Rubio’s Call for Renewal: A Legacy of Western Heritage
Marco Rubio urges renewal of Western spirit through historical roots and civic responsibility.
5 min read
Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s recent speech in Athens has sparked a renewed conversation about the roots of Western civilization and the importance of preserving its legacy for future generations. In his address, Rubio called on Americans and Europeans to renew the Western spirit, an inheritance he traced from ancient Athens and Rome through Christendom to the founding of the American Republic.
The Roots of Western Civilization
Rubio’s call for renewal demands a look at our roots. Many of us were left reflecting on a question worth asking: what came before us, and what do we owe it? The speech highlighted the importance of understanding the historical and cultural lineage that has shaped the Western world, from its ancient origins to its modern manifestations.
At Colorado Christian University, a group of students has been studying Russell Kirk’s The Roots of American Order, discovering that America did not spring fully formed from the events of 1776. Our liberty and political culture are the fruit of an ordered inheritance that runs through five cities: Jerusalem, Athens, Rome, London, and Philadelphia. This inheritance is not just a collection of historical events, but a cultural lineage that defines our shared identity.
The word ‘roots’ deserves attention. While we often think of it in terms of family trees, it also refers to belonging to a particular place or group by virtue of cultural lineage. By that definition, Americans share a lineage far larger than any single family. Understanding this lineage is essential for preserving and defending the values that have shaped our nation.
Jerusalem: The Foundation of Moral Order
The American story begins in Jerusalem, where the conviction that human beings live under a moral order they did not invent was first articulated. The Hebrew prophets laid the foundation for the belief in one God who knows, cares for, and reveals himself to his creation. This belief gave rise to the Decalogue, which established the idea that law is not merely the will of the powerful, but a reflection of a higher moral standard. From this conviction flows the dignity of the individual, as each person is made in the image of God and thus not disposable to any ruler.
Athens: The Life of the Mind
Athens contributed the life of the mind, with Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle teaching that human beings are social by nature and that a person cannot flourish alone or in a disordered community. A well-ordered soul is essential to a good life, and a well-ordered society depends on citizens who pursue virtue, seek truth, and reason together about the good. Athens reminds us that self-government begins with self-government: a free people must first learn to govern themselves. It was fitting that Rubio chose to make his case there, within sight of the Acropolis.
Rome: The Republic and the Lessons of Decline
Rome gave us a republic, a respect for law and duty, and a sober lesson about decline. The Romans revered their ancestors and the customs they handed down, believing that the virtues of earlier generations—discipline, gravity, and loyalty to the common good—held the republic together. Their warning is as relevant now as it was then: a society that fails to maintain the virtues of those who came before it will not long endure. Rome’s greatness and its fall both point to the same truth: that institutions survive only as long as the character of the people sustaining them.
London: The Rule of Law
London taught the English-speaking world that all are subject to the law, including the king. From Magna Carta to the common law tradition, the English developed the idea that law is not invented from scratch by whoever holds power. It grows out of natural law and the accumulated wisdom of custom, precedent, and experience. Our human laws, however imperfect, are our best attempt to express an enduring moral law, and they are rightly measured against it. This is the heritage of due process, trial by jury, and the principle that established rules, not the shifting preferences of rulers, secure liberty.
Philadelphia: The Culmination of the Inheritance
Finally, Philadelphia brings the inheritance home. In the Declaration of Independence, the founders affirmed the principles nurtured by Jerusalem, Athens, Rome, and London: that human beings are endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights, and that government exists to secure them. In the Constitution, they built the organizational structure to realize those principles, with separated powers, federalism, and checks against the abuse of authority. They drew on Montesquieu’s insight that power can be restrained only by counterbalancing power, ensuring that no person or office holds unchecked authority. Philadelphia was not a break from the past; it was the culmination of it.
This inheritance is also fragile. Ordered liberty does not maintain itself. Each generation receives it as a gift and must decide whether to pass it on or let it wither. A society that neglects its roots does not escape the consequences. It ends up tending them in desperation, after disorder has already done its damage.
That is why cultivating these principles in young people matters so much. Students who cannot name the sources of their freedoms are poorly prepared to defend them. A generation that has never heard why law must answer to a higher standard, why virtue is a prerequisite for liberty, or why the Founders designed government as they did will be easily persuaded that these things are optional.
The task falls to all of us: parents at the dinner table, teachers in the classroom, pastors in the pulpit, and neighbors in book clubs and civic groups. We can read these foundational texts with our children and our students. We can teach history as an inheritance to be understood and stewarded, not as a catalog of grievances or a list of dates. We can model the habits of virtue and gratitude that every free people requires. And we can insist that the great questions, about God, human nature, law, and self-government, are worth taking seriously.
A renewal of the Western spirit, as Rubio urged in Athens, cannot be accomplished by a speech alone. It happens when each generation learns where it came from. We did not build this inheritance, yet we are its trustees. We must make sure the next generation knows where it came from, what it has been given, and what it is called to preserve.
Source: Daily Wire
