The 20th century could be described as a conflict between capitalism and communism. Capitalism was a given since the 19th century. It was the unstated thesis of the 20th. And the (emphatically stated) antithesis was communism.
The Bolshevik Revolution. German unrest during the interwar years. The Cold War. Mao Zedong. Korea. Cuba. Vietnam.
It was 100 years of conflict and confrontation between these two opposing ideas. Both philosophies had their strengths and weaknesses. I think the ravages of capitalism have been as great as the benefits and we don't need to go into all that here.
As for communism, I like the story (maybe just a story) of how a train is sent east across the Trans-Siberian Railway carrying lumber. And somewhere in the middle it passes a westbound train carrying...lumber. The supposed moral of this story is that planning never works. "Invisible Hands" work and they are the only thing that works.
And now this titanic conflict is over...but not because either side won. Instead, we achieved a synthesis. China is a capito-communo hybrid and rapidly becoming the world's largest economy. As for true blue, unfettered, cowboy capitalism in America...this is only a comforting illusion.
In the 1960s, real entrepreneurs got an idea and literally took it to the bank to get a business loan. Coffee Shops, Hot Dog Stands, Farm Markets, Beauty Parlors, and Pharmacies. These entrepreneurs had ideas and experience and intuition and hope. Some succeeded and some did not, but they were all authentic capitalists.
But where do the coffee shops and such come from today? In the case of coffee places, they all come from Starbucks Inc. and a tiny, insignificant market slice goes to miscellaneous others. But Starbucks rules.
They are big and powerful and nationally branded and backed up by research and international logistical channels and decision-making AI systems that analyze traffic flows and demographics and employment pools and weather and God knows what else.
When the big boys decide to build a Starbucks here rather than there, it is because they have marshalled all these resources and analyzed terabytes of data. Individual Starbucks do fail now and then, but not very often. The "invisible hands" have come into view...for those who are already rich and powerful.
This is not capitalism any more than China is communism. We have synthesized. We are not likely to see mutually redundant shipments of lumber on the Trans-Siberian Railway any more simply because the world has changed a lot since Lenin. This has nothing to do with economic theory...it has everything to do with technological practice.
The new isms for this century are Nationalism and Globalism. These two ideas have had their genesis in the 20th, but they are really coming into their own right now. I would propose pre-existing Nationalism as the given thesis and Globalism as the antithesis.
We see it everywhere, but in the microcosm of America we see it in the Red/Blue Divide.
President ConDon, who is "republican", is purging his cabinet of globalists and installing nationalists. "Make America Great Again" and "America First" are nationalist slogans. Tariffs and borders and walls are the delights of nationalists. Trumpian nationalists are inherently xenophobic and racist. They hate the UN. They fear a "new world order" and a "deep state". They resign from the (international) Paris Agreement.
And in the worst manifestation of this line of thinking, they suspect a cabal of "international jewry" is attempting to de-christianize them for financial gain. (hence, Trump's solid popularity among evangelicals.)
Trump has successfully changed the definition of "conservative". They used to love Free Trade and Law Enforcement. Now they love protectionism and attack the FBI and the intelligence agencies.
Nationalism is awake in Europe...in Germany and England and France...and in Turkey and in the heart of Vladimir Putin. The president of China has recently become a strongman...dictator for life.
And the globalists? I am not sure they really have an organized "side" yet. Environmentalism is probably the most coherent expression of globalism at the moment. Issues of food distribution and women's rights also come in here.
Globalists recognize that certain problems and endeavours really do require a global approach. They are less afraid of a nanny state and more aware that nationalism flowered once in Germany...and that the name of the political party involved, Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei was shortened to just Nazi.
So...what is the synthesis? To understand that, I think we need to remove the rhetoric and the emotion. We need to replace the inflammatory words of Nationalism and Globalism with the more pragmatic words of Decentralization and Centralization.
The railroad gauge in Florida is the same as the railroad gauge in Oregon and all the other states. This fact does not elicit an emotional outrage in most people. Nobody complains about nanny states or big brother or international jewry...they just drive trains more efficiently and everyone benefits. Good God...they even use the same gauge in Canada...a foreign country! No problem.
Some things should be controlled by a central authority/system...and other things not so much. When you say it like that, it doesn't get over-heated.
And finally, my mischievous nature forces me to...well...heat things up. Because some things on the centralized/decentralized spectrum are clearly up for grabs. Consider the legality of firecrackers.
As it turns out, the smart states like New Jersey and Massachusetts make fireworks illegal...whereas "deplorable" states like Alabama and Mississippi have virtually zero restrictions.
In fact, the legal status of fireworks tracks well with red/blue political maps...as well as with maps showing "states with the highest firecracker injury rates".
Go figure.
Firecracker laws by state
1 comment:
GREAT!
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