Europe's decline has been breathtaking. A century ago, Europe mattered. It was the Europe of high culture, a sustained population boom and a Europe that projected military might in its own heartland and bestrode colonies across the globe. For lack of a better word, Europe was a colossus of importance, its growth magnified by centuries of relentless expansion. It had confidence in itself, faith in Christian certitude and faith in the future. In the space of hundred years all that has changed. No one today talks of European culture, the continent is on its demographic deathbed with no significant means of projecting influence abroad and shorn of its reflected imperial glory. Europe is insignificant in the century's politics even as it contracts upon itself. It confronts deep pessimism, compounded by a post-Christian ethic that insist the present is more important than the
longue duree. There is no hope things will get better. In America, we no longer look to Europe as we used to because Europe no longer draws attention to itself and these days the atavistic sign of European weakness is is reflected in European elites living off the accumulated cultural heritage rather than preparing for the future. In the space of less than a dozen sentences I have chronicled both the height and the low of European existence. Its a reminder of just how much things can change in the blink of an eye. Whether Europe can save itself is entirely up to the Europeans; no one else can perform the task for them and the French government's response to the violence engulfing the country has merely underlined that Europe's real problem isn't one of the equitable distribution of economic and social benefits but rather a question of values. Who are Europeans? Now we get to the heart of the question both the Continent's sclerotized elites and their fellow travelers in the Western MSM seem rather desperate to avoid answering. One can avoid having to deal with Islam's claims with a desperate resort to short-gap measures and a good dose of self-denial but sooner or later an exhausted civilization must either surrender its birth-right to a new comer or find its way back from the abysss. That is the conundrum that Europe now faces in our time.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")