Long time no diarize. I've been thinking a lot about trust,
although not in Advogato contexts. There was an article in
The Economist a few
years ago that made a huge impression on me. It talked
about what Newt Gingrich and Bill Clinton had in common:
18th century liberalism - belief in democracy, the rule of
law and the free market. Anyway, I was poking around that
argument
between Lawrence Lessig and ESR the other day, and an
article
that Lessig refers to makes
roughly the same argument in the context of modern Russia.
Russia fascinates me for various reasons, not least
because
my best friend and soulmate from Sydney University ended up
there while I ended up in the USA. I've read a bunch of
things, from Jack Womack's Let's Leave the Future Behind Us
to an article about Russian mobsters in Miami in the New
Yorker, which try to convey the sheer futility of
attempting to do business in at atmosphere where everyone
routinely lies and cheats - not because they're liars and
cheats, I hasten to add, but because everyone else is lying
and cheating and that's how you get through the day, and
whatever else happens, your family needs to be fed. Where
do you even begin to reform a system like that?
Frankly, this is what worries me about the WTO
protestors.
Five years ago, believe me, I would have been down there
with them in a sea-turtle costume of my own. These days I
worry about Taiwan and I worry about Timor and Afghanistan
and the best hope I can see for world peace is trade. The
kinds of protectionism some of the WTO protestors are
calling for scares me witless. If we can't be one big happy
family I'll settle for one big, moderately orderly flea
market.
I want my global economy interconnected, because it
gives
Pakistan an excellent reason not to bomb India. I'm all for
marketplaces, as long as I get the democracy and rule of
law you need to make them work. Give me equitable access to
education and health care for all, give me greater
accountability for the directors of corporations and I'll
just get on with being a productive little member of
society. Yes! The fire in my belly is gone! Ireland
completely cured me of romanticism about armed revolution.
These days I get inflamed about SEC accounting rules. I'm a
completely stereotypical mild-mannered reformist geek
policy wonk. Which is why, much as I like and respect Eric, I'm
giving this round to Lessig.
Most of the people I've met - and they include former
IRA
bombers and Microsoft employees - are basically decent and
well-intentioned. All they want is a good life for
themselves and the people they love. I don't know whether
everyone is like that. I tend to doubt it. But I suspect
the great merit of Western civilization is the freedom it
gives me to behave as if they were.
Anyway, thanks, Simon and Jason, for the certs.