> - 2.2 Admittedly, not exactly solved, but classes are how we hide variable these days.

You can use a const in a function and wrap it in {$J+} to allow modifying consts. And that's a static variable on that function (or procedure), e.g.

{$J+}

procedure A; const C: integer = 0; begin Inc(C); Writeln(C); end;

{$J-}