It takes a special kind of arrogance—the kind usually reserved for hereditary monarchs or people who tweet about cryptocurrency—to look at a historic economic catastrophe and think, 'We can do that better.' Yet, here we are. The United States, a country that once prided itself on the chaotic, sweaty vigor of the free market, is currently staring at the skeletal remains of India’s 'Licence Raj' and feeling a tingle of romantic inspiration. It’s not just a policy shift; it’s a full-blown descent into bureaucratic masochism, led by people who couldn't manage a lemonade stand without a federal environmental impact study and a diversity consultant.

For the uninitiated—meaning anyone whose education was limited to the American public school system or a curated feed of TikTok activism—the Licence Raj was India’s long, agonizing experiment in strangling its own economy with red tape. From 1947 until the early 90s, if you wanted to produce a bicycle or, god forbid, a tractor, you needed a permission slip from a man in a dusty office who hadn’t smiled since the British left. It was a system designed to ensure that nothing ever happened without a bribe, a three-year wait, and a dozen signatures from people who couldn't tell a sprocket from a samosa. It was protectionism as an art form, a way to keep the world out while ensuring the people inside remained comfortably impoverished. Now, Washington has decided this is the 'vibe' for the 2020s.

The irony is so thick you could choke on it, which is coincidentally what the US economy is currently doing. On the Right, we have the 'America First' crowd, a collection of mouth-breathers who believe that if we just put enough tariffs on everything, the 1950s will magically reappear, complete with affordable housing and a lack of internet trolls. They want to wall off the borders and return to a state of autarkic bliss, oblivious to the fact that isolationism is just another word for institutionalized decay. On the Left, the 'Industrial Policy' enthusiasts—who are really just the same control-freaks with better degrees—want to use taxpayer money to pick winners and losers in the 'green' economy. They imagine they can engineer the future from a boardroom in D.C., ignoring the historical reality that government 'planning' usually results in a surplus of things nobody wants and a deficit of everything people actually need.

Both sides of the aisle are essentially engaged in a game of bureaucratic necrophilia, trying to reanimate a corpse that India spent thirty years trying to bury. The CHIPS Act, the subsidies, the 'Buy American' mandates—it’s all the Licence Raj with a fresh coat of paint and better PR. It’s the belief that a handful of career politicians and their over-caffeinated aides can navigate the complexities of global supply chains better than the millions of individuals who actually participate in them. It is the height of hubris. As India’s history shows, this is the highway to stagnation, yet the American political class is flooring the accelerator.

Every 'expert' currently nesting in the think-tanks of the Potomac seems to suffer from the same delusion: that they possess a 'God-view' of the global economy. They believe that by tweaking a tariff here or providing a tax credit there, they can steer the giant, rusted ship of state into a golden harbor of 'resilience.' They use words like 'resilience' when they really mean 'inefficiency.' In the vocabulary of the modern grifter, 'security' is just a synonym for 'cronyism.' Look at the subsidies being shoveled into the pockets of massive corporations—the very same corporations that have spent the last decade buying back their own stock rather than innovating. And the government’s 'price' for this largesse? A list of social engineering requirements that would make a Soviet commissar blush. You want a factory? Better make sure you have the right childcare plans and the right diversity quotas. It’s not about making chips; it’s about making a political statement. It’s the Licence Raj 2.0: The Inclusion Initiative.

The true horror of the Licence Raj wasn't just the economic loss; it was the psychological toll. It taught an entire generation that success wasn't about merit, but about proximity to power. It turned entrepreneurs into supplicants. America is currently speed-running this transformation. We are trading our edge for the comfort of a padded cell, built by bureaucrats who have never actually produced a single tangible object in their entire pampered lives. They are dismantling the engine of the world because they’re afraid of the noise it makes, and they’re replacing it with a paper-shredder that they’ve labeled 'Progress.'

History doesn’t repeat itself, but it certainly enjoys watching us make the same stupid mistakes over and over again. India’s Licence Raj wasn’t a roadmap; it was a warning. And America, in its infinite, narcissistic wisdom, has decided to treat it like a 'How-To' guide. We aren't learning from India; we're plagiarizing their failures. The politicians are too busy patting themselves on the back for 'investing in the future' to notice the smell of rot. They aren’t leading; they’re shackling. Welcome to the new era of stagnation. Don't worry, the paperwork for your future will be ready in five to seven years, provided you use the correct font.