Isolationism Is A Luxury Belief We Can’t Afford

 The world is too interconnected for us to think we can hide from the consequences of dictators dominating the globe.

There have been a lot of discussions – and rightfully so – about the damage done by ‘Luxury Beliefs’.

Here’s a definition of the term, courtesy of Rob Henderson:

“Luxury beliefs are defined as ideas and opinions that confer status on the affluent while often inflicting costs on the lower classes. And a core feature of a luxury belief is that the believer is sheltered from the consequences of his or her belief. There is this kind of element of duplicity, whether conscious or not.”

At first glance, isolationism may not appear to be a luxury belief. But when you shift your perspective to see North America and Western Europe as the equivalent of the ‘affluent,’ things start to change.

Isolationist and ‘anti-war’ sentiment is currently strongest in the nations that are least likely to be the initial victims of a large-scale war.

Meanwhile, significant military build-ups are occurring in Eastern Europe, including Poland and the Baltic States, as well as in Japan and the Philippines where there is growing concern over the threat faced by China.

You can see the parallel to the luxury beliefs about crime and immigration here at home. Those who live in gated communities or well-secured luxury high-rises can espouse beliefs about immigration and crime that highlight ‘generosity’ and ‘forgiveness,’ knowing they won’t feel the consequences of excessive immigration and the failure to incarcerate dangerous criminals.

More accurately, they won’t face the consequences immediately.

The thing about luxury beliefs that lead to societal breakdown is that nobody can fully escape the decline of their society.

The wealthy benefit from economic and political stability and public safety, as do the working class and middle class. The working class and middle class will feel society’s decline immediately and have fewer avenues to evade it, but even the wealthiest can’t evade it forever.

This is why luxury beliefs tend to be based on seeking social status and giving in to short-term thinking.

Say the right words, and take the right position, and you can boost your social status while leaving the consequences for another time.

But the consequences still come.

And the same is true of isolationism.

Just because people in North America and Western Europe ‘vote against war’ or ‘vote for peace,’ doesn’t mean peace becomes more likely. If voters oppose efforts to rearm and push to sell out our friends and allies to ‘avoid war,’ the risk of war becomes far higher given that dictators pounce on weakness.

This is why – in practical terms – the real ‘warmongers’ are those who advocate for military weakness and submission to authoritarian threats.

Advocating for isolationism is also at odds with the reality of the world in which we live. A virus emerging from China (largely because the truth was initially suppressed within the authoritarian CCP system) killed millions of people and decimated the world economy. A Syrian dictator’s brutal attempt to stay in power a decade ago led to a massive refugee crisis and a significant shift in politics in much of the West. A Russian dictator’s evil desire to expand his empire has killed hundreds of thousands of innocent Ukrainians, caused further waves of refugees, and damaged the global economy by driving up energy costs. Communist China’s desire for dominance has led to massive economic distortions and the manipulation of our own Citizens through CCP-controlled TikTok.

The important thing to understand is that we didn’t get to vote for any of this.

We had little control over it.

If a foreign dictator wants war, there will be war, whether we want it or not.

We can’t ‘vote for peace’ if the conflict is instigated outside of our country.

In that case, we can’t ‘vote against war’, we can only vote to be prepared or unprepared for it.

This is difficult for many of us to accept, given that we in the West have long had the luxury of influencing the world, and thus we think every decision made by a foreign leader is something we can control. Of course, it would be nice if our choice of a politician within our own country magically stopped foreign dictators from seeking conflict, but that’s not how it works. Believing we can control foreign leaders with our domestic votes is as naive as thinking we can fix the global climate by voting for a carbon tax here at home.

But voting for ‘peace’ while our adversaries prepare for war is incredibly dangerous. If we were to sell out fellow democracies like Ukraine, Israel, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Japan, Taiwan, and others by taking an ‘it’s not our problem’ approach, we would not escape the threat of expansionist authoritarian states, we would simply face that threat down the road at a time when those states would be even more powerful and even more emboldened.

Ultimately, we are all stuck in this world together. We are all impacted by the decisions of others, particularly the decisions of other nations. And right now, some of the world’s largest countries are led by authoritarians who desire territorial expansion and who wish to crush those who value freedom.

So, we can continue to bury our heads in the sand, continue to give in to the lure of isolationism and appeasement, continue pretending we can avoid a massive military buildup, or we can accept the reality of the world we live in, and start taking action to ensure we can defend ourselves and defend our allies.

Spencer Fernando

https://spencerfernando.com/2024/12/09/isolationism-is-a-luxury-belief-we-cant-afford/