It would appear inarguable that our country and the West are facing significant challenges to our continued dominance, effectively even our existence as an intact civilization. However, if we analyze the threats, we see that there are solutions...if we have the will to put them into effect.
Samuel P. Huntington defines a civilization as “A cultural entity.” He contends that civilizations are the broadest and most comprehensive cultural groupings to which humans belong—larger than nations, ethnic groups, or religious communities.
America is the core state of Western Civilization. When we forget who we are, we lose our ability to adhere to the very concepts that bind us together as a people:
- History
- Language
- Cultural traditions
- Institutions
- Religion (the most critical factor)
Typically, a country’s fortunes are determined by its level of integration. Thus, a civilization’s success depends on its cohesive propensity to innovate, adopt best governance practices, encourage family growth, promote universal education, and adopt a widely accepted moral code that builds on the best practices inherent to our Western Civilization. Values that include the rule of law, individual independence, and merit, in the hope that a rising tide of innovations from those individuals raises all boats.
Unfortunately, the expression “Diversity is our strength” began in the Clinton administration. The opposite is true. Diversity is the enemy of civilization, as it injects chaos into what had been well-ordered and familiar “family ties” that every civilization relies on to both order society and establish commonality of interest, a necessity for a stable and thriving civilization.
The corollary to the diversity crowd is the isolationist or American Firster crowd. They, in turn, are unable to point to any time in our history where we prospered by walling ourselves off from the world. The West depends on a robust balancing of our internal needs and the requirement for reciprocal trade, defending our interests and not allowing any other nation the opportunity to dominate us, either politically, militarily, or economically. That has been the key to our success since our founding!
Waiting in the wings are other expectant civilizations that see their time coming at our expense in a zero-sum view. Three of the seven other major civilizations jealously covet what we have achieved and believe they will inevitably inherit what we have through what they see as our inevitable decline. They are:
Confucian—fundamentally China- Islamic—competing and cooperating Muslim-dominated countries
- Slavic-Orthodox—Primarily Russia
A country in decline is like a wounded animal. China and Russia (two different cultures) both share certain factors that mitigate against them being belligerent and dangerous. Both countries have slowing growth rates that threaten their stability. Both are run by dictators who value their citizens’ lives less than their long-term objectives, including empire-building. Neither country upholds the universal worth of individuals over that of the state, an almost alien principle to us.
However, they are also rational actors; we can likely deal with them. Their most fundamental attribute is a need to survive. Therefore, they are unlikely to do anything that would undermine internal stability. Not a guarantee, but it’s as good as we can get from our vantage. That leaves us with our third civilization.
Islamic countries remain the wild card. There is no single Islamic country that holds sway over any of the others. Muslim nations (more accurately, tribes and clans) can be thought of as planets orbiting our Sun. From time to time, the orbital mechanics involved influence one another as gravity draws or repels different Muslim sects and countries. It is an incontrovertible fact that Muslims kill Muslims more often and with just as much emotion as any infidel.
There are five major sects: Shi’a and Sunni are predominant, but there are many variations of belief and little reconciliation. In “The Clash of Civilizations,” Huntington writes:
The Muslim world is fragmented because it has no single dominant “core state” capable of providing leadership, enforcing norms, or mediating conflicts.
And,
The Islamic world shows higher levels of violent conflict than other civilizations. This is not a moral judgment but a statement of reality, likely due to the clan- and tribal-based nature of Islamic countries.
All the foregoing points out that the West’s many challenges and enemies cannot be wished away or simply outlast the moment. Better-organized, more determined enemies and frenemies covet what we have. We possess the level of technical and economic superiority they believe is possible for them, without any of our social baggage.
I believe that in a world with an unlimited number of threats and opportunities, we need two things to endure. First, we must fix our society and its culture to give it a better chance to endure. Second, we must never surrender the high ground or the West’s military dominance that protects us from the unknown and, frankly, the unknowable. Until that time comes, everyone should understand the need for the West to remain militarily dominant.
God Bless America!
Author, Businessman, Thinker, and Strategist. Read more about Allan Feifer, his background, and his ideas to create a better tomorrow at www.1plus1equals2.com.
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2026/01/the_three_greatest_threats_facing_a_culturally_fractured_america.html
