The New Cantons

What we can learn from the Hansa.

We depend on a system few people care to think about. Many are barely aware it exists. The coltan which gives rise to our telephones, the silicon in our computers, and myriads of other substances pass through ten thousand mile long supply chains through dozens of far away lands of dubious stability. As seen in the recent temporary halt of de minimis shipments across the Pacific, this system is not far from unraveling altogether. Indeed, it is not at all unlikely that such supply chains may collapse within the next decade. This might seem on the surface to be antithetical to the conditions necessary for technological development. It is therefore increasingly clear that a manufacturing system dependent both on extreme centralization and far flung supply chains will not long endure. However, other methods of economic development are feasible, and have existed in previous periods of history. Furthermore, such decentralized systems shall become not only possible, but necessary. I predict that such organizations are well suited to the conditions prevalent in the northern reaches of the Midwest.

A brief historical example will be necessary to illustrate such a network. In the centuries following the reign of Emperor Barbarossa, medieval Germany dissolved into a hundred different small kingdoms in a perpetual state of warfare. However, each city became self-governing, and merchants banded together to advance their interest. In time, these associations became the Hansa, a trading network stretching from London to Novgorod based on the transport and sale of salted fish. The free cities stretched in a wide region of Europe from Flanders to Venice, and each one began to specialize in a different form of manufacture. Despite the lack of an organized political structure, the cities achieved greater prosperity and cultural development then had hitherto emerged in Europe. These cities still form the most productive portion of Europe today. Furthermore, the development of clockmaking in the Swiss cantons was a critical technological development for the Industrial Revolution. Therefore, social and political disorder need not preclude the development of a great civilization.

There are many reasons why the reader might discount the Midwest as a potential location for this type of endeavor. It is an inland region lacking access to the sea, and its inhabitants are largely known for a crippling conformity. However, both of these problems have fairly simple solutions. In the Sunburned Exiles, it was described how the Midwest was drained of its most productive citizens. There, I have outlined potential inducements for them to return. The lack of exterior connection can be ameliorated with closer ties to the Canadian portion, and development of access to the warming Hudson Bay. Due to the high latitudes, this region is uniquely suited to the construction of a spaceport for polar launches, which would provide ready access for industry to the high frontier. If portions of Canada and northern New England are included, this region can be broadly considered to be oriented towards Europe eastwards through the Atlantic Ocean.

Upon closer inspection, the uniform monoculture of Northern America becomes a mirage. Many towns, and even private colleges and universities were once the centers of unique societies, both utopian and ethnic. Pella, Iowa was established as a home for Dutch dissidents in the nineteenth century and still retains much of its original character. Some of these societies such as the Amish exist and flourish to this day. The culture of Northerners is therefore inherently suited to a system of free cities, and has been barely submerged by the cultural forces outlined in The Fordlands and the Cornlands. Therefore, the most logical course of action is to develop and promote the original cultures of these regions. Each town would serve as the center of a surrounding region from which it would derive its resources to the greatest extent possible. This would be roughly analogous to a Swiss canton. Distinctive architecture and products derived from its identity would increase the value of the products produced, and replace the economic model based on agricultural commodities such as corn and soybeans. As in the nineteenth century, second languages such as Swedish, German and Finnish would be promoted, in part so as to aid technology transfer from such regions of Europe. This would aid in the transition to the production of high-value specialized products. Another major barrier to the establishment of the New Hansa is the domination of a well funded but poor quality system of overcentralized state controlled public education. In many towns, schools lie abandoned while states increase educational bureaucracy in the capitals. An easy solution to this problem would be the sale of such abandoned schools to private associations capable of maintaining them.

Therefore, I predict that the problem of designing and restoring new towns and regions can offer a far more interesting task to elite human capital than disseminating the monoculture from the coastal metropoli. The impending decentralization need not yield cultural stagnation. In short, the development of the New Hansa would lead to a new age of western civilization, and put the talents of the Sunburned Exiles to good use.

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