Cesspools of Collectivism

Racism and nationalism are among the most menacing forms of collectivism in the world today. Racists and nationalists are among the greatest enemies of people who favor a society of free and responsible individuals, a society in which all persons are seen as equal claimants of natural rights and equally entitled to respect for their human dignity.

Donald Trump, by his words and his policies, draws on both these cesspools of collectivism and seeks to enlist those who have sold their souls to them to form the core of his political base and populate his cult of personality. Anyone who cherishes a society of free and responsible individuals should steer clear of these terrible forms of collectivism and their associated hatreds and superstitions.

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Robert Higgs is Senior Fellow in Political Economy at the Independent Institute and Editor at Large of the Institute’s quarterly journal The Independent Review. He received his Ph.D. in economics from Johns Hopkins University, and he has taught at the University of Washington, Lafayette College, Seattle University, the University of Economics, Prague, and George Mason University. He has been a visiting scholar at Oxford University and Stanford University, and a fellow at the Hoover Institution and the National Science Foundation.