The Midterms Are Coming: Vote!

As we approach the heart of autumn, we’re striding toward the most important midterms in U.S. history. Though oft-repeated, that sentiment isn’t overblown or untrue.

This November 3, voters across the country face a stark choice: elect officials who, though imperfect, will at least maintain our way of life, or those promising to shred it—with a smile, of course. “The election this year is not Left versus Right, Democrat against Republican, or liberal opposing conservative. It is more a party representing anti-civilization versus those trying to preserve civilization in its 11th hour. Or perhaps, the midterms should be seen as nihilism versus hope,” explains classicist and historian Victor Davis Hanson. “Most on the Left value ideology often far more than any sense of a common humanity. Polls show conservatives are far more likely than the Left to express love for the U.S., or to promote patriotism, or to envision America as an exceptional nation.”

In my last newsletter, I spoke of a path toward American renewal through historical memory and objective truth. Each generation must take responsibility for this. It’s especially important that we educate our youngest about U.S. history, its implications for the present, and the current political climate. Polls, surveys, and anecdotal evidence suggest that we’re failing on this front.

Consider a recent survey by Rasmussen Reports and Our Republic, which found that younger voters hold far more favorable views of sharia than their older counterparts: 43 percent of those ages eighteen to twenty-four and 39 percent of those twenty-five to twenty-nine see it positively, compared with 16 percent of voters forty and older. A Gallup poll released in September found that 57 percent of adults between eighteen and thirty-four view socialism more favorably than capitalism.

Polls are snapshots, and sometimes inaccurate ones. Yet these numbers indicate that many young people haven’t learned that sharia and socialism don’t mesh with the values of Western civilization. While unsettling, it’s not surprising, given the dire straits of American education from kindergarten through college.

There’s still time to choose renewal over decline, as Os Guinness has rightly urged. It’s not just a renewal for America, but for all of Western civilization. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently made the case that the West should reclaim its rich inheritance from ancient Greece.

“The thumos, as the ancient Greeks called it—the fire of passion, strength, courage, pride—is the heart of great civilization. And without it? Without it, nations lose their will to fight, the will to strive, the will to survive,” Rubio said as he stood before the Acropolis. “Today, too much of the West has forgotten this quality. Over time, we in the West came to feel ashamed of the very things that made us exceptional. We felt embarrassed that our achievements set us apart from the rest of the world. Our prosperity somehow became a source of guilt. We no longer believed we deserved and had earned our greatness.”

We now face a civilizational moment, according to Guinness (see “A New York—and a Socrates—State of Mind,” below). Rubio called it a crossroads. “The course we take will determine whether the West maintains its place at the head of the world or resigns itself to a future of atrophy and servitude and decline. We will either choose to act now or lose the choice to act at all,” he said.

The choices we make individually matter, including those at the ballot box. Exercising our right to vote is half the battle; the other half is voting for people who truly represent our interests. I discuss other ways to drive renewal in my latest stories:

• A New York—and a Socrates—State of Mind
• Making Sure Tomorrow’s America Never Forgets 9/11
• Freedom Without Faith Will Falter

I hope you’ll read and share them.