One of the elements that makes Western civilization unique is the unspoken recognition that we comprise a brotherhood against death. In the West, no one is allowed to go into the darkness in quietude or with indifference. When a small boat is lost, hundreds set out to search for it. When a hiker disappears, the area is combed thoroughly for weeks if necessary. When a small child lies deathly ill, the nation itself is mobilized. Nothing -- not convenience, not expense, not even the risk of death to the rescuers themselves, is allowed to get in the way. It is part of our religious faith, our literature and art, and our day-to-day lives. When the effort fails and someone is lost without trace, we brood over it for years, because it represents the breaking of an unspoken vow. Progressivism, as part of its war against our civilization, has done its best to degrade this impulse. Through crime, where the fate of the victims has been rendered secondary to that of the criminal, through de...(Read Full Post)