Freedom and Ghana
I went to Home Depot this afternoon to pick up an extra key. The key “engineer” was from Ghana. Since there was some trouble with the key “machine”, we had some time to talk — maybe 20-30 minutes — while he worked to figure out what was wrong.
I asked him how long he had been in the US. He said 5 years. How do you like it? He replied: “There is no freedom here. We have much more freedom in my country!”
Much more freedom in Ghana than America! Say that to yourself three times! Much more freedom in Ghana than America! Much more freedom in Ghana than America! Much more freedom in Ghana than America! I thought to myself: Good Lord! “Land of the Free, Home of the Brave.” “Beacon On the Summit of the Mountain.” “Shining City on the Hill.” Where art thou, ole buddy?
This is the same dismal message I heard eighteen years ago at USIA. But during those years you sort of had to get it in bits and pieces. If you weren’t intuitive, you’d miss the whole thing. But this guy was much more direct and to the point. His judgment was startling, even to me.
I asked him how the other Ghanans felt who worked at Home Depot. He said their feeling was the same. They were here to save money and then go home. He said one hundred thousand dollars would buy you a house in Ghana that was half the size of Home Depot!
The attraction to the U.S. is utilitarian — not even hedonistic. Hedonism carries them back to Ghana.
When did America stop radiating freedom to the world? How can the U.S. exercise moral leadership in international politics when “hearts and minds” around the world feel like this gentleman? The answer is: you can’t. Increasingly, the U.S. will have to rely on power to secure its interests. Balance of power politics ala Europe will be the only option one day if U.S. relations to the world do not change. And what does that portend? Well, here is one way to put it: The entire U.S. Army is tied down in Iraq, a country of 24 million, which no longer has an army! Yet, we are tied down. What happens when the whole world is mad at us, and our survival depends on worldwide commerce? And they tell us to go to hell. What if people get mad — really mad?
I wonder what the graduate schools, even IWP, are teaching. Is their strategic framework straight out of the past? Better Ambassadors? Better diplomats? Better country officers? That won’t cut it.