Suicide of the West
How the Rebirth of Tribalism, Populism, Nationalism, and Identity Politics is Destroying American Democracy
1 of 1 copy available
“Epic and debate-shifting.”—David Brooks, New York Times
Only once in the last 250,000 years have humans stumbled upon a way to lift ourselves out of the endless cycle of poverty, hunger, and war that defines most of history. If democracy, individualism, and the free market were humankind’s destiny, they should have appeared and taken hold a bit earlier in the evolutionary record. The emergence of freedom and prosperity was nothing short of a miracle.
As Americans we are doubly blessed, because the radical ideas that made the miracle possible were written not just into the Constitution but in our hearts, laying the groundwork for our uniquely prosperous society. Those ideas are:
• Our rights come from God, not from the government.
• The government belongs to us; we do not belong to it.
• The individual is sovereign. We are all captains of our own souls, not bound by the circumstances of our birth.
• The fruits of our labors belong to us.
In the last few decades, these political virtues have been turned into vices. As we are increasingly taught to view our traditions as a system of oppression, exploitation, and privilege, the principles of liberty and the rule of law are under attack from left and right. For the West to survive, we must renew our sense of gratitude for what our civilization has given us and rediscover the ideals and habits of the heart that led us out of the bloody muck of the past—or back to the muck we will go.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
April 24, 2018 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780525498810
- File size: 462335 KB
- Duration: 16:03:11
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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NATIONAL REVIEW editor Jonah Goldberg's high-voltage performance grabs attention as he expresses amazement at the massive amount of historical research, insights, and detailed arguments he has put together. He's an accurate narrator with a strong and flinty voice, so listeners are never in doubt about the themes of this elaborative audiobook. With compelling examples and stories, he shows how the West's prevailing political system--liberal democratic capitalism--developed as a stabilizing alternative to the tribal cultures and despotic rule that existed for centuries around the globe. But as good as this system is, he says, it's fragile and under threat today from alienated populists who are attracted by the power of the mob or the certitude of strongman rule. An intellectually fascinating audio by most standards is oversold by the author's exuberance at the microphone. T.W. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
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