Make America States Again
The winners of the 21st century will be the countries that dismantle centralized and unaccountable regulatory bureaucracy.
The Dutch Republic, despite their small size, rocketed to the top of global power rankings in the 1600’s by being the first to dismantle their guild system.
Trade was controlled by monarchies who coordinated regional guilds into larger monopolies creating an oligarchy around highly lucrative trades.
After a century of Spanish controlled monarchy the Dutch abandoned their King in 1588, forming the Dutch Republic, also known as the United Provinces. A little known precursor and inspiration for the United States.
Without the centralized control on standards, regional Dutch guilds began to differentiate and specialize.
If one province loosened their restrictions on textile production, allowing non guild members to participate in certain parts of the process, others would be pressured to follow suit or become uncompetitive in that trade.
Without a strong Monarch to hold it together it was a free for all. This kicked off early mass production, leading to the development of batch processing, assembly lines, rudimentary automation and advanced supply chains.
By the mid 1600’s the Dutch had become the leading producer of textiles in Europe. This was devastating to the oligarchies formed by the French, English, and Spanish monarchs.
Despite all the protestations that guilds were necessary to maintain high quality production standards and exports, the countries with strong guilds were falling behind in every way.
After trying and failing to stifle the Dutch trade with tariffs, French leaders, unwilling to give up their monopolistic control of trade, concluded that military action was necessary to curb Dutch economic power.
The English helped the French in an invasion which by all contemporary accounts should have crushed the Dutch republic.
However, the Dutch were so much more advanced technologically they were able to implement complex engineering solutions and mass produce entirely new military gear which allowed them to innovate tactically.
New spear points were designed with a broader leaf, sharper tips and a wide circular base which would devastate cavalry with stopping power while enabling the retraction of the spear. Canals were flooded and water redirected with precision to block armies. The Dutch supply chains kept them constantly well equipped.
In a brutal six year war the Dutch defeated the French, pushing them out, absent minor territorial loss.
With the Dutch holding firm, the English were forced to accelerate the dismantling of their own guild system. This made them competitive, eventually surpassing the Dutch trade empire and levels of industrialization.
The French monarchy upheld the oligarchy for another century before collapsing in a violent revolution.
Although equally or more wealthy for centuries before industrialization, neither the French or Spanish have caught up to their northern neighbors since.
The US had fewer trade restrictions than anywhere in Europe making us the powerhouse of the late 19th and 20th century.
However, the old world regime has been reaserted through increasingly centralized power in D.C. which functions indistinguishable from the previous imperial monarchies.
We must throw off the unaccountable bureaucrats who presume to be our kings, and destroy the regulatory cartels they uphold.
The winners of the 17th century were the countries that decentralized power from the monarchy, which eroded the guilds monopoly on the regulation of trades and sparked the industrial revolution.
If the US revives our founding values, decentralizes power to the states and crushes the centralized bureaucracy we will enter an unprecedented era of prosperity, security and human flourishing.
If we defeat this final incarnation of the ancient regime, the flame of liberty will shine forever.
We will be the beacon on the hill we were always meant to be, technologically unassailable and reaching towards the stars.
submitted by /u/LudwigNeverMises
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