Walter Rhett: The Real Issue of Redefinition

Stand down from greed; strike the last word: I argue the real issue today is cultural literacy. This week, Ann Romney forgot her manners as she speculated on the number of vacations she and her family might take if in office. “Not as many as the Obamas,” she coyly pronounced.

Has Ann being counting? Is she envious of these trips where the dog doesn’t have to be tied to the roof of the car? Does she long for the common touch of the Obama vacations? Or will the trips to her five homes not count? Better to say, “I’m not thinking about vacations now when the recovery has left some many homeless and displaced.” But the homeless and displaced are behind Ann Romney’s invisible veil.

Also behind that veil is the need to redefine the public-private partnership between business and government and reset common and national goals. The wrongheaded approach of greed, deception and inequality cannot sustain itself in a global environment that is changing by leaps to cooperative measures.

For example, the Philippines has lent $251M to Ireland, Greece and Portugal and put $4.55B into a multilateral Asian fund. Thirty-two countries are funding a great Asian highway, connecting the economies of Vietnam and Cambodia to Europe, while the US squabbles over bridges and potholes and the GOP holds up a transportation bill. Japan has directly financed debt issues for other countries. The most successful efforts at eliminating poverty are direct payments to families tied to education (Mexico, Brazil).