How Civilizations Die-a book report

How Civilizations Die (And why Islam is dying too) By; David P. Goldman I have been communicating with a man in his 90’s for a number of years. He lives in Dodge City, Kansas. We have never met. Years ago he discovered my books and purchased several from me. We tend to agree on many national issues of concern. He discovered this book and ordered it for me at a cost of over $30 counting postage. I wrote my gratitude. Now I am attempting to write a review. This is a fascinating book. He goes back to the beginning of time, or so it seems, to make his point which is that civilizations die when they lose the desire to procreate, bring children into the world in numbers sufficient to assure the continuation of that particular group, race or culture. The figure experts agree on is 2.1 children per family to maintain that culture. A large portion of the book was devoted to the past. Since my interests are more in line with current events I will not take your time by retelling his account other than to state that he strongly emphasizes that those who are religious are more likely to have larger families. Christianity in all its forms and denominations has been the major factor. Of course, Islam with all of its tenets has also been prolific over the centuries since its inception. What a tragedy that thru all these Centuries religion has been the driving force creating deaths of countless millions in the name of Christ. How could his teachings be so distorted to convince that killing those of a different persuasion is doing God’s work on Earth? Today except for Ireland, killing Christians by other Christians is no longer practiced; today it is the Muslim belief system not only against Christians and Jews but also different Muslim Sects. When a civilization thinks more about their own welfare they reduce the number of children to spend whatever resources they have for their own benefit. In olden times children were required to work the farms. When they moved to cities the children now became a cost rather than a benefit, as far as contributing resources to support the family. In today’s America it has been projected that each urban child costs over $250,000 until the age of 18, projected to increase soon to over $300,000. Add college costs to that and you can see the advantage of having fewer children. Think of the great cars you can drive, the improved life styles, etc. I wonder if the drive in America to legalize same sex marriage might be driven, in part, by this fact. I had a hard time agreeing with his premise that the Muslim population was also shrinking. I went to the Internet for information. You could do the same. Two, in particular were well done. “The Future of the Global Muslim Population” a PEW Research publication and “Is the Muslim population Shrinking” an Ibu Zura publication called a Christian- Muslim Dialogue. It appears that for a number of reasons the rate of growth is decreasing. That is different from decreasing in absolute numbers today. They will not peak until 2030 after which it is projected to start a downward spiral. It was interesting to me that IRAN is the one Muslim country already in decline. In Europe it is projected that 10% of those countries will be Muslim. In America it they will double to about the same number as our Jewish citizens. The 30 years’ war in Europe which killed millions was predominantly religious, Catholic vs Protestant. Europeans have lost that religious fervor which explains the declining population. America and Israel on the other hand are still increasing. In America he credits the Evangelical churches and the influx of immigrants from South and Central America who are predominately Catholic. In Israel it is the Orthodox Jews who have large families. He concludes in the end these two countries will continue to exist while the others fade away. One factor in the projected decline is because more women are being allowed education. Iran’s women under the Shah were allowed to go to school which explains how this happened. Of more importance than all of the above was the condemnation of President Obama and his policies. The author also comments on the deficiencies if George Bush. These comments are contained in Part Three. I will only mention the key points; Bush- Freedom Agenda. He believed that people everywhere would emulate America; instead all elections have brought radicals into power in Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq and Iran. Obama- He told the United Nations in September 2009 “No one nation can or should try to dominate another nation”. What he was saying was the self-liquidation of American influence- an unprecedented astonishing position for an American leader. Then he staged a quarrel with Israel about settlements, demanded they give up their nuclear weapons, withdraw from the West Bank and return to the borders that existed before the 1967 war. He has shown his disdain for Prime Minister Netanyahu and Israel since taking office. The only reason America still provides aid is because of the total commitment of Congress, both parties. Obama’s policies appear to be encouraging some of America’s worst enemies. Governments have changed from secular to Islamic. President Obama may well be the anti-Truman. Obama by contrast identifies deeply with Islam. He appears ready to gamble in supporting hostile regimes. It may be the most detrimental foreign policy decision taken by an American president in living memory. The president has conceded on television that his policy may fail to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. A disaster of this magnitude should inspire a reconsideration of first principles. He concludes by stating five principles America should follow; 1-Cut our losses in nation building in the Middle East. 2-Do not allow rogue nations to threaten our security. 3-Deploy ground personnel to neutralize threats through limited intervention. 4-Improve our alliance with India to counter the threat from China. 5- Engage China constructively aiming at a rivalry without hostility. Finally he concludes that America needs to rediscover its own exceptionalism. America is the exemplar and model for what a good country should be. I encourage all to read this book and contemplate its message. Jack B. Walters August 27, 2014