Economic nationalism, which is favored by guys like Tucker Carlson and Pat Buchanan, is just another term for mercantilism. It’s the system that societies in an early phase of industrial development tend to use in order to protect domestic industries. It’s more or less the system the US used in its early history, which comes through pretty clearly in the writings of figures like Alexander Hamilton and Henry Clay. It’s the same model that was used by the “Asian Tigers” (like Japan, Singapore, and South Korea) in the postwar period, and by contemporary China as well. Once a mercantile republic expands into an empire, it usually abandons mercantilism in favor of “free trade” (a euphemism for the domination of international markets through a hegemonic trade position). Capitalist regimes typically do not embrace “free trade” until they have consolidated an imperialist sphere of influence for themselves. It’s something of an inversion of the way small to medium size capitalists tend to favor “free markets” until they grow to a certain size, at which point they embrace state-capitalism now that they have access to the state.

By Darrell Dow

Chronicles

The current moment poses a range of social, political, and economic threats. As the institutions of globalism become exhausted, the time is ripe to marry immigration restriction, economic nationalism, and populism into a potent America First program.

Globalism is the ideological superstructure and linchpin of ruling class power. In practical terms, it depends upon the free movement of people, goods, and ideas. It seeks the diminution and ultimate abolition of borders and boundaries, and of national sovereignty itself.

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