Kesher Talk

The tragedy of the commons and the challenge of preserving local culture. Back in February (I told you I was going through old bookmarks), ParaPundit wrote an excellent essay, with many embedded links, on "Terrorism and the Assumptions of Classical Liberalism," to which equally excellent comments have accrued. His thesis: "The problem for classical liberalism today is that technological advances are making it easier to create conditions in Western societies that are outside the range of allowable conditions needed for a liberal society to survive." I think this can happen in the absence of technological advance, and has done so in the past, but his point is well-taken that increasing ease of communication brings what increased contact between what he calls "liberal" and "illiberal" civilizations, and increasing ease of movement across borders can create a political version of the "tragedy of the commons."

In order to have a functional and effective nation-state (and yes anarcho-libertarians, we really do need one) we need a population that feels strongly loyal to the nation-state, to the kind of society that a given nation-state protects, and to their fellow citizens. Absent that loyalty we can not have an effective military or a government that is sufficiently uncorrupt to function well. A political Tragedy of the Commons will occur when people feel no sense of proprietorship toward their nation. This is the risk we are already running with our current immigration policy. That risk will become an inevitability if we adopt a policy of totally open borders.

Ironically, ParaPundit makes an argument similar to that of the anti-globalists, with whom I am fairly sure he does not identify. They want to protect indigenous societies by discouraging intermixing with global pop (i.e. American) culture and technology. ParaPundit wants to protect the "anglo-sphere" culture from being undermined by anti-Western memes, by limiting immigration.

i disagree with much of the anti-globalist position, but I do believe centuries-old traditions often have wisdom and provide valuable stability and identity, and that should not be arbitrarily heaved overboard by infatuation with the latest superficial meme. I support efforts of local cultures to preserve their own essence - I don't want to see a world where all is MacDonald's and Disney, although these have their place. I even believe that closed societies which reject much or all of modernity (monastaries, Amish, Buddhist, and ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities come to mind) create something unique and valuable, as long as they are voluntarily entered and left, and do not attempt to impose their way of life on the larger culture.

So the question for ALL who treasure a particular culture is: how do we preserve our way of life without draconian measures? Especially in response to such as the Islamists, who are not troubled by draconian measures, and who have no conpunction about imposing their way of life on everyone else and preventing their subjects from leaving?

posted by Judith @ 5/04/2003 04:44:48 PM