Some excerpts from The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman.
“One problem we have today…is that so many American politicians don’t seem to have a clue about the flat world…venture capitalist John Doerr once remarked to me, “You talk to the leadership in China and they get what is going on immediately. The Americans don’t, because they’re all lawyers.” Added Bill Gates, “…and when you meet with Chinese politicians, they are all scientists and engineers. You can have a numeric discussion with them – you are never discussing ‘give me a one-liner to embarrass [my political rivals] with.’ You are meeting with an intelligent bureaucracy.
I am not saying we should require all politicians to hold engineering degrees, but it would be helpful if they had a basic understanding of the forces that are flattening the world, were able to educate constituents about them and galvanize a response. We have way too many politicians in America today who seem to do the opposite. They seem to go out of their way actually to make their constituents stupid – encouraging them to believe that certain jobs are “American jobs” and can be protected from foreign competition…
Haliburton
ReplyDeleteBeing educated does not make one intelligent, wise, thoughtful, etc. It makes one educated. I think John Kerry and G.W. Bush are what we in Maine call educated idiots.
The wise chineses force abortions (where we just champion them). I don't know that with our freedoms we are anybetter culturaly than the chinese but atleast out of comfort I'll take liberty.
Our problem is the media, it has killed the elitist liberalism of Tom Paine and Tom Jefferson.
Getting in a few generalities here, are you? I was talking about politicians versus real people! We already know that education has nothing with politics, except when politicians try meddling in it.
ReplyDeleteAnd since I've never been to China, I will have to weigh most criticisms of their system carefully...
China has the benefit of watching the demise of the USSR. For instance the Chinese provide special oppritunities for their minorities to insure that they are happy and to prevent unrest that could lead to revolution in areas wear Bejing does not have the same level of control (the outlying areas). The further you get from the center of government the more freedom the people have. It is really a briliant way of providing for harmony. That might change when the ethnic chinese find out that the minorities get special treatment.
ReplyDeleteThe chinese also don't really believe that the government has as much control over their lives as it does.
Nor do we...
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