“From this summary of what has taken place in other countries, whose situations have borne the nearest resemblance to our own, what reason can we have to confide in those reveries which would seduce us into an expectation of peace and cordiality between the members of the present confederacy, in a state of separation? Have we not already seen enough of the fallacy and extravagance of those idle theories which have amused us with promises of an exemption from the imperfections, weaknesses and evils incident to society in every shape? Is it not time to awake from the deceitful dream of a golden age, and to adopt as a practical maxim for the direction of our political conduct that we, as well as the other inhabitants of the globe, are yet remote from the happy empire of perfect wisdom and perfect virtue?”
-Alexander Hamilton, Federalist Paper No. 6,
ca. November 14, 1787
The dawn of the 21st century saw the world under the hegemony of Jeffersonian America, having spent the previous two centuries bringing much of humanity under its influence. Two World Wars, of which the Cold War was merely the continuation of the second, cemented the rise of an Empire of Liberty that will later deliver humanity into the epoch of Neoliberalism. As 1999 gave way to 2000, the expectation was that the 2000s and the rest of the 21st century would be more of the same. That the 2000s, 2010s, 2020s and beyond will perpetuate the trends of the 1990s. For any nation other than Jeffersonian America, it meant a Parliamentary Democracy presiding over a Market/Mixed Economy and Fractional-Reserve Banking System, sustained by an OECD-Type Student Economy of Millennial and Generation Z youths, and interconnected to a World Wide Web (WWW) where everyone is a stranger without an identity or a sense of purpose.
Yet the 21st century has hardly been a peaceful and stable period in US History. The first two decades alone were characterized by disastrous military conflicts, financial crises, economic dysfunctions, technological disruptions, demographic collapse, social instability, and political fragmentation. These isolated problems are contributing to a precedent in which there will come a day when Jeffersonian America can no longer sustain itself. It is not as if these problems are going to be resolved anytime soon by the Jeffersonians nor do they seem interested in addressing them. Any nation that aligned itself with Jeffersonian America, which at this point includes most of the world, got their fair share of these problems in one way or another vis-à-vis the Empire of Liberty. Any nation that refused to align itself with Jeffersonian America may subsist on their own, but because so much of the world is integrated into the Empire of Liberty, it can be difficult to survive without some level of interaction.
Jeffersonian America, at this time of this writing, is still undergoing its rapid, albeit protracted decline. The effects are just beginning to manifest themselves, except they will not reach critical mass until sometime later in the century, assuming present trends continue as they are. It will take decades before the debilitating effects undermine the stability of the Union. The American people are already sensing that something is wrong about the Union, forcing them to act in ways that are not always productive because they truly do not have any power over their Union.
The fruits of these effects on the Union are on display for any observer to witness themselves. The electoral tantrums of various ideological tendencies spun by populist fervors of fleeting moments. The senseless retreats into illusions of a very recent past without recognizing that the problems originated from that recent past. The constant back and forth squabbling over who gets to define the National Culture, supported by ongoing attempts at establishing a multitude of contradictory National Identities. The apathy, loneliness, depression, despair and anxiety over what exactly America was supposed to be and what it is capable of being. That endless uncertainty that comes with the feeling of stark helplessness and powerlessness.
The crises that plague the Union and much of the world in the early 21st century will not subside on their own, nor should anyone deceive themselves into thinking that their solutions reside in some variation of Neoliberalism. The crises of Neoliberalism are decades-old and so systemic that the only way forward is to abandon it and build something entirely new in its place. So much of today’s geopolitical climate is fixated on the next Ideology to replace Neoliberalism. Similarly, today’s political-economic discourse is centered on destruction, leaving nothing but smoldering debris in the aftermath. To demolish a very old, firmly established political, economic and social order, but never to envisage something else in its place.
It is unthinkable to envisage the current state of affairs in the Union and around the world continuing as they are in the late 21st century, alone the 22nd century. At some point in the 21st century, the current state of affairs will change into something that most people at the time of this writing cannot possibly recognize without knowing its signs first. Whatever the rest of the 21st century and even the 22nd century may hold, one thing will always be certain: Jeffersonian America will not survive the 21st century, forcing Hamiltonian America to reemerge.
The fundamental question that has yet to be ascertained is whether Hamiltonian America makes its triumphant return with the Union intact or not. Will the future demise of Jeffersonian America and the Empire of Liberty drag both the Union and the American people into the abyss? Or will the return of Hamiltonian America result in the coming of a Greater America, a “Federalist American Union (FAU)?”
This Treatise in all of its Editions was written from the position that America remains one nation because it is forged by a Union of States, hence the “United States.” The spectacle of thinking that America will someday disintegrate into a Kleinstaaterei (Little Statery) of independent nations was an illusory utopia where States are free to practice their own trivial interpretations of Jeffersonianism, independent of the other States. Even if the Union were to break up into fifty nations tomorrow, Hamiltonianism would simply change its form to make the Union whole again. Hamiltonianism may transform into a “Pan-Americanism” that would make the old ambitions of Venezuela’s Bolivarian Federalism look miniscule by comparison.
Jeffersonian America and its Empire of Liberty may be reaching its end, but the same cannot be said for conceptualizing the Work-Standard. Three other Treatises have been written to elaborate further on specific concepts from the preceding Sections. While the Reader is encouraged to read the other three Treatises to develop an intimate understanding of the Work-Standard, an overview of all three may prove valuable for those interested in exploring specific ideas and concepts:
- The Third Place expands on the socio-cultural and political-economic implications with special attention given to the national educational system. Young people, specifically those attending the secondary and tertiary educational levels, have very important roles to play within the Council Democratic process, a process that is also intertwined with their classroom and workspaces. How they conduct themselves in the nation is addressed in connection to other pivotal topics such as housing, transportation, family life, and personal self-expression and self-development.
- Work-Standard Accounting Practices focuses on the financial and accounting methods of the Work-Standard, as they had been discussed in Section Eight. But unlike in Section Eight, this Treatise provides further comprehension on how to gauge the prosperity and flourishing of any part of the nation with just Arbeit and Geld. It also provides background information on why the accounting methods of the Work-Standard have not been devised by anyone from any major Ideology in the previous century.
- The Digital Realm addresses the technological advancements that have made Digital Arbeit and Digital Geld entertainable here. The rise of digital economics has led to growing need to set the parameters of the Work-Standard in the Digital Realm. Questions of personal privacy and national sovereignty are raised in order to articulate how the concept of the National Intranet is able to coexist alongside other National Intranets, with the International Internet as their digital buffer.
Each of those three Treatises were written with the Intent of building upon the conclusions of the preceding Sections. Neither of those Treatises could have been written without this Treatise, for it was meant to serve as the definitive document on the Work-Standard.
Categories: Compendium
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