Economics of Neofeudalism

It’s not that centralization is inherently evil. It’s that centralizers never obey the fundamental moral character of Creation. Nobody centralizes out of concern for the welfare of the people; there is always — always — a hidden agenda to pad one’s own pockets. There has never once been an altruistic socialist leader, for example. There are examples of faithful followers who were altruists, but never once has any ruler been that way. Good, altruistic people do not want to rule over others.

So what happens is that centralizing systems always crumble and fall apart because they are all invariably run by evil people. Decentralization is reality’s push-back; it’s woven into the fabric of the universe. It has often taken multiple generations, so the fallen human frame of reference on this typically misses what’s really going on. Still, the forces are irresistible as God’s hand works consistently throughout the ages. Centralized systems always fail in due time, simply because the people involved cannot keep their hands clean.

This rather long article is an excellent primer on how we got where we are starting with Rome and summarizing the primary economic trends up through today. It also notes that a new feudal decentralization is arising, though it assumes this is a bad thing. It’s going to be bad only because nobody is doing it with a will to follow God’s Law. Rather, this is the ragged push-back of reality forcing feudalism back on us. It’s up to us to be wise about how we handle it. Those who have their hands on the tillers are not wise, for the most part.

Still, the article does a great job of pointing out fundamental principles of how economic activity tends to work among fallen humans.