This
is the second in a series of articles that will be published intermittently this month.
This article summarizes what I believe were the most important ideas of
2003 in the world of politics and economics. The first article in the
series covered the world of blogs & blogging, and future articles will cover business, the arts & sciences, and the environment.
POLITICS & ECONOMICS -- THE TEN MOST IMPORTANT IDEAS OF 2003
I make no apologies for the fact
that this list reflects my perspective on the political compass (-8.2,
-8.0). Those with conservative or authoritarian views are welcome to
make their own lists.
- Constitutional liberalism must precede democracy, if the democracy is going to endure - Fareed Zakaria makes this point in his best-seller The Future of Freedom.
The ill-advised approach of imperialists throughout history, including
the US today in Iraq, of trying to impose democracy before the
institutions that nurture and sustain it have been introduced and taken
root, is doomed to failure. The future of Iraq is inevitably division,
civil war, and more totalitarianism, and only the Iraqis can, and will,
decide when they're ready for the bold experiment with democracy, on
their own terms.
- The alternative to 'free' trade is 'fair' trade, not no trade - The work of economist Herman Daly
shows that the 'market' is efficient at deciding how best to allocate
scarce resources to producers, but incapable of governing the equally
important tasks of ensuring distributive justice in the allocation of
economic products, and the optimal scale of production of those
economic products. Governments, representing the best interests of
their people, must be free to intervene in markets to regulate these
latter two attributes of an optimal trade system.
- A non-violent, global, connected, consensual politic has the power to withhold consent for war or tyranny - In his book The Unconquerable World, Jon Schell cites the success of Ghandi's and King's non-violent
activism, and the peaceful disintegration of the Soviet bloc, to argue that popular refusal to obey an oppressive government,
irrational law or unwarranted call to arms
can undermine the mightiest of
governments
or tyrants bloodlessly, and bring about needed domestic and
international reforms in politics, law, peace-keeping, and social and
environmental programs and institutions.
- Terrorism is a reaction, not an action - The work of George Lakoff
demonstrates that liberals and conservatives have fundamentally
different worldviews that dictate, among other things, how they believe
violence and disobedience to authority should be dealt with. The
conservative 'strict father' worldview believes in might-makes-right
authority, strict obedience, and severe punishment for disobedience.
The liberal 'nurturing parent' worldview believes that people are
basically good, that fairness should dictate policy, and that consensus
and discussion are healthy. Where conservatives see terrorists as
disobedient children who need to be disciplined, liberals see terrorism
as a symptom of deprivation and desperation, and see the need to treat
the underlying symptoms (poverty and oppression) to solve the problem.
- Our education system breeds a sense of helplessness, acquiescence, fear, guilt about poverty, and self-loathing - As the writings of John Taylor Gatto
reveal, the education system is, despite the valiant and
well-intentioned efforts of teachers, the means by which the vast
majority of people today are subdued, dumbed-down, kept in line, and
reduced to passive consumers instead of active citizens. Without reform
of the education system, other political, economic and legal reforms
will be ineffective.
- The search for endless productivity improvement is a race to the bottom - In its study of the success of Wal-Mart, Fast Company
magazine showed how the company's single-minded preoccupation with
ever-lower prices at any cost was driving the North American economy to
massive offshoring, the sacrifice of quality, and the bankrupting of
some very good companies. The spiral has been called 'the race to the
bottom' and I illustrate it in the diagram above that I call 'The
Wal-Mart Dilemma'. We need to strike a balance between low prices on
the one hand, and the preservation of North American jobs and high
product quality on the other. If we don't, Wal-Mart will decide for us,
and their choice is clear.
- The American middle class is disappearing - Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren's new book The Two Income Trap
shows that massive increases in costs of housing (especially in areas
with prestige schools), health insurance, transportation and education
have opened up a chasm between America's 'haves' and 'have nots', most
notably pushing middle-class parents to the verge of bankruptcy in huge
numbers. What's worse, the shame and stigma of bankruptcy is preventing
the afflicted parents from seeking recourse against usurious lenders,
or even talking openly about this growing, life-destroying problem. The
resultant massive concentration of power and wealth in America (see
chart above) has enormous implications for the country's future.
- The next economy will support consumers holistically to solve their problems, not just sell them products - In her book The Support Economy, Shoshana Zuboff argues that
what is needed is a new economic layer, a
're-intermediation', between the producer and consumer, which consists
of 'federations' of businesses and 'advocates'
who work collaboratively to look after the busy consumer's needs
cradle-to-grave and deal with
the multiple suppliers in the product/service delivery process. I
confess I don't share the author's exuberance that such 'support' will
be affordable by any except the rich elite, but so many people I
respect loved this book and its ideas that I felt I had to include it.
- Our fixation with helplessness distorts our perceptions of risk and leads us to make dysfunctional decisions - In an article explaining our passion for SUVs and the dangerous feeling of invincibility they give us, Malcolm Gladwell
explores the concept of Learned Helplessness -- our perspective failure
to realize that the risks posed to life and limb by forces outside our
control are dwarfed by the factors we can
control. And it's in the media's and politicians' best interests to
pander to this misperception -- to get us focused on things like
terrorism, Mad Cow and SARS that no one can really do anything about,
distracting us from far greater but less sensational dangers we can,
with money and effort, fix -- things like air and
water pollution, tainted food from corrupt and underregulated meat
packers, drugs in sport and airplane cockpits, drunk drivers, kids with
guns, corporate frauds, gerrymandering, and our fatally flawed
education and prison systems and treatment of the mentally ill. Things
that destroy hundreds of thousands of lives every year.
- US debt threatens global economic collapse - Even the US-dominated International Monetary Fund
is now sounding the alarm that the massive and irresponsible debt built
up in three short years by the Bush regime is the greatest threat to
the global economy, and with it, our jobs and life savings, since the
reckless conditions that precipitated the great depression.
|
MADE IN CANADA
trust your
instincts 
