Which nation is the leader of ‘The West?’

To answer that question you must first define what ‘The West’ is. 

There are a hundred different definitions, and indeed an entire PBS series devoted to that question. ‘Civilization: The West and the Rest with Niall Feruguson’ debuted in 2012, and the accomplished historian issued a companion book at the same time and with the same title. 

‘In ‘Civilization: The West and the Rest,’’ the summary of the book relays, ‘bestselling author Niall Ferguson argues that, beginning in the fifteenth century, the West developed six powerful new concepts that the Rest lacked: competition, science, the rule of law, consumerism, modern medicine, and the work ethic.’

Those characteristics are fine and easily applied to exclude from ‘The West’ tyrannies such as the People’s Republic of China, Russia and Iran and all of their puppet states or proxies. But it does not include the essential ingredient: freedom. ‘The West’ is defined by this essential, must-have feature: Some significant measure of individual liberty. That liberty must include the rule of law and not the rule of despots or oligarchs. There  is no rule of law where the law can be easily manipulated or avoided. There cannot be in any member nation of ‘The West’ a secret police that operates without restraint and oversight but solely on the direction of unaccountable despot(s).

The members of ‘The West’ have free elections at regular intervals and guarantee freedom of conscience, speech and almost always movement within their boundaries to their citizens. Constitutions of member states may be written as in the United States, or unwritten as in the United Kingdom. 

Nations in ‘The West’ may be large or small, rich or poor, and since the end of  World War Two at least, can be found on every continent. Countries can be part of ‘The West’ and then lose that status as has happened to Venezuela, or it can aspire and eventually join or re-join ‘The West’ as has happened with many former members of the now defunct ‘Warsaw Pact.’ Poland is one such country, as are many others surrounding Ukraine. Ukraine aspires to be part of ‘The West’ and is fighting and its people suffering and many thousands dying to keep that dream alive. Japan was a tyranny and an empire but, defeated by the Allies in 1945, it is now among The West’s leaders. 

Even as the definition becomes clearer, the first question becomes more and more difficult to answer: ‘Which nation leads the West?’ 

Until December 7, 1941, the leader of ‘The West’ was the United Kingdom, standing alone after the defeat of France by Hitler’s Germany in 1940. After Pearl Harbor, the United States was thrust into that role and has remained there without question until this decade. Until very recently in fact. 

Now, there are reasons to doubt that leadership, for the United States has failed to fulfill that role since 10/7, slipping again and again into a catastrophic ambiguity about the nature of the alliance of ‘The West,’ and at times throwing into considerable doubt whether we can be relied upon as an ally and as an enemy of tyrants and maniacs. A similar palsy overtook us in the aftermath of our loss of the Vietnam War, during the presidency of Jimmy Carter.  President Ronald Reagan cured and restored us. That palsy that marked the late 1970s in the United States has returned. 

The U.S. remains by far the wealthiest and strongest nation in the world, but it is at present divided at home and deeply confused about good and evil, friend and enemy. President Biden, already infirm and increasingly incoherent seems to be headed towards incapacity, but he is, by operation of the Constitution, the Commander-in-Chief of our supremely strong military. We cannot know what he is like in private and many Americans suspect he is not in full control of the Executive Branch. Certainly many suspect that some among our allies are concerned about his ‘leadership.’

President Biden’s infirmity and growing incoherence has indeed caused the whole world to wonder if anyone at all is in charge of the country. Of course few will say this out loud. America’s power to punish is still robust even if its president isn’t. So our allies pretend that all is fine, while our enemies plot and plan. But since the collapse in Afghanistan signaled to the world that the United States was run by a band of weak bumblers headed in title if not in fact by a very old man of limited ability, it is hard to argue that the United States is ‘leading’’anything at all these days.

If ‘The West’ as understood as the family of nations committed to everything laid out above has any leader at all right now, it seems like Israel is the only candidate qualified to step up into the vacuum left by the U.S. paralyzed by the weakness of its leadership. But Israel is also under siege on the world stage and at war with ruthless enemies, and the United States is of a divided mind about Israel, with the left wing of the Democratic Party apparently afraid that Israel might actually win and destroy the military capabilities of Hamas and perhaps after that Hezbollah. 

If the United States cannot proudly stand with Israel on the side of victory by Israel over an evil terrorist puppet of an evil theocracy, then we have to, at least for a season, given up title to leadership of ‘The West.’ Israel is the unlikeliest of all nations to become the most courageous defender of the West’s highest and best traditions, but there it is: Alone and besieged, with weak-kneed allies and an absurd world media elite that has lost any idea of why a free press matters, this nation reborn in 1958 is still very young, but it is very much a nation of warriors and however rancorous its internal politics, it has not lost sight of its purpose. 

In his introduction to a book of essays, ‘The City and Man,’ the most significant political theorist of the last century, Leo Strauss, wrote this:

‘However much the power of the West may have declined, however great the dangers to the West may be, that decline, that danger, nay, the defeat, even the destruction of the West would not necessarily prove that the West is in a crisis: the West could go down in honor, certain of its purpose. The crisis of the West consists in the West’s having become uncertain of its purpose.’

Israel is not uncertain of its purpose. America or at least its present Executive Branch quite obviously is. If there are any other nominees for the job of leading The West, by all means nominate them, or work to restore America to its former position. Until that happens, every citizen of the West looking for a nation committed to the freedom of its citizens and willing to defend that freedom at the cost of extraordinary losses of life and treasure, will need to study the example of Israel, and be willing to develop the weapons it will need to deter the enemies of freedom who have quite openly organized against ‘The West.’

Hugh Hewitt is host of ‘The Hugh Hewitt show,’ heard weekday mornings 6am to 9am ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on Salem News Channel. Hugh wakes up America on over 400 affiliates nationwide, and on all the streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel’s news roundtable hosted by Brett Baier weekdays at 6pm ET. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a Professor of Law at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law since 1996 where he teaches Constitutional Law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990.  Hewitt has frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American paper, has authored a dozen books and moderated a score of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and his column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over his 40 years in broadcasting, and this column previews the lead story that will drive his radio/TV show today.

President Biden called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday to warn him against moving on the Gaza city of Rafah.

The president reportedly warned Netanyahu against continuing with plans to invade Rafah, the last stronghold of Hamas in the region.

The two world leaders reportedly spoke for approximately 30 minutes, during which Biden raised the issue of the more than 1.5 million Palestinians currently living in Rafah.

‘The president doesn’t want to see operations in Rafah that put at greater risk the more than a million people that are seeking refuge there,’ said White House national security spokesman John Kirby.

Earlier in the day, Israel’s Defense Forces ordered an evacuation of Rafah, signaling that a long-promised ground operation could be imminent. 

The Israeli army has described Rafah as the last significant Hamas stronghold after seven months of war, and its leaders have repeatedly said clearing Rafah is necessary to defeat the Islamic militant group.

Overnight, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin that Israel was left with no choice but to act in Rafah after Hamas terrorists carried out a deadly rocket attack from Rafah earlier in the day that left four Israeli soldiers dead.

The Israeli Defense Forces has begun conducting what it describes as ‘targeted strikes’ against Hamas operatives in eastern Rafah, a city located in the southern Gaza Strip where more than 1 million civilians from other parts of Gaza are sheltering. 

IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said aircraft struck more than 50 terrorist targets in Rafah amid the evacuation of residents in the area and the expansion of the humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi and Khan Yunis. 

The war in Gaza has driven around 80% of the territory’s population of 2.3 million from their homes and caused vast destruction throughout several cities. 

The death toll in Gaza has soared to more than 34,500 people — per estimates from Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. 

The war began Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250 others. Israel says militants still hold around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.

Fox News Digital’s Lawrence Richard and Bradford Betz contributed to this report.

Saying that ‘today I am announcing my intention to seek another term’ in the Senate, longtime independent Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday formally launched his bid for re-election.

The 82-year-old progressive champion who caucuses with the Democrats is running for a fourth six-year term representing the blue state of Vermont in the Senate.

Sanders, the runner-up for the 2016 and 2020 Democratic presidential nominations, is the chair of the Senate’s top health care committee, a senior member on both the Budget and Veterans committees, and is part of the Democrats’ leadership team in the chamber. 

have been, and will be if re-elected, in a strong position to provide the kind of help Vermonters need in these difficult times,’ Sanders touted in an on-camera announcement posted on social media.

Sanders emphasized that ‘in recent years, working together, we have made important progress in addressing some very serious challenges. But much, much more needs to be done if we are to become the state and the nation our people deserve.’

The senator, who has long worked to push the Democratic Party to the left, pushed for trillions in spending during the first two years of President Biden’s administration, as the nation rebounded from the coronavirus pandemic. But his efforts to pass legislation expanding Medicare and weakening the filibuster were unsuccessful.

But Sanders has also worked to seek compromise with more moderate members of the Democratic conference and at times with the GOP minority.

While a Biden ally, Sanders has been a vocal critic of the White House and Democrats in recent months over their push to provide aid to Israel as it battles Hamas in the war in Gaza.

Sanders acknowledged that ‘Israel had the absolute right to defend itself from this terrorist attack,’ as he pointed to the bloody October attack by Hamas that left of 1,200 Israelis dead.

‘But it did not and does not have the right to go to war against the entire Palestinian people,’ he added, as he pointed to the Israeli war in Gaza that has reportedly left over 34,000 Palestinians dead. ‘U.S. tax dollars should not be going to the extremist Netanyahu government to continue its devastating war against the Palestinian people.’

Sanders, a former Socialist mayor of Burlington, Vermont’s largest city, later served in the House of Representatives before winning election to the Senate in 2006.

He was narrowly edged by Hillary Clinton in a marathon and divisive 2016 Democratic presidential primary battle, and was the last candidate standing against Biden in the race for the 2020 nomination.

Democrats currently control the U.S. Senate with a 51-49 majority, but Republicans are looking at a favorable Senate map this year, with Democrats defending 23 of the 34 seats up for grabs. 

Three of those seats are in red states that former President Trump carried in 2020 – Ohio, Montana and West Virginia, where Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin is not running for re-election. And five more are in key general election battleground states.

Democrats are also defending an open seat in blue Maryland, where popular former two-term Republican Gov. Larry Hogan is running for the Senate.

With Sanders running for re-election, Vermont’s seat is not considered in play and he’s expected to easily win another term.

Republican Gerald Malloy, who lost the 2022 election in Vermont, is running again.

Framing his re-election effort, Sanders highlighted what’s at stake.

‘There are very difficult times for our country and in world. And, in many ways, this 2024 election is the most consequential election in our lifetimes. Will the United States continue to even function as a democracy, or will we move to an authoritarian form of government?’ the senator asked.