Everything is dashed. Twenty years from 9/11, we are not a more serious country and have no serious purpose in the world. The ideological challenge of radical Islamism has not inspired new life in the Christian churches of the West; they continue to decay. Even liberal democracy has suffered. Not just from the reputational blows abroad, but from a more fundamental lack of confidence at home. Progressives see conservative democratic victories in Europe or at home as signs of defection from democracy. The most searching and important conservative thinkers have come to see in liberal democracy some of the same ideological dreams and passions of communism. History cannot be over, so if liberal democracy is in some way “the end of history,” then it must be a delusion. But we cannot imagine anything preferable.

Then again, there is a much simpler reason there should be a crisis of liberal democracy right now. Our universities have capitulated to gibberish. Our political institutions are being robbed and exploited for private purposes. And the advent and ubiquity of social media has made each member of our society who cares to notice intimately familiar with the true thoughts and prejudices of the members of his nation. We are more fearful now — and in a more serious crisis now — than we were in the days after 9/11.

Back then we still believed we had the internal resources to meet our challenges. We were, and this is the guiltiest thing of all, almost thankful for the challenge of barbarism against our civilization. After 9/11, we thought we would come together, that this challenge would bring us to a new shared common understanding of our civilizational inheritance and appreciation of each other despite our differences. But today, we know better. We hate each other, and so we doubt that our living together in this way is good anymore. In 20 years, the American people have welcomed the Taliban back into power, armed al-Qaeda in several countries, debased our institutions, and turned on each other as the real enemies, the true Taliban.