When Language Dies, Nations Follow Soon After

Edmund Burke’s England was indeed lovely, and his wisdom about our capacity for love of country seems cruelly prophetic today. When the Anglo-Irish statesman penned Reflections on the Revolution in France, he understood that a nation’s character—its “distinct system of manners” —must undergird any lasting affection for the homeland. Yet here we stand, citizens of a republic whose vast beauty cannot disguise its withered soul.

The modern American condition is most clearly revealed in our degraded...