"The nation-state is the vehicle that has built up the greatest level of freedom and human prosperity." Michele Bachmann on the dangers of post-national globalism. Watch The Mark Steyn Show here: www.steynonlin...
The collectivist mindset sees all social and economic good as a fixed quantity. In their zero-sum view, no person can get rich without impoverishing someone else, when in fact in a free-market environment, wealth is not hoarded but created and the pie grows, so getting rich is the same as growing the pie, which benefits everyone. If someone else growing the pie gives you access to more pie, then that is a universal good, even if that someone ends up with much more pie. This collectivist mindset extends toward international thought as well. So, when Trump says make America great again, the collectivists world over take that to mean that America can improve its greatness only by diminishing theirs. Its an anti-reality mindset.
The irony is that "liberalism" and "nationalism" used to be practically synonyms from the late 18th century to the very early 20th century. Conservatives tended to be either imperialists, regionalists or localists. Someone like Metternich who guided a multi-national realm, the Hapsburg Empire, was regarded as an intransigent and oppressive reactionary by the liberals of his time. Perhaps the real difference is that the left are usually centralizers who gradually expand the size of their preferred political unit, dislike federations and confederations that provide political & economic diversity, and also prefer governance by "experts".
I recommend E.F. Schumacher’s, ‘Small is Beautiful’. In this respect, the construct (empire) of the US is also too big. Ironically, a Confederation of smaller-scale states working democratically in close cooperation - as opposed to large Unions - is what most countries / regions need. Supranational-/regional = Centralisation = high risk of criminal collusion, low efficiency/effectiveness = high risk of abuse / manipulation / drives to totalitarianism = global dystopia. The US, also needs to reconstruct itself. The UK doesn’t necessarily. It is already tiny and has no longer an Empire. Look at all the damage / death / suffering an most dubious oligarch-led Washington is leading Americans and other people to.
