ROGER KIMBALL: Of Boiling and Jumping Frogs.

It is difficult to plumb the depths of cynicism that fires the Biden Administration’s motions with respect to Ukraine. On the one hand, we are being invited to join in a grandiose morality play in which the great white-hatted forces of the West talk endlessly about peace and democracy while waging or at least fomenting war. On the other hand, the war drums drown out the cries of ordinary people, those millions of people Hillary Clinton and her ilk dismiss as “deplorable,” who acknowledge Putin’s crimes but also acknowledge Ukraine’s deep corruption and totalitarian leanings and wonder why we are strangling ourselves to intervene in that battle.

The ostensible reason, of course, is to export truth, justice, and the American way, and to teach that bully Putin a lesson. The real reason, I suspect, is to consolidate power at home while attempting to fire up the war-profit machine abroad. So far, Americans have gritted their teeth and taken it. I am not sure, however, that those with their fingers on the knobs of the burner have been sufficiently careful about how quickly they are raising the temperature. Things can get out of hand very quickly, and I am not just talking about military showdowns.

When average families can no longer pay their rent or mortgage, gas up their car, or even put food on the table, all bets are off. Our rulers think they have anesthetized those portions of the population they have not simply bought off. They might find that there is quite a lot of jump left in the frog yet. If so, they may be the ones in hot water.

As VDH recently wrote: The Real ‘Reset’ Is Coming.