Opinion: Invertebrate west

At what point did we give up our backbones? For what reward did we choose to become spineless?

Left, right, or center, we in the west used to stand for something intrinsically worthwhile, of transcendent value. Howsoever poorly we may have lived up to our ideals, we were all loyal to the assertion that every individual human life was precious and that we should each be free to become our best selves.

To be sure, we had different interpretations of how best our human dignity should be expressed and protected, yet few among us denied the intrinsic value of personal freedom.

Western civilization is unique in its historical traditions that produced both republics and inalienable human rights. This shared dedication to the principles behind freedom and human dignity made the west, for all of its many faults and failures, a force that broke far more chains than it created.

Many Conservatives increasingly see the connections between the western tradition and liberty. On the other hand, even the most anti-traditional Progressives express their hopes for humanity's future in terms of liberation from oppression, of a perfected society purged of its ancient restrictions. They employ western values even as they decry the west.

Yet today, many of our most politically powerful, wealthy and educated people seem to be engaged in an implacable crusade against the west and its people.

Justin Trudeau's Canada is now licensing what they call "real journalists." A secret committee within the Canadian government will now provide or deny credentials to its media. Fawning over the regime will be rewarded, and integrity punished.

This, coupled with Trudeau's abuse of Emergency powers to stifle political criticism and suppress peaceful protests, amounts to the murder of a free Canada. Yet, the mass of the American media are silent as their Canadian brethren are castrated.

Members of the World Economic Forum and their pet Futurists speak longingly of a time to come when smart devices will replace "useless eaters." Common citizens in the west, people like you and me, are those for whom these self-satisfied would-be world rulers would eliminate.

Activists touting "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" are striving to replace a colorblind meritocracy with a new segregation where birth characteristics like skin color and sex determines success or failure.

"Environment, Social Justice, Government (ESG)" advocates are placing the powerless at the mercy of the powerful by expanding governmental regulation in place of personal choice.

Open border proponents are flooding the U.S. with illegal aliens in order to dilute or eliminate the rights and privileges of citizenship.

LBGTQ+ advocates speak contemptuously of "breeders" whose best destiny is to give birth to future members of an LBGTQ+ elite which has transcended biological determinism.

In the name of stopping crime and defanging psychopaths, anti-gun advocates are working to disarm everyone except those who work for them.

Fourth Wave Feminists aim to destroy marriage, the family, and the innocence of childhood.

Post-Modern Deconstructivists purposefully undermine the fundamental concepts behind both language and a shared objective reality.

Finally, militant environmentalists see humanity as a plague that needs its living standard lowered and its numbers drastically reduced.

None of these advocates seems to have the slightest empathy for actual people. They do not see us as the beneficiaries of their utopian visions.

Instead, we and our rights and freedoms are the primary obstacles standing between them and their vision of a perfected future. While we live, their utopia cannot be born.

We westerners who still believe in the value of the individual, the preciousness of every human life, the importance of free choice, and the dignity of the human condition are beset. Our "best and brightest" have turned on us.

If we do not awaken to the danger of implacable and inhumane woke ideologues amongst us, our extinction as free people will become a certainty. We must stand up for ourselves and for the innocent and powerless among us. For freedom's sake, we must each grow a backbone.

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In Maine and then Idaho, Ralph K. Ginorio has taught the history of western civilization to high school students for nearly a quarter century. He is an “out-of-the-closet” Conservative educator with experience in special education, public schools and charter schools, grades 6-12. He has lived in Coeur d’Alene since 2014. Email: rginorio@cdapress.com