Elements posted an interesting take on the slow slide of post-modern Europe. Mechanical translation:

The decline of Europe

For Julien Freund, decadence is an inevitable historical phenomenon. To use the subtitle of his work Decadence, of a « category of human experience ». The philosopher thus recalls that « every great civilization has its Barbarians, which it tries to conquer, with the more or less firm will to assimilate them until the moment when it finds that the relationship has been reciprocal and that it is itself exhausted in this game ». In fact, « its decadence is already part of its expansion ».

As Vox has said, empire is the art of choosing which foreigners will rule over one’s grandchildren. Europeans chose very poorly.

The solution, beyond the obvious need to remove the reverse conquerors, may come from some of the ideas in Terry Hulsey’s new book. Crisis, perhaps recovering a little from its COVID-Ukraine stupor (now do V2!), has an interesting defense of monarchy by Robert Shaffern:

The French monarchy has often been described as absolute, but that word poorly describes the actual regime. Many government responsibilities lay beyond the authority of the throne. While the French king was the only source of legislation for the entire realm, the king’s decrees only became efficacious when they were registered by the Parlement of Paris; thus, at the very least, the wishes of the king could be delayed. Both the British and French monarchies had to obtain the approval of the Parliament and Estates General, respectively, to collect new taxes.

The Enlightenment notion that king = bad, and muh democracy = good is part of what has led Europe, the USSA, and the rest of the West to the brink of utter disaster. Here’s hoping our future may look a little more like our past.