Research And Publications
Good Government
Good Government is the Association for Good Government's bimonthly journal that discusses Georgist views of current events, political, economic trends, lessons in history, philosophical reflections and insights on ethics and social justice, as well as news and updates. Request access our 2024 Omnibus Issue and 2025 Quarterly Issues via e-mail.
The Standard Resurrected is our weekly monograph, named after our grandfather publication which we have revived. that responds to current trends and events in PDF form. Below is the content of this week's issue. Request for past issues via e-mail.
The Standard Resurrected is our weekly monograph, named after our grandfather publication which we have revived. that responds to current trends and events in PDF form. Below is the content of this week's issue. Request for past issues via e-mail.
Transforming Colonialist Revival to Global Renaissance
Joffre Balce
History needs clear hindsight but destiny requires clearer foresight. We can call this “renaissance wisdom” that moves forward, proactively, compared to a “sentimentalist revival” seeking to restore an order to exactly as it was and failing to learn from history.
Last 14th of February 2026, Marco Rubio delivered his speech as U.S. Secretary of State at the Munich Security Conference Emphasizing Western renewal and transatlantic unity, the address celebrated five centuries of Western expansion, including empire-building from the age of Columbus through the first half of the 20th century, framing post-1945 decolonization as a misguided "retreat" accelerated by communism and anti-colonial movements.
Rubio urged Europe and the U.S. to reject "guilt and shame" over their heritage, reindustrialize, secure borders against mass migration, and compete aggressively for "market share in the economies of the Global South" alongside critical minerals supply chains. He positioned this as restoring Western civilization's dominance, calling for a "new Western century" where the West prioritizes national interests over multilateral "delusions" like a borderless world.
The primarily Western audience, including European leaders, gave Rubio a standing ovation—half the hall rising in relief at his reassuring tone on transatlantic ties after prior Trump administration tensions. Figures like French and Spanish ministers praised the shared history acknowledgment and forward-looking unity, viewing it as a diplomatic pivot from JD Vance's blunter 2025 remarks.
Last 14th of February 2026, Marco Rubio delivered his speech as U.S. Secretary of State at the Munich Security Conference Emphasizing Western renewal and transatlantic unity, the address celebrated five centuries of Western expansion, including empire-building from the age of Columbus through the first half of the 20th century, framing post-1945 decolonization as a misguided "retreat" accelerated by communism and anti-colonial movements.
Rubio urged Europe and the U.S. to reject "guilt and shame" over their heritage, reindustrialize, secure borders against mass migration, and compete aggressively for "market share in the economies of the Global South" alongside critical minerals supply chains. He positioned this as restoring Western civilization's dominance, calling for a "new Western century" where the West prioritizes national interests over multilateral "delusions" like a borderless world.
The primarily Western audience, including European leaders, gave Rubio a standing ovation—half the hall rising in relief at his reassuring tone on transatlantic ties after prior Trump administration tensions. Figures like French and Spanish ministers praised the shared history acknowledgment and forward-looking unity, viewing it as a diplomatic pivot from JD Vance's blunter 2025 remarks.
Global South Implications
Critics interpret Rubio's praise for historical Western empires and explicit Global South economic competition as a colonial revival signal, challenging nations as battlegrounds between OECD hegemony and BRICS ascent. This rhetoric risks alienating swing states in Africa, Asia, and Latin America—still sensitive to colonial legacies—by framing their markets as Western reclaiming zones rather than equal partners, potentially boosting BRICS appeals for sovereignty-led development. No unified Global South backlash has emerged yet, but outlets in India and elsewhere decry it as neo-imperial.
Global South nations, however, must take caution that it does not throw the baby – hopes for a fair, equitable and efficient global economic order and the positive contributions of the West for such a vision – with the bathwater of historical memory of abuse and oppression. Neither can the West afford to arrogantly accuse resisting former colonies of ingratitude and be tempted to “put them in their place” or be paralysed into “guilt and shame” by any and all tragic memories. Both are aware that there are new players in the global arena that can play allies to the new hegemon in the next few quarters of the 21st CE ready to exploit division.
Let us, therefore, suggest a new common, starting point.
Global South nations, however, must take caution that it does not throw the baby – hopes for a fair, equitable and efficient global economic order and the positive contributions of the West for such a vision – with the bathwater of historical memory of abuse and oppression. Neither can the West afford to arrogantly accuse resisting former colonies of ingratitude and be tempted to “put them in their place” or be paralysed into “guilt and shame” by any and all tragic memories. Both are aware that there are new players in the global arena that can play allies to the new hegemon in the next few quarters of the 21st CE ready to exploit division.
Let us, therefore, suggest a new common, starting point.
The Law of Human Progress
Georgism, rooted in Henry George's Progress and Poverty (1879), provides a framework to critique Rubio's Munich speech as a misguided call to revive rent-seeking imperialism rather than true progress.
George's core "law of human progress" states that human advancement arises from "association in equality"—cooperative expansion unlocked by equal access to land and nature's gifts, not conquest or enclosure. Inequality in land ownership creates friction, speculation, and poverty amid plenty, stalling collective growth; progress demands socializing unearned rents via taxation to fund association without hierarchy.
It was George’s work that inspired Sun Yat-sen to strive for a democratic Chinese Republic, moved Leo Tolstoy to write of social justice and equality and, in turn, motivate Mohandas K. Gandhi to assert for equality of rights of subjects of the British Empire in South Africa and eventually fight for Indian independence. Even earlier in the 19th CE, Simon Bolivar and Jose San Martin battled their colonial masters for an independent Latin America with a similar vision of their Northern counterparts. Even the BRICS is no stranger to this “law of progress.”
George's core "law of human progress" states that human advancement arises from "association in equality"—cooperative expansion unlocked by equal access to land and nature's gifts, not conquest or enclosure. Inequality in land ownership creates friction, speculation, and poverty amid plenty, stalling collective growth; progress demands socializing unearned rents via taxation to fund association without hierarchy.
It was George’s work that inspired Sun Yat-sen to strive for a democratic Chinese Republic, moved Leo Tolstoy to write of social justice and equality and, in turn, motivate Mohandas K. Gandhi to assert for equality of rights of subjects of the British Empire in South Africa and eventually fight for Indian independence. Even earlier in the 19th CE, Simon Bolivar and Jose San Martin battled their colonial masters for an independent Latin America with a similar vision of their Northern counterparts. Even the BRICS is no stranger to this “law of progress.”
A Critique of Rubio's Vision
Rubio's praise for 16th-20th century Western colonialism celebrates empire as expansion, but George would decry it as peak rentier enclosure: colonizers privatized Global South lands and resources, exporting friction and deadweight loss via speculation and tribute, mirroring domestic poverty cycles. Reviving this "fervour" ignores decolonization's partial step toward equality, risking OECD-BRICS clashes as new enclosures over minerals and markets—precisely the inequality George would blame for societal decay.
The key to a new global cooperative order lies in returning to the teachings of the US founding fathers and applying them as Henry George echoed and envisioned in writing and in speech not just in the United States but across continents and oceans.
The key to a new global cooperative order lies in returning to the teachings of the US founding fathers and applying them as Henry George echoed and envisioned in writing and in speech not just in the United States but across continents and oceans.
Georgist Response of Tax Reform
A Georgist counter proposes land-value taxation (LVT) and free trade (in the classical, Ricardian sense; not the WTO kind) across blocs to capture rents from Global South resources, enabling efficient trade and development without zero-sum rivalry. BRICS could continue funding infrastructure via mineral rents, fostering "association in equality" that neutralizes Rubio's challenge: equal opportunity trumps hegemony, turning swing votes into progress engines. With the West adopting George’s law, international commerce aligns with post-colonial independence and agency, fostering mutual respect in a just, positive-sum outcome and averting conflict and misunderstanding through a shared prosperity.
George's Free Trade Principle
Georgism also proposes reforming global trade rules by anchoring them in Henry George's Protection or Free Trade? (1886), which champions unrestricted exchange of goods based on comparative advantage while abolishing all artificial barriers like tariffs—replacing neoliberal institutions' credit hierarchies and commodity tethers with rent-free markets that unleash true efficiency.
George argued tariffs harm consumers (especially workers) by raising prices, fostering monopolies, and failing to boost wages, as protectionism merely shifts production costs without addressing root inefficiencies like land speculation. True free trade, paired with land-value taxation (LVT), lets nations specialize per comparative strengths—e.g., Global South minerals, OECD tech—maximizing global output without subsidies or currency dominance that yields productivity sustainably.
George argued tariffs harm consumers (especially workers) by raising prices, fostering monopolies, and failing to boost wages, as protectionism merely shifts production costs without addressing root inefficiencies like land speculation. True free trade, paired with land-value taxation (LVT), lets nations specialize per comparative strengths—e.g., Global South minerals, OECD tech—maximizing global output without subsidies or currency dominance that yields productivity sustainably.
Critique of Neoliberal Framework and George's Monetary Principles
WB-IMF-BIS models tether currencies to gold, dollars, or petroleum reserves, prioritizing creditor superiority and commodity cartels over labor-capital productivity; this echoes George's condemnation of privileges that distort trade into rent extraction. Structural adjustments force privatization of rents (e.g., mines to multinationals), stifling comparative advantage in developing economies and perpetuating North-South imbalances.
Moreover, the West must urgently rethink its monetary system—long distorted by credit-fueled land speculation and fiat privileges—as BRICS nations neutralize these flaws through de-dollarization, sovereign digital currencies, and resource-backed trade, echoing principles from Book 5 of Henry George's The Science of Political Economy (1898).
George posits money as a mere medium of exchange and a labour-saving instrument, not a store of value or speculation mechanism; its true function is facilitating "the earliest want of trade" by representing equal exchange power, free from artificial scarcity. Credit must align with production, not inflate land values via fractional reserves or commodity tethers (gold/dollar/petrol), which create boom-bust cycles and rentier dominance—principles BRICS applies by skirting Western banks for bilateral swaps and gold/commodity hedging anchors.
BRICS maneuvers—like China's digital yuan, Russia's gold ruble pivot, and intra-bloc trade in local currencies—sidestep IMF debt traps and SWIFT sanctions, recapturing monetary sovereignty akin to George's call for money and credit – which he separates and not confuses as being one and the same -- tied to circulating goods, not enclosed rents. This has eroded dollar hegemony, and rightfully so, exposing Western vulnerabilities: quantitative easing props up speculative assets (housing/minerals at 50-70% of balance sheets), fueling inequality George deemed antithetical to progress. By saving its speculators in the 2008 GFC, the OECD has sacrificed its productive sectors to lose their competitive edge to BRICS that strategically but gradually shifted away from the financial vortex.
Therefore, what must accompany global fiscal and trade reform is an international monetary restructuring path for the West with the following features:
Moreover, the West must urgently rethink its monetary system—long distorted by credit-fueled land speculation and fiat privileges—as BRICS nations neutralize these flaws through de-dollarization, sovereign digital currencies, and resource-backed trade, echoing principles from Book 5 of Henry George's The Science of Political Economy (1898).
George posits money as a mere medium of exchange and a labour-saving instrument, not a store of value or speculation mechanism; its true function is facilitating "the earliest want of trade" by representing equal exchange power, free from artificial scarcity. Credit must align with production, not inflate land values via fractional reserves or commodity tethers (gold/dollar/petrol), which create boom-bust cycles and rentier dominance—principles BRICS applies by skirting Western banks for bilateral swaps and gold/commodity hedging anchors.
BRICS maneuvers—like China's digital yuan, Russia's gold ruble pivot, and intra-bloc trade in local currencies—sidestep IMF debt traps and SWIFT sanctions, recapturing monetary sovereignty akin to George's call for money and credit – which he separates and not confuses as being one and the same -- tied to circulating goods, not enclosed rents. This has eroded dollar hegemony, and rightfully so, exposing Western vulnerabilities: quantitative easing props up speculative assets (housing/minerals at 50-70% of balance sheets), fueling inequality George deemed antithetical to progress. By saving its speculators in the 2008 GFC, the OECD has sacrificed its productive sectors to lose their competitive edge to BRICS that strategically but gradually shifted away from the financial vortex.
Therefore, what must accompany global fiscal and trade reform is an international monetary restructuring path for the West with the following features:
- Production-Tied Credit: Reform central banks to issue money/credit proportional to GDP velocity (goods/services traded), curbing land bubbles; phase out fractional lending for speculation via full-reserve banking.
- Rent-Integrated Money: Pair with LVT to siphon credit-inflated land gains into circulating currency, stabilizing value without gold/petrol pegs—mirroring BRICS resource rents funding development in a virtuous cycle.
- Global Reciprocity: Propose WTO/WB rules for mutual monetary transparency, letting comparative advantages (Western tech, BRICS resources) flow freely under equal exchange power.
This aligns with George's "association in equality," repositioning the West as a cooperative leader against Rubio's imperial challenge, fostering liberty, justice, and efficiency in a multipolar order.
Worthiness of the Goal: Renewed Hegemony or Mutual Sovereignty?
What, therefore must be the response to Marco Rubio's challenge to the West to recover its place of leadership in the global marketplace of commodities and ideas if, in the first place, such a goal is worthy of global order?
The worthy response to Marco Rubio's challenge lies in adopting Georgist reforms to reclaim Western leadership through genuine progress—association in equality—rather than rent-seeking imperialism, thereby advancing democratic liberty, socioeconomic justice, and market efficiency globally.
Rubio's aim of Western primacy in commodities and ideas merits pursuit only if it fosters universal opportunity, not hegemony; George's law of progress deems true leadership emergent from cooperative equality in land access, yielding liberty (no enclosures stifle initiative), justice (rents socialized end poverty amid plenty), and efficiency (speculation yields to productive use). Imperial revival fails this test, recycling friction and deadweight-loss via Global South enclosures that invite a BRICS counter-offer and a possible democratic backsliding into political instability.
The worthy response to Marco Rubio's challenge lies in adopting Georgist reforms to reclaim Western leadership through genuine progress—association in equality—rather than rent-seeking imperialism, thereby advancing democratic liberty, socioeconomic justice, and market efficiency globally.
Rubio's aim of Western primacy in commodities and ideas merits pursuit only if it fosters universal opportunity, not hegemony; George's law of progress deems true leadership emergent from cooperative equality in land access, yielding liberty (no enclosures stifle initiative), justice (rents socialized end poverty amid plenty), and efficiency (speculation yields to productive use). Imperial revival fails this test, recycling friction and deadweight-loss via Global South enclosures that invite a BRICS counter-offer and a possible democratic backsliding into political instability.
Georgist Renaissance
As a first step, the West should pioneer land-value taxation (LVT) on its own speculative holdings first—capturing urban and resource rents to fund reindustrialization, border-secure infrastructure, and citizen dividends—demonstrating efficiency without conquest. Export this model via classical, not WTO, free trade pacts requiring mutual LVT commitments, turning Global South markets into shared prosperity zones where swing votes choose rent-free progress over zero-sum blocs. This must be accomplished not with the debt-currency that relinquishes policy-making to the creditors but with a sovereignty-enhancing monetary institutions that foster efficiency with equity.
In sum:
In sum:
- Universal LVT Clauses: Trade pacts mandate LVT on land/resources (e.g., 100% of mineral rents), socializing unearned gains to fund infrastructure—freeing currencies from commodity pegs for flexible, productivity-based exchange.
- Tariff Elimination: Phased removal of all duties, offset by LVT revenue sharing, ensuring workers gain from cheaper imports while speculation yields to efficient use.
- Comparative Focus: Agreements prioritize sectoral strengths (Botswana beef/diamonds, Asian Tigers tech), rejecting debt traps Global South countries fell into; otherwise, BRICS could lead reciprocal LVT to counter OECD hegemony.
- Sovereign Currency: bilateral trade-based exchange rates that liberate a national economy to produce and trade based on competitive advantages and with a sovereignty to pursue its own development strategy, not one dictated by its creditors.
This Georgist system fosters "association in equality," turning Rubio's commodity competition into cooperative progress without imperial credit dominance.
Global Order Benefits
Democratic Liberty: LVT disperses land monopolies fueling oligarchs, empowering voters over rentier lobbies in OECD and BRICS alike. Free trade policies should deliver mutual respect in each countries’ sovereignty and not a hegemony, whether unipolar or bipolar.
- Socioeconomic Justice: Recycled rents relieve housing stress and fund universal basics, neutralizing colonial grievances with equal opportunity.
- Market Efficiency: Freed land boosts supply chains (e.g., critical minerals via optimal use), outcompeting speculation-driven rivals.
- Sovereignty and Individual Liberty:
This positions the West as progress's vanguard, not empire's reboot, aligning Rubio's fervour with George's law for a frictionless, fair and equitable new century towards ending involuntary poverty – a Western Renaissance, we hope, if not a global one.