Those values are hardly unique to me, nor are they isolated in any one chapter of the human story, or in any one particular culture. 

The only new wrinkle in all this is the general unsustainability  of our entire civilization. All the political ideologies of the era of human ascendency--including our vision of democracy--depend upon a livable planet and climate.

But we can no longer depend upon the planet and climate being livable. Human action has changed all that. Brooks doesn't get this.