The World is not divided between East and West

Everything else is kabuki theater.

...but most of the work of government involves regulating business, which would otherwise devolve us back to a 1900-style economy of crushing work and chronic poverty.

As I've said often, capitalism inherently concentrates wealth, and government acts to balance that, otherwise we have a dysfunctional society - a tiny slice of wealth and ease on top, and the rest in abject misery. Much of what government does is good. Problems can arise from too large a government, of course, but our problems are more those of a too small government, out of balance with the massive wealth and influence of the business sector.

When someone talks about "the west," they're not including any part of the western Hemisphere south of Texas. They're not talking about Senegal, Gambia, or Mauritania, all further west than any point of Europe. Incidentally, Catholic and Orthodox Europe are usually pared off of the term as well.

It's just a way to praise white anglo-saxon protestants for the achievement of being white anglo-saxon protestants, while casting yourself as somewhat erudite, instead of simply being a thoughtless knucklehead.

Islam is much more of a Western religion than it is eastern. It is formed from the same soil that formed Judiasm and Xtianity, one that needs a God, as opposed to Buddhism, which requires no god.