S8 Ep586: 5. Author: Victor Davis Hanson. Title: *The Dying Citizen: How Progressive Elites, Tribalism, and Globalization Are Destroying the Idea of America*. This file addresses "evolutionaries" seeking to alter or bypass the Constitution to achieve political goal
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 16 March 2026
⏱️ 12 minutes
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Summary
5. Author: Victor Davis Hanson. Title: *The Dying Citizen: How Progressive Elites, Tribalism, and Globalization Are Destroying the Idea of America*. This file addresses "evolutionaries" seeking to alter or bypass the Constitution to achieve political goals. Hanson defends the Electoral College, noting it prevents nationwide fraud and forces candidates to engage with the "hinterland," while progressives seek to nullify it via the National Voting Compact. He critiques the avoidance of the Senate's treaty powerin deals like the Iran nuclear agreement and the shift toward proportional representation in the Senate, which would ruin its role in slowing radical change. Finally, he warns against court-packing, viewing it as a direct attack on the judiciary's legitimacy. (5)
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| 0:00.0 | This is CBS Eye on the World. |
| 0:08.1 | Here's John Batchelor. |
| 0:10.8 | With Victor Davis Hanson, Professor Classicist at Hoover Institution, |
| 0:15.8 | the author of the new book The Dying Citizen, |
| 0:18.2 | How Progressive elites, Tribalism, and Globalization are destroying |
| 0:21.6 | the ideas of America. The middle class, the citizen, a foundation for the success of the |
| 0:28.3 | United States, around and built upon and depending upon the Constitution of the United |
| 0:33.7 | State. Victor addresses in his book what he characterizes as evolutionaries. |
| 0:39.3 | These are men and women in America, perhaps around the world, who find the Constitution no longer |
| 0:45.3 | useful. Victor, we begin with the example that comes up now and again when the popular vote |
| 0:53.3 | goes to the loser in a presidential contest. |
| 0:56.9 | This is a critical aspect of the Constitution. |
| 0:59.8 | It was hammered out in the arguments in Philadelphia, the electoral college. |
| 1:04.1 | Why is the electoral college said to be inadequate? |
| 1:06.7 | And what is it that the unelected want to do with it? |
| 1:11.6 | Thank you. |
| 1:12.6 | Well, it came into, that argument came in vogue again in 2000 when George W. Bush lost the popular vote. |
| 1:19.6 | He won Florida, which put him over the top, and people felt that he had been, if you remember, the slogan, |
| 1:25.6 | selected rather than elected. And then Donald Trump, it came back again in 2016. |
| 1:31.3 | Let me just point out that between 2008 and 2016, |
| 1:37.3 | there was no discussion whatsoever about the pathologies electoral college. |
| 1:41.3 | Instead, we heard there was something called the Wonderful Blue Wall. |
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