Post Nationalism Versus Nationalism!

By Matthew Clark

The 2020's are a time of transition, socially (evolving social media), geopolitically (G7 vis-a-vis BRICS) and politically. Perhaps the greatest political struggle in the western world, and it's satellites, is between Post Nationalists on one side against Nationalists on the other. Post Nationalists view national government in much the same manner which the average citizen looks upon municipal government. Municipal governments perform important day to day functions. One can also cheer for the sports teams which represent their communities. Nevertheless the idea of an overarching loyalty to these nations, and a special affinity for it's citizens, is nonsensical in the eyes of post nationalists, just as a premier loyalty to one's municipality is laughable in the opinion of most western nation(s) inhabitants.

Post national political leaders, possessing no deepfelt loyalty to the country, are therefore willing to sacrifice their voting base with political and economic policies which favour international hierarchy's. Post national leaders accept unfair trade practices such as problematic safety checks on manufactured products, intellectual property theft, and unbalanced tariffs (i.e. accepting huge Chinese tariffs on imports while not applying tariffs to Chinese exports). This is allowed so that business leaders who have offshored their manufacturing sectors can continue to enjoy lucrative profits and thus keep the status quo amongst the business hierarchy.

Post Nationalists favour a ambiguous legal system which is highly politicized. A prime example of this situation is Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms which do not protect the citizens liberty, yet instead allow government to tread on peoples individual freedom (such as what occurred during the Covid lockdown era). This legal system is extremely hypocritical. Russian President Putin is labelled a war criminal for directing his nation to war (on Russia's border) in Ukraine. Bill Clinton going to war with Serbia, George Bush going to war in Iraq, Barrack O Bama going to war in Libya, Donald Trump making war in Iran, Joe Biden going to war in Syria, all lands far away from America, are somehow not war crimes!

Because they have no deep seated loyalty to the nation Post National political leaders have no loyalty to their fellow citizens. They therefore have no qualms against employing policies such as mass immigration and/or allowing their nation(s) to become balkanized into ethnic and racial enclaves. This has resulted in a lack of political coherence in nations ruled by Post Nationalists!

Justin Trudeau of Canada was/is an extreme Post Nationalist. He bragged about being one. While ruling Canada he impoverished the nation's economy to such an extent that Canada ranks last among developed countries in every major economic category, according to the OECD (Organization of Economic Co-Operation and Development). His social policies, such as mass immigration, have so torn the nations inhabitants that secession is a major force in many parts of the country's political culture.

Finally Post Nationalists are transitioning the nations under their political rule from democracy, with individual liberty, to authoritarianism. Prime examples of this are the governments of France and the United Kingdom who now jail their citizens for political opinions expressed online. Canadian police arresting a Christian pop singer for the lyrics he sang is another characteristic of Post Nationalist political governance!

Nationalist political leaders believe in strong borders, limited immigration, strong trade policies, while being extremely cautious regarding membership within international organizations. Nationalist political lawmakers do not want their governments straitjacketed through international political/economic agreements. Within Nationalist governments international relations are conducted in bi-lateral contracts rather than multi-lateral agreements. Examples of National political leaders are Victor Orban in Hungary, President Putin in Russia, Marine Le Pen in France, as well as Nigel Farage in the United Kingdom. A media nationalist figure is Scotland's Niel Oliver (he is a U.K. nationalist, not a Scotish Nationalist).

At the present time political Post Nationalism is being intensely challenged in the western world, while it is almost unknown in the non western world. Post Nationalism biggest drawback is that it fails to work in either the political, or economic sphere. It remains to be seen if post nationalism as a political force will be replaced. It also remains to be seen if nationalists can perform at a higher political and economic level than Post Nationalist political leaders. Nevertheless given the dysfunction amongst the dystopian western world's nations, it is difficult to imagine nationalist political leaders doing worse than their Post National counterparts have done.