The many facets of western culture and its developed civilization are the compelling focus of RAMPARTS OF CIVILIZATION. Certainly, the defenders of the Ramparts hope to illuminate the critical people, events, and ideas that have made, and continue to make, this two thousand six hundred year story of man’s search for the zenith of individual freedom and achievement so compelling. One, however, must bow and remove one’s hat in respect when someone comes along and beautifully frames the principles that underpin our story in a perfect microcosm. Andrew Klavan of Pajamas TV, courtesy of Instapundit, has done just that in the little video essay presented below.

Klavan has distilled the entire epic of western civilization to the perceived notion that all of our society’s greatest achievements have been gleaned from the synthesis of man’s aspiration and his achievement of individual freedom in the face of the attempted suppression by the collective. I think he’s on to something, and he sells it with just the right touch of humor.