For some reason, this entire post unpacked itself in my mind in an instant when I read this bullet point in a new post by Pepe Escobar:
The forming of a fair multipolar world order without a definite center and periphery has become much more intensive in the past few years. Asian, African and Latin American countries are becoming important parts of the global economy. Not infrequently, they are setting the tone and the dynamics.
Think back to 2005 when the Western world congratulated itself on “proving” that just one fair election would instantly transform any people into a modern democratic-republic, American style. Then-president George W. Bush summarized the feeling in a speech to the Philadelphia World Affairs Council just days ahead of Iraq’s first election after the American invasion:
It's a remarkable transformation for a country that has virtually no experience with democracy, and which is struggling to overcome the legacy of one of the worst tyrannies the world has known. And Iraqis achieved all this while determined enemies use violence and destruction to stop the progress. There's still a lot of difficult work to be done in Iraq, but thanks to the courage of the Iraqi people, the year 2005 will be recorded as a turning point in the history of Iraq, the history of the Middle East, and the history of freedom.
No doubt much of what President Bush said was and remains true. Forces opposed to nation-states where rights belong exclusively to the people and where these people choose their government, fixing its just powers—are often cruel and oppressive and, therefore, in opposition to the natural law.
In the first decade of this century, the expert consensus was that, given one chance to choose their own destiny and a little support from a great foreign power, all men would choose the American model. Further, we were told the American model is the only morally sound system of government. Therefore, they assured us, it is our duty to impose democracy every in the world, no matter how many American sons and daughter die in the process.
But things haven’t worked out that way, and it’s worth considering why.
First, exposing people who hail from religious cultures to modern Western cutlure undoubtedly offends their sensibilities. Hyper-sexualization of children and adults, decadence in food and clothing, laziness, entitlement, and drug abuse don’t sell in societies where modesty, family, and responsibility dominate. Despite the fact that Christianity built the West, faith was long gone from the public sphere by 2005. And it’s all but banned in the West today.
Next comes economics. Throwing off British rule in 1776 was a luxury of the American people afforded by an economic system that swelled what would later be called the “middle class.” Though American colonists were dirt poor by modern standards, they possessed the ability to generate excess wealth through self-chosen industry. With low taxes, minimal regulation, and seemingly endless natural resources at their disposal, our forebears applied their Bible teachings by working hard, saving, learning many useful skills, and helping their neighbors in need. They built true communities of personal responsibility and industriousness seeking to please God by living His great commendments to love Him with their whole hearts, minds, bodies, and souls and to love their neighbors as their themselves for His sake. In short, the American people experienced centuries of self-governance in their homes and communities before they applied the practice at a nation-state level. The unassimilated world had no such cultural experience.
Finally, and most importantly, the experts were wrong. We need look no further than that foundational faith for the warning: “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14). We need look no further than the first cause of the rollback of imposed Western governance. By now, the Good News of our Lord, Savior, and King Jesus Christ has been preached to all men and all nations. The Word of God was certainly foundational to America’s founding as a nation. Jefferson said so in the Declaration of Independence, citing man’s unalienable and God-given rights as the moral and philosophical justification for severing ties with the crown.
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).
But what popped into my head this morning upon reading Escobar’s bullet point was not that the people of the unassimilated world need to get churched-up, but that they reject American hegemony because have been churched down. If self-governance produces what they see in America, they rightfully want no part of it.
Despite their long-standing problems, the unassimilated peoples of the world must wonder just how cruel a nation must be to impose on them scenes like these. The people of Asia, Africa, and South America must consider Western assistance a kiss from Judas. Would any father want his children to grow up in a world like the one depicted in the images above? Do they want the “political stability” of the modern West as exemplified by the DOJ persecution of its previous president and his supporters?
The world is, indeed, throwing off American hegemony precisely because America has become a godless, hypocritical cesspool of leisure and license. Jesus warned us that many would reject His offer of salvation, and Jesus is God. Are we really so hubristic as to think people would accept our founding values on faith alone? Then, mix in the historical fact that, as a nation and culture, we, too, have rejected the Christian morals that gave Jefferson the courage to write, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.”
“If, by democracy, you mean what’s happening in America,” the unassimilated masses say, “I want no part of it.”
Thus, a multi-polar world emerges before our eyes—a world where the people of various nations are free to form or tolerate the government and morals of their choosing. And our mission remains the same: not to depose their governments through force and arms nor to seize their assets until become like us, but to preach His word to all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and teaching them all that He has commanded. And if they reject that message, kick their dirt off our shoes on the way out of town.