Statism is a general term that applies to some degree to just about every type of socio-economic structure you can think of. That’s because in all of them, from capitalism to fascism to communism, there is some level of state control. Obviously more in some than in others. Certainly, capitalism allows for a lot more individual freedom than the other two isms mentioned and pretty much any other that has been tried before. Still, there is some level of control that is given up by sovereign individuals. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say they are individuals who should be sovereign. 

What is interesting is that all of these systems at least begin by people choosing to give up some control to a centralized government. Eventually, the government is given enough control that it begins to take whatever more control it wants regardless of what the people have actually chosen. That’s when you get various forms of despotism, from those we are most familiar with like fascism and communism to oligarchies like what the capitalism of the West is fast becoming if it isn’t already there. 

It naturally has to be recognized that anarchy (not in the chaos in the streets sense, but in the complete lack of government sense) isn’t really feasible. People will organize themselves into groups. We’re hardwired to do so. And unfortunately, that means we are going to need to be protected from other groups at some point. You can be as peaceful as you want in group A but group B down the other side of the valley may just decide your grass is greener. That means there will be some kind of provision for the military and an apparatus for trade with different groups. Peaceful, free, and fair trade, coupled with the backing of military have probably prevented more wars than we will ever know. If there is no need to get the stuff needed by force with fair and free trade and if trying to do so would be met with an equal or greater force, then peace is maintained. Regardless, this basic society doesn’t actually require much in the way of a federal, centralized government. In fact, the necessary government would be pretty small. 

That is exactly how the United States was originally set up. The Federal Government was meant to deal with foreign nations, preferably through trade but also through war if we were to be attacked. These minimal activities didn’t require much in the way of taxes to support them either. Yet, we have clearly gotten very far afield from those golden days. 

Now, it looks like we are moving into something different. Digital technology is empowering and returning power back to individuals in ways that haven’t been possible before. It has opened up communication and resource sharing beyond borders. The TARTLE team is just one example we happen to be familiar with. We have team members from New Mexico to the Philippines. Massive corporations shift their own resources and finances around with a few keystrokes. Individuals can start their own businesses, earn, sell, and make purchases with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The world is becoming decentralized in a way that actually makes the familiar nation-state look like a dinosaur. 

Like the dinosaurs, the nation-state is slow to react to changes while individuals can be much more flexible. That’s why states and major businesses are trying to control technology and data, both the development and distribution of it. In a sense, both business and government (which Chesterton referred to as Hudge and Gudge, two entities that inevitably merge) rely on people to be their technology creation labor force and then use that technology to increase their level of control. 

Next time, we’ll get deeper into sovereignism and the question of what energy is.

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