Heretical Thoughts

by Michael Bear · 2009-10-12 21:11:00 UTC
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1. Would you take advice on how to fix some of the structural issues facing the States -- say income inequality, or the debt -- from a Congolese man who has spent a grand total of twelve months in the country? You might listen politely, even nod, but chances are you wouldn't find his analysis particularly illuminating.

So, why, exactly, are we qualified to offer governance and economic advice to the Congolese? Or, really, to anyone else?

Most answers seem a variation on the theme of "our system works better than theirs; ergo I'm qualified to dispense advice" -- but, unless you wrote the Federalist Papers or helped establish the European Coal and Steel Community, it's hard to take much personal credit.

2. We are not the first to propose long-term solutions. Current crises rest on the geological layers of previous  comprehensive solutions. Anytime someone criticizes a solution by saying that it only addresses an immediate crisis while leaving the fundamental, long-term problems unresolved is guilty of either a) incredible arrogance or b) stunning naivete.

3. Which is not to say we should talk about long-term solutions. We should do so, however, with an appropriate sense of just how staggeringly difficult it is to achieve said solutions. Or, as I like to think of it, the "peace for our time" corollary.

N.B. -- not quite sure why I'm feeling cynical tonight. Hopefully the mood will pass.

[Photo of an NGO landcruiser in the Congo from Julien Harneis' photostream on flickr]

Michael Bear
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