Is Western culture sustainable?

A new correspondent, David H., has what may be the most devastating comment yet in the “Are Hispanics Westerners?” discussion. He also posed this question:

Is Western culture ultimately sustainable? Has the Western emphasis on near total freedom, wealth and personal ease resulted in a culture that inevitably divorces itself from the harsh realities of the world?

The great American experiment is now much too far gone to try to save it. My interest now is whether anything could ever have been done to save it from itself, or are we dealing here with the fundamental issue of the inherent corruption and corruptibility of mankind, for there will be nothing unique about our fate. We are but one in a long line of failed civilizations since all civilizations have ultimately failed.

Not a pleasant thought, is it?

I replied:

Obviously, the Western culture that emphasizes “near total freedom, wealth and personal ease” is not sustainable. But that is not the whole of Western culture. That is the current, radical liberal stage of Western culture, in which society is ruled solely by liberalism. If Western culture rejected the dominion of liberalism, it could reconstitute something of its essential and historical self. So, if you identify Western culture solely with liberalism, then there is no hope. If you recognize that liberalism is only the most recent phase of Western culture, then there is hope, because it means we can reject liberalism and live.

So keep trying to understand what has led us to this catastrophe—but don’t give up hope either. See the truth of what got us here, because the path that got us here is also—if we understand our mistakes and reverse them—the path that will lead us out of here.

But such a radical change in direction on the part of traditionalists would not be sufficient in itself to change society, given the existence of the left. What if the left, with its unyielding desire to destroy the West, holds on to its current position and power, for example, controlling schools, media, government? As suggested by Mark J., any non-liberal direction on our part would avail nothing, so long as the left remains in power to shoot down everything we attempt, preventing us from, say, doing anything about immigration. Stronger measures would then be needed to overcome the left.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at April 05, 2006 10:47 PM | Send