General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I Fear Globalists more than Terrorists. [View all]Waiting For Everyman
(9,385 posts)Nationalism is not an invention of the right, it's the concept all countries were based on up until recently, except maybe nomadic tribes. Just because some problems cross borders, that doesn't mean there shouldn't BE borders.
Nations are nothing more than logical units of government, just as states are, and nobody says there shouldn't be states, so what is so especially toxic about nations that they shouldn't exist? They are practical, making self-government possible. They are metaphorically like having "yards" which we can keep up and customize ourselves, rather than "open space" which is necessarily hired out and one-size-fits-all.
The more we coalesce into one globalist blob, the more we are prey to the wealthy vultures. It becomes harder for us to manage and defend ourselves, and it becomes easier for the vultures to scoop us out of one nest rather than many.
Up until rather recently, we functioned quite well as a nation, by making bilateral agreements with one other nation at a time, or at most a few, as needed. Each country should be first and foremost its own market, and then import what it doesn't have and export surpluses. That is how the American model was intended to work, and it did work. Now, as globalism spreads, it works less all the time, as the economies of the world compete for and cater mostly to, not their own populations, but the small percentage of affluent consumers in all countries. Gee, that must a coincidence, I suppose? (Not!)
Today, we very seldom even see LOCAL PRODUCE in the grocery stores, in an agricultural state. We have onions etc. (not special ones) from some other country. You know why? Because it's more convenient for the international grocery giants to order that way. Why should ordinary produce, which literally grows surrounding the store, be shipped and trucked from across the globe? And what is THAT doing for the environment? our health? our jobs? our future? And that's just one example.
We have outsmarted ourselves. People are only beginning to admit that fact. Those admitting that globalism is a failure, are not the problem. Those resistant to change are those holding onto globalism... it's a failed ideology which not only doesn't work now, it never will, just like "trickle down" economics never will. Because it's bullshit, fascist-serving bullshit.
Life is not a John Lennon song.
Btw, some liberals do not have so much of a "we're all in this together" mentality as they like to think -- they are very much attached to their niche politics -- the focus on minority rights over civil rights or human rights; and identity by interest-group communities rather than as Americans.
Also, the "invisible hand" has to do with laissez-faire capitalism, not nationalism. There is a difference. And nationalism does not mean "yay, we're the best!" It is maintaining, as much as possible, the autonomy of the nation as a political unit.