Many people talk /worry about the rise of the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India & China) as to what this means the US. Of course it means that although we won’t be less powerful or rich in absolute terms, we may be so in terms relative to these 4 countries.
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There is also a lot of discussion about how they have grown into “western style” powers, minus many western style social constructs and what does that mean. How will the US and Europe deal with countries that are powerful but don’t share the same values.
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Okay, take this small leap of projection with me, might it not be said that the United States is the very essence of the BRIC state. Here are the general knocks on the BRICs.
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1. The BRICs governments, although representative in name and often elected fairly, tend to run the governments for the benefit of their friends and cronies. The Untied States surely fits this bill. Private companies, whether Halliburton and Exxon under Bush, or Chase and Morgan Stanley now operate in a fairy world where illegal actions are ignored, positive returns are guaranteed and failure is not allowed by the government for business (but quite possible for individuals). Even our basic bankruptcy laws have been amended so that debt is no longer forgiven, but cared out of bankruptcy “payment garnishment” like some modern day debtors prison.
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2. The BRIC have great differences between the very wealthy and very poor, which the United States has in spades. But this disparity is not the problem, the problem is a system that perpetuates this inequity. The United States is very quickly moving that direction, in 2 basic ways.
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First we have made secondary education, which is a pre-requisite for money and power, too expensive for the bottom of the social classes. Scholarship and affordable state schools can help the middle classes and but college is out of reach for the majority of our poor. This is a new phenomena – and wholly antithetical to America.
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Second, we are removing taxation on inheritance. A country that used to use the threat of an inheritance tax to fund the arts, public works, schools and still let families pass millions to their offspring has changed. We now rail against the “death tax” and the Astor’s, Rockefeller’s and Morgan’s of today pass billions to their families without contributing one iota to society. And we call this fairness.
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Our most basic value of class movement by virtue of quality and hard work is statistically less true in America than Brazil, India and China (we still beat Russia though!).
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3. The BRICs tend to concentrate political power in small tight knit family or groups. Witness the parade of Gandhi offspring that are in Indian Politics, or the dominance of the “Communist” party in China. They could have learned this wholesale from the United States with our Bushes and Kennedys. Dynastic power is then norm in the United States now, not an exception. Jerry Brown, former Governor of California and son of a Governor of California is set to be Governor again next year. Mario Cuomo’s son is reading the same thing in New York. Evan Byah has his father’s old Senate seat in Indiana. Strom Thurmond ran South Carolina since the depression. In fact Strom’s longevity record in the Senate –based on passing huge amounts of federal funds to the region – just like Brazil, Russia and India was recently passed by Robert Bryd of West Virginia who has effective dementia and is told by un elected handlers how to vote.
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4. The BRIC are willing to use the police force on their own people to enforce order. We rail at this during the Chinese Olympics or the Russian Duma – but the Republican Convention in New York in 2004 arrested over 3,500 people for protesting – putting them in jails until the convention was over – only to release them later without charge.
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I could go on, but I think the truth is too scary. The BRICs should not scare us as Americans. They will never turn into Western Democracies run for the good of population They will never be a Norway or France or even Britain.
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That model is dead. Not bleeding, not hurting, but dead.
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America was once the epitome of a modern, class-mobile society based on peaceful negotiations and staying out of power struggles. But that America is gone– for better or worse. Perhaps done in by terror, perhaps done in by greed, perhaps done in by the apathy of her people.
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In the end, it doesn’t matter. In 2011 we will be one of the few countries anywhere in the world where a family’s full riches and power can be bequeathed to their family – in total and without restrictions. Just like the Kings and Royalty we used to be so proud to stand apart from.
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The BRIC countries are scary because they have learned from us. They have learned how to pretend to work for the people, but really concentrate power within a small, rich and private club and get away with it. How to use the constant fear of war or promise of nationalism to cow a population into silence. How to provide enough critiques for complacency – but not enough to threaten those in power.
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Wow. Bad way to state the week-end.