[Loyalist]

My own unscientific, unprovable theory about the rapid moral decline of Europe has to do with the two World Wars. World War I killed off the best and brightest of that generation, leaving behind the dregs who sought solace in radical totalitarianism or pacifism.

The Second World War led to the last great wave of European emigration to the New World, taking away even more of the best and brightest who had the initiative to start all over in foreign lands.

The Netherlands is an excellent case in point. Thousands of Dutch--among them the most moral and upright Christian people you'd ever meet, Catholic or Calvinist--emigrated to Canada, Australia and the USA after World War II, while the enervated, effete, elderly and collaborators stayed behind.

[NewAmsterdam]

Ahum!......I hope you are not suggesting that my parents are the 'enervated, effete, elderly and collaborators'. Your analysis is indeed rather unscientific, as you yourself admitted.