In my opinion, you are one of the most intelligent and perceptive posters on these fora, and I usually find myself wishing, after reading one of your messages, that you would join the discussions more often. Not today.
For all of your perceptiveness, intelligence, and understanding of the great tides of history, I think you miss the larger picture here. Yes, we are a feminized culture. Yes, we have awakened to the reality of our Empire. Yes, Empire sucks virtue from the marrow of Republic. All of these things are true. And it is also true that these attacks are related to our practices and policies as an Empire. I'm here to say: that doesn't change things a bit.
God uses Empire just as he uses Republic. Without the massive infrastructure and global reach of Rome, Christ's message would have been so much harder to disseminate throughout the West. Without the civilizing influence of the British Empire, the world would be far more fragmented and culturally impoverished than it is today. Without the American Empire, communism might have truly conquered all as Russia "spread her errors throughout the world."
Witness what happens when Empires retreat into themselves. The fall of Rome in the West led to 500 years of darkness and death. The fall of Constantinople led to the establishment of a permanent Islamic threat at Europe's door. The fall of the British Empire led to the spread of communism and third world nationalism around the globe.
Empires are not perfect; in fact they are downright awful. The practice of Empire is ugly, feminizing, and demoralizing.
The alternative is worse.
Well, cicero's son, you aimed your arrow unerringly at the achilles heel. Is the critique of the current wave (an irresitable tidal wave, it appears) of history meaningful, or is it all petulant childishness? Are those of us who reject the facile embrace of "God's will" as an explanation, lonely prophets or merely infantile egoists?
Why did someone like Augustine have the intellectual power to turn away from longing for the classical culture he so loved, and not only live through the change but put in place the very foundations of the next wave? Is it genetic-- hormonal?
Or does it just mean that some people grow up faster than others; growing up being the ability to say, with equanimity: "...Empires are not perfect...The alternative is worse. .."
You point out:"...Witness what happens when Empires retreat into themselves..." You seem to think they have any choice in the matter. I have no doubt our Empire will be able to marshal one last mighty battle cry. And when the dust settles, and we have a chance to examine more closely the inside of our skyscraper facade, we will find there is nothing left.
Growing up being the ability to perceive that it is all decay and corruption proceeding in elliptical waves until finally we are drawn, inexoribly, into the "final realization" where everybody ultimately dwells--Tamarlain, St. Francis, Idi Amin, Gregory The Great, Hitler, Anne Frank, Osama Bin Laden, Charles Martel, Joe Smith...
It seems unbearable...