Revolution

A revolution is defined as, “..a sudden or momentous change in a situation. A drastic and far-reaching change in ways of thinking and behaving…”

I was sitting in the most gorgeous apartment in Condesa (Trendy Greenwich Village type neighborhood) pondering life’s greater questions when I took a closer look my glass of Mezcal. It said,

Here’s to the CRAZY ONES.
the MISFITS. The REBELS.
the TROUBLE-MAKERS.
the ones who
SEE THINGS DIFFERENTLY.
you can QUOTE them,
DISAGREE with them,
GLORIFY, or VILIFY them
but the only thing you CAN’T do is
IGNORE them…
because the people who are
CRAZY enough to think
they can CHANGE THE WORLD
are the ONES DO.
-unknown

Now, I admit that it is one of those cliché sayings that appears on the side of glasses that you see in tourist shops. However, this was different. It spoke to me in a unique way. I will change the world. And you can quote me on it. I am not a socialist, or a communist, or a Democrat, or a Republican. I am a citizen of the world. I, we, have an obligation to open the eyes of the privileged. Of all people. That means all of you reading this have the obligation and you are also the ones who need to open your eyes.

Polarization. There is a certain apathy in America. It is growing. It is one of frustration and indifference. We feel that our opinions and needs are not being addressed, but we feel helpless and handcuffed by the current administration. Our leaders are apathetic to global issues. Nothing much can change, so why bother trying? It is precisely this type of thinking that plagues most of the world.

Here in Mexico things are not much different. There is an essentially three-way presidential race going on right now. No candidate has more than 35% of the vote, and most people are disillusioned by their choices. The one common theme that is strung through all people’s minds is that no matter who they select to run their country, nothing much will change. Institutions are too well-established, globalization, and global business are so entrenched that no policy will transform society very much. They are wrong.

We are standing on the edge of a fundamental shift in the world. This polarization is no longer about politics, about winning and losing, it was affecting the world in an extremely negative way.

Charisma. We need a leader to stand up and say, “follow me.” Teddy Roosevelt referred to the presidency as a bully pulpit. We need someone to use it as such and in an effective way to press the difficult and important issues. The president needs to inspire the people, rouse their support, and direct policy. The president should tell the people what the important issues are and then create substantial policy that fulfills his propositions. An elected official has the trust of the people. That official has a responsibility to do what is best for all people. Sometimes the voter is short sighted, many times the politician thinks in the short-term. Only do enough to get elected again. But we need someone who makes the hard decisions, someone who can see the future and structures the Marshall Plan with the foresight that Europe needs to be rebuilt so that the world can move forward. We need another Alliance for Progress Campaign; we need to focus on Africa.

The Anti-Domino Effect. The Domino Effect was a theory that postulated that if one country falls to Communism, others will follow, and soon all the nations of the world will tumble down like a row of dominos. The Anti-Domino Effect says that if you bring one nation up, increase its GDP per capita, the standard of living, health, and education, that others will also rise up as a result.

We need a president who sees that every foreign policy is interrelated. Investing in Latin America is just like investing in the U.S. When your neighbor builds another room on his house, your property value goes up. When your neighborhood becomes safer, you become safer and your property value goes up. By the same token, if your neighbor’s house is robbed, you live in fear.

The same is true of the Western Hemisphere. The more we invest in Mexico, Central, and South America, the better off we will be. By bringing the standard of living up all over the world, we bring ours up too. So if you are not the idealistic, philanthropic type of person, supporting foreign policy with long-term goals helps you out in a selfish way just as much as it does for others. You can not just ignore one part of the world and focus on another. We should be working towards a World Community.

Border solutions. “The only way to stop illegal migration is to reduce the income gap between the U.S. and Mexico. Mexicans do not seek jobs in America, they seek higher paying jobs. Surveys suggest that 90% of migrants leave jobs in Mexico and come north to increase their earnings by eight times, on average.

As the EU formed, nations didn’t put up fences along their borders. They flung the doors wide open. They invested great sums of money in their poorest countries and in just 15 years significantly reduced the income gap. Migration nearly stopped. Although the EU is tremendously different from North America, it would be foolish not to learn the lessons of their five decades of experience. Their investments in infrastructure had a multiplier effect.
The Proposal. This was put forth by one of the foremost scholars on Latin America and one of the smartest people I know. The idea is create a “North American Investment Fund” to boost Mexico’s growth and close the income gap. It will take $20 billion a year for a decade to close the gap by 20%. To put it in perspective, Europe invested twice as much for twice as long. Mexico should provide half the funds with new taxes; the U.S. 40%; and Canada, 10%. The funds would be administered by the World Bank and be invested in infrastructure.

Prospects. The outlook for approving such a proposal right now are negligible, most would say zero. The question is not whether this is feasible, but where it is desirable and will serve the U.S. and North American interests. For too long, we have been reacting to crises rather than investing in our future.” Too long we have ignored how to impact the future. This proposal addresses fundamental American concerns: immigration, border security, energy, and economic integration.

Cliché. Can you not look 40 years down the line? Can you not see what needs to be done? We need to change the level and substance of the debate in the U.S. We are looking at the little picture, we are bickering over issues that by themselves change very little, we need to open our eyes. Building a fence will never stop immigration. That is an inside the box, small picture resolution. By looking at the macro-level we can see the impact of a “North American Investment Fund” twenty years down the road. If we look at the micro, we see very little change from year to year. Let’s have a little foresight and a little vision.

*Note: The section in quotes was paraphrased and quoted from a working paper. It may not be used or distributed without express written consent from its author. If you would like more information or use of these materials, please write me directly. Thank you.