Angelo Codevilla’s The Character of Nations is at once a
well-written, closely argued and thoroughly documented look at how today’s the
United States of America has made almost an 180-degree turn from the USA of de
Tocqueville’s time. Codevilla is at his best when he shows the contrasts
between what government frowned upon a generation ago, and that is now promoted
by various government programs and agencies: “The contemporary American elites
… now enjoin actions once prohibited and prohibit actions once enjoined.”
Things that were considered too shameful even to discuss a generation ago are
now held out as worthy of tolerance and often are deemed superior to more
traditional aspects of Western culture.
This volume should be read alongside Thomas
Sowell’s excellent book, The Vision of the Anointed. Both books
show how the failed palliatives proffered by Big Government have actually
tended to exacerbate the problems they were designed to solve. I was especially
troubled by the account of the Los Angeles riots, where “the police absented
themselves for about twenty-four hours and left store owners to defend lives
and property as best they could with their own weapons.” Codevilla reports that
the police then handcuffed and took away hapless store owners (many of them
immigrants and minorities) who they found trying to protect their property.
Increasingly, law-abiding citizens are being blamed for the increase of
violence we are experiencing, and judges bend over backward to release
convicted criminals back into the communities which had been their prey (but
not, Codevilla notes, into the communities “where judges and court officials
live”).
The rise in convictions for “white collar
crimes,” along with seared consciences over the high rate of incarceration
among Black males, has led to such anomalies as persons (and their employers)
being tried and convicted of “sexual harassment” for doing little more than
telling an off-color joke, while convicted rapist! ts are set free because the
prisons are too crowded. Persons who try to ignore race in making decisions are
called “racist” by others who want everything to be judged on the basis of a
person’s race, gender or class. Increasingly, ordinary citizens are intimidated
by an atmosphere in which those who are “successful” in life are put down while
those who are “oppressed” receive large doses of government support.
In the meantime, Samuel Frances has noted
that a government that is strong enough to defend every form of human depravity
is also strong enough to punish those who work for a living and are motivated
by a sincere belief in God and Country. If we were ever to have to fight a war
like World War II, I doubt very much that we could survive. Who would be
willing to risk life and limb to defend a country where their ways are vilified
and “alternative lifestyles” are subsidized and promoted in our schools?
My guess is, not enough to field a
sufficient fighting force. Codevilla quotes Mario Cuomo, who decried the
gun-toting “hunters who drink beer, don’t vote and lie to their wives about
where they were all weekend.” Remember, these are not criminals he is
describing, but rather folks who work hard to make an honest living so they can
support their families while being required to shoulder an ever-increasing
portion of the tax burden so that others who do not work can receive an
after-tax income in excess of their own.
Codevilla has done a great service by
showing how, historically, declines in civility and centralization of
government power have destroyed once-great civilizations. Americans believe
they are invincible. Some would argue that America is a “plum ripe for the
picking.” I only hope that I am wrong in my belief that The Character of Nations will not change
very many minds. Perhaps those who do read the book will be emboldened to speak
up the next time someone impugns Western Democracy.
