The Dying Citizen: How Progressive Elites, Tribalism, and Globalization Are Destroying the Idea of America

An excellent explanation of why our republic is in danger. Allow the madness to continue much longer, and the republic is lost. The book has over fifty pages of documentation notes. Would to God that we had politicians as learned and wise as Victor Davis Hanson.

Loved it

One again, VDH is spot on with his analysis..

Easy read Factual and opens your eyes to what is going on. Hope it isn’t to late to turn things around

I don't believe I am exaggerating when I style Victor Davis Hanson's <The Dying Citizen> a tour de force. The writer of one of the blurbs recommending it expects it to become Hanson's magnum opus. The book's subtitle "How Progressive Elites, Tribalism, and Globalization Are Destroying the Idea of America" accurately describes the book's content.<Dying Citizen> is divided into two parts. The 1st is "Precitizens." The 2nd is "Postcitizens." The overarching idea above each part is: Citizenship is the sine qua non for the successful existence of a nation-state. The book goes on to describe three (3) social classes that do not rise to the level of citizenship. A chapter is devoted to each class. Number #1 is Peasants. # 2 is Residents. #3 is Tribes.The peasantry consists of persons who are beholden to an overlord. Some are tied to the land. Others aren't, but nevertheless have no say in affairs of state.Residents are akin to persons who are simply passing through. They have little or no interest in the welfare of the place. They know their limitationsTribesmen are customarily viewed as having responsibilities to immediate family and others in the tribe. A territory will ordinarily contain two or more tribes.Every territory might begin with the above 3 classes. When the classes become fortunate enough to view the real importance of their being free individuals in a single territory, they will exist as a nation towards which they have serious responsibilities, just as they become 'protectees' (not the author's term) in common, of their nation. Such freeborn persons will become citizens.Part Two, Postcitizens, describes what can happen when the citizenry of a nation begin to change or reverse the process described above. Such a revision, if agreed to by the citizenry, will likely be enough to allow the nation to continue in said status. It will be considered as ongoing success nationally.But if the nation is unlucky, its citizenry will allow themselves to fall into a massive bureaucratic existence in which the bureaucrats begin to view themselves as overly-important to the state. Factions will come into existence. And if unable to resolve their differences, they can become insoluble, and as a further result, dissolution of one sort or another might come to pass. There can be civil war. There can be a dictatorship. There can even be a movement towards 'One-World' government, giving power to a United Nations sort of overseer, in which no one will be satisfied. World disorder and warfare, rather than being overcome, will become the prevailing status. Elements will revolt against a 'One-size-fits-all' type non- government. A world-citizenry will be forever unstable, despite the beliefs and efforts of the starry-eyed 'Globalists' who wish for unity.This reviewer believes that author Victor Hanson fears such happenings can happen. This insignificant reviewer has similar fears, probably even deeper than the author's.Above are set out this insignificant reviewer's 'take' upon having read this marvelous book by Victor Davis Hanson.

There has been much unease in America and the West so far this century. Economic and social turmoil have certainly contributed to that sense, but in "The Dying Citizen," author Victor Davis Hanson argues that the crisis is even more acute—he argues that citizenship, which took mankind most of our recorded history to struggle toward and finally attain in the last few centuries, is in peril.Hanson quotes Kant's definition of citizenship as "lawful freedom, the attribute of obeying no other law than that to which he has given his consent," and in this volume shows how citizenship is under attack on several fronts.The author notes that a strong middle class is a sine qua non for the survival of a republic—it in turn enables and is enabled by tranquility and stability. In the last generation much of the middle class in the Midwest and other areas of the country between the coasts has been hollowed out, and Hanson provides anecdotes and economic statistics to back up his assertion that millions are sliding from the middle class to a form of premodern peasantry.Hanson is a classicist with vast knowledge of not only American history, but the history of antiquity, and he uses analogies and illustrations from ancient Greece and Rome to provide comparisons to events occurring today. Tribalism has historically been an enemy of civilization and citizenship, and the author describes the ways it is reappearing. Hanson also notes how mere residency is different from citizenship and how that line has become increasingly blurred in America in the twenty-first century.In recent decades citizenship has been further eroded by unelected bureaucrats wielding power that the Constitution never meant for them to have, and Hanson provides specific examples of how that harms normal Americans. Further efforts today to erode the Constitution, and as a consequence citizenship, include nullification of federal laws, attacks on free speech, attempts to pack the Supreme Court, and efforts to abolish the Senate filibuster and the Electoral College.Further eroding citizenship is globalism, the belief by many that they are "citizens of the world" instead of citizens of a specific country with well-defined borders, and Hanson shows how globalism is incompatible with small-r republican government. The author closes by offering his thoughts on the last few years and what the next few years might hold. As good as many political columnists are today, in the era that began in 2008 Victor Davis Hanson has been more than any other the one must-read columnist there has been. "The Dying Citizen" is Hanson at his best and would be a great read for anyone concerned about our current milieu.

Meticulously researched. Anyone possessed of logical thinking skills will easily arrive at an accurate assessment of the info presented by Victor Davis Hanson.

I may be one of a few regular listener of VDH's weekly podcasts here in the UK, but I've always been impressed by his ability to quickly and effectively analyse current affairs. The Dying Citizen is no exception to this. Though it is a long book (I both read the Kindle edition and listened to the Audible audiobook) it is full of biting analysis of the dishonesty and corruption in America, which has knock-on effects on the UK's prospects.Read this book with an open mind, and you will be surprised at how dishonestly the news media has been treating issues of great important to the West's future prosperity and safety. It may make you angry, but it will be an anger at how much we have been misled by those concentrating corrupt political power in their hands, and making us hate each other - doing real harm to vulnerable people. The Dying Citizen is a great reminder of where we have come from, and what we can lose if we don't hold onto our precious liberties.

I’ve read VDH before on current affairs, and I expected a lucid and strong analysis of what’s gone wrong. I wasn’t disappointed. I particularly liked the author’s examples a from his own background in California and his life on a farm. It added concrete detail and colour to what could have been a depressing litany.The reader will be left wondering what’s to be done. I’d like to have seen more about this, such as homeschooling, credible political activism at the local level, etc.

Lots of good stuff about the erosion of US civic society. There is a clear right wing bias, but his arguments are compelling and well supported by evidence. His critique of globalisation is masterly.

Well written and insightful

It is a must read , very enlightening information from someone that has been right about everything thus far . He will go down as one of the great minds in history.I only wish my copy was autographed.