By Casey Chalk, The Federalist - How Leftists Accelerate Civilizational Collapse... In "Suicide of the West", Burnham censures those of the West “who hate their own civilization, readily excuse or even praise blows struck against it, and themselves lend a willing hand, frequently enough, to pulling it down.” The reasons leftists do this originate in their beliefs about human nature and society. They believe man’s nature is not fixed but changing, “with an unlimited or at any rate indefinitely large potential for positive (good, favorable, progressive) development.”