One of my favorite podcast episodes in 2018 was a February More Or Less show about China’s bold plan to end poverty in the next five years. As usual, the show’s details were concerned with the plan’s use of measurements, metrics, and statistics. The main goal of the episode was to use these numbers to assess the plan’s feasibility and question whether the proposed time frame is realistic.
As I listened to the program, I had this stray thought – what would it mean if China does successfully end poverty? One thing I’m sure of is that if China succeeded, it would mark the first time in my lifetime that the USA was unquestionably outdone by a rival nation. Some of my worldly readers may protest – now Tim, hold on there, this isn’t the first time, remember World Event X? I could also see my patriotic readers make the opposite point – hold on there, Tim, America is the land of the free and the home of the brave, we never get outdone! And of course, I should tip my cap to the dismissive comedian – I’d rather be poor here than rich in China!
Well, my apologies, hypothetical readers, but though I would respect those protests and acknowledge the flimsy foundations upon which many of my opinions are often constructed, in general I think ending poverty should be The Number One Goal among all of our current world problems. This is a point I outlined in more detail in last week's post about inventing calculus. In my mind, every other noble crusade is either a subset of ending poverty or comes in among a group of important problems that are clear runners-up to getting the entire human race across the poverty line.
But regardless of where poverty falls on the priority list of world problems, as an American I’m simply disgusted by the idea that another country would outdo us in any way. We should be setting the example that China follows, not the other way around. But if they beat us to ending poverty then I would have no choice but to tip my hat to them and acknowledge an accomplishment that should have belonged to America.
I do not think others would share this reaction. I think many would learn of this and say something clever like “well, it’s easier to end poverty in China than in America”. For a lot of my fellow Americans, national superiority is taken for granted. Our place atop the world pecking order is not something to prove every day with our next great accomplishment but rather a position we are entitled to merely because of yesterday’s achievements. Our desire for greatness is simply too easily sated with trivial markers of relative superiority like Olympic gold medals, advancements in military technology, or complicated calculations of GDP. We’d rather release yet another blockbuster film about World War II and all the people we helped seven-plus decades ago instead of educating and empowering Americans to help people today. By allowing ourselves to become so easily distracted by today’s glittering objects, we fail to consider what we should be doing right now to win favorable reviews in tomorrow’s history books.
Well, have a listen to that podcast episode, reader, because here comes China. I suspect they’ve crunched the numbers and concluded that world power in a global capitalism means the country with superior ideas is eventually going to beat a country with a superior military. The math isn't complicated - China has three times as many people as the US, so if China can get each of their citizens up to the same idea generating capacity as an American, then China will be three times as likely as the US to come up with the next great idea. By aiming to end poverty, China is taking the first step toward unlocking their superior manpower and harnessing its full idea generation capacity.
China has studied the past and concluded that the surest way to get into a history book is to make history. They’ve concluded that the country with the idea that cures cancer, protects the environment, or feeds everyone will win the future. All they need to do is have one of their citizens come up with the ideas that they can sell to other countries. As I wrote a week ago, I think the best way to do this is to free people to spend as much time as possible thinking and creating. The first step to this goal is ending poverty.
Can America beat China to this goal? I don’t think so, at least not yet, because we don’t celebrate our leaders for reducing poverty with the same vigor we applaud their other accomplishments. Quick quiz – which President lifted the most people out of poverty during his tenure? Tough question, right? If you know the answer, you did the work on your own, scrappy reader, and I commend you, because I know you didn’t learn the answer in school. In school, they were too busy teaching us other things about our leaders, things having to do with landing on the moon or manifesting our destiny. These are important details, too, but maybe they should come after the students get the facts about how poverty changed under a given president’s leadership.
We were once the nation that showed the world how to apply the simple concepts of freedom and liberty to the world. Back when America was invented – a great idea that was envisioned, I should add, mostly by people who were not in poverty – a country writing down these ideas about freedom and committing to governing by these ideas was a big deal. The application wasn’t perfect – it mostly applied to white dudes, at least for a while – but slowly, the country has done better to make these concepts a daily reality for more and more people.
These days, though, the simple concepts are not enough. Most other countries have caught on to our little freedom tactic and we are now surrounded by nations whose citizens live with the same principles as us. Some of them – like China – are taking the next step and recognizing that no matter what the rhetoric, individuals who are mired in poverty do not enjoy the full fruits of freedom and liberty. The countries that are responding to this reality and aiming to end poverty are doing something as audacious in this 21st century as our Founding Fathers did in the 18th.
Will we let China beat us to this goal? It certainly looks that way. I don’t think we are even able to acknowledge that this is a goal. America is like a poorly trained weight lifter – given the choice, we always pull from the top rather than lift from the bottom. We’re just too accustomed to worrying about the result and unconcerned about proper technique. If America was a business, we would be really good at increasing revenue but not so good at controlling costs (1).
The way to beat China to this goal is two-fold. First, we must harness the uniquely American vigor, enthusiasm, and patriotism we’ve relied on in the past to accomplish far more difficult objectives. Compared to the Apollo program, getting everyone dinner should be a breeze. And yet, here we are in 2019 and the signs to the contrary are everywhere. Just have a stroll around Harvard University, one of the world’s smah-test places, and notice how it remains surrounded by homeless people. I know the wizards in academia are working on a lot of other more important projects but I think we'll have an easier time building up to new heights if we put everyone on a rock-solid foundation first.
The second step is a little trickier – we need to value the goal as a worthwhile ambition. It might be good enough to simply frame this in a nationalist way – don’t lose to China, end poverty first! – but I think deep down we as a citizenry must believe in the end of poverty before we can really achieve it. China has a plan and we don’t. China has a goal and we don’t. And although this plan and this goal might be a little out of reach, at least China has a start. But it’s important to remember that a plan and a goal imply an underlying idea that everyone believes in. I fear America doesn’t have this – or any – idea. I don’t think we in America even have a clue, quite frankly, about what it means to live up to our own ideals.
America has never been the home of the free and the land of the brave by sitting around and waiting for China’s example. But that’s where we are headed, it seems. I’ve heard a lot about how we’re bringing back Chinese jobs, one factory at a time, so that we can all fulfill the American Dream of working in a sweatshop. We've also been hearing for a couple years about how important it is to build a giant wall to keep who were born outside the country out. This is reminiscent of China’s foreign policy from hundreds of years ago – and their wall was much bigger, by the way. What can we copy next from China? Maybe its really complex writing system? How about giving communism a try? Or maybe being rubbish at basketball? Give me a break.
Hopefully, Beijing’s next great plan that we end up copying will do a little more good for the world and, more importantly, for America. This is why my fingers are crossed for China’s poverty initiative. It’s big, it’s ambitious, and it would be completely unfeasible for just about any other country to even consider. People once said the same about America’s plans. Let’s give the world reason to do so again.
Footnotes / imagined complaints
1. No, not a dig at the budget, or the deficit…
The analogy hinted at here breaks down when we consider what revenue really means in the context of the US government. I think it’s taxes and, well, when it’s considered that way…
But of course, as one of our presidents once put it, the business of America is business. So the analogy is there for anyone willing to do a little more work to iron out the rough edges. I’ll leave that task to you, motivated reader.
