I find the roots of liberty and individualism to be borne from an incredible accident, from the failure of institutions of the West. This runs radically contrary to the narrative portrayed by many conservatives and the alt-right.
Liberty and individualism are diseases (grant me some metaphorical latitude). It constantly invades the host. When the immune system is strong, it easily kills the disease and the host can operate without sickness. However, the host is vulnerable when the immune system is weak. In this environment, disease can take over and sicken the host.
The West only has a history of liberty and individualism because the immune system (monolithic centralized authority) was weak for large periods of time (Protestant reformation, renaissance, industrial revolution, etc).
If this analogy is a relatively accurate representation of reality, which I believe it is, than individualism and liberty are a result of decentralism. Liberty and individualism are emergent forces that flourish when institutions are too weak to stop them. Writers and philosophers often go to the front of this parade and act like they were leading it.
Western culture is merely created from the failure of centralized Western institutions. We surely shouldn’t be looking to centralized institutions to protect “western values” … that would be akin to asking for a strong immune system to protect disease. This is why constitutions fail and other rights based theories of government are a waste of time. You have to kill the power of centralized institutions and let degeneracy take over.
