America faces an enemy that is more dangerous than the entire worldwide collection of Islamic terrorists, and more threatening to our long-term sovereignty than our massive national debt. This enemy is the slow and creeping rot of the social institutions that hold this country together – the invisible bonds that make America what she is and that are necessary to the success of any country. Behold the face of this enemy, which has named itself “Progress

Rome was not overrun by the Visigoths – at least, not really. Rome overran itself. The Rome of Augustus and Tiberius would have scoffed in the face of the threat presented by the Gothic Wars. However, the fat, bloated, and divided Rome of the fourth century onward was not even able to manage a passable pretense of the glory days which preceded it. It was a territory which sat on wealth it did not deserve and could not protect because its own decadence had sapped its will.

Fast forward to America in the early 21st century. Although not an “Empire” in the traditional sense of the word, America has shepherded the world through a remarkable period of relative peace for the last half decade, and prevented Western Europe from another period of the Dark Ages under communist totalitarianism. Alas, all is not well and the signs of very serious trouble are unavoidable. Here at home on our streets, a sizeable portion of our citizenry is crying out for a factory of infanticide on every corner. Worse, the leading lights of the only political party ostensibly committed to maintaining America’s greatness are crying out for “truce” with the purveyors of this wickedness so that the urgent business of maintaining current marginal tax rates can be attended to.

The end of this story may be seen from the beginning.

Can it be avoided? Perhaps. Conservatives have preferred to chide the last two administrations with failing to understand the nature of the terrorist enemy; will they continue to blind themselves to the nature of the enemy at home? Will those who would deride the idea of a truce with bin Laden continue to cry out for a truce with the enablers and participants in mass infanticide? The answer to these questions holds the future of our society.

And only we are capable of answering them.