One Christian’s Alternative View of Globalization and American Society
1st April 2017
R.R. Reno’s essay, “A Dissolving Age” (March 2017), raises legitimate concerns about trends in modern American society, but the author is wrong to fix the blame on America’s growing economic ties to the rest of the world.
Reno’s thesis is that globalization?—?which he fairly defines as “the relatively free flow of capital, goods, and labor through most of the world”?—?is one of the principal forces that is dissolving the traditional attachment of Americans to our culture, community, and nation. The author laments “the utilitarian despotism of global capitalism,” which he blames for supplanting the sovereignty of the United States and our patriotic feelings toward our country.
Rather than a point by point response, let me home in on three of the more debatable aspects of Reno’s indictment.