P.J.O'Rourke's defence of civilisation

When democracy is discussed, I always think of P.J.O'Rourke's defence of the West:

<< Civilisation is an enormous improvement on the lack thereof. No reasonable person who has had a look at the East Bloc … can countenance the barbarities of the Left. … So-called Western Civilisation, as practiced [sic] in half of Europe, some of Asia and a few parts of North America, is better than anything else available. Western Civilisation not only provides a bit of life, a pinch of liberty and the occasional pursuance of happiness, it's also the only thing that's ever tried to. Our civilisation is the first in history to show even the slightest concern for average, undistinguished, none-too-commendable people like us.

We are fools when we fail to defend civilisation. The ancient Romans might as well have said, "Oh, the Germanic tribes have valid nationalistic and cultural aspirations. Let's pull the legions off the Rhine, submit our differences to a multilateral peace conference chaired by the Pathan Empire and start a Vandal Studies program at the Academy in Athens.">> (P.J. O'Rourke Holidays in Hell, 1988, New York: Vintage, 1992: 3-4 - from his summary of everything he has learned about trouble).