Calling It Treason 5

In this series, we've explored the decades-long dream of our ruling elites of forcing us into a one-world or supranational government, sometimes called the "new world order."  From a patriotic point of view, their efforts to reduce national sovereignty in favor of a centralized, one-word government are the very definition of treason.  As President Trump put it in his inaugural address:

The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country. Their victories have not been your victories; their triumphs have not been your triumphs; and while they celebrated in our nation's capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land.

Since most people don't particularly appreciate being told how to live their lives in detail while their own wishes are totally ignored, "persuading" everyone to give up national sovereignty and their cultural and religious habits requires that the government take control of pretty much all aspects of individual lives.  Unfortunately for the "one world" dream, experience in the Soviet Union, Cuba, and in China under Communism has shown that the only way to persuade millions and millions of people to go along with a government program which eliminates individual, religious, and cultural differences is to kill anyone who resists.  Those of the elite who believe that the earth is seriously overpopulated regard this as a plus, not a minus, but even for them that's a pretty hard sell.

Economic factors also make it harder for one-worlders to achieve their goals.  As controlling elitists take over more and more areas of society, more and more people find that their economic fortunes take a turn for the worse.  This is because as the elites limit economic freedom of action, the productive market forces which have historically led to better and better lives for everyone don't work as well as once they did.

Although progressives talk endlessly about helping people or taking care of them, we're continually reminded of the axiom, "He who robs Peter to pay Paul can count on the support of Paul."  Part of the economic thrust of Mr. Trump's victory was workers getting tired of their wages being spent to benefit people who don't work or who don't belong in this country at all.  Part of the reason leftists rioted at Mr. Trump's rallies and at his inauguration was that he'd promised to put America back to work and they preferred not having to work.

What's worse, as globalists merge individual national economies into a one-world banking, manufacturing, and trading system, middle-class workers in Europe and America find themselves competing with workers just off the paddy fields of Bangladesh, Vietnam, and China who'll do the work for far less.  This increases profits for the stores that sell the clothes, but except for extremely expensive clothes which are custom-made for the very rich, essentially all garment manufacturing has moved away from Europe and America.  The now-unemployed workers who feel they've been left behind by uncaring elites are expressing their frustrations when they vote.

These longstanding causes of the Brexit and Trump votes are discussed in an article "Global Trumpism" which asserts that the economic forces which let to so much distress for ordinary people and, now, finally, for our ruling elites have been 30 years in the making.  As befits the elitist publication Foreign Affairs, the writer seems incapable of looking beyond his own lifetime and was unaware that David Rockefeller's family had been fighting the forces of nationalism and promoting diversity, tolerance, and a one-world government for "more than a century."

The collectivist impulses against which Trump and Brexit voters rebelled have been building ever since President Wilson got the government heavily involved in controlling the economy during World War I, but are rooted in the age-old question of "what should government do for people and what should they do for themselves?"  The elites and their one-world allies wanted to expand government, so they tried to persuade people to let government do more for them.

“We gradually moved from an era in which people did not want to use government for anything to today when people use government for almost everything.”

    Robert Samuelson, “Clinton’s Nemesis,” Newsweek, Feb. 1, 1993 p. 51

Unfortunately for the elites, the more government tries to do, the more opportunities arise for corruption.  This is the Achilles Heel of progressivism.  All laws and regulations offer great profits for well-connected people who can help others get around the laws or adjust the fine print to their benefit.  The more corruption voters see, the unhappier they get.

"Global Trumpism" argued that the same forces that propelled Mr. Trump to victory are operating throughout the Western world.  In the second article in this series, we discussed a number of current European politicians who are making the same challenges to the established order that Mr. Trump and the British "Leave" faction used so successfully.

The presence of so many would-be leaders making the same arguments against current leaders suggests that the globalists' problems spring from a common source: the economic and cultural forces that have enraged so many voters the world around.

Condensed Economic History

After World War II, leaders of the Western democracies and of the new democracy in Japan believed that unemployment was an "existential threat to capitalism" which had to be avoided at all costs.  Central banks tried to manage unemployment without worrying about much else.

The problem with focusing on unemployment alone for 30 years is that it became essentially costless for workers to switch jobs.  This let to "cost push" inflation as workers switched jobs for a few cents more per hour.  In turn, the 1970's became a "debtors' paradise" as inflation ate away the cost of servicing loans.  Labor's share of national income rose to an all-time high while profits and return on capital fell due to constant inflation.

Eventually, inflation became high enough that central banks switched from worrying about unemployment to trying to control inflation.  Over the next 30 years, return on capital rose to an all-time high and labor's share of income dropped as workers found it much more difficult to switch to higher-paying jobs than their fathers had.  As with focusing only on unemployment, focusing only on inflation had undesirable side effects of its own:

Consider that since the 2008 crisis the world’s major central banks have dumped at least $12 trillion dollars into the global economy and there is barely any inflation anywhere. Almost a quarter of all European bonds now have negative yields. Unsurprisingly, interest rates are on the floor, and if it were not for the massive purchasing of assets in the Eurozone by the European Central Bank, deflation would be systemic. In sum, we may have created a world in which deflation, not inflation, is the new normal, and that has serious political consequences, which brings us back to Trump.

Cheap credit meant that most households took on too much debt, while controls on inflation mean that wages cannot rise fast enough to pay the debt.  Deflation makes paying debts harder by decreasing incomes.  Debtors can't pay and won't pay, but still vote.

Our global elites are fighting on two fronts, cultural and economic.  "Deplorable" voters are distressed that the elites are trying to erase national boundaries by mixing people across cultural lines.  The more our elites push toward a one-world economy, the lower wages go in first world countries.  The more the elites take control to try to force people to live as they prefer, the worse the economy does, which makes financial distress worse.  The more immigrants flood in, the more people feel that their longstanding culture and customs are under attack.  Working immigrants seem eventually to be absorbed into the culture, but immigrants who live in isolated welfare communities not only do not integrate, they stir resentment by sponging off of hard-working taxpayers and riot whenever they feel bored or that their benefits are inadequate.

President Trump Strikes Back

His inaugural address made it clear that President Trump is no one-worlder:

We, the citizens of America, are now joined in a great national effort to rebuild our country and restore its promise for all of our people. ...

We assembled here today are issuing a new decree to be heard in every city, in every foreign capital, and in every hall of power. From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From this day forward, it's going to be only America first, America first. ...

At the bedrock of our politics will be a total allegiance to the United States of America, and through our loyalty to our country, we will rediscover our loyalty to each other. When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice.  [emphasis added]

There was none of the elites' "citizen of the world" sentiment nor any of Mr. Obama's "blame America" rhetoric.  Mr. Trump spoke for, and to, American citizens.  He made it clear that he intends to make America great again, just as he promised.

To Trump supporters, "our people" means American citizens, not illegal immigrants, but despite the lying slanders of the left, Trumpism has no desire to divide people by color as long as they are loyal American citizens.

The contrast between the America-First view and the one-world view is so stark that it's no surprise that Mr. Trump's opponents rioted in the streets of Washington after he took the oath of office.  Although he said nothing about cutting entitlements, he did say, "We will get our people off of welfare and back to work"  It's possible that the rioters fear for their welfare checks.

They might have done better to actually listen to what President Trump had to say:

We do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone, but rather to let it shine as an example for everyone to follow.

He's right about the futility of nation-building as long as we're too limp-wristed to follow the Roman's well-tested techniques.  Instead of blaming world poverty on American wealth, Mr. Trump observes that the American principle of individuals having the right to take responsibility for themselves and keep what they earn has led to great wealth, even in China, that supposed paradise of Communist-worker equality.

The Chinese economic miracle through setting the market free is unmistakable:

Capitalism's numbers speak for themselves!

As we've pointed out, this simple fact of life is known and recognized to the point that our ruling elites no longer even attempt to openly say that they can run the economy better than the market can; instead they say that the market results are "unfair."  They have to correct "market failure" by taking from the successful and giving to those who prefer not to work.  Mr. Trump will have none of this idea of enforcing mass poverty in the name of equality.

What's worse for globalists, Mr. Trump spoke openly of patriotism and of America being united behind pursuing American interests first.  This is the opposite of one-world government.

As the more perceptive on the left realized with sinking hearts, his speech could be regarded as a declaration of war on globalism and on the elites whom it sustains.  Any whiff of patriotism or nationalism is anathema to one-worlders, but as Theresa May, the post-Brexit Prime Minister of England, put it,

If you believe you’re a citizen of the world, you’re a citizen of nowhere. You don’t understand what the very word ‘citizenship’ means.  [emphasis added]

The globalists' attempts to integrate all the world's economies via globalism reduced global poverty but impoverished middle class voters all across Europe and America, and their attempts to swamp communities which strongly-held cultural values with ill-educated immigrants who won't assimilate have added to voters' righteous fury at their establishments.  As Theresa May negotiates a "hard Brexit" so that British can determine who is permitted to enter their country and as the patriotic Mr. Trump makes America great again, Angela Merkel's "liberal world order" is coming under great strain.

We live in interesting times, but perhaps, just perhaps, America has been gifted with the right man for the hour.