“Poor Jud is dead. A candle lights his head! He’s looking oh so pretty and so nice. He looks like he’s asleep. It’s a shame that he won’t keep. But it’s summer and we’re running out of ice.”

In Oklahoma! Curly McClain almost succeeds in convincing Jud Fry to take himself (permanently) out of the competition for Laurey Williams’ hand. But Jud finally catches on to Curly’s clever scheme and angrily confronts the musical’s leading man.

Offstage, in the real world, historian Arnold Toynbee cautioned, “Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder.” Their citizens forget, or reject, the reasons for their accomplishments, health and living standards; replace hard work with self-absorption and a sense of entitlement; and succumb to the belief that the world would be better if they eliminated evils like borders, citizenship, religion and fossil fuels.

“Imagine there’s no countries … Nothing to kill or die for, And no religion, too.”

Indeed, the Left has been devilishly ingenious in its efforts to lure the United States, Europe and The West into committing civilizational suicide – by fearmongering us that the planet’s very existence is at stake, and promising that future generations will praise us if we follow “progressive” demands. 

Above all, the Left assures us, replacing oil, coal, natural gas and nuclear power with “clean, renewable, sustainable” wind and solar energy will ensure idyllic temperatures, a perfect climate all year, planetary salvation – and everlasting hosannahs.

Those tempted by these sirens’ calls should ponder my grandmother’s sage adage: “The only good thing about the ‘good old days’ is that they’re gone.” Having grown up on a nineteenth-century farm, Grandma Anna never wanted to live again without indoor plumbing, electricity or refrigerators that replaced ice boxes, ice houses and the risk of “running out of ice” before the next Wisconsin winter set in.

Terror attacks, judicial interference and Blue State resistance notwithstanding, Trump Administration and congressional actions on these fronts suggest that the United States will at least forestall, if not reject, national suicide. Much of Europe, however, seems headed for energy and........

© Townhall