Globalists & Nationalism

We see threats to liberal democracy coming from lots of directions. We have to create something new, a common response, because in so many places - the UK, France, Germany - ultranationalists and the far left threaten the free market and liberal democracy. Garry Kasparov

"The difference between patriotism and nationalism is that the patriot is proud of his country for what it does, and the nationalist is proud of his country no matter what it does; the first attitude creates a feeling of responsibility, but the second a feeling of blind arrogance that leads to war." ~ Sydney J. Harris

"Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first." ~ Charles de Gaulle

"Nationalism is power hunger tempered by self-deception." ~ George Orwell

"Conceit, arrogance and egotism are the essentials of patriotism... Patriotism assumes that our globe is divided into little spots, each one surrounded by an iron gate. Those who have had the fortune of being born on some particular spot consider themselves nobler, better, grander, more intelligent than those living beings inhabiting any other spot. It is, therefore, the duty of everyone living on that chosen spot to fight, kill and die in the attempt to impose his superiority upon all the others." ~ Emma Goldman

Power is always in motion, shifting and consolidating. Those that understand this universal law of human nature harness it to their advantage. Globalism is the grand vision of interconnected markets, borderless commerce, and economic interdependence. Its rival, Nationalism, is the force of sovereignty, self-preservation, and economic protectionism. The conflict between these two ideologies is not new. In today's world, where multinational corporations or military organizations such as NATO, rival nation-states for influence, the stakes have never been greater.

Globalists operate on a basic principle, domination through economic interdependence. They say international cooperation is a good thing because open borders, multinational agreements, and free trade are good for all. The reality is much more complicated. Power in globalism is not in the people, it is in those that dictate the rules, multinational business corporations, central banks, and transnational governance institutions. Any nation that employs globalism can lose its sovereignty, its companies, and finally, its ability to act for its own betterment.

Outsourcing, the hallmark of globalist economies, is a knife stuck in the back of local industry. A case in point, the "Rust Belt" region of the United States, stretching from New York across the Midwest, once a coal, steel, and manufacturing hub, now an economic decline zone and massive urban decay. Firms, perpetually searching for cheaper production, relocate factories to countries where pay is lower, and tax rules are lax. In affluent nations, blue-collar families are left in the lurch. The rust belt region, manufacturing shut down, skilled workers become redundant, large numbers of unemployed, rampant drug addiction, high rates of violent crimes, and whole towns crumble. Power moves out of the hands of the workers and into the boardrooms of transnational elites.

But the most powerful tool of globalism is not economic, but cultural. With the abolition of borders, it seeks to erase the identity of the nation, blurring values and traditions in a homogenized international setup. What is the result? The backlash. The rising nationalist movements are no coincidence, but a backlash to the loss of cultural sovereignty. People find themselves left with their leaders, resorting to those who promise to restore what is lost.

Nowhere is this struggle more evident than in both the UK and USA. Brexit was not a rejection of the European Union as much as a rejection of globalism being the predominant force over national policy. The citizens of the UK saw the EU's system of centralized government as an attack on their sovereignty.

The same sentiment was felt in the United States, with the 'America First' approach of the Trump presidency in 2019, directly arguing against free-trade agreements such as NAFTA, then renegotiating a better trade agreement for America, Trump signs the USMCA and now rejecting the agreement that his own administration and legislators renegotiated 6 years ago. Moreover, in 2017 the Trump administration left the Trans-Pacific Partnership (a free trade agreement), however, 11 Pacific rim countries continued with a new Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) to eliminate or reduce tariffs.

Having Mexico and Canada continue with the CPTPP economic partnership, this infuriated the Trump administration; Trump was personally insulted because Canada and Mexico would not follow the American nationalistic tariff lead.

The clash of these ideologies is destabilizing. Nationalist regime of the USA, impose tariffs in an attempt to protect its primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary sectors of the economy, globalist powers respond with trade sanctions. Economic battles rage, as the U.S. slap reciprocal tariffs against China and U.S. against Canada and most of EU and even India!

Even the shocking and odd suggestion from the Trump administration of annexing Canada as the 51st state furthers this geopolitical ultra-nationalist power grab agenda. From an American ultra-nationalist perspective, Canada's vast resources, extremely well educated population, and strategic Arctic position make it an extremely wealthy asset for USA. Indeed, as Trump mentioned multiple times, Canada would be called, "Canada, the Great 51st State of America"! Annexation of Canada would provide the United States unparalleled access to key industries, oil, natural gas, valuable rare Earth resources, and geopolitical power over China and Russia. Annexation of this nature would not only be geographical but the final extension of American dominance of North America. However, such a power grab would be a precedent for other powerful countries to do the same in other parts of the world.

Power is always asymmetrically distributed. Prosperity in globalism is centralized among elites and national sovereignty declines with dependence upon fragile international supply lines. When and if the supply lines deteriorate, in war, financial disaster, or pandemic, once self-sacrificial nations without a core find themselves unarmed, such nations that are independent-minded fortify their own soil instead.