It has been interesting to live in a nation that was once one of the wealthiest and most successful countries in the world, but is no longer. (My family and I are currently in Argentina.)
At the turn of the century, in the early 1900s, Argentina was a top 10 GDP nation built upon massive exportation of grains and meats. Their success was derived from multiculturalism, generous immigration policies, and an ability to work with foreigners both in terms of investment and export strategies. Argentina generally had higher wage-paying jobs than Europe at the time. This persisted roughly until World War I.
What the hell happened? Crappy government is what happened.
Powerful people making decisions to benefit themselves while hurting their country is what happened. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
Over the years, the fascist-style dictatorships that have been in power managed to:
- Ensure that Argentina didn't make the leap when economies shifted from an agricultural base to an industrial base.
- Embrace militarism, which did little for the economy or the people.
- View themselves as an island in Latin America and avoided integrating with other economies on their own continent.
- Continue to squeeze and shrink the middle class, creating a nation of large income disparity.
Argentina is a cautionary tale about the rise and fall of a country because it all happened so quickly and in the modern era.
In my time here, during anecdotal conversations with Argentines (okay, not statistically significant), it has become apparent to me that the middle class is completely deflated and demoralized. They feel that they have no representation in government and that no one cares about them...sadly they are right.
In Argentina, it is against the law not to vote. Everyone must participate in the electoral process. But what does that mean now that Argentina is a country where the middle class is vastly outnumbered by the poor? It means that the ruling elite doesn't give a crap about the middle class. The ruling elite runs on a platform that pays lip service to the concerns of the poor in order to get elected, then they pursue policies to enrich themselves and they screw everyone else in the process.
In some ways this is exactly what the Republicans have been doing for years. Paying lip service to the morality-based concerns of the rural and blue-collar population while robbing the country blind.
So what would happen in America if we all had to vote? How would it change campaigns? Would the outcomes of elections shift dramatically? Would it make things better? Would it make things worse?
I think about this a lot at night when I should be sleeping!