A New World Order—Deal or Steal?
By Edward Pozzuoli
July 16, 2025
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Over the years, the ambiguous phrase “a new world order” has had various interpretations with no explicit universal agreement. Since this phrase suggests a system under which billions of people can live together, the actions of nations taking part in such a world order should properly be aimed at promoting human existence and guiding social interactions.
The operative word of this phrase is order.
The operative word of this phrase is order. Everything, by its identity, has a natural order that contributes to a stable environment, including human coexistence. Any “new world order” should foster a socio-political system that promotes a harmonious arrangement of peace, freedom from disorderly behavior, respect for proper moral law, and the advancement of the human condition.
There are primarily two ways for humankind to deal with any social interaction.
There are primarily two ways for humankind to deal with any social interaction, whether person-to-person, group-to-group, or country-to-country: voluntary mutual exchange or the use of force. Peaceful coexistence, order, and flourishing require the first, and only allow force to be used defensively against those who initiate its use. Throughout recorded history, from ancient Greece to today’s headlines, individuals have recognized the value of relationships, understanding that mutual exchange, whether intellectual or material, promotes common well-being. But should those transactions take the form of peaceful trade or hostile confrontations? Or, as the subtitle implies, “deal or steal?”
Peace and Economic Freedom
A study of the Greco-Roman era through the Renaissance and the Enlightenment clearly shows that the relationship between freedom and prosperity played a significant role in shaping our rights-respecting country. There is a fundamental, direct correlation between peace and economic liberty. “Free minds, free men, free societies, free markets, and free trade” creates a novel combination of individual rights, together with the financial opportunities of capitalism. This independence has unleashed innovative advancements in science, medicine, and labor-saving devices, universally improving the overall quality of life.
As Ayn Rand noted in “America’s Persecuted Minority: Big Business” (in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal), the principle that differentiates freedom from slavery is “voluntary action versus physical coercion or compulsion.” In our own country, it was the manufacturing production of the industrial North that eradicated slavery in the agrarian South. This redemption of our “original sin” spurred momentum to our Industrial Revolution, which released creative minds and produced unmatched innovations. As furthered expressed by Rand in the title essay of For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, “Intellectual freedom cannot exist without political freedom; political freedom cannot exist without economic freedom; a free mind and a free market are corollaries.”
In 1987, Ronald Reagan famously said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”
In 1987, Ronald Reagan famously said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,” referring to the Berlin Wall that divided East and West Germany. The stark contrast within the same country between statism and freedom became unavoidably evident, as abject poverty was juxtaposed with apparent abundance. Four years later, the fall of the USSR resulted from continued economic stagnation due to inefficient central planning and the financial drain from their costly war machine.
Reagan also stated, in 1984, “Peace with freedom is the highest aspiration of our time.” Peace is the necessary state for enhancing social order and advancing human existence. As economist and scholar Richard Salsman wrote in his Pocket Guide to Capitalism:
Nations that are more commercial (capitalist) than martial (statist) prefer peace and trade. For decades, scholars have documented the phenomenon of “capitalist peace.” Rights-respecting states do not fight each other, while wars are the work of rights-violating regimes. Human relations ought to be voluntary and mutually beneficial—not coercive, manipulative, or exploitative. The psychology, spirit, or ethos of capitalism is one of benevolence and self-confidence, of optimism and happiness.
Generosity, human kindness, friendship, and the Good are the coveted byproducts of a prosperous country. As a result of peace and the free flow of capital, the United States thus became the most benevolent nation that has ever existed. The 1960s mantra of “make love, not war” was profoundly deeper and philosophically more meaningful than the hippie generation ever could have realized.
Producer or Looter
As so aptly stated by Ayn Rand in her essay “The Roots of War” (in Capitalism: the Unknown Ideal):
The trader and the warrior have been fundamental antagonists throughout history. Trade does not flourish on battlefields, factories do not produce under bombardments, profits do grow on rubble. Statism needs war; a free country does not. Statism survives by looting; a free country survives by production. Capitalism gave mankind the longest period of peace in history—a period during which there were no wars involving the entire civilized world—from the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815 to the outbreak of World War I in 1914.
Rand saw capitalism as a force for peace, encouraging cooperation and trade rather than conflict and theft. In a market economy, there is no incentive to engage in the destructive acts of war. Conversely, without production, a country commits a gradual suicide through creeping cannibalization of idle resources.
Today, with peace and restraint from foreign entanglements as our primary ambition, trade serves as the vehicle to drive cooperative countries to this idyllic destination. This journey is not without its detours, barriers, hurdles, and challenges; both parties must choose the correct option: “make or take.” Each willing participant must recognize what is in their country’s long-term, rational self-interest, while respecting the needs of the other. In other words, negotiations must work towards shared objectives of mutual exchange and commerce.
Proper Recognition
Over the last century, the playing field has been anything but level, with many domestic and international trade markets subverted to stealing unearned value. Ambiguous language and purposeful lies have concealed nefarious agendas, fraudulently gaining a decisive economic advantage and undercutting any semblance of free and open exchange. As “the chairman of the board,” Frank Sinatra, regularly said, “It’s not about the money, it’s about the money,” untethering it from any proper morality. The venality of these dealings must be acknowledged and condemned to ensure any future collaboration is efficacious. To strive towards “a new world order,” we must appropriately recognize the current state of the American and global economies.
Whatever one may think of Donald Trump and his brashness or exaggeration, his straightforward identification of essential issues offers a simple (not simplistic) understanding and evaluation of the current social, political, and economic world. He calls it as he sees it, not hiding behind intellectual babble or verbose prevarications as politicians and “experts” often do. In all his interactions, he attempts to seek justice, openly voicing his observations and stance with honesty and sincerity. Rand defined justice as “recognizing reality in human interactions—judging individuals as they are and treating them accordingly,” and whether good or bad, that’s precisely what Trump seeks to do. As noted by Sherwin Newman in “The Default on Justice” (The Savvy Street, May 6, 2025):
He prioritizes national security and prosperity over altruism, grounding his policies in reality. Trump’s leadership offers a vision where individuals are free to achieve, not forced to conform or sacrifice, making a compelling moral case for his approach.
All Trump’s economic encounters are contextually transactional, dealing from a position of confidence in pursuing free but fair trade, recently exemplified by his tariff policies. His main foreign policy priority as President is to ensure that we are not at war anywhere, at the same time maintaining open communication, even with our adversaries. Throughout his entire adult life, he has been anti-war—not in the pacifist sense, but as a pugnacious peacemaker, always ready to retaliate, reaffirming Reagan’s “peace through strength.” His moral and political aspirations for peace supersede any politico-economic particulars associated with his “fair trade” policies, whether misunderstood or misapplied.
Without proper hierarchical integration, economic policies are analyzed within a narrow purview, with thousands of unrelated and unknowable ancillary influences. One has only to consider the disconnected views of any pundit or professional authority to realize there is no economic agreement to be reached by their guidance. The words of my macroeconomic professor, spoken over fifty-five years ago, ring truer today than ever, particularly in our politically charged environment of “misinformation.” Perched at his lectern, he turned to the class and, with commanding authority, said:
Economics is the only discipline in which you can be a Nobel Prize laureate, a tenured academic at the most prestigious university, an innovative bestselling author, an advisor to presidents, and never have to prove you’re right.
Unfortunately, this lays bare the moral and scientific disconnect between freedom and economics that exists in the minds of too many “experts” these days.
Hopeful Realignment
I also believe a deeper, broader, and more fundamental issue is presently at play. With force or trade being the binary choice for human interaction, the gauntlet is being thrown down to the entire world to “pick a side.” Either deal with statist, collectivist regimes and their variants of Marxism or choose to trade with freer-market countries and uncoerced capitalism.
The proper preference is unmistakable, and mutual alignments will strengthen once the true motives become exposed. Increased production and trade will improve living standards, reinforcing the preferable civil way humanity should peacefully coexist. Hopefully, the world can grasp the productive benefits of amicable free markets and encourage global cooperative initiatives towards “a new world order.”
But this antidote must come with a warning label. Money and power can be a powerful aphrodisiac. The battle for supremacy funded by the billions of the uber-wealthy, can quietly backdoor a fascist cabal hijacking our freedoms.
We also need to be guarded against another enemy: those who are irrational and entirely disconnected from reality. These groups can be dogmatic religious theocracies or intransigent ideologies that are inflexible and rigid in their inhumane pursuit of power and control. With those holding such barbaric beliefs, trade or honest discourse is unwanted and nonexistent.
As a nation, we must remain ever vigilant to retain our sovereignty, consistently upholding our constitutional principles to protect and preserve our precious individual rights. If not, we may retreat to another Dark Age, characterized by tribal mystics and chaotic disorder.
The United Nations, which may have started with noble intentions, has morphed into a powerful global institution that supports a range of authoritarian regimes and cultivates unimaginable levels of corruption. For the last half-century, this organization has fostered an anti-West arrogance, supporting and encouraging oppressive, tyrannical governments and despotic dictatorships.
On the other hand, there may be a more critical and unforeseen consequence with beneficial economic alignments. Perhaps these newly formed economic alliances will recognize the shared benefits of unification and establish a new organization, possibly the “Coalition of Cooperative Nations.” Such an alliance will fortify future transnational exchange, bringing diverse prosperity that crosses international boundaries without any DEI, ESG, or Marxist mandates. The effect will marginalize the negative influence of the United Nations, potentially rendering it obsolete, especially if it is no longer welcome in the United States. This notion may be just a fanciful possibility, creating a lasting “new world order” in every sense of those words.
It’s the Economy, Stupid
This pivotal catchphrase was popularized during the ’92 Clinton campaign, and remains as laudable today as it was three decades ago. As Salsman concluded in Pocket Guide to Capitalism:
Humanity’s future—whether healthy, wealthy, and happy or instead sickly, poor, and miserable—will be linked inextricably with capitalism’s future. If the sole, nourishing habitat for humanity is befouled with vice in the place of virtue, polluted with sacrifice in the place of joy, and infested with tribalism in the place of individualism, humanity necessarily will suffer. But capitalism being the natural social system and consonant with human nature has reality, validity, and vitality on its side.
There is an expression in any business venture or industry: “Production cures all ills.” Firms must navigate regulatory requirements, compete against industry giants, please business associates, and deliver a satisfied end user. With all these obstacles, the overriding priority is initially to procure and develop business. For any company, from an individual proprietorship to a corporate conglomerate, production generates cash flow and influences priorities, enabling the efficiencies necessary for expansion. A country is no different. International fair trade primes our capitalist engine to tackle other important issues systematically, including its corollary, peace. Market demand is the primary force driving consumer spending, which in turn leads to increased monetary investment. Consumption first needs production, and production requires the freedom to trade—a fundamental principle taught in every introductory Business 101 class.
Freedom requires peace and is essential for economic growth and prosperity.
Freedom requires peace and is essential for economic growth and prosperity. Policies that champion individual and economic liberty have positive empirical outcomes, yielding a higher quality of life. “When individuals are free to gain and keep the fruits of their honest industry, they have every incentive to invent, innovate, produce, and find markets for their goods and services.” To be sure, numerous complex factors beyond trade have contributed to our historical development. Still, there is unquestionably a crucial correlation: a nation is as prosperous as it is free. Better to “deal” than “steal.”
Promising Prospective
The robustness of the human spirit is a powerful motivator for the continuance of life. Our uniquely pioneering species has steadily evolved from our original barbaric mode of survival to our present drive to harness the wonders of AI. With rational values and a self-assured sense of life, “a new world order” of harmony and abundance, happiness, and creation will fulfill our purpose, making life ever more meaningful.
The prospects of a peace-loving world may not be universal. Still, the self-interest of a core, yet tenacious, group of authentic traders will motivate any country to protect its freedoms. Their successes and triumphs will encourage others to strive for a civil humanity that can flourish, expanding peaceful coexistence.
Peace is the metaphysical necessity for human coexistence and collaboration, and trade is the just, ethical approach for thriving in harmony and happiness. This recognition and realization of the spirit of freedom is the means by which an appropriate “new world order” will encourage, enrich, and advance all of our associations through peaceful non-violent exchange.
About the Author: Edward Pozzuoli
