The great reset: Could Henry George be the antidote to the world economic forum?

Clifford W. Cobb

American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 2023, vol. 82, issue 5, 513-522

Abstract: The Great Reset, as envisioned by the World Economic Forum, involves another step in the evolution toward a system of close cooperation between the national security state and key corporations that can manage information and limit dissent. In return for allowing state control of many facets of personal life, the state offers to take care of the needs of citizens who are in compliance with their assigned place in the social order. Already citizens have given up considerable autonomy and allow constant surveillance, mostly through smartphones. The only true alternative to a paternalist trajectory is to imagine a different kind of great reset, one in which society is organized around genuine principles of self‐governance and self‐reliance. This idea can be traced to the American social theorist Henry George and further back to roots in ancient China of the philosophy of wu wei. The main idea is that higher‐order systems are designed to offer both stability and freedom to lower‐order systems. Rather than trying to abolish an intrusive state apparatus, the aim is to create systems that obviate the need for a welfare state or a warfare state. This is a tall order to fill, but it is worth striving for as a way of preserving the distinctive human capacities for both individual initiative and social bonding. Unless millions work to create a decentralized world order, we are almost surely doomed to endure a technocratic future of increasing surveillance and management of our private lives.

Date: 2023
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