A Foreign Invasion Is Underway, But This Is What Can Be Done To Stop It

You could fill a very large museum with exhibits about empires that collapsed because — as barbarians gathered outside the gates — their leaders were distracted by relatively unimportant internal conflicts. Certainly, you could set up rows and rows of bookshelves in the Louvre, with volume after volume going into detail about how various civilizations — from the Byzantines to the Ottomans to the Canadians — met their demise because they were unable or unwilling to address the very real, looming threats they were facing from the outside.

And then, of course, once you meticulously assembled all the books documenting these historical examples and placed them in the Louvre, those books would promptly be stolen by a handful of burglars armed with power tools. Put another way: It’s the highest luxury for wealthy and prosperous civilizations to fight amongst themselves, right up until the moment they realize that, in reality, the barbarians aren’t simply at the gates anymore. They’ve made their way inside — and no one’s even noticed. And by that point, it’s too late. The foreign conquest is plain for everyone to see.