Decentralization begins with the end
I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Change is inevitable. No empire stands forever.
At some point, the United States will no longer exist. Just like every other country, organization, and association. You, personally, will also have become otherwise. Each new generation must get from the present toward that inevitably changed future while maximizing good and minimizing bad along the way.
For this conversation, bad is initiating violence or diminishing wealth through force or fraud. Good is any and every peaceful pursuit of happiness, harmony, prosperity, life, liberty, joy, love, and/or a myriad of other imprecise words. Pick your favorite.
When it comes to the end of countries and the dissolving of any ties that bind, peaceful decentralization is the future for anyone and everyone who doesn’t want violence. The corrupting influence of power inevitably leads to the frown, wrinkled lip, and sneer Shelley describes. Such is the underlying disposition of any who would use force to limit peaceful pursuits. There is no other way to achieve their ends.
We look at all involuntary centralized works in hindsight and despair. Theirs is a legacy of violence and decay. It is a colossal, avoidable, wreck.
Liberty, voluntary association, ascension, unity, holiness, love, – these are not eternal. But they are perennial.
When they are forgotten, they reemerge as naturally as waking up from sleep, and realizing you have another day.
What you begin every day, determines the ends.
