Building a Parallel Economy
Taking Dominion in the Economic Realm
Listen to the audio narration of this article here.
Introduction
What comes to mind when you think of Christ's command to take dominion over the world? On the rare occasion modern Christians think of taking dominion, they limit it exclusively to evangelism and missions. And these are certainly powerful weapons of dominion, but they are not the only ones. In Deuteronomy 15:6, God makes clear that economic self-sufficiency and prosperity is another key tool:
For the Lord your God will bless you, as he promised you, and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.
But at this point in time, Christians are far from this blessed ideal. How many Fortune 500 companies are explicitly Christian, or even owned by Christians? How many household name retail chains, manufacturers, financial institutions, media groups, technology companies, energy companies, law firms, etc., are controlled by Christians? The answer is virtually zero. And of those which perhaps qualify, are they even remotely as aggressive or effective in pushing a Christian agenda as their secular counterparts are in pushing a leftist agenda? Obviously they are not anywhere close.
This is first our own fault for not prioritizing this area when we had more societal clout. But it's also true that Christians and their views have since been systematically stigmatized and silenced, making it all the more difficult for us to enter these institutions. So if we need to begin taking control of these institutions, and we're blocked off from doing so, how do we move forward? There are two potential strategies: 1) a fifth column (i.e., covert infiltration) strategy, or 2) a parallelism strategy. I'd like to focus on the second one here though both have merits and drawbacks.
What Is a Parallel Economy?
In the past, “parallel economy” has been used synonymously with “black market,” but the way I and other modern users employ the term, while it still retains an element of being on the margins, it lacks the criminal connotation. We could define it as:
An economy built by those in a marginalized or minority population, usually defined along ethnic and religious lines, to avoid the disadvantages and strictures imposed on them by the wider society and reap the benefits of in-group preference.
Throughout history, parallel economies were nothing out of the ordinary. It’s only in the age of global homogenization (both economically and ethnically) in which a certain group preferring to remain independent seems odd. Of course, we should keep in mind that the end goal of a parallel economy is not to serve as an economic bomb shelter to which we eternally retreat. Rather, the vision should be to ultimately displace the current economic institutions and gain the power requisite to destroy the old leftist institutions and neutralize the actors who upheld them.
Sections of the Economy
People throw around the term “the economy” all the time. But how could we begin to break down the aggregation of all transactions of value into manageable chunks? I would suggest conceptualizing it in four sections.
1. The Real Economy
The real economy is what is absolutely necessary for life to go on, and provides tangible value either in the form of a physical product or a necessary service related to it. Examples of occupations in the real economy would be agriculture, construction, some manufacturing, most skilled trades, textiles, energy, and medicine. This is the most foundational level of the economy on which we all depend. Until the mid-1900s, probably 90%+ of people were engaged in the real economy.
2. The Efficiency Economy
As the name suggests, the efficiency economy is centered around making the economic activities it supports run more efficiently; it provides measurable but intangible value. Examples would include some manufacturing, transportation/shipping, IT/programming, accounting, law, most healthcare and some food services.
3. The Luxury Economy
The luxury economy provides pleasure, entertainment, or unnecessary efficiency (think food delivery services; they provide efficiency but are completely unnecessary). It provides intangible value which is difficult to measure. Examples include musicians, professors, actors, and all kinds of designer/luxury products.
4. The Parasitic Economy
The parasitic economy is not necessarily a bad thing; it's just a sector of the economy which cannot be profitable by itself and is thus reliant - or parasitic - on the other economic layers. The parasitic economy may provide tangible or intangible value, but in either case, to the extent it is measurable, it's clearly an unprofitable enterprise from an economic perspective. Examples of the parasitic economy would include most government services, ministries, pastors and missionaries, or charities.
For clarification, there are legitimate vocations in all of these categories, and these categories are not intended to make a value judgment but to classify sections of the economy by common characteristics.
Our Focus
Currently, based on the data I’ve seen, I would estimate that the American workforce is current apportioned among the four categories thus:
17% in the real economy
46% in the efficiency economy
21% in the luxury economy
16% in the parasitic economy
Since so much of the real economy has been offshored, that will certainly be the most difficult economy to build. But it is also the most necessary. The decision(s) to offshore so much of America’s real economy (and outsource much of the remainder to nonwhites) may have been purely financial for many companies, but the negative impacts on white Christians, though perhaps not maliciously intended, have been subtle yet destructive. Having lost control over the core economic structures on which we rely is clearly a serious problem, but not one necessarily visible to the average person in the pews.
Given our lack of organized control in the real economy, and the easy pressure point against us it can become, I believe Christians ought to focus their efforts in building a parallel economy with the real economy first. Our focus should secondarily be on the efficiency economy, then with the luxury economy. The parasitic economy can be built on an as-needed basis (e.g., funding for local churches is prioritized more highly versus foreign missionaries or charities).
Another strategy for building a parallel economy is to start small and localized. This gives our enemies smaller targets, effectively a guerilla strategy in the economy. The added benefit is that since we have so little experience in building a parallel economy, having numerous teams beta testing different strategies better facilitates rapid innovation. A time will come for consolidating to benefit from the effect of economies of scale, but this should happen naturally as certain leaders and strategies are more or less successful in the market.
Conclusion
Building a parallel economy is a mammoth task, and to make progress, we need to break it down into manageable steps and definable strategies. That is the purpose of this article, but more input is always better, so any and all feedback is welcome. Let us know if you’d be interested in a part two with more practical ideas on how to start this long-overdue project.
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