ALUMRISE

Jobs, economy, health, wealth, security. These are the themes I heard echoed across three regions of the world recently – South Asia, the Middle East and Europe – during three enlightening weeks of travel abroad.

Interestingly, I fell into somewhat esoteric, philosophical conversation late one night around the idea that the recent global economic crisis has led to a true discrediting of the world order. 

It got me thinking. If the last century was about the prevalence of two competing systems – communism, and capitalism, with passing nods to socialism – it is becoming unclear what governing tenets will prevail in the coming one and how the system will evolve.

Today, it’s certainly clear too many are falling outside the important, social net that keeps our world healthy. Whether it’s the millions losing jobs and baseline security in the previously secure U.S. market, or the many millions who never had that security in the first place across the poverty-stricken, crime ridden developing world, have enough now fallen outside that the system faces a genuine threat?

Here’s my position or thought … for what it’s worth. The functioning of stable, liberal democracy and a world order as we know it today is based on satisfying enough people enough of the time by taking care in a meaningful way of the needs both primal (home, health, food, water) and emotional (culture, expression, art).

The bell has rung to begin the exam to figure out how to save, or evolve our world system. The mandate for any evolution of the system – with no prejudice for governing names or ideologies – should be that we do a better job of protecting and securing the baseline needs of more of the people, more of the time. Are we close to satisfying even a meager 50%; will we pass or fail?

Note to system architects: primal needs matter greatly when you age, or during the early years of life – stages that much of the world are now in. We are not a middle-aged world concerned only with freedom and wealth. We are a young-old world concerned with health, security and the proper nurturing of changing life stages.

We need to lay the foundation of a more humane evolution of our governing world systems before we rush to protect ideology. I’m not arguing against or for free market capitalism or for any recreation of something like communism. Frankly the older I become, the more boring I find pure ideology.

Instead I’m simply saying that our system needs to recognize the changes occurring in our world, and do a better job of evolving to fulfill the needs of ….

• A newly minted retiree without a pension or healthcare in the U.S., no savings, and no family member with a job
• A young mother in Dubai whose husband will be deported next week with a home that has depreciated 50%, she lives in a car
• An engineer in Pakistan who wants a real world-class education in every sense
• An artist in Eastern Europe whose livelihood depends on enough people having the time or interest to travel and think about art, because their bellies and pockets are full
• An so on

Jobs, economy, health, wealth, security. Better linking the economic engine to the social net.  Whether you’re in the US or elsewhere, aren’t these the things that matter most?