Men of the West, On the Cusp

So here we be, again. On the cusp, I would say. Four thousand years of Western Civilization at risk. On the verge. The eve of destruction, as the song says. The best that mankind has to offer is in the balance. I say “the best” because the West has set more men free than any other iteration of civilization, and freedom is the only standard by which we have to judge ourselves for what we are, or what we are capable of becoming. Being able to comply with the dictates of others is only the standard of a slave.

This culture is our best, not for its faults, but for its virtues. It may ultimately be judged by its failures but, like ancient Greece, it is best appreciated by understanding its accomplishments. Other cultures have their merits. Some more than others. But none have reached for the lofty goals of our founding, nor grasped so much of the human ideal.

There is no alternative. We must persist. Now! The enemy of the future is here. We are again on the plain at Marathon; we stand again at Tours; the Gates of Vienna yet remain. Fall back, they say! Give up! Accept your faults as all that you can be, and follow orders. Follow the rules of others who (magically) know better.