Culture is not the same as civilization. There are thousands of cultures but only one civilization. Banks & bathrooms in Beijing, Bombay, and Bangkok grew to resemble such institutions in Boston, Birmingham, and Berlin; not the other way around. Along with millions of others who voted with their feet, you and I also prefer civilization to any of the countless cultures we could have lived in. The problem is that civilization is a frighteningly fragile flower. What happens when we clip that flower off its roots? Why does it take so much more work and time to build a house than to demolish it? What does that have to do with the advantages that liberalism, progressivism, and socialism seem to possess among young voters in many countries? And why politicians and bureaucrats exempt themselves from the laws and regulations they religiously impose upon others.

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