IDEOLOGY VS. FACT AND FACT VS. IDEOLOGY:

Globalization, Alive and Well (THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN, September 22, 2002, NY Times)

"Globalization fatigue is still very much in evidence in Europe and America, while in places like China and India, you find a great desire for participation in the economic expansion processes," said Jairam Ramesh, the Indian Congress Party's top economic adviser. ". . . Even those who are suspicious now want to find a way to participate, but in a way that manages the risks and the pace. So we're finding ways to `glocalize,' to do it our own way. It may mean a little slower growth to manage the social stability, but so be it. . . . I just spent a week in Germany and had to listen to all these people there telling me how globalization is destroying India and adding to poverty, and I just said to them, `Look, if you want to argue about ideology, we can do that, but on the level of facts, you're just wrong.' "

This quote is a thing of beauty but the failure of globalization's ideals in nations that are at the point of late stage liberal democratic capitalism (Western Europe and Japan) deserves greater attention. As India globalizes (becomes more free, especially economically) it needs to try to avoid the development of massive social welfare programs that end up destroying the desire for freedom in the long run. To ignore the rising prosperity of an India, which is globalizing, is to ignore facts, but the same is true of ignoring the decline of Europe and Japan. Posted by Orrin Judd at September 22, 2002 6:08 AM