submitted by jwithrow.
Journal of a Wayward Philosopher
The Nation Is Not the State
August 11, 2015
Hot Springs, VA
The S&P closed out Monday at $2,104. Gold closed at $1,104 per ounce. Oil closed out just under $46 per barrel, and the 10-year Treasury rate closed at 2.24%. Bitcoin is trading around $267 per BTC today.
Dear Journal,
Last week I suggested that the growth of the nation-state in the 20th century brought forth the rise of collectivism. I speculated that we may have reached peak collectivism and thus inferred the nation-state model may be ripe for decline, however. Today I will point out the troubling macroeconomic trends once again in support of this speculation.
The democratic nation-state model has grown so massive largely because the political class has bribed people with half-baked social insurance (welfare) programs across the board. This has led to a massive accumulation of debt throughout the entire western world. Simultaneously, the demographics of many western nation-states is such that there are more aged people drawing from pensions and national social insurance programs than there are younger workers to pay for them. This dynamic has resulted in an absolutely gargantuan accrual of unfunded liabilities.
What this means is most governments in the western world are already bankrupt. Many people remain unaware of this fact because governments have kicked the can down the road by manipulating interest rates ever lower (negative in places!) and creating huge amounts of national currency out of thin air via the central bank mechanism. More and more people are slowly waking up to reality, however, and this is leading to a loss of trust in the nation-state model.
That may not be such a bad thing.
The collectivist world-view pushed by governments, academia, and the media conditions us to think only in terms of the nation-state when considering geopolitical matters. Turn on the news and you will hear statements such as “Russia did this”, “China did that”, “Iran wants this”. This is a subtle promotion of the collectivist world-view as people are led to associate the actions of a particular nation’s government with the entire population of that nation. They are promoting the idea that government authoritatively speaks and acts on behalf of all people within its jurisdiction.
This is of course an absurd notion. Just like many Americans are extremely disillusioned with the U.S. government as evidenced by approval ratings, there are plenty of people in other countries disillusioned with their government as well. The political establishment does not want this little secret to get out because it is extremely easy to unite people behind government if they are convinced of a common enemy.
Hermann Göring, a leading member of the Nazi Party and ranking member of the German military during World War I, explained this dynamic:
“But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship… the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.”
This is why the politicians and the complicit corporate media always demonize other countries – people would eventually realize they didn’t need political leaders otherwise. Granted, I suspect most of these politicians that parade around on television actually believe their own fear-mongering. The people at the highest level of the political establishment know what they are doing, however.
So why does the political class go to such lengths to promote the nation-state model? Easy: this model minimizes their competition.
Remember reading about the great wars between Athens and Sparta in Greece? How about the wars between the Italian city-states? These wars weren’t fought because two guys got in a fist-fight at the market while arguing over which city-state was better. They were fought because each government wanted to increase its power, wealth, and control. You see, that is the true nature of governments.
The city-state model kept power relatively decentralized most of the time because there were competing governments in each nation. The rise of the nation-state swept away this competition and allowed national governments to grow tremendously in size, power, and wealth. Competition between nation-states is much more destructive as a result as evidenced by the two world wars. The political class is very fond of such a powerful arrangement thus they will defend centralization by any means necessary.
The truth is, nations really have nothing to do with their dominant government. A nation is simply an association of people who share similar language, culture, traditions, customs, habits, and often ethnicity. This concept is difficult to elucidate, but easy to witness. If you are sitting in a Parisian café you can tell you are in France and not Atlanta. If you are browsing in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul then it is obvious that you are in Turkey and not in London. If you are touring a winery in Tuscany then you will clearly know that you are in Italy and not in Japan. Times Square during the Christmas season is easily differentiated from the same experience in Columbia.
The point is, nations are the result of voluntary human interaction between people. It is this voluntary interaction that develops culture and tradition.
Absent the State, nations are naturally arising constructs that add value and diversity to human civilization. While there are always bad apples, conflict is typically mild within nations sans political intervention because of the shared culture and values.
The average person is not very interested in conflict with people in other nations. The average person has thoughts, feelings, desires, fears, ambitions, hopes, dreams, convictions, and passions that have absolutely nothing to do with the national government. The average person is working to service his mortgage, invest for retirement, and maybe even pay for a vacation to the beach. The average person is interested in becoming a better athlete, musician, or salesman. The average person is focused on advancing his career, caring for his family, and cutting the grass so his wife doesn’t yell at him. The average person enjoys going out to dinner, watching sports on the television, or maybe volunteering in the community.
Though the culture and traditions may be different, this dynamic is true of the average person in every nation.
The average person could not care less about what hare-brained schemes the politicians, bureaucrats, and special interests have cooked up. This is why the politicians, in conjunction with the media, must constantly work to keep people immersed in fear, worry, and doubt. There must always be a boogieman under the bed and a foreign nation ready to attack. There must always be calls for national unity and shared sacrifice. Collectivism must be constantly promoted. Double-speak must be propagated: War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength..
Otherwise the average person might get back to what he was doing and ignore the politicians altogether!
Maybe he is starting to do just that. Maybe Peak Collectivism is approaching. We shall see.
More to come,
Joe Withrow
Wayward Philosopher
For more of Joe’s thoughts on the “Great Reset” and individual solutions to collective problems please read “The Individual is Rising: 2nd edition” which will be available later this year. Please sign up for the notifications mailing list at http://www.theindividualisrising.com/.