Pat Buchanan was on TV a couple of days ago to talk about his new book “Suicide of a Superpower”. The publication of the book has landed Buchanan in some hot water, being a factor in Mr. Buchanan's dismissal from his position as right-wing commentator on the MSNBC opinion shows. The book includes chapters such as “The End of White America”, and Mr. Buchanan had taken to promoting the book on white nationalistic radio shows, causing MSNBC viewers to petition the network for the ending of Mr. Buchanan's contract.
Speaking with CBS's Charlie Rose, Buchanan said of his book “What I want you to understand, Charlie, what I want the folks to read that book and understand, is that Western civilization is in its Indian Summer. It is on, in my judgment, pretty much its last legs, and I'm not sure it will survive this century," To which he later added "And what I'm warning about in our country is that the United States of America which is shifting to become a multi-cultural, multi-national, multi-ethic, multi-lingual country, there is nothing that's going to hold us together if we lose our common language, our common Christian, Judeo-Christian faith, our common moral consensus, which we are losing."
And I have to say: I agree with Pat Buchanan on this. I agree that western civilization is vastly weakened, and I doubt it will survive into the next century.
However, Mr. Buchanan and I arrive at our conclusions in different ways. Firstly, I think the replacement of our democratic system of government with a corporatocracy is already a large loss to western civilization. The idea that a government must exist with the consent of the governed is one of the hallmarks of western civilization, and an ideal that inspires people all over the globe.
Today, in America, democracy is largely gone, replaced by a government by the wealthy and corporate interests, and for the wealthy and corporate interests. The "democratic" champion is no exception; both Pres. Obama and his conservative challengers race to secure the greatest possible amount of money for an election campaign. Since 2000, nine out of ten elections in America have been won by the campaign with the most money. This means that our votes are largely irrelevant: votes no longer win the election, the amount of money does. And the loss of democracy as a principle of government means a real diminution of western civilization.
It is possible that a return to democratic system of government could be achieved through changes in how we run our elections, but seems an awfully high hurdle as the wealthy and corporate interests now hold all the levers of power. Over the years we have seen a gradual decline in the percentage of eligible voters who actually vote, as more and more people realize their participation in government is no longer meaningful, needed, or even wanted. I fully predict that by the end of this century, America will do away with voting altogether. Like The Grange, voting will become a quaint vestigial notion of a bygone time, no longer useful in our modern society. Western civilization has already taken a big hit, with this disintegration of our democratic system of government.
Along with the loss of democracy as a civilized ideal, the movement away from empiricism and towards theology and theocracy further erodes our traditions of western civilization. There has always been a certain corner of the American public that believed our nation should be run in accordance with religious law. And the battle between church as state and the separation of church and state will continue back and forth. These days, those who seek to impose “biblical law” on all Americans seem to have the momentum, even as they cry and condemn the supposed imposition of Sharia law in Michigan and in other states. (Does anyone else notice that the same people who claim the Catholic Church is being denied its right to practice its religion without government interference are the same people who want to government to stop the construction of a mosque in lower Manhattan?). So I agree with Buchanan when he says we have lost our common moral heritage. The joining of church in state matters signals a serious demise of the traditions upholding our western civilization.
However, it is the ascendency of theological thinking over empiricism that spells real doom for western civilization. Much of the wonders of western civilization came about because of the use of empirical thought giving rise to scientific investigation. Today, our leaders denounce evolution and climate change in spite of the clear preponderance of empirical evidence demonstrating these phenomenae, as attested to be the vast majority of scientists around the world. But unfortunately, the Bible does not mention climate change, so large numbers of Christians will claim the scientific evidence is wrong, despite the clear biblical instruction that mankind should protect God's creation.
The loss to western civilization from a return to the theocratic dark ages is beyond imagining. The scientific advancements driven by empiricism have given western civilization greater abundance in food production, the conquering of many diseases, global travel, electricity and mass communication (all things the Church has put to use for religious purposes). The denial of empiricism has brought us the Iraq War (yes, a real war on religion!), and how many more of those can western civilization withstand? I guess we will find out when the shooting starts in Iran..
And what about the impact of climate change itself on western civilization? Already the US military is studying the possible military threats to the US and western industrialized nations predicted by climate scientists. They warn of decreased availability of food and fresh water, regional armed conflicts over food and water supplies, and mass migrations as people seek food and water. The military takes these threats very seriously, and is preparing action plans based on these scenerios. And what could be worse for western civilization than war and water riots? A global die-off of the human population could well mean the end of all civilization, western or otherwise.
So Pat Buchanan, I raise my glass of western civilized clean and contaminant-free water to you: despite using all the wrong evidence, you arrived at the right answer. Too bad the ongoing demise of western civilization will mean none of our children will get to see your book or know what you said in it.