In 2015, the world was securely on its path toward globalism, with open borders, the decline of the United States, the rise of China, and an ever-more interdependent planet that would be transitioning seamlessly to green energy, paper straws, and electric cars. Fast-forward to 2022, and things look very different. Now, the actions of politicians around the world are pointing toward a world of national self-reliance, a return to coal, oil, and nuclear power. Are we witnessing the end of globalism?
Globalization
In the 1980s, America was proving the superiority of capitalism and free trade under the leadership of President Ronald Reagan. Milton Friedman’s 1980 TV series Free to Choose demonstrated the advantages of globalization.
He reprised his role as the free-market guru in the 2002 PBS series Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy alongside other well-known personalities such as Jeffrey Sachs, Dick Cheney, Newt Gingrich, Paul Volcker, and Stephen G. Breyer. It was a happy tale celebrating the victory of capitalism over communism.
Globalism
Then something strange happened. Seamlessly and barely noticeable, globalization – the distributed intelligence of many independent entities competing and cooperating in a mesh of global trade – morphed into globalism, which is the concentration of power in a few super-national entities such as the EU, WTO, IPCC, and a plethora of informally connected multi-national corporations. As if by magic, the communists, who lost their power and lodestar after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, swarmed global power structures and congregated in arenas such as the World Economic Forum.
Suddenly, capitalism was replaced by the global warming scare, social justice, and – in the last few years – pandemic lockdowns, emerging social credit systems modeled on China’s repressive system, tribalism, and demonization of any form of local nation-based democracy. The triumph of global capitalism was slowly morphing into what appeared to be international communism.
A New World
Few saw the 2016 election of President Donald Trump coming. He sent shockwaves through the globalist elites. Hillary Clinton’s campaign colluded with foreign intelligence agencies to promote the Russia collusion hoax. Leading up to the 2020 election, the media conspired to cover up the Hunter Biden laptop scandal and Mark Zuckerberg and other billionaires “fortified” the election by donating more than $500 million directly to government entities responsible for administering elections in battleground states. These questionable actions woke up millions of people on both sides of the political divide.
Justin Trudeau (Photo by Mateusz Wlodarczyk/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The most authoritarian lockdowns and policies in peacetime as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic compounded the shock. Globalist poster boy Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau managed to alert even progressive Canadians that something was wrong.
Then came the Russian invasion. The response may have been different had this occurred without the above events as primers. We can never know for sure, but the resolve of the European nations surprised everyone, including President Vladimir Putin. Almost overnight, politicians erased decades of steps toward globalism. Led by Germany, the Europeans vowed to dramatically increase military spending, reviving coal and nuclear power, and inflicting harsh economic sanctions against Russia despite their dependence on Russian energy.
Suddenly, climate change is put on the backburner, and the world appears to return to the logic of the cold war. If history is any guide, this may not be a blip so much as a trend that may last decades. If so, we can make some predictions.
The communists will regroup once more, changing their arguments to fit the new political milieu. The rising energy prices will be blamed on capitalism and used as proof of the need for price control and nationalization of energy. Russia will increasingly be referred to as a far-right fascist regime and used as political blackmail against people and parties in the West with a surface-level agreement.
Nevertheless, the end of globalism may also give the advocates of liberty a chance to regroup and regain the commanding heights of society from their globalist overlords. Despite the radical leftists’ undying efforts, the future is not set in stone. Freedom isn’t free, as the saying goes. In words often attributed to Thomas Jefferson: “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”
~ Read more from Caroline Adana.
