Victor Davis Hanson says America is becoming a “modern medieval world”—technologically racing into the future while portions of its culture and politics regress.

And Hanson isn’t vague about who he blames.

His argument specifically targets the progressive left and what he describes as a political framework built around victims and victimizers, weakening personal responsibility while often insulating political elites from the consequences of the policies they support.

So instead of merely repeating his argument, we’re putting it against four major headlines happening right now.

NYC Democratic Socialists of America co-chair Gustavo Gordillo is facing questions about his working-class image as his organization approves paid leadership positions and moves toward more expensive office space.

A random Times Square killing raises difficult questions about mental illness and public safety—even as New York’s overall violent-crime statistics are hitting historic lows.

Luigi Mangione has now admitted killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, yet continues to attract supporters who view him through their anger toward America’s health-insurance system.

And the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy—the Massachusetts mother who admitted killing her three children—has ended in a mistrial after jurors could not agree whether severe mental illness left her legally responsible.

Hanson himself invokes both Mangione and Clancy in his argument.

Do these cases validate his warning?

Or demonstrate why questions of responsibility, mental illness, ideology and justice are far more complicated than either political side sometimes admits?

Tonight we put the thesis against the evidence.