The Long Slow Demise of the West

It seems to me that there are three distinct moments in history when western man has successively committed himself to the demise of the West as an ideal. This is not to say that it was done deliberately or with full knowledge of what took place. The impact was just as real though; if a man accidentally hits his leg with a sledge hammer, it is just as broken as if he had done it on purpose. The West, as an idea just as much as a place, grew up out of the "ruins" of Rome and perhaps achieved its it fullest expression in the thirteenth century (another post for another time). This civilization was built on many concepts, ideas and traditions but three were paramount. The supremacy of the spiritual order embodied in Catholicism, the necessity of order manifested in royal power, and the virtue of self-determination realized in personal property. All variety of totalitarianism rises from the denial of one or more of these.

In 1517 Luther posted his ninety-five theses. Thus began the first of the three revolutions that would lay waste to Western civilisation. I cannot speak to what was in his mind the day he nailed that document to the cathedral door. I can only speak to the results. By attacking the authority of the church, he set in motion the process of making every man an individual arbiter of right and wrong. No two men, no matter how well disposed, ever have and never will fully agree as to what is right and what is wrong. If he had known what a Pandora's box he was opening he would have realized just just how reliant his actions were on the very system he had begun to undermine. The Catholic Church, for all it's failings, had indeed built up a consensus so overwhelming that it's very non-existence was inconceivable. Luther had no idea how far man's conscience would wander without a single magisterial guide.

1776 began the second revolution. This is difficult to formulate because the American Revolution continues apace and so many seeming advantages have flowed from it. However, the French Revolution, its ensuing terrors and instability may never have occurred , and would certainly not have taken the course it did, without the American example. Democracy and it's cousin Republicanism (not the political party) are historically unstable forms of government. Democracy as it was practiced in ancient Greece lasted about 200 years, as it was practiced in Rome a little longer. In the current American experiment that same time frame seems to be borne out as well. The damage though doesn't lay in a short lived venture. The danger lays in what it leaves in its wake when it is gone. When democracies fail thy give way to class rule or the very individual tyranny the they feared the most. By dismantling the ancient monarchical systems (and America has worked very effectively at this) and trying to export modern democracies the world is left with few resources for an alternative. The most devastating result though is that it leads to the notion that the right resides in the majority. In short, if enough people support an idea it is deserving, even right in itself. This used to be called the tyranny of the majority. The conscience has been set adrift now the people as a whole.

In 1917 the Communists tried to abolish the very idea of private property. Why should that matter so much? Because that is what really keeps power from being abused and builds the culture. When a man has family, home, trade...to protect, he will.