In the shadow of the Parthenon in Athens, State Secretary Marco Rubio talked about the ideals and achievements that started with the ancient Greeks and became dominant in Western culture.
“Athens gave us democracy. Plato and Aristotle gave us Western philosophy. Our ideas of law, virtue, citizenship, republican government were shaped in the great city-states. Even much of our political vocabulary,” Rubio began.
Furthermore, he spoke about traits found in Greece — such as a conviction that the unknown can be known — that led to the foundation of laws that could be understood and civilization that had a common view of man. Without apology, he talked about the virtues of democracy and the ideals of excellence and meritocracy.
“Now, I know that to modern ears what I just described, this way of life, may sound odd. It may even sound cruel,” Rubio said.
Today, he said, too much of the West has forgotten these qualities.
“Over time, we in the West came to feel ashamed of the very things that made us exceptional… Our prosperity somehow became a source of guilt,” Rubio stated.
The nation finds itself at a crossroads, he continued, and the next decade and the decisions that will be made will write the story of the next century.
“Today, the course we take will determine whether the West maintains its place at the head of the world or resigns itself to a future of atrophy and servitude and decline,” Rubio said.
Then, he contrasted Western culture with the people who are at the door and seek to conquer the U.S.
“This is wholly different from what we see even now, for example, from fanatics like the radical mullahs of Iran, whose cult of death hails child suicide bombers as national heroes and portrays martyrdom as an end to itself,” Rubio stated.
The country is at an inflection point, and he called for a resurgence of Western values.
“All of us, not just Americans, but Europeans and our friends across the West, must relearn the lessons our forefathers took from this place and from its history,” Rubio concluded.
