Professor Jiang argues that the Western world—exemplified by Canada—is in irreversible decline, not because of immigrants, politicians, or foreign enemies, but because the baby boomer generation has captured all political, economic, and cultural power and refuses to relinquish it, even as their selfishness, longevity, and attachment to empire destroy the social fabric and sacrifice younger generations.
Canada as a Case Study in Western Decline
Canada is experiencing severe social and economic deterioration: skyrocketing housing prices, inflation, stagnant wages, rising crime, homelessness, and drug addiction—particularly in cities like Toronto where cost of living has become unmanageable for most.
The immediate cause is mass immigration over the past five years, which has flooded labor markets with cheap workers, driven up property values, and strained public services.
Jiang, himself an immigrant who came to Canada in 1983 and achieved the “Canadian dream” through a Yale scholarship, is sympathetic to immigrants but argues the sheer volume is eroding Canada’s social capital, trust, cohesion, and fragile national identity.
With 25% of Canadians now foreign-born, Jiang predicts Canada will not survive as an independent nation and will be absorbed by the United States within 20–30 years.
Why the West Chose Immigration Over Other Solutions
Jiang identifies three possible solutions to sustain economic growth: (1) exploit Canada’s vast natural resources (especially fresh water), (2) unleash entrepreneurship by reducing regulation, or (3) increase immigration.
Canada chose immigration because the other two options are incompatible with the three “religions” that define Canadian identity:
Multiculturalism: discourages a strong national identity or cultural cohesion; diversity is celebrated superficially (ethnic food) but politically active immigrant groups (like Indians) are resented.
Bureaucraticism: Canadians worship authority, experts, and rules; they are obedient, polite, and deeply averse to individual ambition or initiative.
These three values make Canadians excellent at following rules, being polite, and being mediocre—but incapable of the bold action needed to reform the economy through resource development or entrepreneurship.
Mass immigration is therefore the only politically viable option, driven largely by baby boomers who want their pensions paid, free healthcare maintained, and property values inflated.
The Baby Boomer Problem
Jiang argues baby boomers are uniquely destructive for three reasons:
They are the most selfish generation in history: raised in unprecedented prosperity, they developed an ethos of endless achievement, accumulation, and personal worth measured by wealth and longevity.
They refuse to die: advances in medicine, combined with unlimited wealth and generous government pensions and healthcare, allow even severely ill baby boomers (like Jiang’s own father, bedridden with Parkinson’s and paralysis, or a 90-year-old friend with Alzheimer’s in a semi-coma) to be kept alive indefinitely—at enormous public cost.
They are wedded to empire: they grew up during the Pax Americana and would rather burn down the world—sacrificing their children and grandchildren—than see American hegemony decline in their lifetimes.
Baby boomers control all political power and wealth in Canada (roughly a quarter of the population) and dictate policy to serve their interests.
Empire as Self-Destructive Madness
Jiang uses Euripides’ The Bacchae (400 BCE) as a metaphor for empire: in the play, the mother Agave, in a drugged frenzy, tears her own son Pentheus limb from limb and parades his head through the city, believing it to be a lion’s head, boasting of her bravery and virtue.
Empire is a system where the old sacrifice the young for their own glory and self-image.
Baby boomers, clinging to the idea of American indispensability, support reckless foreign policy (potentially fighting Russia, Iran, and China simultaneously) not out of strategy but out of arrogance and refusal to accept decline.
Rat Utopia and Elite Overproduction
Jiang invokes John B. Calhoun’s “rat utopia” experiments of the 1960s–70s: when rats were given unlimited food, water, and security with no predators, their social hierarchies collapsed, leading to violence, cannibalism, and extinction—even though all material needs were met.
The problem was status: status is zero-sum, and in an enclosed system where subordinate rats could not escape, competition for status became lethal.
Peter Turchin’s concept of elite overproduction explains societal collapse: too many people compete for too few positions of power, leading to destructive internal conflict.
The West is a rat utopia: material abundance coexists with a gerontocracy of baby boomers who will not yield status or power, even when their brains are failing (citing elderly politicians in Washington).
Young people refuse to have children not just because of economic pessimism but because the old refuse to make way.
The Uncomfortable Truth
No one can fix this because the baby boomers are not a foreign enemy or a conspiracy—they are our parents, the people we love and honor.
It is psychologically impossible to tell a bedridden father that his life no longer has meaning and that he should step aside for the young.
Scapegoating immigrants, Jews, Trump, Trudeau, or the deep state is a way of avoiding the real culprit: the baby boomers, and more broadly, the selfishness, laziness, and corruption of Western societies themselves.
Jiang’s purpose is not to offer solutions but to tell the truth—especially to the next generation—so they understand what actually destroyed the West.
