To:
oped@nytimes.com
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In his speech at the
Republican convention
President Bush said he knew
“that with the right skills,
American workers can compete
with anyone, anywhere in the
world”. The reality, however, is
that in a globalised economy,
an American or West European
cannot possibly compete with
someone in China, India, or
wherever, who is able to offer
the same skills for a fraction
of the price? Not surprisingly,
globalisation poses no
personal threat to those who
are its strongest advocates:
the legal profession, for
example, from whose ranks most
politicians are drawn, or big
business, whose managers and
shareholders profit from
keeping employees earnings as
low as possible. If it were, to be sure,
they would have us all dance
to a very different tune. Yet those profiting from
globalisation still expect the
sons and daughters of those
who are not (have perhaps lost
their jobs or pensions, or are
having to work themselves to
death for a pittance) to put
their lives on the line to
protect their super-affluent
way of life. America is ripe for a
second, more radical
revolution. Not the violent
overthrow of the existing
order, but the kind of
revolution that is only
possible in a free and
democratic society: the
creation of an alternative
socio-economic order, within
but distinct from the existing
order, which it will
increasingly replace. An order
(particularly its economy) based not on the
values, attitudes and
aspirations of man’s
primitive, more animal than
human nature, as at present,
but on those of his more
enlightened, human nature. And it is not just a matter of creating a more just and humane society, but also of human survival: the creation of a sustainable global economy and ways of life for what will soon be Earth’s 7-9 billion inhabitants. It will be the most radical and important revolution in human history. Either that or our history will soon come to a sticky end. We are well behind schedule and need to get a move on. Time is running out.
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