Paramendra Bhagat's Blog
Sunday, January 30, 2005
So Iraqis flock to vote in droves. How can the media not have seen this coming? I guess they stick too much to the man-bite-dog stories, and not enough to the dog-bite-man stories. This is also a slap in the face of racists who think non-whites less capable of democracy.
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
I read an interesting piece earlier in some magazine. That the Dems will support an amendment to make it possible for Arnold to run for President, if the Repubs will support an end to the amendment that bars from running again. That sounds intriguing, though highly improbable.
Thursday, January 20, 2005
George W. gave a fine speech. With the conservative-progressive divide in America, my tilt towards the progressives is primarily social. I am not capable of getting too excited about a few percentage points in tax brackets for this or that group, and I have serious policy disagreements with the president. But I also have to give credit where credit is due.
- It was not a Democrat but this Republican who gave this country its first African American Secretary of State.
- Ditto for first African American woman Secretary of State.
- Ditto for first Hispanic nominee for Attorney General.
I think he "gets it" on the issue of expanding freedom in the world, although his style is too military, not enough in terms of funding indigenous movements in their non-violent quests. If the US were to pump in $200 billion into information technology and grassroots organizing, democracy would be near universal. I also think he is imbalanced on the corporate question. He "gets" the market forces, but refuses to see the political distortions created by corporations.
Some of the lines I would like to mention.
- - and then there came a day of fire.
- The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.
- So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.
- And when the soul of a nation finally speaks, the institutions that arise may reflect customs and traditions very different from our own.
- America will not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains, or that women welcome humiliation and servitude, or that any human being aspires to live at the mercy of bullies.
- ..... there can be no human rights without human liberty.
- Americans, of all people, should never be surprised by the power of our ideals.
- Democratic reformers facing repression, prison, or exile can know: America sees you for who you are: the future leaders of your free country.
- The concerted effort of free nations to promote democracy ...
- By our efforts, we have lit a fire as well - a fire in the minds of men. It warms those who feel its power, it burns those who fight its progress, and one day this untamed fire of freedom will reach the darkest corners of our world.
- You have seen that life is fragile, and evil is real, and courage triumphs.
- In America's ideal of freedom, citizens find the dignity and security of economic independence, instead of laboring on the edge of subsistence.
- ..... the truths of Sinai, the Sermon on the Mount, the words of the Koran, and the varied faiths of our people.
- ..... our country must abandon all the habits of racism, because we cannot carry the message of freedom and the baggage of bigotry at the same time.
- We go forward with complete confidence in the eventual triumph of freedom. Not because history runs on the wheels of inevitability; it is human choices that move events.
- ..... freedom is the permanent hope of mankind, the hunger in dark places, the longing of the soul.
I believe in the ownership society ideal, but this guy, though is not crunching numbers. He has been more swayed by ideology. But I greatly like the part of speech more important to me: the foreign policy part. My disagreements are only in the details. The broad stroke is great.
Sunday, January 16, 2005
I am about to marry my writing with Google AdSense. Instant publication. Global audience. "Free" stuff for readers. Money made through ads only. That includes books that my research team based out of Janakpur and Kathmandu are helping me write. No need for agents and publishers. Marketing word of mouth and totally online. It is a risk worth taking.
Founded an online university as well today.
Has been a productive day.
China was the leading country on the planet about 800 years back, like America is today. They say the 19th century was Britain's, the 20th was America's, and the 21st is going to be China's and India's. I think that is an overly simplistic proclamation. The maps do not stay static. Countries as they are laid out today are not and have not always been the fundamental building blocks of geopolitics. It is misleading to to extrapolate the current map both ways in time too far away. The maps change. Economic intergration in various parts of the world, and all over the planet as a whole might be the true big story of the 21st century. 20th century tribalism might subside. The overall welfare of all peoples might get enhanced. It is possible to imagine a win-win situation.
Say China and India overtake America in terms of GDP, a very likely scenario. But today an average Chinese makes $700 a year to an average American's $21,000. That gap might still stay quite wide even after the Chinese GDP becomes greater than America's. Plus, as the Chinese and the Indians become twice and thrice as much wealthy, that is more money they have to buy American products and services, further fueling American growth. And hence win-win.
Race relations in America similarly have a global twist. The white people in America in general, or in pockets of the country, might stay on prejudiced, but I do not see another Martin Luther King coming down the aisle: that is unnecessary. More likely, the prejudiced whites will lose - as in make comparatively less money - in the increasingly globalizing economy of today. Diversity pays.
Ultimately it is not about the ego of heads of state, as in, I have a nuke or two, do you! Ultimately it is about the individual everywhere. Global internet access might do more to undermine isolated dictatorships than any single thing. Global internet access might make possible for college students in Bhutan to listen to lectures delivered at MIT: that is empowering.
Make money, not war might be the mantra.
I have been able to locate some tsunami amateur videos. And some more. And some.
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
That is what I like about companies like Walmart and Dell: they are a democratizing force. They are constantly trying to bring the costs down. Whereas Apple has always acted like the price is the least interesting item with a product. For most consumers that just is not true. Take a little money from a lot of people, and you end up with a ton of money. Just ask the federal government!
