Two pivotal developments will transform the West. One is mass migration, which, in tandem with declining birthrates, is producing demographic change

View this email in your browser ([link removed])
[link removed]
[link removed]

The Public Square ([link removed])
January 2023

Engines of De ([link removed]) struction ([link removed]) ([link removed])
by R. R. Reno ([link removed])
Two pivotal developments will transform the West. One is mass migration, which, in tandem with declining birthrates, is producing demographic change in Europe and North America. The other is the green transition and the massive amount of capital allocated to build a new economy. The first erodes the quality of life for ordinary people in the West. The second is likely to produce a lower standard of living. Both dynamics are overseen and ideologically justified by today's elites. The dissatisfaction and disorder they will create will put great stress on our political and cultural establishments. In all likelihood, the coming years will see the West pivot toward a post-democratic era as elites clamp down on populist dissent and nullify electoral results that run counter to their plans.

On various occasions during the past decade, I've participated in debates about immigration. I'm not "anti-immigration" (although anyone who advocates reduction of the present influx is invariably called that). The ability to attract and assimilate immigrants has been a great American strength. But what has struck me in these debates is the obtuse mentality of those who oppose my calls for restraint on immigration. I point out that the non-native-born are reaching a historic high of nearly 15 percent of the total population, and that immigration rates are accelerating. At some point (20 percent? 25 percent?), won't the country become culturally incoherent? In response, my interlocutors insist that the country is already multicultural, and imply that it would be better if it were even more diverse. They rarely allow that there can or should be any limits to how many can arrive. I point out that we should discriminate among those we welcome, partly on the basis of their potential for easy
assimilation. One need only to look to France or Sweden to see that large-scale Muslim immigration presents more significant challenges than does the arrival of Christians from Latin America. Again, my interlocutors refuse to make such determinations, often saying (in so many words) that to do so amounts to a xenophobic sin.

This stance baffles me. Is it so difficult to see that cultural continuity and social unity are essential common goods? And that demographic change often threatens both? Cultural continuity and social unity are not the be-all and end-all for healthy society. We also cherish freedom, dynamism, and hospitality, which along with other goods can run against continuity and unity. But those in charge seem to have lost any sense of the trade-offs and of the need to correct course when things go awry.
[...] ([link removed])
Read more ([link removed])
Donate ([link removed])
The Public Square has featured a column by the editor of First Things since our inaugural issue in March 1990. This article appeared in our November 2023 issue.

============================================================
** Share ([link removed])
** Share ([link removed])
** Tweet ([link removed]: https%3A%2F%2Fmailchi.mp%2Ffirstthings%2Fkeep-first-things-first-611685)
** Tweet ([link removed]: https%3A%2F%2Fmailchi.mp%2Ffirstthings%2Fkeep-first-things-first-611685)
** Share ([link removed])
** Share ([link removed])
** Forward to Friend ([link removed])
** Forward to Friend ([link removed])
Copyright © 2023 First Things, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you opted in at www.firstthings.com.

Our mailing address is:
First Things
9 East 40th Street, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10016
USA
** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
** update subscription preferences ([link removed])