DID MARCO RUBIO “TAKE” A PAGE FROM MY BOOK? [Continued]
By Dr. Juan R. Céspedes, Ph.D.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave a speech on Wednesday evening, Oct. 7, in Athens, with the Acropolis shining magnificently behind him. He encouraged western nations to defend and take pride in their shared heritage. Was Marco Rubio inspired after reading my book, “The Long Goodbye: The End of America and the West: A Guide for Its Burial or Revival” (published in August, 2026)? You decide.
The content of his speech paralleled a key chapter in my book, which follows:
PRIDE IN AMERICA AND WESTERN CIVILIZATION — PART 2/4
One of my favorite tools in teaching an introductory course on the history of Western civilization, in a very tongue-in-cheek and whacky manner, is by showing an excerpt from the satirical movie Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979). Using archetypal British dry humor, the movie makes evident some exceedingly important points about the intricacies and fascinating characteristics of the history of Western civilization. The scene from Life of Brian where the Jewish Zealots conspire to kidnap and extort money from the Roman governor of Judea is both perfect and hilarious in this regard. During their planning, the leader of the group denounces the Romans, and seeking affirmation for his plans asks rhetorically, “And what have they ever given us in return?” After few seconds of muttering in agreement, one of the conspirators in the group, gives an unexpected and somewhat unwelcomed answer, “The aqueducts.” The leader responds somewhat discomfited, but forced to agree, “Oh, yeah, they did give us that.” A second conspirator in the group adds, “Sanitation.” To which another member of the cabal agrees, remembering what the city used to be like. A third member pitches in, “The roads!” The leader responds, as it dawns on him, “Oh yeah, obviously the roads. The roads go without saying.” The list of Roman accomplishments grows progressively longer, and stops only when “the peace,” is sarcastically mentioned, which one man claims the Romans never gave them.
Monty Python presents us with a semi-ridiculous yet poignant situation were Jewish rebels seek to topple the Roman government, while acknowledging that a great number of things which have made their lives explicitly better have been brought to them by that very same government. That is the reality of Western history, indeed all of the affairs of mankind — simultaneously illogical, brutal, egocentric, wonderful, and fascinating. Homo sapiens have repeatedly demonstrated their capacity for the saintly as well as the profane. Another semi-ridiculous conversation about “Western civilization” is reflected by the narrow and reductive contemporary view of the political left, in which any praise for its accomplishments is somehow a bigoted dog-whistle of intolerance and hatred for other civilizations. The left takes current political ideology and projects backward onto a history and culture that defies their understanding of right and wrong, of what “should have been”, if not for the horrible ethnocentric Westerners. For the leftists, our triumphs are not so amazing, and our failures are far worse and more sickening than we imagine. The West gave birth to imperialism, colonialism, and slavery, and everything it did became a foundation for global inequalities. The progressive/liberal/Democrat/socialist/woke/Marxist/left-leaners engage in a certain romanticization of non-Western cultures, which they see as more spiritual, less violent, more accepting, more exotic, and closer to their definition of utopia, in contrast to societies in the Western world. Shale Horowitz, professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, provides the following analysis of civilizational self-hatred:
“Consider what has become the centerpiece of Western self-hatred — the evils perpetrated by “white” people against other racial or ethnic groups. Central arguments are that whites and the West are responsible for all or most evil, and that this evil overshadows any alleged good works….Civilizational self-hatred is a systemic, extreme, and one-sided criticism of the values, institutions, and history of one’s own civilization which is not extended to other civilizations. The West or one of its component parts (such as the United States or the United Kingdom) or systems (such as the traditional family, traditional religion, the market economy, or the criminal justice system) are typically attacked….self-hatred offers a community of moral and intellectual superiority on the cheap.”
When the newest version of the political left was confronted with the overwhelming evidence of the failure its imaginary economic utopia, its only remaining possession was hatred. That focus of hatred, now dominant, is the product of a Marxist belief system obsessed with a group-thought — which is to vilify all Europeans as an ethnic and racial group, and especially those who do not kowtow before the god of Western self-hatred. As this vecchio professore has repeated in numerous lectures, Marxism’s foundational precepts are envy, hatred, conflict, and the negation of God. Synchronistically, all of the major religions view the essence of the diabolical as envy, hatred, divisiveness, atheism (and even misotheism). That is also the essence of Marxism. It has diabolical intent, and there are those who add, diabolically inspired (see Appendix D: “The Satanic Foundations of Marxism”).
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THE LONG GOODBYE: THE END OF AMERICA AND THE WEST A Guide for Its Burial or Revival.
Every civilization believes itself eternal, right up until the moment when it is only a memory. This is the story of that moment — and the choices that follows it.
The Long Goodbye is neither a eulogy nor a rescue plan, but both at once: it is a clear-eyed reckoning with the forces unmaking the American and Western order — institutional decay, civic amnesia, the slow surrender of self-government to the collective spectacle — paired with an unflinching look at what it would actually take to reverse course, if reversal is still possible. Drawing on history, political philosophy, economics, and the long record of empires that mistook decline for a passing mood, this book refuses the comfort of easy nostalgia and the equal comfort of easy despair. It asks the only question that matters at the end of an era: bury it, or rebuild it — and who, exactly, is going to decide?
Bracing, erudite, uniquely panoramic and unsentimental, The Long Goodbye is a field guide for anyone who suspects we are living through the last chapter of something — and wants to know whether the next chapter is theirs to write. A recognized milestone and decisive piece of writing of contemporary historical analysis!
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About the Author:
Dr. Juan R. Céspedes, Ph.D., is a veteran educator, lecturer, and prolific author with more than three decades of experience sharing research and commentary on history, politics, economics, sociology, and international relations with a global audience. He is an advocate for maximizing individual freedom, human dignity, and democratic government, known internationally for his clear-sighted, persuasive analysis of totalitarian regimes, the Cold War, the causes of war, terrorism, geopolitics, and contemporary global affairs. His professional accomplishments include being an Educator at both the high school and college levels, school administrator, Examiner and Content Contributor for the International Baccalaureate Organization, Social Studies test bank writer, Miami-Dade County Public Schools and the Florida Department of Education, Fellow for Advanced Placement, American College Board, and Advisory Board member and Adjunct Professor, Florida International University’s School of International and Public Affairs, Gordon Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship Studies. In 1960, the Céspedes family fled the Castro-communist regime in Cuba and was granted political asylum in the United States. This personal history confirms his deep, firsthand commitment to promoting and protecting democratic values, the common good, and a more humane, lawful, and just society.
These and other books by Dr. Céspedes are available at Amazon and other fine book emporiums… https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B00DJDSUC0/allbooks?ingress=0&visitId=b916f42d-6946-4c74-90a3-e3ce373bd660&ccs_id=1bb7233d-81be-4871-8908-73f7544b5af6
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IMPORTANT — International copyright and use of this material:
Thank you for your interest in my work and this book, and for complying with copyright laws and not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it, in any form, without the author’s permission. Violators are subject to civil liability and criminal penalties. Allowance is made for “fair use” purposes such as teaching, scholarship, and research on the condition the author is fully named and a link to the complete imprint is provided.
![DID MARCO RUBIO “TAKE” A PAGE FROM MY BOOK?
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