In the final chapter of The Fatal Conceit: The Errors of Socialism, Friedrich Hayek stated: "We owe it partly to mystical and religious beliefs, and ... particularly to the main monotheistic ones, that beneficial traditions have been preserved and transmitted at least long enough to enable those groups following them to grow, and to have the opportunity to spread by natural or cultural selection." According to Hayek, "the only religions that have survived are those which support property and the family." Looking about today, seeing so much hostility to property and the family, there is good reason to fear for the future. While Hayek optimistically predicted that socialism would be "selected out" as a belief system, the irrationalities of socialism continue to be propagated throughout the world. It isn't that the ideology of Lenin remains popular in Russia or China, but the leaders of Russia and China still covet the total power that communist practice signifies. And so, a lethal nostalgia remains. It even nurtures a plan. Let the masses believe they are suffering under capitalism. Let the masses think that capitalism is worse than socialism, and then you may look forward to a new world war - a war that will bury the secret of the West's success forever; a war that will put an end to capitalism.
Who will fight this world war against the West? But the war has already begun. It is already being fought. Our future hangs in the balance. The safety and security that we all take for granted could evaporate tomorrow. The Twin Towers have already collapsed. The Pentagon was set on fire. September 11, 2001, marked the beginning of a world war. Russia and China are on one side. America is on the other. Islam instinctively favors the defeat of the West. Therefore, it is no accident that the Islamic Republic of Iran finds itself allied to Russia and China and North Korea. The West refuses to see this alliance because the West wants to believe that communism is dead and Islam is "a religion of peace." But communism is not dead and Islam is not a religion of peace.
Socialism will remain the core impulse of the East, because despotism is the core tradition. The despotism of Russia and China is a legacy from the past, from the Mongols and before. The despotism found in Muslim countries is due to the fact that Islam is not merely a religion. It is also a political creed. Related to these points, Professor Rodney Stark has written a book, The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success. As Professor Stark explains, "Muhammad was not only the Prophet, he was head of state. Consequently, Islam has always idealized the fusion of religion and political rule...." The resulting despotism delivers a crippling blow to culture and property. Christian civilization took a different approach. Christ said: "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's."
Professor Stark throws up a quote from St. Augustine that might have been penned by a latter-day libertarian: "What are kingdoms but great robberies? For what are robberies themselves, but little kingdoms?" Is it any wonder that communist ideology advocates the deeds of Robin Hood? And what, after all, is a robber and a hood? Stalin was a bank robber and Lenin preached a doctrine of universal robbery in which banks, factories and farms would be stolen in the name of world revolution. The same can be said for Muhammad and his successors. Cities and kingdoms were looted on a religious pretext. Consider the rapaciousness and cynicism of the Islamic clergy of Iran. According to David Frum, "So many women were selling their bodies [in Iran] to support their families that the mullahs proposed to organize Islamic brothels for them."
Remember what Hayek said: Only religions that respect property and family will ultimately succeed. The Islam of Osama bin Laden and the Iranian clergy cannot defeat the West as long as the West remains true to Christian tradition. This fact, which Western liberals no longer comprehend, is beginning to be appreciated in China. In his book Professor Stark quotes a leading Chinese scholar who explains the reason behind Western global supremacy: "At first, we thought it was because you had more powerful guns than we had. Then we thought it was because you had the best political system. Next we focused on your economic system. But in the past twenty years, we have realized that the heart of your culture is your religion: Christianity."
The enemies of Western Civilization attribute Western success to the rapacious violence of imperialism, or the looting impulses of the Conquistadors and their miserable empire. But the legacy of the West is not the legacy of Imperial Spain (the empire that failed). And now, even agnostics and atheists are admitting the truth. Christianity has been the secret ingredient in Western success. Christian ideas signify, in practice, the dignity of man and individual liberty. "That is why the West is so powerful," noted the Chinese scholar. "The Christian moral foundation of social and cultural life was what made possible the emergence of capitalism and then the successful transition to democratic politics."
Democracy has failed in Russia and China because the rulers favor a creed that is anti-property. Democracy cannot and will not succeed in Afghanistan and Iraq while the people adhere to Islam. The West would like to believe that capitalism is a matter of adopting the right laws, that democracy is a mere political formula. But there is much more to Western success than political or legal forms.
