Golden Ages: Lost and Found

“Apparently great wealth does not come from land and natural resources, but from trade, finance and innovation, and that did not require centralized government and territorial conquests, but private property, free trade and toleration.” – Peak Human

In his second inaugural address in January 2025, President Trump first used the phrase Golden Age, promising the country a resurgence in peace, prosperity, and optimism, as his slogan, “Make America Great Again,” first promoted.  To fulfil his pledge, Trump vowed to stay out of foreign wars, lower costs for American citizens, create opportunities through economic revival, and promote national unity.  Hitting on all the right buzzwords that have made prior renaissances flourish, Trump committed to return America once again to that shining city on the hill. 

In Johan Norberg’s 2025 book, “Peak Human”, Norberg reveals the lessons learned and then lost during seven of the most significant periods of progress, from the heyday of Athens in 500 BCE to the British/American Empires beginning in the early nineteenth century following the Industrial Revolution.  Revealing why Golden Ages began and then ended, Norberg hopes future statesmen will heed both the causes and the effects to prevent another nation from rising and then falling. 

The telltale signs of the Golden Age are easy to see.  An explosion of innovation in multiple social systems, such as cultural achievements, economic growth, and political stability, all as a result of a flourishing optimism.  Many golden ages began with a victory over an enemy, either freeing people from past military occupations or past oppression.  As history has shown, once a Golden Age begins, rights are expanded, aesthetics improve, and opportunity becomes rife. 

The primary reasons for the success of almost all Golden Ages are increased freedoms, open immigration, world trade, and a society governed by the rule of law.  Openness to the world through international trade not only expands brainpower and the flow of ideas but also creates joint prosperity through the exchange of goods and technologies.  Migration adds to openness by growing the population while benefiting from cultural exchange.  Progress further increases from intellectual discourse leading to the experimentation and innovation that challenge tradition.  Under the rule of law, equality under the law ensures fairness to all citizens, while private property rights lead to free markets, competition, and an expansion in entrepreneurship.  Urbanization follows through greater peace, cooperation, and safety.    

On the falling end, there are also similarities in why countries decline, stagnate, and flounder: an invasion or military defeat, economic strains, political instability, and cultural decline.  There may be a series of crises, including war, pandemics, and famines.  This causes nations to retreat, returning to the safety of old traditions.  Experimentation is curtailed, while conformity and censorship return.  The inverse of openness occurs when immigration is shut off as barriers and restrictions become the norm.  To retain power, leaders move to increased centralization and the closing off of trade, resulting in cultural regression.  Economic strains lead to higher taxation, and as the economy worsens, debasement of the currency creates high inflation. 

Defined by their long periods of peace, safety, and stability, Golden Ages provided openness over censorship and tribes; alliances and emulation over solo endeavors; innovation over tradition and stagnation; and voluntarism over compulsion. 

With the advent of technology and global interchange, imitation can now expand Golden Ages from one location to another.  To do so, however, is to keep the power of the state at bay by reining in the worst aspects of authoritarianism. 

To retrieve what is lost and rediscover that which went missing is to learn the lessons of the past.  That is, the fleeting nature of the Golden Age, and how rare and short-lived they truly have been throughout history.  Remembering how we got there and how we lost our way is the only way to ensure the future Golden Ages not only reappear, but thrive.