The United States was born through a War of Independence, and for most of its later history it remained remarkably free from unwanted outside influences.

This was made possible by the peculiar geographical situation of the U.S. Soon after its inception it became by far the largest, wealthiest and most powerful nation on the North American continent, a position which, together with wide oceans to east and west, fully protected it from foreign invasion and other types of interference.

That “splendid isolation” was further enhanced by subsequent development. Gifted with an immense and rich territory, America had little need of an overseas empire, with the attending international rivalries and entanglements. Although it did at times acquire foreign possessions, it saw no need to keep them against the will of their native populations. Its few “colonies”, such as the Philippines and Cuba, were easily given up. During the 20^th century American industrial and military power kept potential enemies at bay, successfully resisting even the awesome might of the USSR.

Thus, whereas European nations had to struggle for centuries to defend and maintain their sovereignty against the ambitions and designs of their neighbors, Americans have always taken their national independence for granted.

For the first time in our history this implicit assumption is being put in question. America’s independence has begun to be undermined by the phenomenon generally called globalization. This trend is drawing the nation into a web of exchanges, relationships, commitments and dependencies that gradually but inexorably reduce its freedom of action with respect to the rest of the world. Globalization occurs primarily on three levels.

• On the financial level we are being tied into a single global market for currencies, equities and debt, which reduces our government’s control over the value of the dollar, the rate of inflation and the disposition of government borrowing.
• On the commercial-industrial level, globalization transfers industrial activity from U.S. territory to countries which practice mercantilism, an economic policy aimed at accumulating wealth within a country’s own borders at the expense of their trade partners.
• On the political level the United States is becoming subject to a growing number of regulations, obligations and commitments administered by non-representative international bodies. These strictures are generally established at the government level without prior consultation of the governed, thus creating an inherent conflict with the principles of representative government.

Because it proceeds by small and barely visible steps but affects every aspect of the citizens’ life, globalization is the ultimate “foreign entanglement” the Founding Fathers warned the nation against. It affects living standards, reduces employment, makes the country vulnerable to embargoes and financial crashes, encourages government indebtedness, and subjects the population to conditions and obligations they are barely aware of.

This creeping dependence on unknown foreign powers and influences is generally presented by its supporters as being both inevitable and beneficial. Accepting any condition as “inevitable” is of course totally opposed to the principles enunciated in the Declaration of Independence. As to the “benefits”, there is good reason to put them in question. For the United States at least, the recent period of globalization has been characterized by stagnating income, growing government deficits,  worsening wealth disparity and most recently by a deep, and as yet far from ended, economic downturn.

The above is not intended as a call to renewed isolationism, which is a policy both simplistic and impractical. But it is a serious appeal for us to examine the direction in which we are proceeding as a nation. We have always been independent and have taken great pride in it. As this independence and our national sovereignty are now being eroded, we need to ask ourselves some basic questions, and develop satisfactory answers.

Do we want to replace our tradition of national independence with a set of co-dependent global relationships?

If we are to surrender our national sovereignty, to which nation, power or authority do we want to be subject?

If we prefer to buy our essential supplies rather than produce them, where will we find, in the long term, the necessary money?

And if we find it beneficial to export our industries, how will our own population remain gainfully employed?

These are no idle queries, nor are they meant for our government only. The answers will affect us all, and for that reason we need to carefully consider our choices. Will we have independence, or servitude?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010 at 5:59 pm and is filed under The People's Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.