The history learned at school is typically the history of nations and conquerors, so it’s no wonder that we’ve developed a somewhat skewed view of mankind’s evolving civilization. The lives of people, rather than ‘great people’ go largely unrecorded except in population counts and statistical studies.

Largely ignored or forgotten is the understanding that “nations” existed mainly in the minds of royalty and cartographers until relatively recently in the world’s history. People lived in communities whose borders were vague and dynamic, sharing a language or a look or a certain way of life that distinguished them from their distant cousins or neighbors.

Mercantilism and economic nationalism evolved to cement national borders and national “identities”. The owners of capital practiced imperialism and economic preference to build their power, charging high prices to other nations for goods and services and restricting trade through tariffs and subsidies. Among other things, this led to nearly all of the great wars of history, including both World Wars.

Gradually, over the course of the last two centuries but most notably in the second half of the 20th Century, what is known as “free trade” or “liberal economics” replaced the economic nationalism. Simply, countries became less and less important as the overall effects of tariffs and subsidies were gradually decreased. Various economic theories were formulated to prove that it made more sense to blur national boundaries; apparently, we would all be better off if we all bought and sold each others’ goods and services with no regard for origin.

This may ultimately be true; however, for those of us living in the interim, we consistently see a reduction in our standard of living as jobs and resources are relocated farther from our own communities. Manufacturing jobs have nearly vanished, so we pay for cheap goods with cheap wages…the less we have to spend, the more we depend on these ‘bargain’ goods.

Perhaps we may yet reconcile our thrift with our understanding that locally made goods and locally provided services will benefit us more.