join the Blame America First crowd? I guess if they can't have the America Trump promised them, they'd rather see this country fail.
I am trying to fid out more about the 11 political Parties that President Zelensy had outlawed. I thought this would have received a lot of scrutiny from the press. Were these parties' platforms to strengthen ties with Russia rather than Europe or was there more to it? Any insights or websites you can provide would be great.
I just re-read all of this Bari, and I have to wonder what you think now that Zelensky has become, himself, a tyrant to be opposed and not cheered when he outlawed all political parties in Ukraine not his own?
Now we have two totalitarian nations at war with each other. Isn't that what Tucker's been saying all along, that Ukraine is not some bastion of democracy that our lying media and government has been portraying them as this entire time. That they are, in fact, anti-democratic and corrupt? So corrupt that Hunter Biden was on their payroll? You know you have to be pretty corrupt when a Biden is on your payroll, right?
I'd like a follow-up this week to the news out of Ukraine of Zelensky declaring himself, in essence, a dictator. I have to think that you would think that it's a betrayal of everything you wrote here with such passion, but I'd really like to read what you have to say about it.
It is such a wonderful relief to hear a honest appraisal of what might be best do. To recognise the greatness of good ideas and to support them at home and abroad, unencumbered by all the lightweight, tired, second hand historical baggage being wheeled about in public buy so many useful types, who claim it is all so complicated.
It is not complicated.
They seem to imply that free in men Europe should be serfs to history, not associate freely, not live their lives freely, in order, not to disturb the frightened, irrational, poor, backward, collectivist Russians..
Bullshit, if the Russians are suicidal then we have ALL got a serious problem. I don't believe they are, and Europe should grow up and increase the pressure on Russia to make the Authoritarian Fascists uncomfortable, and leave the Ukraine. The only off-ramp leads only back to Russia folks. If that means a multi nation war in Europe then so be it. I believe the Russians will fold rapidly. The is already a war in which the Ukrainians are alone in defending the borders of freedom in Europe. Yet the apologists continue to drone on about history and mystical Russian darkness. The Russians must not win this as if they were to triumph, then it sets a very poor example for the rest of the free nations, and another explicit encouragement to the despots at the U.N.
As Nato clearly seems to be an organization designed to stop nation states acting in their own moral national interests, maybe European nations should break ranks, as article five seems to be unhelpful to principled moral action. Who are we? Are we nothing but a bunch of lawyers lost in the fine print? Our Political representatives seem to pick and choose what agreements we rely on, as we did little to defend the integrity of Ukraine in 2013. Not a good sign, and a green light to Putin, where lawyers decide when or when not to defend freedom against the collectivists, it's not a good foundation. This is weak and immoral, but that seems to be where the West is.
To properly discriminate between good and evil, we must support the imperfect good in the Ukraine against the perfect evil of corrupting Russian state power, and that means going to war in the Ukraine..
What is at work here in Europe is the fear of the inevitable uncertainty of war, Putin expects Europe to fold as it usually decides to do. Europe must not fold, as the Russians have, like all of us, far far too much to loose.
So the good can win this I believe, but only if it acts. Europe should mobilise to drive the backward murderous Russian's back home to their beleaguered state. The Russians themselves will deal with Putin and his brutes..
If you are in doubt about what to do, go ask a free Ukrainian if it is complicated, or who invaded who, or what is to be done. They will give some guidance on what is moral and good for Europe.
Keep up the Genuine good work Bari, as there are many hideous posturing types doing the opposite all over the world media. Wonderful article, with a lot of profound good in it, Europe should defend freedom in Europe, it's not really the American taxpayers job, more of a German tax payers job. In my view it's a win win if Europe defends itself by defending the free Ukraine.
Is there a will in Western Europe to defend freedom? So far it would seem not. If that is the true settled position of free men in Europe then It's game over already, and we can all go home and wait for the Authoritarians to roll up in their armor outside our homes, as that is precisely what we have done by our studied weakness and inaction since 2013, to the free men and women in the Ukraine.
Free the brave imperfect Ukraine from the rotten Russian yolk, as the Ukraine, has done all the hard work needed to escape it's traces already, and were finally headed, wildly and loose, in the direction of freedom..
We should follow their good example, and head directly towards freedom ourselves, as at home we have been massively slipping back in to lazy collectivised groups lately, all done, in the true interests of nobody, and in the name of everybody, in the great COVID arse covering terror..
The Chinese state would be proud.
Action this day is required, as I believe that evil cannot stand against active good men.
We will see if there are any more such men in Europe these days, not just an army of one, fighting the Backward Russian Bear, a nation clearly bereft of new or good ideas, I hope so. .
Zelenskyy (what is the proper spelling) is not just a former comedian, he is also a lawyer, But so is the unfortunately unnamed (why) lawyer on The View (the one place I support ineffective masks) who insanely claimed that the Constitution is trash.
I fully support the principle that we judge people as individuals, but in a time of war it’s not surprising that even principled people do not wish to extend friendship to citizens of a country conducting a completely unjustified war which includes the use of war crimes and atrocities on innocent civilians.
America is now in a cold civil war. i support the right in that war. The overriding principles which guide me are honestly and fair mindedness. I also believe that life is sacred and no one has a right to take another life except in self defense or pursuant to law
I believe these principles cannot be exist without freedom of speech and I recognizes that the Left is much more willing to censor speech than the right.
It pains me as a conservative that there are people on our side who are defending an indefensible war. So, to defend conservativism I have no hesitation in calling out Steve Bannon, Raheem Kassam, Darren Beattie of Revolver News and Kane at CFP who have been very supportive of the indefensible. Tucker Carlson appears to have recovered his sanity, but too late for me. I have tuned him out. He could have sought advice from Keith Kellogg rather than Douglas Macgregor. Jesse Watters did. He is much smarter than Carlson,
That might be the most beautiful piece of prose I've ever read. Don't get cocky, I'm prone to hyperbole when I get worked up. Nonetheless, in spite of the fact that I regularly disagree with viewpoints you post, I admire this essay above anything I've read in recent memory. It's kind of nonsense that I add the qualifier. Of course, people disagree! That's natural. It's also forgotten, in the press, in daily life, and even among people I consider friends. Thank you for your platform. Best of luck in your media endeavors. But also, thank you from the bottom of my heart, for taking a principled stand. It's needed.
We seem to love to show support when it comes at no personal cost, but bristle at even the possibility we may really have to sacrifice.
During Covid - just stay home, you are making a difference, you are a good person. Aren't you so virtuous, "sacrificing" while your every whim can be catered to by people who can't stay home (because you need goods and services delivered to stay so smugly righteous).
On Ukraine - watching Zelensky address our various Western parliaments, making very specific, targeted pleas for more direct help to save the lives of the Ukrainians he represents, to be met with standing ovations, platitudes, and also absolutely cowardly justifications as to why we are doing "all we can" but can do no more, just disgusts me on a level I can't even put into words. We could do a whole lot more - we just won't, it seems.
Much like the long-term damage from all of our "comfortable" Covid measures is starting to show, I think our refusal to directly defend Ukraine now will similarly lead to bigger long-term consequences. Someone like Putin doesn't stop until you really, truly stop him. If he gets away with Ukraine today, he will try for somewhere else tomorrow, and then somewhere else later - until we are in a position where we have to do far more to stop him, and have no choice left but to stop him, because we didn't stop him sooner. Less is not more when it comes to defense against someone like Putin.
The world is a complicated place because human beings are complicated. It is challenging to predict human actions, but what does help are commitments to ideas which can unify and direct us. The recent movement to ignore ideals and focus on individual actions is a rejection of the principals that formed this country. There have far too many examples of our myopia, interning the Japanese, slavery, Jim Crow laws and no voter restrictions. However it is the ideals and shared vision which need to remain foremost in our moving forward. Zelentsky knows that intuitively, he did not have to go to a fancy institution of learning. He knows that to deny legitimate non hurtful thought and speaking is the death kneel of democracy. He knows that denying platforms to scholars, performers and speakers whose opinions we don’t like is the smal wedge that leads to the collapse of a united society. Too bad more leaders are not interested in national unity as opposed to national divisions for political purposes
This is one of the most profound podcasts I have listened to in a long time. We need to focus on what unites us and the promise of the American Experiment, even when we fall short. "Original Sin" has never been a part of my theology, even though it is for the majority of Americans. Even our concept of sin is based on Christianity (dare I say Puritanism). All we can do is move forward, we can't change the past. We have to move forward on common basic values as a nation. I agree with your list.
And how the worm turns...Hunter Biden, Burisma, Shokin, Poroshenko and the Big Guy who is now key to Ukraine's fate. Quelle irony that Ukrainians conspired with Democrats to bring down Trump and now find themselves in the exact situation they schemed to avoid.
I have recently refreshed myself on Books VIII and IX of Plato's Republic. It is shocking to see the elements of a democracy in decline as if they were written today and not two millennia ago. The hypersensitivity, the reflexive recoil of the lightest touch of the state, and the erosion of authority are all harbingers of a democracy that is ready to flip to tyranny. You are quite correct to remind your readers of the principles that we should all acknowledge and renew our commitments to, Bari. Keep up the good work. P.S. My own prediction is that the far left's embrace of autocracy will kill freedom and then the tyrannical man will take over in a counter reaction. Plato does a stunningly accurate portrait of the tyrannical man that resembles both Trump and Putin.
I am amazed by the comments here. Since when did so-called "conservatives" join the Blame America First crowd? I guess if they can't have the America Trump promised them, they'd rather see this country fail.
Thank you Bari <3 this is great <3
I am trying to fid out more about the 11 political Parties that President Zelensy had outlawed. I thought this would have received a lot of scrutiny from the press. Were these parties' platforms to strengthen ties with Russia rather than Europe or was there more to it? Any insights or websites you can provide would be great.
I just re-read all of this Bari, and I have to wonder what you think now that Zelensky has become, himself, a tyrant to be opposed and not cheered when he outlawed all political parties in Ukraine not his own?
Now we have two totalitarian nations at war with each other. Isn't that what Tucker's been saying all along, that Ukraine is not some bastion of democracy that our lying media and government has been portraying them as this entire time. That they are, in fact, anti-democratic and corrupt? So corrupt that Hunter Biden was on their payroll? You know you have to be pretty corrupt when a Biden is on your payroll, right?
I'd like a follow-up this week to the news out of Ukraine of Zelensky declaring himself, in essence, a dictator. I have to think that you would think that it's a betrayal of everything you wrote here with such passion, but I'd really like to read what you have to say about it.
It is such a wonderful relief to hear a honest appraisal of what might be best do. To recognise the greatness of good ideas and to support them at home and abroad, unencumbered by all the lightweight, tired, second hand historical baggage being wheeled about in public buy so many useful types, who claim it is all so complicated.
It is not complicated.
They seem to imply that free in men Europe should be serfs to history, not associate freely, not live their lives freely, in order, not to disturb the frightened, irrational, poor, backward, collectivist Russians..
Bullshit, if the Russians are suicidal then we have ALL got a serious problem. I don't believe they are, and Europe should grow up and increase the pressure on Russia to make the Authoritarian Fascists uncomfortable, and leave the Ukraine. The only off-ramp leads only back to Russia folks. If that means a multi nation war in Europe then so be it. I believe the Russians will fold rapidly. The is already a war in which the Ukrainians are alone in defending the borders of freedom in Europe. Yet the apologists continue to drone on about history and mystical Russian darkness. The Russians must not win this as if they were to triumph, then it sets a very poor example for the rest of the free nations, and another explicit encouragement to the despots at the U.N.
As Nato clearly seems to be an organization designed to stop nation states acting in their own moral national interests, maybe European nations should break ranks, as article five seems to be unhelpful to principled moral action. Who are we? Are we nothing but a bunch of lawyers lost in the fine print? Our Political representatives seem to pick and choose what agreements we rely on, as we did little to defend the integrity of Ukraine in 2013. Not a good sign, and a green light to Putin, where lawyers decide when or when not to defend freedom against the collectivists, it's not a good foundation. This is weak and immoral, but that seems to be where the West is.
To properly discriminate between good and evil, we must support the imperfect good in the Ukraine against the perfect evil of corrupting Russian state power, and that means going to war in the Ukraine..
What is at work here in Europe is the fear of the inevitable uncertainty of war, Putin expects Europe to fold as it usually decides to do. Europe must not fold, as the Russians have, like all of us, far far too much to loose.
So the good can win this I believe, but only if it acts. Europe should mobilise to drive the backward murderous Russian's back home to their beleaguered state. The Russians themselves will deal with Putin and his brutes..
If you are in doubt about what to do, go ask a free Ukrainian if it is complicated, or who invaded who, or what is to be done. They will give some guidance on what is moral and good for Europe.
Keep up the Genuine good work Bari, as there are many hideous posturing types doing the opposite all over the world media. Wonderful article, with a lot of profound good in it, Europe should defend freedom in Europe, it's not really the American taxpayers job, more of a German tax payers job. In my view it's a win win if Europe defends itself by defending the free Ukraine.
Is there a will in Western Europe to defend freedom? So far it would seem not. If that is the true settled position of free men in Europe then It's game over already, and we can all go home and wait for the Authoritarians to roll up in their armor outside our homes, as that is precisely what we have done by our studied weakness and inaction since 2013, to the free men and women in the Ukraine.
Free the brave imperfect Ukraine from the rotten Russian yolk, as the Ukraine, has done all the hard work needed to escape it's traces already, and were finally headed, wildly and loose, in the direction of freedom..
We should follow their good example, and head directly towards freedom ourselves, as at home we have been massively slipping back in to lazy collectivised groups lately, all done, in the true interests of nobody, and in the name of everybody, in the great COVID arse covering terror..
The Chinese state would be proud.
Action this day is required, as I believe that evil cannot stand against active good men.
We will see if there are any more such men in Europe these days, not just an army of one, fighting the Backward Russian Bear, a nation clearly bereft of new or good ideas, I hope so. .
Brilliant. A nuanced moral clarity that is conspicuous by its contemporary rarity. Bravo and thank you!
Zelenskyy (what is the proper spelling) is not just a former comedian, he is also a lawyer, But so is the unfortunately unnamed (why) lawyer on The View (the one place I support ineffective masks) who insanely claimed that the Constitution is trash.
I fully support the principle that we judge people as individuals, but in a time of war it’s not surprising that even principled people do not wish to extend friendship to citizens of a country conducting a completely unjustified war which includes the use of war crimes and atrocities on innocent civilians.
America is now in a cold civil war. i support the right in that war. The overriding principles which guide me are honestly and fair mindedness. I also believe that life is sacred and no one has a right to take another life except in self defense or pursuant to law
I believe these principles cannot be exist without freedom of speech and I recognizes that the Left is much more willing to censor speech than the right.
It pains me as a conservative that there are people on our side who are defending an indefensible war. So, to defend conservativism I have no hesitation in calling out Steve Bannon, Raheem Kassam, Darren Beattie of Revolver News and Kane at CFP who have been very supportive of the indefensible. Tucker Carlson appears to have recovered his sanity, but too late for me. I have tuned him out. He could have sought advice from Keith Kellogg rather than Douglas Macgregor. Jesse Watters did. He is much smarter than Carlson,
That might be the most beautiful piece of prose I've ever read. Don't get cocky, I'm prone to hyperbole when I get worked up. Nonetheless, in spite of the fact that I regularly disagree with viewpoints you post, I admire this essay above anything I've read in recent memory. It's kind of nonsense that I add the qualifier. Of course, people disagree! That's natural. It's also forgotten, in the press, in daily life, and even among people I consider friends. Thank you for your platform. Best of luck in your media endeavors. But also, thank you from the bottom of my heart, for taking a principled stand. It's needed.
Brilliant. Thank you.
"The future does not belong to globalists. The future belongs to patriots." - Donald Trump
Once again, Donnie T was right. The Democrats are willing to embrace nationalism now... too bad it isn't American nationalism.
We seem to love to show support when it comes at no personal cost, but bristle at even the possibility we may really have to sacrifice.
During Covid - just stay home, you are making a difference, you are a good person. Aren't you so virtuous, "sacrificing" while your every whim can be catered to by people who can't stay home (because you need goods and services delivered to stay so smugly righteous).
On Ukraine - watching Zelensky address our various Western parliaments, making very specific, targeted pleas for more direct help to save the lives of the Ukrainians he represents, to be met with standing ovations, platitudes, and also absolutely cowardly justifications as to why we are doing "all we can" but can do no more, just disgusts me on a level I can't even put into words. We could do a whole lot more - we just won't, it seems.
Much like the long-term damage from all of our "comfortable" Covid measures is starting to show, I think our refusal to directly defend Ukraine now will similarly lead to bigger long-term consequences. Someone like Putin doesn't stop until you really, truly stop him. If he gets away with Ukraine today, he will try for somewhere else tomorrow, and then somewhere else later - until we are in a position where we have to do far more to stop him, and have no choice left but to stop him, because we didn't stop him sooner. Less is not more when it comes to defense against someone like Putin.
The world is a complicated place because human beings are complicated. It is challenging to predict human actions, but what does help are commitments to ideas which can unify and direct us. The recent movement to ignore ideals and focus on individual actions is a rejection of the principals that formed this country. There have far too many examples of our myopia, interning the Japanese, slavery, Jim Crow laws and no voter restrictions. However it is the ideals and shared vision which need to remain foremost in our moving forward. Zelentsky knows that intuitively, he did not have to go to a fancy institution of learning. He knows that to deny legitimate non hurtful thought and speaking is the death kneel of democracy. He knows that denying platforms to scholars, performers and speakers whose opinions we don’t like is the smal wedge that leads to the collapse of a united society. Too bad more leaders are not interested in national unity as opposed to national divisions for political purposes
This is one of the most profound podcasts I have listened to in a long time. We need to focus on what unites us and the promise of the American Experiment, even when we fall short. "Original Sin" has never been a part of my theology, even though it is for the majority of Americans. Even our concept of sin is based on Christianity (dare I say Puritanism). All we can do is move forward, we can't change the past. We have to move forward on common basic values as a nation. I agree with your list.
Thank you for your thoughts
And how the worm turns...Hunter Biden, Burisma, Shokin, Poroshenko and the Big Guy who is now key to Ukraine's fate. Quelle irony that Ukrainians conspired with Democrats to bring down Trump and now find themselves in the exact situation they schemed to avoid.