OPINION:
Americans are justly proud as we celebrate our 250th birthday.
Yet what is this milestone compared with history’s great civilizations? The Egyptian empire lasted for three millennia. In the east and west, the Roman empire endured for 1,500 years. The Portuguese and Ottoman empires enjoyed their moment in the sun for 584 and 623 years, respectively.
Some historians believe civilizations go through predictable stages. First, there is the Age of Pioneers (explorers and settlers), followed by an Age of Commerce and Affluence, which leads to an Age of Prosperity, then to an Age of Entitlement and finally to an Age of Cynicism and Decadence.
In the final stage, religious observance declines precipitously, marriage is rare, people stop having enough children to maintain the population, debt soars and intellectuals are devoted to attacking the civilization that spawned them.
Historian Will Durant, in his monumental “The Story of Civilization,” warned, “A great civilization is not conquered from without, until it has destroyed itself from within.” We are working on it.
Historian and British army officer John Bagot Glubb observed: “The life expectation of a great civilization, it appears, commences with a violent and usually unforeseen outburst of energy and ends in a lowering of moral standards, cynicism, pessimism and frivolity.”
All the signs indicate that our civilization is terminal.
The homeless population of the United States is more than three-quarters of a million. Most are too addicted to do much more than lie about in a stupor. They clutter the streets with used needles and feces and start fires.
From January to mid-December 2025, the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to 16,982 fires at or near homeless encampments.
Because of misplaced compassion, we lavish resources on this human contagion and then berate ourselves for not doing more for them.
The same suicidal empathy led to open borders under President Autopen with as many as 20 million entering the country illegally — just the sorts of people you want to destroy a culture. We traded the safety of our citizens for political advantage for the ruling party.
The national debt is now $40 trillion, almost half of it accumulated in the past seven years. In 2001, the national debt was 31.5% of gross domestic product. Today, it is 124% of GDP and climbing. When it comes crashing down, we could be buried in the rubble.
Interest on the debt is now the second-largest item in the federal budget, behind only Social Security. We spend more to service the debt than on national defense. Most of the debt is a result of welfare spending. Today, 53% of Americans derive at least a quarter of their income from government assistance programs.
The Roman empire had a massive welfare state too. During the reign of Emperor Claudius, it is estimated that 1 in 3 Romans was on the dole.
The decline of religion is yet another indication of a civilization teetering on the brink. According to Gallup, the percentage of U.S. adults who say religion plays an important part in their daily lives fell 17 points — from 66% to 49% — from 2015 to 2025.
Durant observed: “Even the skeptical historian develops a humble respect for religion, since he sees it functioning, and seemingly indispensable, in every land and age. … The soul of a civilization is its religion, and it dies with its faith.”
Adding to our woes, we have our own Huns and Visigoths prowling on the perimeters. The Democratic Socialists of America would destroy everything that makes our nation unique.
The DSA is for abolishing borders, making the president and Supreme Court subordinate to Congress and eliminating police and prisons. That Fidel Castro is its hero should come as no surprise. Instead of incarcerating criminals, it would lock up dissidents.
We have abandoned reality for fantasy (that a man can become a woman) and truth for blind adherence to dogma (that the rich are a drag on society). We revile the pioneers who settled this country. For many, the 9/11 attacks are seen as a punishment for our sins.
Never have a nation’s opinion leaders been more fiercely devoted to its annihilation.
Our civilization is akin to one of those airplane disaster movies where someone says, “We’ve passed the point of no return,” just before one of the engines conks out, the fuel gauge is on empty and the pilot starts shouting, “Allahu Akbar.”
Will someone please notify the control tower?
• Don Feder is a columnist with The Washington Times.
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