Childhood's End

 'As a dependency of the United States, Europe has retained much of its charm. Imagine the good it will do the world when the Continent is once more on its own two feet!'

From The European Conservative

By Charles Coulombe, MST, KCSS

Europe will accomplish far more when it ends its dependency on the United States and stands on its own two feet.

Swiftly these pulled down the walls that their fathers had made them—

The impregnable ramparts of old, they razed and relaid them
As playgrounds of pleasure and leisure with limitless entries,
And havens of rest for the wastrels where once walked the sentries;
And because there was need of more pay for the shouters and marchers,
They disbanded in face of their foemen their yeomen and archers.

— Rudyard Kipling, “The City of Brass.”

The spectacle of the current United States presidential election campaign is bizarre and grim. The first debate a few weeks ago revealed an incumbent apparently struggling with senility; meanwhile, his challenger pulled his punches somewhat to avoid seeming like the stereotypical high school athlete beating up the dumb kid. As the days passed, various Democratic Party leaders began calling for Joe Biden to leave the campaign in favour of another candidate. This was followed by an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, which was initially reported by hostile media as his “falling” or “stumbling.” Conspiracy theories immediately began to cloud the issue, and the national mood turned nastier.

The Republican National Convention featured Hulk Hogan turning in a performance worthy of Idiocracy’s President Camacho. Trump chose Hillbilly-turned-Catholic J.D. Vance as his running mate, and projected a sense of messianic calm—doubtless understandable in a man who owes his life purely to Divine Providence or blind luck—depending upon your mental universe. MSNBC commentator Alex Wagner imbecilically characterised Vance’s desire to be buried amongst his family ancestors as the “supremacy of whiteness and masculinity.” One could not help but wonder if the worthy lady wants women of colour cremated and their ashes scattered.

In any case, none of this bodes well for a civilised or rational election. Moreover, regardless of the outcome, it is highly unlikely to restore national unity around the winner. In all likelihood, the loser’s adherents will chant “not my president!” and do their best to sabotage the winner’s effectiveness over the next four years. Beyond that, the country’s ability to control events overseas shall undoubtedly continue to unravel. Regardless of whomever reigns over an increasingly divided nation, the U.S. simply cannot afford to continue as the world’s policemen. And if the dollar ceases to be the international medium of exchange, our goose is truly and well cooked.

How shall this affect Europe? The withdrawal of the American military, political, and economic shield under which Western Europe has sheltered since 1945 (and Central Europe since 1991) will result—ready or not—in Childhood’s End.

That relationship between the Mother Continent and her most powerful daughter country may seem paradoxical. But the truth is that in very many ways, that shield, as well as the length of time it has existed, has in a sense infantilised Europe’s leadership and, to some degree, their subjects. Since the end of World War II until roughly 1975, American policy toward its European allies had basically functioned in two very different ways. In the Continent itself, we shepherded them into NATO and directed, financed, and reinforced their defence vis-à-vis our Soviet partners-in-dyarchy. But beyond Europe’s borders, we joined with local opposition and the Soviets in ejecting the British, French, Dutch, Belgian, and Portuguese colonial authorities from those areas (incidentally removing their diplomatic independence as a pleasant byproduct). After the Algerian debacle, DeGaulle’s France resisted for a bit by building its own arms industry and struggling to pursue an independent foreign policy. But by the fall of the Soviet Union, that impulse had pretty much run its course.

As the generations of leaders—great and small—who had lived through the Two Wars and the Depression waned, as well as their equivalents among the general population, the very memory of what it was to be independent—to have to provide for one’s own defence in a hostile world—slowly went with them. If one wonders why the current crop of leadership in Europe seem so divorced from reality, it is partly because they have never really had to deal with it.

Moreover, it was not only that the American guardianship meant that European governments did not have to pay as much as independent countries would have had to for their own militaries (and far less still after 1991), but these militaries also played a much smaller part in their countries’ cultural lives as a result. Before World War I, the armed forces of most countries were considered “the school of the nation.” If this sometimes meant an exaggerated nationalism, it also inculcated in the majority of the male population (who served in some capacity for a limited period) a deep loyalty to God, Monarch, and Country—as well as what were once regarded as the ‘military virtues’: Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honour, Integrity, and Personal Courage. While these may seem abstract and even comical to the average individual to-day, they were what motivated a great many members of the White Guard opponents of Russian, Finnish, and Hungarian Communism in the early 1920s, and the European Resistance to National Socialism as well. As it happens, these words are being written on the 80th anniversary of the July 20 plot to overthrow Hitler. Those heroes were certainly motivated by these virtues—something which causes embarrassment to the current regimes, whose own values are so diametrically opposed to those of Count von Stauffenberg and his colleagues.

The Generation of ’68 ridiculed and spat upon those virtues and continued to do so once in power. After all, the American Daddy would protect them against any serious harm. As a result, their years in control have been characterised by an ever-growing gap between their policies and reality. As these adult children aged, they passed on their ignorance and arrogance to the next generation of leaders, although the transfer is far from complete. As in the rest of the world, the COVID experience showed both what they were made of and their totalitarian leanings; their incompetence in the face of the Islamist difficulties is daily made more manifest.

The impending departure of parental supervision shall present Europe’s leadership with challenges unprecedented in their sheltered lifetimes. The Ukrainian War must end sooner or later. Where the frontiers shall lie then is beyond this writer’s ability to prophesy, as is the extent of Putin’s European ambitions, if any. Obviously, however, dealing with Russia on equal terms is beyond any single European Country, as is dealing with China. To a great degree, Europe is dependent upon the former colonial world for raw materials and other resources. As individual countries and as a whole, Europe’s leaders and her peoples are going to have to do a great deal of rethinking in order to survive.

For a start, more and ever more, European defence shall again rest upon European shoulders. Realistically, this will mean not only much larger expenditures, the building of armaments, and quite possibly conscription, but a tremendous change of attitude toward several basics on the part of those in power. Firstly, in order to inspire young folk to join the forces—or, if conscripted, to serve gladly and well—government education must cease to constantly attack national cultures and European civilisation. The darlings must cease to conflate patriotism with Fascism and denigrate the traditions they have besmirched since their youth. Moreover, the many policies that discourage births must be ended. Family life, too, must be encouraged, rather than attacked. Now, inculcating these things into a populace will also mean ending officially sponsored secularism. The Faith that built Europe must be allowed to rebuild her.

Of course, that being said, a Europe filled with fiercely nationalistic countries armed to the teeth has been done before, and it ended poorly. This was what led to the formation of the EU in 1945, which, over time, has morphed into a large part of the current problem. But a rearmed Europe will face the temptation of internecine strife—especially in the Centre and East. Hence it becomes necessary to revive the Christian view of Europe—not only that of Schuman, de Gasperi, Adenauer, and Otto von Habsburg, but also of Franz Ferdinand, the Three Emperors’ League, the Holy Alliance, and Charles V, albeit in a manner that fits the conditions of that future time. As the Archduke Otto once wrote:

The Christian faith has made possible the growth and strengthening of Europe. The concept of human dignity and the development of human rights are inconceivable without Christianity and its Jewish roots. Although it is often claimed that human rights were only formulated by the Enlightenment, it should be pointed out that the thinkers of the Enlightenment period also found their philosophical basis in charity and the scholasticism of the monks of the Middle Ages. If faith disappears, other idols take the place of the Almighty. Man is oriented towards transcendence. God is rarely replaced by nothing, but by substitute idols or substitute ideologies that dangerously promise man paradise on earth. A glance at the world map shows: without a spirit of its own, this Europe is doomed to disappear. Viable political forces are only created by an idea, because this is the soul—also of the continents. Europe was, as long as it was Christian.

Such a Europe will need to be the reverse of what we see at present. It may seem odd to quote the ‘Integral Nationalist’ Charles Maurras as regards a future European polity, but what he saw for France is needed for Europe as a whole: an executive authority capable of conducting a long-term military and foreign policy, alongside the greatest provincial autonomy—or what we would call ‘subsidiarity.’ In place of a dictatorial and woke Europe, which offers a confusing babel of military, foreign, and immigration policies on the one hand and a never-ending desire to interfere and secularise at ever smaller levels on the other, what is required is one that presents a unified external policy to the rest of the World and the maximum number of internal freedoms to its constituent nations on the other.

But such a Europe will need to deal proactively with the outside World. For one thing, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway are still responsible for overseas territories whose security and prosperity would become once more dependent upon their metropoles—or Europe as a whole—once the American umbrella is folded. Beyond that, the first two of those countries, as well as Spain, Portugal, and Belgium, have special relations with their former colonies. These need to be developed, both for the benefit of the daughter countries and for Europe as a whole. There is also the question of the future relationship with Britain, and perhaps CANZUK as a whole.

Now, it might well be objected that all of this would require a great deal from a leadership that has proved little save its inability to acknowledge the basic facts of life as lived by its subjects. As seen by its near hysterics in the face of the growth of the Right, it is extremely doubtful that they will ever be able to really engage with their countries’ needs. It falls to others to prepare for leadership roles. The Right must prepare to move from opposition to government; they must learn and teach not merely what they are against but what they favour—even when it runs against the decayed mores and morals of modern Europe. These are part of the damage the current leadership have done since the 1960s, and it must be repaired. Those involved with the preservation of local heritage must consciously do their best to rebuild a sense of local, provincial, national, and Continental pride—and realise the importance of their role in doing this. The leadership of the European militaries—who, even in their current weakened state, often do their bit to preserve national identity—must prepare to play a greater cultural and perhaps political role in the resurrection of their countries. Lastly, Churchmen—clerical and lay—must regain a sense of mission, not for the sake merely of Europe but out of service to Christ, Salvation in Whom, after all, is their only real reason for being.

Childhood’s End is always a frightening challenge, whether for groups or individuals. No doubt, we all feel a great deal of nostalgia for the time when our parents took care of all our problems. But despite all of adulthood’s challenges, each of us is able to do more good for God and neighbour as adults than as children. As a dependency of the United States, Europe has retained much of its charm. Imagine the good it will do the world when the Continent is once more on its own two feet!