At the February 2025 Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) conference in London, writer and speaker Douglas Murray called on the 4,000 attendees to replace deconstructionist post-modernism with an age of reconstruction. “The Deconstructionists,” he said, “knew something about how to take things apart, but like children with bicycles had no idea how to put them back together, so it will be the job of people like those in this room to try to put that civilization back together.”
During his 15-minute talk, Murray explained that preservers and restorers of Western civilization must be “extraordinarily well-cultured,” which means “you know what you’re fighting for… you know you’re fighting for your faith, for your family, for your people, for your tradition, for your way of life, and very much more.”
Near the end of his address, Murray returned to this idea of restoration, “I would urge in the Age of Reconstruction that our great task is not just to break through with innovation, but to reclaim what is ours, to say that we love it….”
The audience responded to Murray’s remarks with applause and cheers. This warm reception was no surprise, for as one newspaper editor said of ARC 2023, this is “a global meeting to halt the perceived decline in Western culture and shape a strategy of transformation, renewal, and re-discovery.”
The first two months of the Trump administration have given many a reason to cheer. We may disagree with this or that policy, but overall the breathless rapidity of the changes being made to America’s bureaucracy and to the culture at large are cause for celebration. The lassitude, fiscal irresponsibility, and corruption, hidden until now within our government, are being exposed, while programs like Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) are falling like rotten fruit from a tree.
There is yet another reason, often overlooked, to hope for a restoration of tradition and American culture, and by extension, of Western civilization itself. The four years of the Biden presidency gave rise to an extraordinary number of individuals and organizations determined to battle back against the deceptions and bullying of a heavy-handed government, attacks on liberties like free speech, and the digital technology that brings so much harm as well as good to the culture. Born during the COVID pandemic, scorned or ignored by the legacy media, this loose-knit resistance movement is still growing and is now positioned to help bring about a reconstruction and even a renaissance in our politics and culture.
Over the last six years, I’ve had the privilege of interviewing a few of these grassroots champions – educators, nurses, writers, activists, homeschool moms, and more – who in their own small way are resisting the wrecking balls and termites bringing ruin to the West.
Katy Faust, for example, founded Them Before Us, an organization seeking to give children a place at the table in matters of divorce or neglect. She also spoke out in defense of marriage and in opposition to the gender madness engulfing the country.
Professor and mother Jeanne Schindler started the Postman Pledge group, which seeks to reduce the horrendous negative effects of screens and social media on children, and so restore mental and emotional health to adolescence.
Actor and activist Kirk Cameron wrote books for children based on Christian principles which he then read aloud, often opposed by loud protests, in libraries as a counterweight to the sex-and-gender literature being used to indoctrinate and groom children.
With the help of family and friends, home educator Sara Masarik of Wisconsin founded the Plumfield Living Books Library, a rapidly growing private subscription library catering primarily to children and teens.
Meanwhile, I’ve seen my own friends and family members doing their part to patch up and restore the house of our civilization. They go quietly about the business of living, practicing a religious faith, emphasizing the importance of home and family, educating their children, and building networks of connection within their communities. They rarely make the news, but they are the very ones who are the keystone to this restoration. More than any government program or political party, strong families make for strong republics.
Murray is right on target: the next four years offer us the opportunity to launch an Age of Reconstruction. To help make that restoration a reality, we must all step up and take part in whatever way possible, large or small. Whether it’s teaching American history to our children, refusing to abide the absurdities and deceptions that have for so long plagued our nation, or simply striving to live upright moral lives, there’s a place for everyone on this work crew rehabbing the house of Western civilization.
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The republication of this article is made possible by The Fred & Rheta Skelton Center for Cultural Renewal.
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