Permanence as an idea

Much has been said and written about today’s world problems. Most are ignored until they affect us in the USA. Typical topics are nation-states, tribes, globalization, free trade, islamofacism, and global warming. It is when it starts getting down to jobs and Family security that the antennas go up. Even our “safety net” for income does not overcome resentment to being replaced by jobs going overseas. Most people want to go to work and do a good job. And this can apply to any country, not just the USA. Add in the human tendency to resist change, be it good or bad, and then the local politicians kick in. Often it is for good reason since not all change is good. Some change can be bad.

One bad effect for the long term is the idea of globalization, and its corollary, free trade. While the academic ivory tower ideas may be noble, the human practices of its implementation need much to be desired in too many places. Just ask those who wonder about their communities and Families, their workers, their faiths, their technology base (even cobblers, cabinet makers, and grocery workers have a technology base), and ultimately its economy. In simple words, it’s a local quality of life issue unfettered by drastic change. It is about the normal people that also vote that this is heard more and more.

This idea of resistance to change is as old as human history. Often there is wisdom in this resistance to change, since all changes are not necessarily for the better. In all cases, good change or bad change, the world does change as history shows. And it will probably continue to change in spite of all we people do to intervene for all the reasons we do so. Lest this get to be too pie-in-the-sky writing, let me return to earth. While change is constant, our world ability to intercommunicate, that is, talk to each other, is pretty good. Even stone age tribes in the Amazon rainforest have short wave radios, and often satellite TV. In this best ever ability to talk to each other, ideas (good and bad) can become global faster than ever before.

I think we are being driven towards permanence, more specifically economic permanence. Rather than flesh it out in this article, I freely admit I am borrowing an idea from Gandhi which he called “Swadesi”. To make a long story short, instead of the human implementation of globalization changing communities all over the world much too quickly for human taste, instead advance local permanence of economies and societies, and let communications take care of the change over a longer period of time than is happening today. And maybe change will not occur. Societies always tend to be smarter than the academic theories.

The practical application in the USA sounds simple. Slow down new free trade agreements and globalization policy implementations until the local communities, and their politicians, get more time to weigh in. This will send a message to those on the other side who exploit globalization and free trade agreements to gain business at the expense of our local communities. Yes, we all want good quality things at good prices which are brought to us these days. But on the other end, it works the same way. People want a local quality of life for their Families, also. Being rendered apart as a Family and community, induced to a new standard too quickly, and suffering environmental degradations such as birth defects will also cause maximum resistance (often called a revolt or revolution). There is a better way. I call it permanence. And there is a way to implement it. Slow down and see what happens.