The kernel of Andrew A. Michta’s post at The American Interest on the sources of the decline of the West are in these two and a half paragraphs:
The re-engineering of the Western cultural narrative over the past 50 years, first in our educational systems and media, and now within politics writ large, has effectively deconstructed the foundations of our shared Transatlantic civilization. In America—and increasingly also in Europe—colleges and universities produce cohorts of indoctrinated political activists with little or no knowledge of the foundational texts of our political tradition, the greatest works of Western literature, or the most enduring political debates that have shaped the Western democratic tradition. That heritage carried the West to victory through cataclysmic world wars and laid the foundations for the seven decades of peace and prosperity that followed.
Today the very bedrock of the Western political tradition is under assault. In addition, for at least three decades immigration policies across the West have shifted away from acculturating newcomers to the now regnant multiculturalist ideology, which has resulted in unintegrated “suspended communities.†In the process, in a growing number of democracies the larger national identity, which was historically tied to the overarching Western heritage, has been subsumed under ethnic and religious group identities. We are not quite there yet, but once the sense of belonging to a larger shared Western cultural community has been abolished, we will have reached the tipping point: The Transatlantic alliance that has preserved, protected, and promoted democracy since 1945 will be effectively undone, regardless of whether or not NATO continues to exist.
The cultural unmooring of the West that is now well underway is the result of more than a misguided immigration policy; rather, it flows from the larger ideological transformation of America and Europe. It is not my purpose here to recount the number of times I have encountered undergraduate students who have never read The Federalist Papers or have no idea why the Framers insisted on divided government as the backbone of our political system. Suffice it to say that members of the rising generation increasingly see democracy as either so abstract a concept that it seems to have little direct connection to their experiences or as obstacle to the necessary wholesale transformation, or even abolition, of our obsolescent political systems.
The sole problem I have with it is that the very concept of “the West”, defined as Europe + the Anglosphere, is, was, and always has been a device for drawing the United States into Europe’s wars and having us pay for their defense so they can devote their resources to domestic spending. If we and the Europeans are genuinely worried about Russian aggression, why do the European countries spend 2% or less of their GDPs (Germany 1.2%; United Kingdom 1.8%; Italy 1.5%; France 2.3%) on defense while we spend 3.5%-4% of ours? (Depending on who you ask.) The German military’s rifles don’t even fire reliably. Everything in the Germans’ conduct suggests they think there is no threat. Why does NATO matter any more?
In my view the real message here is that culture matters and the reality is that while U. S. culture is derived from Europe’s it began to deviate from Europe’s half a millennium ago and we’re growing farther away from them every day.
Separation of powers and the bill of rights are Western but if colleges want to say they were thought up by Kenyans on Kwanzaa I’d go along to preserve these bedrock principles for generations to come.
As to European military might, we have no permanent allies and must be prepared to work within a changing political landscape and go it alone if necessary.
“Why does NATO matter any more?â€
You, Trumpster, you.
It seems more and more that its the US that is worried about Russian aggression, while Germany and the populist movements on the continent want warmer, if not closer, relations with Russia. A good example of this is Washington jumping up and down over Nord Stream 2. We’re pushing for the EU’s (perceived) interests, while Germany is acting on behalf of its own.
” It is not my purpose here to recount the number of times I have encountered undergraduate students who have never read The Federalist Papers or have no idea why the Framers insisted on divided government as the backbone of our political system.”
That was also true when I was an undergrad in the 70s. Nothing new there. From our ongoing affiliation and work with our high school debate team I can tell you that about half to 2/3 of the group could explain well why we were set up with a divided government. (There was a similar question in extemporaneous two years ago.) I suspect that would have been true of less than half of my graduating high school class.
OTOH, I wonder if Mr Michta can partition his hard drive? Bounce back and forth fluently between multiple operating systems? Organize his emails? Write code? Kids today have other skills they need.
Steve
Probably 1% of kids can do both of those things. What they can do is use Facebook on both a desktop PC and on their phones or access the Google and Apple stores which is not the same thing. Your kid may know more than that but few do. In fairness they don’t need to any more than the people using phones 70 years ago needed to be able to build a phone.
I work with Millennials on a daily basis who are what passes for being highly computer literate. They understand using a few applications. They aren’t even fluent with one operating system. Fluency means being able to implement programs to perform particular functions not the ability to find and download programs from Google Play to perform them for you.
Here in Colorado, Civics is taught in 9th grade and honors students can take an additional US government course in 11th grade.
So, it seems that Civics isn’t considered an important subject. One semester in 9th grade seems pretty inadequate to me, although I’m sure there is some cross-over from other courses, like US history.
As far as kids and technology, my two teens can work phone apps like champs, but they come to me when something goes wrong.
“Probably 1% of kids can do both of those things.”
I must know a bunch of over achievers.
Steve
You must. I don’t fault them for it—there are many reasons, Google being one of them. It has reduced the apparent value of memorization.
But there’s more there than appearances. Retaining what you’ve learned is a labor-saving device and it’s a cultivated skill.
To be truly expert at anything requires 10,000 hours of application and the only thing that most kids have practiced that much is using their phones.
Culture and race are far more important than economics and written constitutions. The West was a reality. It was Christian, White and liberal (in the old fashioned sense). It had a common history, much of it wars over a well-defined territory.
If there is no West, then there cannot be a United States of America. It must either fragment into states that each have some of common culture, religion, history and Race, or it must degenerate into a brutal multicultural, multiethnic dictatorship. Those are the choices if there is no West.
Frankly, the choice has already been made. We will become a multicultural, multiethnic and very brutal dictatorship a la Stalin.