Trade vs War
The Steppes of Eurasia were noticeably NOT militarily conquered by an external power for thousands of years. They were just too easy to defend. Yet political machinations and concerted attempts at internal division were surprisingly effective where military might failed.
What if global trade and travel made us modern non-warmongers equally as strong in our own way, and it was only through the most successful campaign of treason ever that wars managed to remain ubiquitous, openly discussed, ‘acceptable’?
“If goods do not cross borders, armies will.”
What if this is the understatement of the century? What if the good parts of globalization disincentivize war with close to 100% effectiveness, and every war since WWI was orchestrated by the people who profited from them? Would that explain the overabundance of propaganda, lies and false flags, and the need to rob so much productivity from ordinary people? I’ve enjoyed this look at such questions:
I would answer that none of these speculations are correct. Life will always take at the cost of something else, and globalization or trade cannot eliminate this. I believe that the world is a much nastier place than our narratives would have us expect. There is no democracy and there never has been. Institutions can and will torture, maim and kill, and have done for centuries. The mob is far stronger than reason or kindness, and we are all one psychological warfare campaign from the mob. Pats on the back for those of us who have advanced civilization despite these realities. Thanks to those who have fought before us, many of us have had the luxury of being complacent. We will not have that forever.
I think if you do not allocate a good amount of resources, risk and potential violence to protecting your stuff, it gets taken. How much time, resources and risk have you put into protecting your ‘stuff’ (including free speech and civil liberties) from those who would use violence, fraud, force to take them? For me, that amount was shamefully low, but I’m willing to course correct.
I notice that anarchocapitalists put a lot of emphasis on the need to have private security firms which compete for each other to provide the best service (thus reducing the risk of any of them reverting to something resembling a police force). Even the most ardent nonstatists recognise that there will always be people trying to take your stuff. Humans are not perfectible animals; we are flawed creatures, as Thomas Sowell describes in his 'constrained vision'.
Thanks for that link, Shane! And what an interesting question you raise. I wrote in my book that there's an inverse relationship between the freedom of money and goods to cross borders and the freedom of people. Because, if people could follow the goods and money, what would be the point?
The US, for instance, doesn't have real trade. The US makes dollars and the rest of the world makes things that dollars can buy, as one journalist says. With the petrodollar falling and BRICS rising, that may not be true for much longer. Thought provoking piece!