by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
I spent the first part of my life living under oppression. I know what it means to be silenced, to have your freedom stolen, to watch a civilization reject the very values that make human flourishing possible.
I also know what it means to be free. And I know that freedom is not inevitable — it must be defended, understood, and taught anew to every generation.
The West is at risk of losing that fight. And too many people who should be leading the defense have no idea how to do so.
That’s why we’re launching Restoring the West.
The Crisis We Face
The civilization that gave the world individual liberty, the rule of law, scientific inquiry, and human dignity is under siege — not primarily from external enemies, but from internal collapse.
Many of our institutions have been captured. Too many of our universities teach students to despise their own inheritance of broad thought and discourse. Our media amplifies every grievance to leftist ideology, while ignoring threats from intolerant ideologies and forces. Our leaders lack the moral vocabulary and fortitude to defend what we’ve built.
Meanwhile, illiberal ideologies — from political Islamism to postmodern identity politics — advance unchecked, demanding submission to group identity over individual conscience, censorship over free speech, and tribal loyalty over universal human rights.
Classical liberals and conservatives? Too often, we’re losing. We win elections but lose the culture. We defend policies but surrender the principles. We react to provocations but fail to plant ideas that endure. We even wage wars to liberate oppressed people in other nations, yet we fail to explain—both to outsiders and to our own citizens—the moral absolutes that demand we use our power against evil, such as the death cult that served as the operating system of Iran’s Islamist regime.
The West will not be restored by winning news cycles. It will be restored by winning the argument for why the West is worth preserving.