- Adam Smith on slaves and emancipation Branko Milanovic, GE&M 3.0
- Blasphemy laws and persecuted Christians Hardeep Singh, Critic
- Jester on the pond Nickalus Rupert, Bat City Review
- Two cheers for Cold War-era liberals Joseph Stieb, War on the Rocks
Author: Brandon Christensen
Nightcap
- Christian warlords in Iraq and Lebanon Joseph Amar, Commonweal
- The hungry dead and the envoys of Hell Sheng Wenqiang, Sixth Tone
- Why don’t residents of Washington DC have full political rights? Eric Schliesser, D&I
- The Car Ride Mercy Mkhana Simiyu, Jalad
Americanization in the wild
In 1990, actor Michael J. Fox played one of his signature roles. As Marty McFly in “Back to the Future III” he traveled to the year 1885, right in the middle of the Wild West. There he showed up in a pink and blue shirt with red embroidery, pearl buttons and pastel yellow fringes.
[…]
The cowboy style has taken over pop culture once again, and it’s bigger, more colorful and more glittery than it has been in a long time. In keeping with the hit film of the year, “Barbie”, fans not only went to the cinema in pink, but also with cowboy hats on their heads here and there. Barbie and Ken also get new clothes after their arrival in the real world.
[…]
As is often the case, only one outshines them all: Beyoncé. She also leaves the competition behind when it comes to cowboy couture. To announce her current “Renaissance” tour, the Texan posed in the spring with a cowboy hat that has countless mirror plates like a disco ball.
This is from FAZ, a daily newspaper in Frankfurt, which is arguably the financial capital of the European Union and authoritatively the financial capital of Germany. The daily is considered to be right-of-center, an equivalent to the Wall Street Journal.
Notice how the author treats American celebrities: as if they’re already well-known and well-established. She’s not putting a qualifier like “the American actress” in her sentences.
Notice, too, how the author treats the cowboy style. No need for an introduction. The German public is well-aware of what this looks like.
No need to clarify that Texas is a state within the American federal union, either…
Against Hayek’s globalism
Ignacio, from X, put forth an objection that captures well the spirit of animosity towards worldwide federation under a Hayekian (or, dare I say, Madisonian?) constitutional order:
With Hayek’s globalism we cannot agree: national sovereignties are necessary because:
a) there are different ethnic groups;
b) although free trade does not help to erase deep cultural differences;
c) Where to go into exile if the world were a federation?
I’ve heard these same types of objections over and over again with small minor differences.
Here are some rebuttals, by no means extensive, that may be of interest to those of us who clamor for a much better world.
a) Ethnic groups and national sovereignty don’t go together. In Europe, some ethnic groups have managed to secure for themselves sovereign nation-states, but not without first squashing the rights of other ethnic groups within these territorial borders and forcing the others to become like them. In most of the world outside of Europe, including in the United States, ethnic groups have been incorporated into existing territorially-defined states to varying degrees of success. Some of the ethnic groups, such as Jews in Europe or Palestinians in Israel, have been exterminated, removed, or persecuted harshly, while others have managed to carve out spheres of influence within the existing state’s apparatus of power. These multi-ethnic nation-states are the norm throughout the world, and the world is a lot poorer, a lot more violent, and a lot less free than the United States.
b) It is true that free trade does not erase cultural differences. Free trade doesn’t lead to peace, either. Hayek (and Mises) both recognized these facts, which is why they advocated for a federalist world order to replace the multipolar world from whence they came. Free trade by itself cannot overcome cultural diversity or violence, but free trade coupled with the political, legal, and military integration of two or more polities does squelch cultural chauvinism and intergroup violence. Just ask the Americans.
c) Hayekian globalism doesn’t insist on incorporating every one and everything into its federal world order. Those who want to join, can and should. Those who don’t want to join, don’t have to. Hayekian globalism simply advocates for these policy options to be on the table, and for constitutions to have processes for entrance and exit. Why should Singapore, London, or Tokyo have to federate? Why shouldn’t Malaysia and London-less Britain or Tokyo-less Japan have the option of joining a federation?
Objections to Hayekian globalism and its federal world order are important because they are popular, but that doesn’t make them rooted in fact. The libertarian’s task in our time is to rid our own faction of these pernicious myths, and then go forth boldly and call for a globalism that would actually work.
Nightcap
- John Locke on Native Americans, and the sovereignty of God Eric Schliesser, D&I
- They and I, in Budapest Nadine Yasser, Markaz Review
- Can left-libertarianism answer our problems? Laurent Dobuzinskis, Isonomia Quarterly
- What is a republic? Paul DeHart, National Affairs
Americanization in the wild
In a complete reversal of its pre-pandemic policy, Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward wants partygoers to stay away from the area’s busiest neighborhood on Halloween night.
For thousands of people, celebrating Halloween in Shibuya, a popular shopping and entertainment district known for its vibrant youth culture, was an annual event to look forward to.
More here.
The market in attention
The strongest arguments for unregulated markets all turn on some variation of the thought that free markets are the most efficient way of satisfying our preferences and hence advancing our good as we conceive of it. There is no reason whatsoever to suppose that free markets are also good at shaping our preferences or forming our conceptions of the good. Hence, the strongest arguments for unregulated markets no longer apply to what has become the largest economic sector in the global economy today. There is no obvious reason to extend laissez faire ideals to the market in attention, and there are especially strong reasons not to extend them to the market in our children’s attention. We have, nonetheless, sleepwalked into a sweeping experiment with this extension. The results of this experiment are now becoming clear:
Read the rest, from Talbot Brewer in Hedgehog Review.
Isn’t this just a variant of “we need government to control/regulate this for the children’s sake”? As a parent I pay closer attention to these types of arguments, but someday my kiddos are going to be adults. Wouldn’t it be better to give them freedom to choose and guidance on consequences?
The homogenization of America, and the Americanization of Europe and East Asia
Richard Hanania is trying too hard:
Meh. This is not good evidence that American society is fragmenting. In fact, I’d say Hanania has got it backwards: politics is fragmenting despite the ongoing homogenization of culture.
Hanania is pushing this narrative of cultural fragmentation because it aligns with his view of “decentralized order.” Many libertarians in the United States continue to try to maintain an uneasy peace with Leftists by paying strong tribute to one of the Left’s most endearing values: multiculturalism/identity politics. Libertarians like Hanania think that by showing how markets and decentralized orders enhance multicultural societies, they are making inroads with the Left, or at least maintaining that aforementioned uneasy peace. They’re not wrong, and I’ve done this myself, but when you start fishing for evidence it’s time to rethink your priors, and this is what Hanania does by trying to celebrate cultural fragmentation using online media preferences.
Hanania and others who do this have another motive besides maintaining peace with the Left. They like to use the harmoniousness of multicultural markets to show just how dysfunctional government is. They will contrast harmonious markets with the heavy-handedness of government. “Politics,” these libertarians claim, is holding market-based social harmony back, and in a big way.
The problem with this narrative is that American society is more homogenous than ever before. This is the cold, hard truth, and it’s great news. I can travel from Waco, Texas to Chicago, Illinois and not see anything along the way that I can’t find in Waco. Compare this experience with an American traveling from, say, Provo, Utah in 1960 to Selma, Alabama. There were no “colored” drinking fountains in Provo in 1960. In fact, there probably weren’t any black folks period in Provo in 1960!
Now compare my travel experience from Waco to Chicago with that of somebody traveling from Albany, New York in 1860 to, say, Atlanta, Georgia. One of these places had slaves. Culture shock, from one part of the republic to another.
This doesn’t mean that American society is becoming more conformist, or that there is less cultural diversity, it just means that there is now a set of norms and values that almost all Americans — the vast, vast majority – tacitly agree upon. This is great news!
It’s not just the integration of black folks into mainstream American society that’s great. Immigrants are still assimilating, and after 2 generations they’re as American as apple pie. All of them. There’s not a single immigrant group that hasn’t been able to Americanize. Yes, there’s cultural diversity, especially once you get into the nitty-gritty of “local culture,” but there’s also a total homogenization that’s happened. Again, this is a good thing. This means that America is way more libertarian than you’d think.
It’s not just American culture that has homogenized, either. The people and places that have been allied with, or occupied by, America since the end of World War II have become Americanized. American culture is all-encompassing, including politics. In Europe and Israel, the Americanization is so robust that American media personalities such as Tucker Carlson can give major policy speeches in places like Budapest and small-time rappers from places like Memphis, Tennessee can perform in front of huge Tel Aviv crowds.
The NFL now plays regular season games in Germany and England. Major League Baseball clubs play regular season games in South Korea and Japan. The World Cup will be here, again, in 2026. UEFA is talking about hosting a Champion’s League final in the United States. Those are just examples of the major sports that were once viewed as regional peculiarities by allies on the other side of the ocean. Think about food. And, again, music. And books, and X, and research, and Netflix, and Disneyland. And, as Tucker’s speech in Budapest shows, politics. Local culture has persisted, but so too has the cultural homogenization of places enjoying the protection of the US military.
This is not a bad thing. It’s a great thing!
So what’s the problem? Only the US is experiencing continued economic and demographic growth. Our allies are dying off, and it’s because of their political systems. Demagogues in these countries exploit the Americanization of their societies in order to enact counterproductive policies that seek to revert liberty. You know where I’m going with this, right? Demagogues in the 13 American colonies also sought to extinguish liberty in the name of the local. To bring them to heel, the colonies federated.
We can, and must, do the same thing with our allies today. It’s time to start thinking about ways to help Europe and East Asia (and anyone else who wants to join) federate with us under the constitution.
Nightcap
- Africa: States Made Slaves, Slaves Made States (pdf) JC Sharman, International Organization
- How enslaved peoples expanded the American ideal John Willson, Modern Age
- Is the West repaganizing? Louise Perry, First Things
- A Tale of Two Chickens Onyinyechi Ndukaire, Brittle Paper
I’m back here on WordPress
So, I tried out Substack and I didn’t like it. I much prefer the old way of doing things (though I’m not averse to trying out new things!). I’ll be back here instead of Substack. Some of the Notewriters might migrate back here, too. Some of them might stick to Substack.
It’s 2023, baby, and NOL is experimenting with decentralization. Look for a ‘nightcap’ soon!
We’ve moved!
Dear readers, long time and new, NOL has decided to move. We’re over here now.
We’ve moved!
Dear readers, long time and new, NOL has decided to move. We’re over here now.
We’ve moved!
Dear readers, long time and new, NOL has decided to move. We’re over here now.
We’ve moved!
Dear readers, long time and new, NOL has decided to move. We’re over here now.
We’ve moved!
Dear readers, long time and new, NOL has decided to move. We’re over here now
Notes On Liberty 