Friday, October 24, 2003
Anglosphere in Action
Luminaries such as Francis Fukuyama and James C. Bennett have hailed the "Anglosphere" as a liberal (in the classical sense) alternative to the European model of regulated capitalism with a strong welfare state. But can the Anglosphere survive without Anglos? Or at least Anglos in the majority. The prime minister of Singapore wants an "Anglosphere" country to give it a try.[Thanks to counterrevolution.net/vfr for the link]
Fukuyama and Bennett's "Anglosphere" is an abstract concept, a zone where contracts are honored, property is sacred, and capitalism is unfettered by all those pesky national legislatures. Goods and people move freely, and indeed the "Anglosphere" will be delightfully multiethnic because of its welcoming, open nature.
In short the Anglosphere is the 'preposition civilization'.
On the ground, things look a little different.
There is the real Anglosphere, made of up real people. Here is a 'zine that caters to them. Thousands of young adults from the 'settler colonies', the vast majority of them actual Anglos, travel to Britain to work each year. Those under twenty-seven from Canada, Australia, and New Zealand can work part-time as 'working holiday makers'. Thousands from Britain travel to the old colonies each year, also working/traveling.
These sojourners do work the locals "won't do" at the prevailing rate -- kitchen porters, dishwashers, waiters, fruit pickers, etc. They stay some months, save up some money, and travel on. The cost to the host society is minimal. They don't have kids to educate, they are young and healthy and thus don't drain the health system, they live in flatshares and use public transport and thus don't impact too much on the local environment. In short, they are cheap labor with virtually no environmental, fiscal, or cultural cost associated.
Then there is the "Anglosphere" that is being slowly dissolved by massive immigration. On this side of the tracks, the immigrants may be young, but they come with kids or produce them soon after arriving. If they don't have a wife, they soon send for one from the 'old country'. If they have a daughter, they find a husband for her in the ancestral village. Rather than a light and temporary presence, they utterly transform the places in which they settle.
The first model contains a partial solution to our so-called labor shortages. Why not give a six month visa to those under 26 from countries with, say 80% of our per capita GDP and a population growth rate of less than one percent per annum? That is, to the West and to Japan. The kids would gain experience in their travels, and advanced countries would gain truly cheap (i.e. cheap when all the social costs are accounted for) labor.
The second model makes vast stretches of 'Anglosphere' countries unrecognizable as such.
Luminaries such as Francis Fukuyama and James C. Bennett have hailed the "Anglosphere" as a liberal (in the classical sense) alternative to the European model of regulated capitalism with a strong welfare state. But can the Anglosphere survive without Anglos? Or at least Anglos in the majority. The prime minister of Singapore wants an "Anglosphere" country to give it a try.[Thanks to counterrevolution.net/vfr for the link]
Fukuyama and Bennett's "Anglosphere" is an abstract concept, a zone where contracts are honored, property is sacred, and capitalism is unfettered by all those pesky national legislatures. Goods and people move freely, and indeed the "Anglosphere" will be delightfully multiethnic because of its welcoming, open nature.
In short the Anglosphere is the 'preposition civilization'.
On the ground, things look a little different.
There is the real Anglosphere, made of up real people. Here is a 'zine that caters to them. Thousands of young adults from the 'settler colonies', the vast majority of them actual Anglos, travel to Britain to work each year. Those under twenty-seven from Canada, Australia, and New Zealand can work part-time as 'working holiday makers'. Thousands from Britain travel to the old colonies each year, also working/traveling.
These sojourners do work the locals "won't do" at the prevailing rate -- kitchen porters, dishwashers, waiters, fruit pickers, etc. They stay some months, save up some money, and travel on. The cost to the host society is minimal. They don't have kids to educate, they are young and healthy and thus don't drain the health system, they live in flatshares and use public transport and thus don't impact too much on the local environment. In short, they are cheap labor with virtually no environmental, fiscal, or cultural cost associated.
Then there is the "Anglosphere" that is being slowly dissolved by massive immigration. On this side of the tracks, the immigrants may be young, but they come with kids or produce them soon after arriving. If they don't have a wife, they soon send for one from the 'old country'. If they have a daughter, they find a husband for her in the ancestral village. Rather than a light and temporary presence, they utterly transform the places in which they settle.
The first model contains a partial solution to our so-called labor shortages. Why not give a six month visa to those under 26 from countries with, say 80% of our per capita GDP and a population growth rate of less than one percent per annum? That is, to the West and to Japan. The kids would gain experience in their travels, and advanced countries would gain truly cheap (i.e. cheap when all the social costs are accounted for) labor.
The second model makes vast stretches of 'Anglosphere' countries unrecognizable as such.
