I will let others describe the economic massacre of President Trump’s tariffs have begun to be imposed. I want to describe the damage they will cause to the American psychology and the American soul.
Trump is building a wall. His trade policies hindered not only the flow of goods, but also the flow of ideas, connections, technology and friendships. The same is true of his immigration policy. He attacked the most involved institutions and communities in international exchanges: scientific researchers, universities, foreign ministries, foreign aid agencies and international alliances such as NATO.
The essence of Trump’s agenda might be: We don’t like damn foreigners.
The problem is that the great country in the entire history of Western civilization has always been a country at a crossroads. They are people from all over the world meeting, exchanging ideas and coming up with new places together. In his book Cities in Cimistional in Cimisification in Cimistional, Peter Hall explores the most innovative places of centuries: Athens in the fifth century BC, Florence in the 15th century, Vienna in the First World War, from the late 18th century to New York, from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century, and later the Gulf region.
They are all places for meetings for people from different countries. Hall wrote: “People meet, people speak, people listen to each other’s music and words, dance to each other, and attract each other’s ideas. So through geographical accidents, the spark may be shaken and something new emerges from the encounter.” He continued, which happened at the contracting point, encouraging global interaction. Such places share common characteristics: they are insufficient, non-classical, non-hierarchical, informal.
“Economic innovation exploded,” he wrote, “where there is a rich network of import channels, which in turn provides a channel for new ideas. ”
This used to be the United States. A country at a crossroads, we attract immigrants who want to be highly motivated to act. We advocate free trade. British colonialism and American internationalism make English the closest global language we are to.
This used to be our future. In the 2009 Foreign Affairs article, “The Edge of America,” Anne-Marie Slaughter argues that the 21st century power will be attributed to the nation that puts itself at the center of the network, and that the United States is well suited to the role. We have a wide variety of people, global connections, alliances across two seas, and it is the greatest university with the bodies of large foreign students.
All of this was damaged. But that’s not even my main focus. My main concern is the spirit and values of the country. People’s psychology is formed by surrounding conditions. The conditions Trump creates are based on and fostering a safety mindset: they are threatening us; it is a zero-sum dog world; we need to protect, protect, protect. We need to build walls.
The problem again, the problem is that if you look at the sociocultural at the summit, it is almost the opposite of the mindset you find. In “Civilization”, his investigation of the heights of Western history, art critic Kenneth Clark concluded that great times were built on great confidence, a nation’s confidence in law and capabilities. This common culture of self-confidence will naturally inject people with social courage and adventurous spirit.
For example, think about the kind of people who drive innovation and vitality. What are they?
They put themselves in strange situations. They are passionate about novelty. Journalist Adam Hochschild once wrote: “When I was in a country that was completely different from my own, I noticed more. It seems like I was taking a mind-changing drug that allowed me to see what I would normally miss. I felt more active.”
They have a lot of curiosity. Their interests and passions cover many areas. The Nobel Prize winner is at least 22 times that of an ordinary scientist, and it is a side hobby of being a magician, actor, dancer or other type of performer.
They have a social range and a variety of friends. In his decades of publishing “Origin of Species,” Charles Darwin exchanged conventional letters with at least 231 scientists in 13 different fields, as diverse as economics and biology.
They can combine different worldviews. Creativity usually happens when someone combines two galaxies of thought. Pablo Picasso combines Western portraits with African masks. Johannes Gutenberg combined woodcut engraving, coin making and wine publishing to create his press.
They are driven to continue to grow. They seek to expand their interests and attachments to sustained self-improvement. You can find people like this because they have gone through different chapters. They have been learning for years, and they have changed their interests and worldviews, tearing up a way to create meaning and building something new. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “Not in his goal, but in his transition, people are great.”
The values and postures I describe here have a name: cosmopolitanism. The international metropolis originated from a town and a country, but treasured and learned from many other national streams. In the phrases I used to use here before, her life is a series of bold explorations from a safe base.
Sometimes, starting from September 11, it seems that the 21st century has witnessed attacks again and again. Leaders who follow the leader call for fear of impurities and threats. This mean world atmosphere not only reduces contact between people, but also inhibits venture capital that defines the best American characteristics. Trump called Wednesday Liberation Day, but Stagnation Day may be more like this.
If the United States remains the United States, these tariffs will represent a turning point in Trump’s presidency. The useless economic pain that people can cause makes people angry and more skillfully defended by the cowardly values they represent.
