Thomas Harrington writes a true masterpiece at Brownstone. He says historians and other observers are using Rome as the comparison with our Dying Empire (as I did just yesterday**) but the true comparison and the true lesson is Spain. We’re now retracing Spain’s path with different words. Because Spain had the power to print money (through its American gold and silver mines instead of QE) it tried to conquer the world. Because Spain had control of the global culture (through the pope instead of the WHO and IMF and UN) it tried to annihilate all other cultures.
Key passage:
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And, as so often happens to established powers when engaged in wars to preserve their hegemony, they become so immersed in their own rhetoric of benevolence and superiority (the two discourses always go together in imperial projects), that they lose their ability to accurately gauge the essential nature of their enemies, or perceive the ways in which those same enemies may have overtaken them in key areas of social or technical prowess.
For example, whereas Spain, as we have seen, was exceedingly slow to develop a banking structure capable of promoting capital accumulation, and hence the development of anything approaching modern commercial and industrial development, the more Protestant-dominated areas of the continent forged ahead in these areas.
By the latter half of the sixteenth century Spain’s obtuseness in this key area was evident. It was receiving more precious metals than ever from its American colonies. But because the country had little or no ability to produce finished goods, the gold and silver left the country almost as quickly as it flowed in. And where did it go? To places like London, Amsterdam, and heavily Huguenot cities of France like Rouen where both banking and manufacture were flourishing.
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As a tech history fan, the reasons for the tech and banking superiority were clear. The rest of Europe was mastering science and tech because it LISTENED TO MUSLIMS instead of wiping them out. The rest of Europe was mastering complex finance because it LISTENED TO JEWS instead of wiping them out.
What happened next in Europe was yet another failed empire based on a religious belief. France corrupted the science and tech inherited from Islam, and turned it into EXACTLY the same driver of empire and Inquisition. The only difference was the technological improvement from burning to guillotine.
In next item I continue the timeline, informed by Harrington’s magnificent insight.
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** Irrelevant footnote: My comparison with Rome proved Harrington’s point. Rome was not the proper analogy because Rome KNEW HOW TO GET SHIT DONE. Rome’s concrete piers are still here 2000 years later, while our piers collapse in a few weeks.
Polistra's Mill 