The Fall of Modernity

February 26, 2007 Issue
Copyright © 2006 The American Conservative

Has the American narrative authored its own undoing?

By Michael Vlahos

We are losing our wars in the Muslim world because our vision of history is at odds with reality. This is a well-established condition of successful societies, a condition that inevitably grows more worrisome with time and continuing success. In fact, what empires have most in common is how their sacred narratives come to rule their strategic behavior—and rule it badly. In America’s case, our war narrative works against us to promote our deepest fear: the end of modernity.       ..................continued