[Vision2020] Factless and Tactless in the World: Romney's Cultural Chauvinism Rankles and Misleads

[Nicholas Gier]

Good Morning Visionaries:

The first spelling of this title had a cowboy flavor to it: "Factless and
Tackless in the World: Romney's Cultural Chauvinism Rangles and Misleads."
 Must be my mild dyslexia, which I've just recently discovered.  I believe
it is the reason why I cannot follow musical lyrics.

I've made the following update to my Health Care Ironies column:

In his recent visit to Israel Romney praised Israel for containing its
medical costs.In 1995 the conservative Likud government passed a major
health reform law that required basic coverage for every citizen.  The
Israeli government put strict controls on medical inflation, and this jibes
nicely with Romney’s position in *USA Today* that only the federal
government can control costs. Yet another juicy irony is the statement of a
Romney aide that the woman featured in a Democratic campaign ad would not
have died of cancer if she had lived in Massachusetts.  Conservatives of
course are asking for her head.

My prediction is that the more Americans know how radical Paul Ryan's
budget the less likely they will support the GOP ticket.  Even now,
resolving all the toss-up states, the amazingly accurate RealClearPolitics
has Obama winning the electoral vote 332-206. The Senate prediction is
50-50, and Biden of course can break any tie.  Sadly he has now power to
stop the GOP from requiring 60 votes for most legislation.

Now off to the Gay Pride Parade,

Nick

*ROMNEY’S CULTURAL CHAUVINISM RANKLES AND MISLEADS*

By Nick Gier

            Mitt Romney’s visits to England, Israel, and Poland have turned
out to be unmitigated disasters.  He violated most of the rules of
diplomatic decorum and once again demonstrated that he has only a tenuous
connection to the world of facts.


When he declared that “culture makes all difference” between the Israeli
and Palestinian economies, he was not only factually incorrect but also
chauvinistic in the extreme.


            Every year the World Economic Forum measures economic
competitiveness according to 12 criteria. Among the top thirty nations 16
are welfare states with high taxes and mixed economies, 7 have
Confucian-Buddhist cultures, and five are Muslim states. Israel finds
itself in 22nd place between Muslim Malaysia and Confucian-Buddhist South
Korea.


            The World Bank has ranked countries according to ten criteria
for “ease of doing business,” and again 8 welfare states are among the top
20 and Confucian/Buddhist Singapore and Hong Kong are on top. Japan sits at
20th and Taiwan is at 25th.


Three Muslims state actually are ahead of Israel way down in 34th place.
What happened to Romney’s alleged cultural advantage? And was divine
providence responsible for the Buddhist, Confucian, and Muslim business
success?


            Israel’s founders were doctrinaire socialists and their success
was “achieved through an entrepreneurial government that dominated a small
primitive private sector.”  From 1950-55 Israel’s socialist economy grew at
a blistering 13 percent per year and then averaged 10 percent into the
1960s. It is really ironic that Romney condemns Obamacare, but while in
Israel he praised its system of socialized medicine for containing medical
costs.


Israel Aerospace Industries is still owned by the government and it is
Israel’s largest employer, producing high quality jet planes, helicopters,
and missiles. Many top Israeli entrepreneurs are military veterans, and the
synergy between that government enterprise and innovation has been
amazing.


Zahi Khouri, a Palestinian American and CEO of the Palestinian National
Beverage Company, returned to the West Bank in 1993.  Like many Palestinian
businessmen, Khouri lives on Israeli-issued tourist visas, which sometimes
expire after only a week.


Yousef Munayyer, Executive Director of the Jerusalem Fund, asks the obvious
question: “How can an economy prosper with severe restrictions on movement,
restricted import and export, 500+ checkpoints, no access to 60 percent of
the land for private investment, severe limitations on access to water and
agricultural space, etc.?”


Even with these restrictions the Palestinian economy grew 9 percent in
2010, but it is now down to 5.4 percent.  In the same year Israel’s economy
grew by 4.6 percent and the U.S.’s rate with the Obama stimulus was 3.8
percent. Without any further stimulus the rate has now fallen to 1.5
percent.


Some might say that Israel has imposed these restrictions on the
Palestinian Territories because of terrorist threats, but attacks from the
West Bank have decreased dramatically over recent years.  West Bank
Palestinians are being punished for the rocket attacks coming from the Gaza
Strip, and they have no control over the behavior of the more radical
Hamas.


Most of the violence in the West Bank is coming from Jewish settlers, who
strike with impunity because the Isareli military protects them. Over
300,000 Israelis live in 100 settlements, which are considered illegal
under international law.  Over the past three years attacks on Palestinians
are up 150 percent, and there have been 150 violent incidents initiated by
settlers in this year alone.

Let me conclude with some historical observations.  Muhammad’s wife was a
successful businesswoman, and every year Muslim traders sailed to India to
sell their goods.  Their camel trains went as far as Western China and all
across North Africa to Spain, Morocco, and Timbuktu.

Both the Chinese and the British originally believed that business was not
a suitable profession for a gentleman, but traditional prejudices slowly
die off when there is money to be made.

Nick Gier taught philosophy at the University of Idaho for 31 years.
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