A review of America Alone. By Mark Steyn.

A review by Bill Muehlenberg on the book "America Alone" by Mark Steyn. I have mentioned this book as a must read numerous time here on Patriot's Corner. If you still have not read this book, please do so at your earliest convenience. This book is that impotant. It has been out for a few years now but the messages in this book are for our time. We are in a geo-political crisis and we are at war with islam. Get over your denial on this important fact. One thing I want to mention that Bill mentions; due to Steyn's wit and humor it is quite possible not to take this book on a very serious level. Do not be fooled as Steyn is quite serious about what he is saying in "America Alone."

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A review of America Alone. By Mark Steyn.
 By Bill Muelenberg Regnery, 2006

This is a very important book. Its analysis of geo-political conditions is top rate, and its assessment of the crisis we are in is as good as any.


But there is one minor problem with this book. Because Steyn is such a witty and engaging writer, there might be the tendency for some to not take the book’s message seriously. But Steyn is dead serious about what he discusses here. And we should be too. His message is that the West is rushing headlong down a suicidal path, radical Islam is on the move to fill the void, and the only country that looks capable of saving the day is America.


Yet with anti-Americanism rampant in much of the West, and plenty of home-grown America haters, the prospects do not look very good. Steyn rightly notes that the major threat to the free and democratic West is the rise and rise of Islamist fascism. And he recognises that demographic trends alone would indicate that their side is heading for victory.


Simply put, the West is dying by a population implosion, while Muslims are being very fruitful and multiplying big time. While most Muslims eschew violence, a sizable minority do not. They are young and restless, and are quite ready to book a direct flight to paradise via plastic explosives.


Most Western nations are so intent on being multiculti and tolerant, that they are unaware or indifferent to radical Muslims residing in their homelands, going to their schools, and recruiting in their societies. Moreover, most Westerners have for too long now been strung out on the narcotic of social welfarism, and cradle-to-grave statism, that they have nothing left to live for, or die for. As long as the state gives them the entitlements they have been dishing out their tax dollars for, they will not let a few mujahadeen in their capital cities get them too bent out of shape.


No wonder radical Muslims despise the decadence, apathy and weakness of the West. All we seem to want is our internet porn and 30-hour work week. All they want is to take over our lands and declare the universal Islamic caliphate. One side is bloated, blind and balding, while the other side is young, active and dedicated. Or as Steyn puts it, “Islam has youth and will, Europe has age and welfare”. Guess who’s going to prevail?


Indeed, the trend in every single nation in the West, except the US, is negative population growth. Muslims of course continue to have large families. So simply by force of numbers alone, many European nations will have a Muslim majority in a few short decades. Muslims really do not need to terrorise their way into hegemony, they are already achieving it by enjoying sex.


We on the other hand are aborting ourselves into extinction. Thus we are handing the house keys over to the radicals without even a whimper. There is one exception, of course: the United States. Not only is the US holding its own on the population stakes, but it still believes in the work ethic, self-reliance, national defence, and biblical absolutes.


However if Hillary or Obama get their say, that could all change. And if the US capitulates, then the West is doomed, pure and simple. The rest of the West is certainly not going to take up the fight. It has given up long ago. It couldn’t stand up to the menace of totalitarian communism, and it refuses to stand up to the menace of Islamic totalitarianism.


Spain is a classic case in point. One terrorist attack and the whole nation says, ‘yes please, we will be your servants, you be our master’. Again, nations emasculated by statism, secularism and socialism are not able to resist external threats. Indeed, the only reason that Europe could enjoy being a welfare Eutopia was because the US paid all the bills for its defense, so it could bathe in 24-7 child care and 4-day work weeks.


But such a lifestyle cannot long last, especially when the West is no longer bringing children into the world to pay the bills of its growing elderly population. High taxing nations may be sustainable for a while when there are tax-payers around. But when the West sees no reason to bring the next generation into the world, then the whole basis of the welfare state is undermined.


That is the problem we face today. Aging Western nations with a hole in their soul, no longer able to justify their existence, heading into deep demographic decline. ‘Without a vision, people perish,’ says the good book. Exactly so.


It seems the only ones with a vision today are young Muslim radicals who are working overtime to establish the universal dominion of sharia law. And all the West can do is roll over and say, ‘OK, take it, its yours’. The West simply doesn’t seem to care any more. In its anaemic, exhausted and secularised state, it is in no condition to offer any resistance.


America is one of the last nations on earth that still believes that freedom, faith, and democracy are worth fighting for, and that radical Islam is antithetical to everything the West stands for and should believe in. Yet with Europe largely siding with the jihadists against the US, the odds of survival are not looking too good.


American exceptionalism is something to take pride in, not be ashamed of. It is one of the few Western nations with both a growing economy and a growing population. Its people are filled with hope, committed to hard work, and common decency. Yet this is above all because America is still largely a nation of faith.


Secularism has ripped the soul out of Europe, into which radical Islam is rushing. But America still has a vibrant Christianity. This may not last long however. If America loses faith and loses heart, then there really does stand nothing between freedom, and the takeover of the West by radical jihadists.


Sure America has plenty of problems and it had done lots of stupid stuff. But compared to the madness engulfing much of the rest of the West, it seems to be a paragon of virtue. And at least is has things it believes in. Any nation that is not willing to die for something will not be willing to live for something either.


Much of the West has lost the will to exist, while plenty of young radicalised Muslims are more than happy to die for what they believe in. The real question is whether the US will take the lead and stand up for genuine values like freedom and democracy, or whether it will simply succumb like the much of the West has, and allow sharia law to become the law of the land, and the globe.


Steyn hopes it will make the right choice. But there are plenty of American defeatists and appeasers who are working overtime to see the American success story crumble, and welcome in the Islamo-fascists under the guise of multiculturalism, tolerance, diversity and interfaith dialogue.


As Steyn reminds us, while the other side has suicide bombers, we have a suicide culture. Who’s going to win in that kind of set up?

Original review can be found here.