How do you Measure Humanity?  

Is War the Measure of Humanity?  

Alexander the Great was one of the world’s greatest conquerors, coming out of the north to conquer the great cities of Greece.  He went on to conquer the Persian empire, Egypt – where he founded the city of Alexandria, and got as far as India and up into the middle of Asia, where he founded the city of Iskander.  Does that make Alexander great?

Alexander died before ever returning to his home country.  His empire was divided among his five generals.  None of those generals was a conqueror.  

Four hundred fifty years later, the Roman Empire had conquered all the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea.  Does that make the Roman Empire great?

When the Roman Empire was gone, Europe was thrown into a Dark Ages.  Trade had ceased to exist; it was a time of subsistence farming as serfs (i.e., slaves).  The Dark Ages would never be considered “great”.  

During the Dark Ages, money had virtually disappeared. Subsistence farmers paid the manor in produce to be allowed to farm.  The manor, in turn, protected the serfs from criminal activity.  It was a lifestyle that could never be considered “great”.

From 900 to 1100, trade slowly returned.  A merchant class slowly emerged and grew in importance.  As it grew, it brought to Europe the things people wanted to buy:  fine cloth and manufactured goods.  Serfs escaped life controlled by the manors to live in the towns where trade developed, hiring on as paid workers.  Townspeople had money, and things worth buying.

With that growth, a ruling class arose, to protect against criminal activity and invasion.  Taxation was required to pay for that ruling class.  But ruling classes also meant wars between the ruling groups.

By 1500, countries in Europe included England, Spain, France, Austria, Germany, and smaller countries like Belgium, the Netherlands, Scotland, and Ireland.  Boundaries changed constantly, due to wars.  None of the countries in Europe could be considered “great”, and life for those living in Europe could not be considered “great”.

But in 1492 Christopher Columbus, looking for a better way to establish trade with China, discovered the Americas – the New World.  Five years later, the English sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to explore North America.  

By 1700, Spain, Portugal, France, and England all had large empires in the new world.  

But could any of those colonies be considered “great”?  

One set of colonies could definitely be considered “remarkable”.  It had the potential to be “great”, someday.

Those colonies’ populations had a remarkable degree of freedom to choose how to live and how to work.  As a result, those colonists were remarkably productive, and thus even became rich.  

Those colonies’ mother country had gone through a period of upheaval from 1639 through 1688, as would-be efforts to establish tyranny were fought by populations whose political rights had dramatically improved since 1215 – the day that English nobles forced King John to sign the Magna Carta.

The thinking on political rights culminated in the writings by John Locke in 1689 – his “Letter Concerning Toleration” and his two “Treatises of Government”.

Locke’s writings were widely read in England’s North American colonies, and ultimately formed the basis for two of the world’s greatest documents of all time, America’s Declaration of Independence and Constitution.

The result?  America ultimately became the world’s greatest, richest country.  

But why is America “great”?  

America is great because, from the very beginning, the English colonies were privately established, for the sake of freedom (especially, religious freedom) and trade.  The colonies of Spain and France, in contrast, were ordered by kings whose goals were primarily to increase their territory and wealth.

Is Trade the Measure of Humanity?  Why is trade great?

Trade is an extension of freedom.  “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” – the key phrase of the American Declaration of Independence – says it all.  

Life – a person needs to be in control of his life, in order to continue to live; to take action.  

Liberty – a person must be free to act; to choose which actions to take that he thinks will best allow him to lead the best possible life.

Pursuit of Happiness – a person needs to be productive; to live on his own land, to use it as he sees fit, to build his own home and possessions, and to produce things which he can trade for things produced by others for exchange.  Money (earning it and spending it) makes that trading process easier, but the bottom line of the “pursuit of happiness” is to be productive.  

Any single person cannot build all the things he needs to own for the life he wishes to lead and to be suitably productive in his pursuit of happiness.

Being free to be productive and to be able to trade are essential.  They make it possible for every person to achieve the highest and best existence, as defined by his own standard – the ultimate pursuit of happiness.  

Between Individuals Or Nations

Whether between individual humans or between nations, the question is still the same:  which is a better measure of humanity:  war or trade?

War is destructive. Trade is constructive.

If aliens out there in space are watching humanity here on Earth, and deciding whether to make contact with humans, are they more likely to make contact if war is the measure of humanity, of if trade is the measure of humanity?

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