TRADITIONALISTS working for a turnabout in Western culture are often asked this question. What guarantee is there that civilization will be restored? Doesn’t it appear we are fighting a losing battle and, if so, why not hunker down and prepare for the worst?

Lawrence Auster gives an excellent answer here:

We do not know what will happen, and in my view it is a waste of energy speculating about whether we will win or not. All we can do is to do what we do. If we succeed, we succeed. If we fail, then Western civilization will end. Of course, all civilizations ultimately end. When they end, they leave seeds for future civilizations. Therefore, if we do lose, which I don’t expect to happen, our efforts to build up an understanding of the meaning and necessities of our civilization will not be wasted. They will become part of the collective understanding of our people and society in the future, taking forms that we cannot know now.

At the same time, given the fact that we don’t know what will happen, to consider and prepare for the possibility of defeat, in the terms in which you have put the problem, is not defeatist in my view, but prudent. Trying to imagine what kind of communities may survive the defeat and carry forward elements of our civilization even after the civilization has ended, makes sense

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