The West at a Crossroads: Excellence or Mediocrity?

American Greatness ^ | 11 October 2026 | Roger Kimball

[Rummyfan]

This loss of spiritedness—what the Greeks called θυμός—has had a far-reaching and depressive effect on the civilizations of the West.

It would have been hard to improve the backdrop for Marco Rubio’s foreign policy address on October 7 in Athens, Greece. Standing on the Pnyx with the ruins of the Parthenon rising up behind him, the Secretary of State delivered a speech that won almost universal plaudits. Let me toss my vote in with the overwhelming majority and affirm that Rubio’s speech was simply splendid: robust, heartfelt, honest, masculine, and true.

Is it still permissible to praise such a public performance for being “masculine”? It was part of Rubio’s accomplishment to render that question moot. His speech was statesmanlike but also steely: confident both in manner and substance. Rubio was speaking on behalf of the greatest military and economic power on earth. He knew it. So did his audience. He did not swagger. But neither did he make any apologies for the potency he represented. Rather, he issued a series of clear-eyed affirmations. What he affirmed were the struggles—political, intellectual, martial—that defined Western civilization and made it a world-conquering and world-enriching force. That history made the spot upon which Rubio stood a sacred space. The Acropolis: that “high place” in whose shadow political liberty made its fledgling steps, where Plato and Aristotle taught, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes wrote their plays, where Pericles presided and Phidias built and sculpted.

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TOPICS: History; Miscellaneous; Politics; Society
KEYWORDS: athens; greece; marcorubio; rogerkimball

[Rummyfan]

We are, as Rubio warned, at a crossroads. Do we pursue excellence and take justified pride in the great things our civilization has accomplished? Or do we retreat to the tenebrous mediocrity and querulous ressentiment of the Last Man? C. S. Lewis drew a frightening portrait of “men without chests,” spiritually timid creatures who lack gumption (a plausible English equivalent of the Greek word θυμός). Marco Rubio, continuing in the president’s rhetorical footsteps, has called us to reaffirm the better, more spirited angels of our nature. I like to think that this rousing tocsin will help awaken a salutary and clear-eyed spiritual revival.

[DIRTYSECRET]

Tomorrow is Columbus Day(here anyhow). Perhaps he should give another speech just like it in Spain where Columbus set sail from. A double whammy that year was the expulsion of moozlems and Joo conversion. Did it work? It may have for 500 years but the last 34 would suggest otherwise.

What would the rest of the world think?

[iontheball]

Great article. Rubio lit the fuse and Kimball has written an article that ought to cause all Americans to think on and understand what makes greatness, what makes exceptionalism. It’s ‘spiritedness’ as Kimball so correctly identifies. But, from whence does it emanate? Why, from no other place than our Creator, the Lord Almighty. Just look around at His creation and you will see all the inspiration you need to aspire to His greatness, to perfection. It all goes back to keeping that Holy Spirit burning bright within us so we are able to honor the greatness of the Lord Almighty every day of our lives.

[griswold3]

A clarion call. Those that will not answer are agreeing to a lower standard of living, a civilization in decline.

[zeestephen]

Re: "The West at a Crossroads"

The West?

What West?

We have been overwhelmed by Marxist media and Muslims.

[motor_racer]

The choice is not between excellence and mediocrity. It is between survival and extinction.

[frog in a pot]

The choice is not between excellence and mediocrity. It is between survival and extinction.

Quite right! That is where the rubber hits the road, but it is not at an exact point it is during a subtle span of time.

However, too many are too busy either moaning about a lack of opportunity or enjoying their success to look that far ahead.

[captmar-vell]

America is halted between two opinions.

DSA Marxists, Islamic activists aided and prioritized by the installed WEF NWO Globalists operating aggressively and evil on one side against mostly MSM managed indifferent 401K fat and soundly sleeping Americans on the other.

Only one side is in for a very rude awakening.

“And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.” - 1 Kings 18:21

[Honorary Serb]

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/θυμός

Noun
θῡμός • (thūmós) m (genitive θῡμοῦ); second declension (Epic, Attic, Ionic, Doric, Aeolic, Koine)

soul, as the seat of emotion, feeling, and thought
soul, life, breath
soul, heart
desire, will
temper, passion, disposition
anger, rage, wrath
heart, love
thought, mind