Every day lately, the entirety of media seems to hone in on domestic issues. This makes sense in the context of the upcoming presidential election, but it's also important to direct our attention outwards. This is the opinion of an anonymous gentleman I interviewed recently, whom I will call John. In his view, the number one political problem facing America “has to be the number of high-ranking politicians, including many of our presidential candidates, who prioritize either isolationist policies or policies of international hostility, which are not beneficial to the continuation of beneficial trade relationships.”
In essence, we need to refocus. We need to reframe the discussion to talk more about how we as a country can help the rest of the world.
In regards to economics, John puts forward a complicated stance. He suggests, “Economics in America needs to be highly consumerist in order to keep production levels high internationally. Americans need to learn to make concessions as a nation, for both issues of environmental concern and…issues of economic stability of allies.” We cannot simply ignore the economic plights of the rest of the world. He says it is crucial we lend a hand to the economic plights of other nations, specifically citing the “economic tensions” between the EU and Japan.
In order to put these ideas into action, John recommends that we reconsider how we provide foreign aid, saying, “We need to shut down political avenues of aid, which includes the United Nations. We need to shut down a private understanding of aid as being something with little local involvement.” In his mind, it is important to avoid systems of dependence, or other situations that could create emotions of superiority and inferiority between nations:
“We need to encourage investment in international markets and we need to encourage production in international markets. [We should o]bviously not encourage unfair labor practices or illegal labor practices, like child labor, but [should] encourage taking advantage of cheap labor, to make cheap goods that the U.S. then consumes, which puts money in the pockets of poor countries for them to pursue education and then hopefully develop new comparative advantages.”
Thus, instead of America simply bottle-feeding poorer nations, they can start to develop for themselves.
All of these policy ideas exist for the purpose of absolutely reforming third-world countries and putting them on top. John doesn’t just believe that third-world countries should be brought to our level, he thinks they should surpass us. He lays out this glorious dream, encapsulating his hopes for the poor world, specifically Africa:
“The African Union needs to militarize. It begins as a very understandable notion to address Boko Haram. From there it becomes controlling military factions in North Africa. From there they do the world a favor and they take care of ISIS. Before you know it, they’ve conquered Europe, they’ve conquered Asia, then they’ve conquered the Americas. Then we have 1984, but instead of having big brother, we have big African brother, and it’s gorgeous."
