Syr\u00adian refugee Anas Modam\u00adani shows a selfie taken with then Ger\u00adman chan\u00adcel\u00adlor Angela Merkel out\u00adside a refugee centre in Ber\u00adlin in 2015. That year, writes Anthony Koch, Merkel opened the floodgates to more than a mil\u00adlion migrants.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nFor years, con\u00adser\u00advat\u00adives have com\u00adfor\u00adted them\u00adselves with the illu\u00adsion that the destruc\u00adtion of the West was entirely the doing of the left. They have blamed pro\u00adgress\u00adive ideo\u00adlogues, glob\u00adal\u00adists, and uto\u00adpi\u00adans for the failed exper\u00adi\u00adment of mul\u00adti\u00adcul\u00adtur\u00adal\u00adism, the open bor\u00adders that reshaped their nations, and the cul\u00adtural relativ\u00adism that hol\u00adlowed out the moral found\u00ada\u00adtions of their soci\u00adet\u00adies. But this is self-decep\u00adtion. The truth is that the so-called right, the respect\u00adable suit-and-tie centre-right parties that gov\u00aderned most of the West for the bet\u00adter part of the last half-cen\u00adtury, are just as respons\u00adible for the decay of our civil\u00adiz\u00ada\u00adtion as their left-wing coun\u00adter\u00adparts. They were not inno\u00adcent observ\u00aders. They were in power, and they made the choices that brought us here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For years, con\u00adser\u00advat\u00adives have com\u00adfor\u00adted them\u00adselves with the illu\u00adsion that the destruc\u00adtion of the West was entirely the doing of the left. They have blamed pro\u00adgress\u00adive ideo\u00adlogues, glob\u00adal\u00adists, and uto\u00adpi\u00adans for the failed exper\u00adi\u00adment of mul\u00adti\u00adcul\u00adtur\u00adal\u00adism, the open bor\u00adders that reshaped their nations, and the cul\u00adtural relativ\u00adism that hol\u00adlowed out the moral found\u00ada\u00adtions of their soci\u00adet\u00adies. But this is self-decep\u00adtion. The truth is that the socalled right, the respect\u00adable suit-and-tie centre-right parties that gov\u00aderned most of the West for the bet\u00adter part of the last half-cen\u00adtury, are just as respons\u00adible for the decay of our civil\u00adiz\u00ada\u00adtion as their left-wing coun\u00adter\u00adparts. They were not inno\u00adcent observ\u00aders. They were in power, and they made the choices that brought us here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In France, the Gaullists and their suc\u00adcessors ruled for dec\u00adades under vari\u00adous names: the RPR, the UMP, and now Les R\u00e9publicains. For much of the Fifth Repub\u00adlic\u2019s his\u00adtory, the right, or what passed for it, held the pres\u00adid\u00adency, the legis\u00adlature, or both. And yet what did they con\u00adserve? Immig\u00adra\u00adtion surged but assim\u00adil\u00ada\u00adtion col\u00adlapsed. Mul\u00adti\u00adcul\u00adtur\u00adal\u00adism became ortho\u00addoxy not because the French right was defeated in battle, but because it sur\u00adrendered without a fight. The men who claimed to guard the Repub\u00adlic\u2019s iden\u00adtity replaced con\u00advic\u00adtion with cau\u00adtion, sov\u00ader\u00adeignty with sym\u00adbol\u00adism, and prin\u00adciple with polling. They preached integ\u00adra\u00adtion but allowed the par\u00adal\u00adlel soci\u00adet\u00adies of the ban\u00adlieues to fester, all the while insist\u00ading that national unity could sur\u00advive as a slo\u00adgan even as it dis\u00adap\u00adpeared as a lived real\u00adity. They spoke of sec\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adism and French val\u00adues yet aban\u00addoned the expect\u00ada\u00adtion that new\u00adcomers \u2014 like gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtions of suc\u00adcess\u00adful immig\u00adrants before them \u2014 must adopt and uphold the shared civic and cul\u00adtural val\u00adues that made France what it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In France, the Gaullists and their suc\u00adcessors ruled for dec\u00adades under vari\u00adous names: the RPR, the UMP, and now Les R\u00e9publicains. For much of the Fifth Repub\u00adlic\u2019s his\u00adtory, the right, or what passed for it, held the pres\u00adid\u00adency, the legis\u00adlature, or both. And yet what did they con\u00adserve? Immig\u00adra\u00adtion surged but assim\u00adil\u00ada\u00adtion col\u00adlapsed. Mul\u00adti\u00adcul\u00adtur\u00adal\u00adism became ortho\u00addoxy not because the French right was defeated in battle, but because it sur\u00adrendered without a fight. The men who claimed to guard the Repub\u00adlic\u2019s iden\u00adtity replaced con\u00advic\u00adtion with cau\u00adtion, sov\u00ader\u00adeignty with sym\u00adbol\u00adism, and prin\u00adciple with polling. They preached integ\u00adra\u00adtion but allowed the par\u00adal\u00adlel soci\u00adet\u00adies of the ban\u00adlieues to fester, all the while insist\u00ading that national unity could sur\u00advive as a slo\u00adgan even as it dis\u00adap\u00adpeared as a lived real\u00adity. They spoke of sec\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adism and French val\u00adues yet aban\u00addoned the expect\u00ada\u00adtion that new\u00adcomers \u2014 like gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtions of suc\u00adcess\u00adful immig\u00adrants before them \u2014 must adopt and uphold the shared civic and cul\u00adtural val\u00adues that made France what it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ger\u00admany tells the same story. The Chris\u00adtian Demo\u00adcrats, the CDU and its Bav\u00adarian sis\u00adter party, the CSU, have been the dom\u00adin\u00adant force of post\u00adwar Ger\u00adman polit\u00adics. Their rule has been nearly con\u00adtinu\u00adous, their influ\u00adence immense. Yet it was under Angela Merkel, the embod\u00adi\u00adment of mod\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion, that Ger\u00admany\u2019s iden\u00adtity was most rad\u00adic\u00adally trans\u00adformed. Her 2015 decision to open Ger\u00admany\u2019s doors to over a mil\u00adlion migrants was not an act of the left. It was an act of the con\u00adser\u00advat\u00adive estab\u00adlish\u00adment. It was done not in the name of ideo\u00adlogy but of mor\u00adal\u00adity, and therein lies the irony: the mor\u00adal\u00adism of the centre-right has been no less destruct\u00adive than the uto\u00adpi\u00adan\u00adism of the left. Merkel\u2019s ges\u00adture, however well-inten\u00adtioned, frac\u00adtured the European con\u00adsensus, destabil\u00adized domestic polit\u00adics, and sent an unmis\u00adtak\u00adable sig\u00adnal to the world that Europe\u2019s bor\u00adders were optional. She gov\u00aderned as if sen\u00adti\u00adment could sub\u00adsti\u00adtute for sov\u00ader\u00adeignty, and Ger\u00admany is still pay\u00ading the price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ger\u00admany tells the same story. The Chris\u00adtian Demo\u00adcrats, the CDU and its Bav\u00adarian sis\u00adter party, the CSU, have been the dom\u00adin\u00adant force of post\u00adwar Ger\u00adman polit\u00adics. Their rule has been nearly con\u00adtinu\u00adous, their influ\u00adence immense. Yet it was under Angela Merkel, the embod\u00adi\u00adment of mod\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion, that Ger\u00admany\u2019s iden\u00adtity was most rad\u00adic\u00adally trans\u00adformed. Her 2015 decision to open Ger\u00admany\u2019s doors to over a mil\u00adlion migrants was not an act of the left. It was an act of the con\u00adser\u00advat\u00adive estab\u00adlish\u00adment. It was done not in the name of ideo\u00adlogy but of mor\u00adal\u00adity, and therein lies the irony: the mor\u00adal\u00adism of the centre-right has been no less destruct\u00adive than the uto\u00adpi\u00adan\u00adism of the left. Merkel\u2019s ges\u00adture, however well-inten\u00adtioned, frac\u00adtured the European con\u00adsensus, destabil\u00adized domestic polit\u00adics, and sent an unmis\u00adtak\u00adable sig\u00adnal to the world that Europe\u2019s bor\u00adders were optional. She gov\u00aderned as if sen\u00adti\u00adment could sub\u00adsti\u00adtute for sov\u00ader\u00adeignty, and Ger\u00admany is still pay\u00ading the price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Across Europe, sim\u00adilar pat\u00adterns repeat. The so-called con\u00adser\u00advat\u00adive parties in Bri\u00adtain, Spain, Italy, and Scand\u00adinavia have all held office for long stretches of time. They could have reversed course, tightened unfettered immig\u00adra\u00adtion, restored national pride, and reas\u00adser\u00adted the cul\u00adtural norms that bind a people together. Instead, they chose cow\u00adardice cloaked in civil\u00adity. They cour\u00adted respect\u00adab\u00adil\u00adity and the approval of edit\u00ador\u00adial boards, ter\u00adri\u00adfied of being called cruel or reac\u00adtion\u00adary. Their guid\u00ading prin\u00adciple became \u201cnot to be hated,\u201d as if a soci\u00adety could be saved without con\u00adfront\u00ada\u00adtion. They gov\u00aderned as man\u00adagers, not as lead\u00aders, as admin\u00adis\u00adtrat\u00adors of decline and cus\u00adtodi\u00adans of decay. They inher\u00adited insti\u00adtu\u00adtions built by stronger lead\u00aders and allowed them to crumble out of fear that renewal might offend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Across Europe, sim\u00adilar pat\u00adterns repeat. The so-called con\u00adser\u00advat\u00adive parties in Bri\u00adtain, Spain, Italy, and Scand\u00adinavia have all held office for long stretches of time. They could have reversed course, tightened unfettered immig\u00adra\u00adtion, restored national pride, and reas\u00adser\u00adted the cul\u00adtural norms that bind a people together. Instead, they chose cow\u00adardice cloaked in civil\u00adity. They cour\u00adted respect\u00adab\u00adil\u00adity and the approval of edit\u00ador\u00adial boards, ter\u00adri\u00adfied of being called cruel or reac\u00adtion\u00adary. Their guid\u00ading prin\u00adciple became \u201cnot to be hated,\u201d as if a soci\u00adety could be saved without con\u00adfront\u00ada\u00adtion. They gov\u00aderned as man\u00adagers, not as lead\u00aders, as admin\u00adis\u00adtrat\u00adors of decline and cus\u00adtodi\u00adans of decay. They inher\u00adited insti\u00adtu\u00adtions built by stronger lead\u00aders and allowed them to crumble out of fear that renewal might offend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Canada and the United States have not been immune to the same dis\u00adease. In Canada, the Pro\u00adgress\u00adive Con\u00adser\u00advat\u00adives and later the fed\u00aderal Con\u00adser\u00advat\u00adive Party presided over the codi\u00adfic\u00ada\u00adtion and expan\u00adsion of offi\u00adcial mul\u00adti\u00adcul\u00adtur\u00adal\u00adism, a policy that, under suc\u00adcess\u00adive Lib\u00aderal and Con\u00adser\u00advat\u00adive gov\u00adern\u00adments alike, trans\u00adformed national iden\u00adtity from something shared into something merely man\u00adaged. Brian Mul\u00adroney enshrined mul\u00adti\u00adcul\u00adtur\u00adal\u00adism as a corner\u00adstone of Cana\u00addian polit\u00adical con\u00adsensus. Stephen Harper, though more cau\u00adtious, did little to chal\u00adlenge its assump\u00adtions. The Con\u00adser\u00advat\u00adives spoke of integ\u00adra\u00adtion but fun\u00added the same bur\u00adeau\u00adcra\u00adcies of frag\u00adment\u00ada\u00adtion. Even in oppos\u00adi\u00adtion, they sup\u00adpor\u00adted the immig\u00adra\u00adtion policies advanced by Lib\u00aderal gov\u00adern\u00adments, even when evid\u00adence showed integ\u00adra\u00adtion was fal\u00adter\u00ading and hous\u00ading, health care, and wages were suf\u00adfer\u00ading. And let it be said plainly: this is not a rejec\u00adtion of immig\u00adra\u00adtion itself \u2014 immig\u00adra\u00adtion has built and enriched Canada \u2014 but a rejec\u00adtion of immig\u00adra\u00adtion without expect\u00ada\u00adtion, without integ\u00adra\u00adtion, and without the insist\u00adence that new\u00adcomers join a com\u00admon civic nation rather than reside in par\u00adal\u00adlel ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Canada and the United States have not been immune to the same dis\u00adease. In Canada, the Pro\u00adgress\u00adive Con\u00adser\u00advat\u00adives and later the fed\u00aderal Con\u00adser\u00advat\u00adive Party presided over the codi\u00adfic\u00ada\u00adtion and expan\u00adsion of offi\u00adcial mul\u00adti\u00adcul\u00adtur\u00adal\u00adism, a policy that, under suc\u00adcess\u00adive Lib\u00aderal and Con\u00adser\u00advat\u00adive gov\u00adern\u00adments alike, trans\u00adformed national iden\u00adtity from something shared into something merely man\u00adaged. Brian Mul\u00adroney enshrined mul\u00adti\u00adcul\u00adtur\u00adal\u00adism as a corner\u00adstone of Cana\u00addian polit\u00adical con\u00adsensus. Stephen Harper, though more cau\u00adtious, did little to chal\u00adlenge its assump\u00adtions. The Con\u00adser\u00advat\u00adives spoke of integ\u00adra\u00adtion but fun\u00added the same bur\u00adeau\u00adcra\u00adcies of frag\u00adment\u00ada\u00adtion. Even in oppos\u00adi\u00adtion, they sup\u00adpor\u00adted the immig\u00adra\u00adtion policies advanced by Lib\u00aderal gov\u00adern\u00adments, even when evid\u00adence showed integ\u00adra\u00adtion was fal\u00adter\u00ading and hous\u00ading, health care, and wages were suf\u00adfer\u00ading. And let it be said plainly: this is not a rejec\u00adtion of immig\u00adra\u00adtion itself \u2014 immig\u00adra\u00adtion has built and enriched Canada \u2014 but a rejec\u00adtion of immig\u00adra\u00adtion without expect\u00ada\u00adtion, without integ\u00adra\u00adtion, and without the insist\u00adence that new\u00adcomers join a com\u00admon civic nation rather than reside in par\u00adal\u00adlel ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
South of the bor\u00adder, the Repub\u00adlican party tells a sim\u00adilar story. For dec\u00adades, it has thundered about illegal immig\u00adra\u00adtion while quietly enabling legal migra\u00adtion on a massive scale. Ron\u00adald Reagan, the icon of mod\u00adern Amer\u00adican con\u00adser\u00advat\u00adism, gran\u00adted amnesty to mil\u00adlions in 1986 under the Immig\u00adra\u00adtion Reform and Con\u00adtrol Act, declar\u00ading it a one-time cor\u00adrec\u00adtion that would fix the prob\u00adlem forever. It did not. The bor\u00adder remained por\u00adous, and the pre\u00adced\u00adent was set. Later Repub\u00adlican admin\u00adis\u00adtra\u00adtions prom\u00adised tough\u00adness but delivered mana\u00adgeri\u00adal\u00adism: walls half-built, enforce\u00adment half-hearted, rhet\u00adoric dis\u00adcon\u00adnec\u00adted from res\u00adults. Even when they con\u00adtrolled Con\u00adgress and the White House, Repub\u00adlic\u00adans flinched from using power to reform a sys\u00adtem that rewards chaos. They were ter\u00adri\u00adfied of the media, of cor\u00adpor\u00adate donors, of their own moral uncer\u00adtainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
South of the bor\u00adder, the Repub\u00adlican party tells a sim\u00adilar story. For dec\u00adades, it has thundered about illegal immig\u00adra\u00adtion while quietly enabling legal migra\u00adtion on a massive scale. Ron\u00adald Reagan, the icon of mod\u00adern Amer\u00adican con\u00adser\u00advat\u00adism, gran\u00adted amnesty to mil\u00adlions in 1986 under the Immig\u00adra\u00adtion Reform and Con\u00adtrol Act, declar\u00ading it a one-time cor\u00adrec\u00adtion that would fix the prob\u00adlem forever. It did not. The bor\u00adder remained por\u00adous, and the pre\u00adced\u00adent was set. Later Repub\u00adlican admin\u00adis\u00adtra\u00adtions prom\u00adised tough\u00adness but delivered mana\u00adgeri\u00adal\u00adism: walls half-built, enforce\u00adment half-hearted, rhet\u00adoric dis\u00adcon\u00adnec\u00adted from res\u00adults. Even when they con\u00adtrolled Con\u00adgress and the White House, Repub\u00adlic\u00adans flinched from using power to reform a sys\u00adtem that rewards chaos. They were ter\u00adri\u00adfied of the media, of cor\u00adpor\u00adate donors, of their own moral uncer\u00adtainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They gov\u00aderned as if the ques\u00adtion of who enters and who belongs were a mat\u00adter of eco\u00adnom\u00adics, not of iden\u00adtity. The res\u00adult has been a steady erosion of social cohe\u00adsion and the rise of pop\u00adu\u00adlism as the only force will\u00ading to name what the estab\u00adlish\u00adment right refused to con\u00adfront.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The great tragedy is that the right once under\u00adstood the moral dimen\u00adsion of civil\u00adiz\u00ada\u00adtion. It under\u00adstood that a nation is not just a col\u00adlec\u00adtion of indi\u00advidu\u00adals but a cov\u00aden\u00adant between gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtions, bound by memory and duty, by a shared story and shared oblig\u00ada\u00adtions. But over time, the con\u00adser\u00advat\u00adive parties of the West became lib\u00aderal parties with slower reflexes. They adop\u00adted the lan\u00adguage of com\u00adpas\u00adsion, the theo\u00adlogy of glob\u00adal\u00adism, the logic of mar\u00adkets, and the esthet\u00adics of restraint. They preached prudence while prac\u00adtising abdic\u00ada\u00adtion. Their idea of sta\u00adbil\u00adity was to man\u00adage the revolu\u00adtion rather than res\u00adist it. Every time they were given power, they prom\u00adised to cor\u00adrect the excesses of the left, and every time, they merely admin\u00adistered them more effi\u00adciently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The great tragedy is that the right once under\u00adstood the moral dimen\u00adsion of civil\u00adiz\u00ada\u00adtion. It under\u00adstood that a nation is not just a col\u00adlec\u00adtion of indi\u00advidu\u00adals but a cov\u00aden\u00adant between gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtions, bound by memory and duty, by a shared story and shared oblig\u00ada\u00adtions. But over time, the con\u00adser\u00advat\u00adive parties of the West became lib\u00aderal parties with slower reflexes. They adop\u00adted the lan\u00adguage of com\u00adpas\u00adsion, the theo\u00adlogy of glob\u00adal\u00adism, the logic of mar\u00adkets, and the esthet\u00adics of restraint. They preached prudence while prac\u00adtising abdic\u00ada\u00adtion. Their idea of sta\u00adbil\u00adity was to man\u00adage the revolu\u00adtion rather than res\u00adist it. Every time they were given power, they prom\u00adised to cor\u00adrect the excesses of the left, and every time, they merely admin\u00adistered them more effi\u00adciently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is no acci\u00addent that pop\u00adu\u00adlism has risen from the ruins of this betrayal. People were not seduced by extrem\u00adism; they were aban\u00addoned by mod\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion. When cit\u00adizens looked to the main\u00adstream right for pro\u00adtec\u00adtion from mass migra\u00adtion, from cul\u00adtural dis\u00adsol\u00adu\u00adtion, from the erosion of mean\u00ading, they found bur\u00adeau\u00adcrats instead of believ\u00aders. They found a polit\u00adics of hes\u00adit\u00ada\u00adtion, a cow\u00adardly cent\u00adrism that wor\u00adshipped pro\u00adcess and feared con\u00advic\u00adtion. And so the right\u2019s greatest sin was not malice but weak\u00adness. It mis\u00adtook com\u00adprom\u00adise for vir\u00adtue, con\u00adsensus for peace, and delay for wis\u00addom. In the end, it was the polite right that gave the left its vic\u00adtor\u00adies, one con\u00adces\u00adsion at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Con\u00adser\u00advat\u00adives must face this truth without eva\u00adsion. The West is not being under\u00admined by its enemies alone. Blame its care\u00adtakers, those who thought they could pre\u00adserve civil\u00adiz\u00ada\u00adtion by yield\u00ading its sub\u00adstance while keep\u00ading its name. The crisis of the West is there\u00adfore not only moral or cul\u00adtural but polit\u00adical. It is the col\u00adlapse of a con\u00adser\u00advat\u00adive tra\u00addi\u00adtion that lost the cour\u00adage to con\u00adserve. Until the right admits its com\u00adpli\u00adcity and redis\u00adcov\u00aders the vir\u00adtue of defi\u00adance \u2014 rooted not in exclu\u00adsion, but in the defence of the shared civic and cul\u00adtural inher\u00adit\u00adance that new\u00adcomers are wel\u00adcome to join and strengthen \u2014 it will remain unfit to lead. For repent\u00adance must pre\u00adcede redemp\u00adtion, and only when the right stops excus\u00ading its own fail\u00adures can it begin the work of renewal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Write a comment…<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nHow the right went wrong<\/h1>\n\n\n\nCONSERVATIVES UNWITTINGLY HELPED THE LEFT UNDERMINE THE WEST<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\nNational Post<\/li>\n\n\n\n 15 Nov 2025<\/li>\n\n\n\n ANTHONY KOCH<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\nSyrian refugee Anas Modamani shows a selfie taken with then German chancellor Angela Merkel outside a refugee centre in Berlin in 2015. That year, writes Anthony Koch, Merkel opened the floodgates to more than a million migrants.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nFor years, conservatives have comforted themselves with the illusion that the destruction of the West was entirely the doing of the left. They have blamed progressive ideologues, globalists, and utopians for the failed experiment of multiculturalism, the open borders that reshaped their nations, and the cultural relativism that hollowed out the moral foundations of their societies. But this is self-deception. The truth is that the socalled right, the respectable suit-and-tie centre-right parties that governed most of the West for the better part of the last half-century, are just as responsible for the decay of our civilization as their left-wing counterparts. They were not innocent observers. They were in power, and they made the choices that brought us here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In France, the Gaullists and their successors ruled for decades under various names: the RPR, the UMP, and now Les R\u00e9publicains. For much of the Fifth Republic\u2019s history, the right, or what passed for it, held the presidency, the legislature, or both. And yet what did they conserve? Immigration surged but assimilation collapsed. Multiculturalism became orthodoxy not because the French right was defeated in battle, but because it surrendered without a fight. The men who claimed to guard the Republic\u2019s identity replaced conviction with caution, sovereignty with symbolism, and principle with polling. They preached integration but allowed the parallel societies of the banlieues to fester, all the while insisting that national unity could survive as a slogan even as it disappeared as a lived reality. They spoke of secularism and French values yet abandoned the expectation that newcomers \u2014 like generations of successful immigrants before them \u2014 must adopt and uphold the shared civic and cultural values that made France what it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Germany tells the same story. The Christian Democrats, the CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the CSU, have been the dominant force of postwar German politics. Their rule has been nearly continuous, their influence immense. Yet it was under Angela Merkel, the embodiment of moderation, that Germany\u2019s identity was most radically transformed. Her 2015 decision to open Germany\u2019s doors to over a million migrants was not an act of the left. It was an act of the conservative establishment. It was done not in the name of ideology but of morality, and therein lies the irony: the moralism of the centre-right has been no less destructive than the utopianism of the left. Merkel\u2019s gesture, however well-intentioned, fractured the European consensus, destabilized domestic politics, and sent an unmistakable signal to the world that Europe\u2019s borders were optional. She governed as if sentiment could substitute for sovereignty, and Germany is still paying the price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Across Europe, similar patterns repeat. The so-called conservative parties in Britain, Spain, Italy, and Scandinavia have all held office for long stretches of time. They could have reversed course, tightened unfettered immigration, restored national pride, and reasserted the cultural norms that bind a people together. Instead, they chose cowardice cloaked in civility. They courted respectability and the approval of editorial boards, terrified of being called cruel or reactionary. Their guiding principle became \u201cnot to be hated,\u201d as if a society could be saved without confrontation. They governed as managers, not as leaders, as administrators of decline and custodians of decay. They inherited institutions built by stronger leaders and allowed them to crumble out of fear that renewal might offend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Canada and the United States have not been immune to the same disease. In Canada, the Progressive Conservatives and later the federal Conservative Party presided over the codification and expansion of official multiculturalism, a policy that, under successive Liberal and Conservative governments alike, transformed national identity from something shared into something merely managed. Brian Mulroney enshrined multiculturalism as a cornerstone of Canadian political consensus. Stephen Harper, though more cautious, did little to challenge its assumptions. The Conservatives spoke of integration but funded the same bureaucracies of fragmentation. Even in opposition, they supported the immigration policies advanced by Liberal governments, even when evidence showed integration was faltering and housing, health care, and wages were suffering. And let it be said plainly: this is not a rejection of immigration itself \u2014 immigration has built and enriched Canada \u2014 but a rejection of immigration without expectation, without integration, and without the insistence that newcomers join a common civic nation rather than reside in parallel ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
South of the border, the Republican party tells a similar story. For decades, it has thundered about illegal immigration while quietly enabling legal migration on a massive scale. Ronald Reagan, the icon of modern American conservatism, granted amnesty to millions in 1986 under the Immigration Reform and Control Act, declaring it a one-time correction that would fix the problem forever. It did not. The border remained porous, and the precedent was set. Later Republican administrations promised toughness but delivered managerialism: walls half-built, enforcement half-hearted, rhetoric disconnected from results. Even when they controlled Congress and the White House, Republicans flinched from using power to reform a system that rewards chaos. They were terrified of the media, of corporate donors, of their own moral uncertainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They governed as if the question of who enters and who belongs were a matter of economics, not of identity. The result has been a steady erosion of social cohesion and the rise of populism as the only force willing to name what the establishment right refused to confront.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The great tragedy is that the right once understood the moral dimension of civilization. It understood that a nation is not just a collection of individuals but a covenant between generations, bound by memory and duty, by a shared story and shared obligations. But over time, the conservative parties of the West became liberal parties with slower reflexes. They adopted the language of compassion, the theology of globalism, the logic of markets, and the esthetics of restraint. They preached prudence while practising abdication. Their idea of stability was to manage the revolution rather than resist it. Every time they were given power, they promised to correct the excesses of the left, and every time, they merely administered them more efficiently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is no accident that populism has risen from the ruins of this betrayal. People were not seduced by extremism; they were abandoned by moderation. When citizens looked to the mainstream right for protection from mass migration, from cultural dissolution, from the erosion of meaning, they found bureaucrats instead of believers. They found a politics of hesitation, a cowardly centrism that worshipped process and feared conviction. And so the right\u2019s greatest sin was not malice but weakness. It mistook compromise for virtue, consensus for peace, and delay for wisdom. In the end, it was the polite right that gave the left its victories, one concession at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Conservatives must face this truth without evasion. The West is not being undermined by its enemies alone. Blame its caretakers, those who thought they could preserve civilization by yielding its substance while keeping its name. The crisis of the West is therefore not only moral or cultural but political. It is the collapse of a conservative tradition that lost the courage to conserve. Until the right admits its complicity and rediscovers the virtue of defiance \u2014 rooted not in exclusion, but in the defence of the shared civic and cultural inheritance that newcomers are welcome to join and strengthen \u2014 it will remain unfit to lead. For repentance must precede redemption, and only when the right stops excusing its own failures can it begin the work of renewal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CONSERVATIVES UNWITTINGLY HELPED THE LEFT UNDERMINE THE WEST CONSERVATIVES UNWITTINGLY HELPED THE LEFT UNDERMINE THE WEST For years, con\u00adser\u00advat\u00adives have com\u00adfor\u00adted them\u00adselves with the illu\u00adsion that the destruc\u00adtion of the West was entirely the doing of the left. They have blamed pro\u00adgress\u00adive ideo\u00adlogues, glob\u00adal\u00adists, and uto\u00adpi\u00adans for the failed exper\u00adi\u00adment of mul\u00adti\u00adcul\u00adtur\u00adal\u00adism, the open bor\u00adders […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3316,101],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4648"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4648"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4649,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4648\/revisions\/4649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}