Think Local, Marry Local, Buy Local: The Quiet Path to Halting Civilisational Decline, By Peter West
Civilisations don't collapse overnight from grand cataclysms alone; they erode slowly when people stop investing in the proximate ties that sustain them. In the West today — particularly in places like the U.S., Europe andAustralia, we see the symptoms: plummeting birth rates, skyrocketing loneliness, fractured families, economic hollowing of heartland towns, and a pervasive sense of rootlessness. Globalism promised borderless prosperity and cultural enrichment, but it often delivered the opposite: elite mobility that drains local talent, supply chains that undercut community businesses, and a cultural worldview that devalues place, family, and tradition in favour of abstract "progress."
The antidote is radical localism, and decentralisation, not isolationism, but a conscious reorientation toward what's near, known, and enduring.
Marry local. Marriage isn't just personal fulfillment; it's the foundational institution for societal health. Stable, two-parent families (ideally formed among people from similar communities, values, and backgrounds) produce higher well-being for children, stronger social trust, and lower rates of dysfunction. When people "marry out" in the cosmopolitan sense — prioritising career hubs, status matches, or ideological alignment over geographic and cultural proximity — they contribute to the sorting that Murray (link below) describes: elites cluster in isolated bubbles, while everyone else faces diluted communal bonds. Marrying someone from your town, region, or shared local world reinforces kinship networks, keeps extended families close, and grounds the next generation in place. It counters the fertility crash and rebuilds the demographic base that civilisations need to survive.
Buy local. Every dollar spent at a chain mega-store or online giant extracts wealth from your community and funnels it to distant shareholders. Choosing local farmers, tradespeople, shops, and services recirculates money within the ecosystem that sustains your neighbours. It supports jobs that can't be offshored, preserves unique regional character (think Melbourne's markets vs. identical malls everywhere), and fosters face-to-face relationships that build trust. In an era of fragile global supply chains, local buying also enhances resilience — food security, skill retention, and economic sovereignty. It's not about rejecting all imports; it's about tipping the balance toward what keeps your place alive.
Think local. This is the mindset shift. Prioritise local news, local politics, local history, local festivals, local problems. Resist the pull of national or global outrage cycles that distract from what's fixable nearby. Engage in community organisations, churches, sports clubs, or volunteer groups where people know each other by name. Advocate for policies that empower localities — school choice tied to community values, zoning that protects small businesses, incentives for family formation in declining areas. When enough people think local, the aggregated effect is profound: stronger civic institutions, reduced alienation, and a renewed sense of shared fate.
None of this requires top-down revolution. It's bottom-up, individual, and scalable. One marriage rooted in place, one purchase at the corner store, one evening spent at a town meeting — these compound. They rebuild the intermediate institutions (families, neighbourhoods, churches, small enterprises) that mediate between the individual and the state, shielding against both bureaucratic overreach and market homogenisation.
Critics will call this backward or xenophobic. But true progress isn't measured in GDP abstractions or Instagram cosmopolitanism — it's in thriving families, vibrant towns, and generations that inherit something worth passing on. Civilisational decline reverses not through grand plans from distant capitals, but through millions choosing loyalty to the people and places right in front of them.
Start small. Marry someone who shares your postcode or at least your postcode's values. Buy from the bloke down the road. Think about your street before the headlines. In doing so, you're not just surviving decline — you're actively reversing it, one local act at a time. The empire of rootless globalism crumbles when enough people decide their home is worth fighting for. Let's fight for it!
