The Price of Eliminating Consequences

Victor Davis Hanson Mar 09, 2023

Recently there were some remarkable online videos of a Portland, Oregon good Samaritan confronting shoplifters and forcing them to dump loads of their pilfered goods.  More stunning, however, was the sheer outrage - of the thieves! They pouted. They screamed. They resisted. How dare anyone stop them from stealing anything they wished.  The criminals entertained no fear of any consequences for walking out with bags of things that were not theirs. They had no care that mainstreaming their habits would undermine the entire fabric of society.

What is common to the pandemic of smash-and-grab, carjacking, fighting on airliners while in flight, and deadly Saturday night shoot-outs is this same apparent assurance there will be no consequences. That expectation of exemption is why the Antifa thugs in Atlanta were so bold in their latest violent attacks on the police.  And why not, after the 120 days of rioting, looting, arson, and assault in the summer of 2020 which resulted in few Antifa indictments, fewer convictions, and almost no imprisonments?............

Could the FBI and the CIA recover their tarnished reputations if their directors knew in advance they would go to jail for lying under federal oath?...........Nations are no different from people. Without expectation of a severe reaction to their provocations, they only escalate their aggression..........When our state and federal governments allow criminals and foreign nations to injure with impunity their own law-abiding citizens, is it any wonder the civilized world we once knew has vanished - replaced by the Hobbesian rule of the wild?............ To Read More...