5 Things That Could Destroy America - Victor Davis Hanson | PBD Podcast #856

Victor Davis Hanson opens with a stark prediction: if the United States collapses, the world descends into "utter chaos." The U.S. military is the sole guarantor of open sea lanes—the Strait of Hormuz, the Bosphorus, Suez, Gibraltar, the Panama Canal—and without it, international commerce stops and a Hobbesian war of all against all begins. Europe, he argues, is no longer a viable independent actor; it survives only because of the American security umbrella. And for all the domestic criticism of the U.S., Hanson insists that millions of people around the world would be killed or imprisoned if America were not there to offer sanctuary.

The Five Self-Inflicted Wounds

Hanson identifies five internal threats that, if left unchecked, could destroy the United States from within. The first is open borders and unchecked immigration—both illegal and legal—at numbers that cannot be assimilated or integrated. He points to Europe as a warning: Britain, France, and Germany are already struggling with populations from Islamic countries that do not wish to acculturate into their host civilizations.

The second is ideological nihilism, specifically the belief that wind and solar can power advanced economies in the 21st and 22nd centuries. Hanson calls this "not demonstrably true" and notes that Germany's attempt nearly destroyed its economy.