One constant issue here in the Tidewater is ‘school re-districting.’ Everyone is very conscious of which school district they are moving into, wanting the best for their kids. So, it’s quite frustrating when a city council approves construction of more housing, knowing it will force changes in the school district boundaries, and when citizens push back, they find “the decision’s been made, too late.”

The lesson is that even up close, in your own city and town, participatory government is hard, controlling politicians is difficult, and an out-of-state developer may have more say than several hundred moms and dads who live “here.” And as for controlling politicians located hundreds, or thousands, of miles away?

Hmmmm…

The President spoke in Davos, Switzerland the other day. It was a pretty good speech, brief and to the point. It encapsulated the President efforts: roll back bureaucracy, free up investors and business, let the market place, the individual, and individual energy and creativity, drive the US economy.

But there’s something not quite right about Davos itself: select politicians, technocrats, academics, and business ‘leaders,’ gathering together to talk about, well, what to do about the rest of us.

That’s really what the Davos Economic Forum is: political and economic leaders meeting to “shape global regional and industrial agendas.” Those are their words; this small group is going to shape agendas – our agendas.

Think: global school districts.

Davos is predicated on very un-democratic concepts of economics, politics and control of market forces. Davos is about a small group sitting down and drawing up agendas, agendas that are not voted on, agendas that in some cases run counter to our and other constitutions.

The majority of the folks who attend Davos, by their attendance, signal they’re more aligned with the murky dealings of the Pentavirate (see Stuart MacKenzie (aka Mike Meyers) in “So I Married an Axe Murderer”) then in representative government or Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand.

But, you might argue, it’s just talk. Businessmen getting together to talk, politicians from different countries getting together to talk, what’s wrong with that?

In the US, if leaders of the steel industry were to get together – private meeting – to discuss what’s next, might we not consider that as trying to control the market? If all the oilmen met in the same room and talked about production and investment and prices and future markets, we’d call it something different. Why is it wonderful when techies get together in Davos, but it’s a trust or a cartel or price fixing when oil industry execs get together in Paramus?

Why is it okay for politicians from different countries to get together and talk about the government economic and industrial policies of others? Why is it okay for these same politicians to talk blithely about policies that would require greater centralization of power, many of them actions counter to both the letter and spirit of the US Constitution?

Thankfully, Mr. Trump didn’t go down that road. Rather, he spoke to his quite pragmatic (and Constitutional) efforts: restoring American strength – economic, diplomatic and military.

In fact, his last two paragraphs summed it up well, and in a subtle way, put an American thumb into more than one eye at Davos:

Together let us resolve it use our power, our resources and our voices, not just for ourselves but for our people, to lift their burdens, to raise their hopes and to empower their dreams. To protect their families, their communities, their histories and their futures. That’s what we’re doing in America, and the results are totally unmistakable. It’s why new businesses and investment are flooding in. It’s why our unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been in so many decades. It’s why America’s future has never been brighter.

Today, I am inviting all of you to become part of this incredible future we are building together. Thank you to our hosts, thank you to the leaders and innovators in the audience but most importantly, thank you, to all of the hard-working men and women who do their duty each and every day, making this a better world for everyone. Together let us send our love and our gratitude to them because they really make our countries run. They make our countries great. Thank you and God bless you all. Thank you very much.

“They” – that would be the citizens – all of us. Not the folks in Davos, just you and me.

Copyright 2018 Arrias
www.vicsocotra.com