David Brooks writes a really good column - "The Dark Century"

[Hekate]

25. Thank you, NewHendoLib, for your OP. This is very good. More excerpts....

Brooks is well-intentioned and observant; he’s never been our enemy. Disagreement on some points is not a sin.

ETA: At his best — and this is one of those times — Brooks shows how deeply grounded he is in the study of History. In this context, democracy has a small d, and liberal has a small l — the way the founders used the terms.

Especially cogent is his explanation of “normal” — and it really is not pretty. The planet is reverting.

Just as America’s founders understood that democracy is not natural, the postwar generation understood that peace is not natural — it has to be tended and cultivated from the frailties of human passion and greed.
…….

Over the past few generations, that hopeful but sober view of human nature has faded. What has been called the Culture of Narcissism took hold, with the view that human beings should be unshackled from restraint. You can trust yourself to be unselfish! Democracy and world peace were taken for granted.

What happens when you don’t tend the seedbeds of democracy? Chaos? War? No, you return to normal. The 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th centuries were normal. Big countries such as China, Russia and Turkey are ruled by fierce leaders with massive power. That’s normal. Small aristocracies in many nations hog gigantic shares of their nations’ wealth. That’s normal. Many people come to despise cultural outsiders, such as immigrants. Normal. Global affairs resembles the law of the jungle, with big countries threatening small ones. This is the way it has been for most of human history.
In normal times, people crave order and leaders such as Vladimir Putin arise to give it to them. Mr. Putin and Xi Jinping have arisen to be the 21st century’s paradigmatic men.
Mr. Putin, Mr. Xi and the other global conservatives make comprehensive critiques of liberalism and the failings of liberal society. Unlike past authoritarians, they have the massive power of modern surveillance technology to control their citizens.