Monday, February 7, 2011

What Egypt Needs

Even if it were possible for liberal democracy to take root in the arid soil of Egyptian culture, a day at the polls would hardly suffice to set Egypt on the road to modernity.

Yesterday, I suggested that the debate about how best to affect a transition to liberal democracy in Egypt was misguided. Egypt would do best to follow China and institute free market capitalism before worrying about free elections.

Today, Bill Frezza takes up the same point, more substantively. As he writes: “The deepest malady afflicting the Egyptian people, and most other underdeveloped countries for that matter, is not lack of the vote. It's the inability to open a bakery without spending two years hacking and bribing your way through a bureaucracy designed to stomp on independent businesses. It's the impossibility of getting clear title to the land your home is built on. It's the indignity of being told that you can't sell vegetables without a fistful of permits issued by corrupt and inaccessible political appointees. It's the dashed dreams that come from earning a college degree then finding out that the only jobs available are government jobs reserved for the well-connected.” Link here.

Frezza adds: “So the international community should stop trying to foment some grand bargain aimed at achieving an impossible balance of political power among implacable foes. Instead the unified goal should be to free Arab economies from the straightjacket of government control regardless of who is in the driver's seat.”

Still and all, can the transition to free enterprise can take place “regardless of who is in the driver’s seat?” In truth, it would probably take an exceptional, but somewhat authoritarian figure to provide the right leadership.

If Frezza is right, and I think he is, then Egypt needs its own Deng Xiaoping. What are the chances of that occurring?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

TO: Dr. Schneiderman, et al.
RE: Hmmmmm.....

“The deepest malady afflicting the Egyptian people, and most other underdeveloped countries for that matter, is not lack of the vote. It's the inability to open a bakery without spending two years hacking and bribing your way through a bureaucracy designed to stomp on independent businesses. It's the impossibility of getting clear title to the land your home is built on. It's the indignity of being told that you can't sell vegetables without a fistful of permits issued by corrupt and inaccessible political appointees. It's the dashed dreams that come from earning a college degree then finding out that the only jobs available are government jobs reserved for the well-connected.” -- Someone cited by Stuart

Sonds a LOT like where US is going.

And we wonder just 'why' that is happening....NOT!

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[The Truth will out....not that the 'kids' care much about it....until it's too late....]

Stuart Schneiderman said...

That's a great point, Chuck. It shows the risks of over-regulation, even when it is justified and rationalized as being done... for your own good.

Whether in Egypt or America it seems mostly to be done to benefit the bureaucrats whose jobs depend on making work for themselves.

Fortunately, we are not quite at the same point as Egypt, but certain segments of our polity are currently trying to lead us in that direction.

Anonymous said...

TO: Dr. Schneiderman, et al.
RE: We're Not Dead Yet

But we're getting there.

NOW in my state, one has to have a license in order to:

• Advise someone on interior decoration
• Install an irrigation system
• Advise someone on how to layout a landscape

I understand that some citizens in North Carolina submitted an idea on how to manage traffic in their community and the NCDOT honcho has filed a lawsuit against them for their temerity.

If we're not there yet, we're getting there in a BIG hurry.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
P.S. By the way, a couple of state assembly sessions ago, some D-person in the house introduced a law on the management of....get this....TREE SQUIRRELS. With penalties to home owners....