New Problems, Old Solutions

By Matthew Dunn

                The Roman politician and philosopher Cicero once said, “Not to know what has been transacted in former times is always to be child.  If no use is made of the labours of past ages, the world must always remain in the infancy of knowledge.”  Too often in today’s world people look for new solutions for today’s problems.  However, many times they fail to realize that past civilizations dealt with many of the same issues.  So, in light of that, here are some modern day problems, and how we might solve them with techniques used in the past.

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

                These two groups of people have fighting for control of a strip of land that is around the same size of New Jersey since Zionist Jews started moving to the area in the early 20^th century.  Many attempts at peace have been made since 1993, but the situation remains completely unsolved.  Israelis continue to occupy the West Bank with their military, and Israeli settlers continue to settle there, even though this land is supposed to be part of the state of Palestine.  Palestinians continue to find ways to attack Israel leading to Israeli military invasions of their territory.  Violence continues, Israelis feel insecure, Palestinians live in permanent occupation, and there is almost no talk now of any solution.  So what is to be done?

                Some have argued that a two state solution is effectively dead, and a one state solution would be preferable.  In this solution all citizens would be given equal rights regardless of ethnicity.  However, this would not be appealing to Israelis because the Zionist belief is to create a Jewish homeland for the Jewish people.  So, if Israelis are unwilling to give full civil rights to all people, then perhaps they should follow the example of Islamic civilizations that lived in the Middle East centuries ago.

                Islamic civilizations were very successful at getting people of other religions to convert to Islam.  This was because when they took over a region, they would offer Muslims a tax exemption.  People of other religions were allowed to practice, except they had to pay a non-Muslim tax.  Because of this, Islam spread very quickly in regions where Muslim armies conquered.  I propose that the Israelis follow this example.  They should raise a tax on all non-Jews in Israel and the occupied territories.  If people then convert to Judaism, then they can avoid the tax.  Once Muslims become Jews, then they will be allowed to become full citizens of Israel.

                Once a large amount of Muslims convert to Judaism and gain full civil rights, then most of them will probably no longer wish to attack Jews.  Those who do not convert will be forced to pay a tax, they will be denied citizenship to Israel.  The choice would obviously be beneficial for Palestinians who converted.  Not only will it decrease the amount of enemies to Israel, but it will also raise more tax revenue.  Strict Muslims will also find, that there are plenty of sects of Judaism that follow many of the same strict practices.  When the Israelis make the option of becoming a Jew beneficial to the large Muslim population of the Holy land, then they may find that a better state will be created.

The European Debt Crisis

                Many of the countries of Europe are struggling with economic problems.  Under the terms of the European Union, countries which use the Euro as a currency can only retain a certain level of debt.  Many countries of Europe have gone over this level and have gone into crisis.  This has led the countries which have the most debt to follow austerity policies and unemployment has followed. 

                The European countries with the most problems should just leave the Eurozone and re-create their old currencies.  Countries like Greece, Spain, and Ireland are not on equal footing with countries like Germany and France.  They should not use the same currency.  If these countries leave the Euro, then they will have much weaker currencies and their exports will be much less expensive.  In addition to this, once they have their own currencies then if they have problems with debt, then they have the option to default on their debt, and no other country will tell them how to run their finances. 

                Now, this is not a decision to be taken lightly.  There is no doubt that this will have some short term bad effects for the countries of Europe.  However, rather than going from crisis to crisis, Europe needs a long term solution, and the countries who have had the most trouble, will never be able to get back into the levels of debt required by the EU without shady accounting practices.  In terms of defaulting on debt, countries such as Spain, Portugal, and Greece have a long history of defaulting on their debt.  These countries were empires and when their empires collapsed, they were not able to pay their bills. 

                Defaulting on debt, if it has to happen is not always a bad decision.  Ecuador defaulted on its debt several years ago intentionally.  After they defaulted the value of their bonds plummeted, and then Ecuador bought the bonds back from their creditors at a fraction of the price.  Nation-states should be allowed to make their own decisions about their economies, without foreign interference. 

The U.S. Economy

                Although the U.S. economy has recovered from the worst times of the recession, the U.S. still faces economic problems.  The U.S. has a high trade deficit, with many more imports coming in, than exports leaving.  This has led to high levels of debt and a low number of manufacturing jobs in the U.S.  Like the other two examples, the U.S. needs to go back to history to find solutions.

                In the beginnings of the United States Republic, the U.S. faced great economic problems.  Some observers predicted the United States wouldn’t even last.  Into this stepped Alexander Hamilton.  Hamilton proposed the United States put high tariffs on foreign products in order to encourage American manufacturing.  This would also raise much needed revenue.  Tariffs were a very essential part of U.S. trade policy throughout the 19^th century.  Other well known politicians such as Henry Clay, Benjamin Franklin, and even Abraham Lincoln believed very much in tariffs.  Today, tariffs are very low and companies can have their products manufactured anywhere and brought back to the U.S. relatively cheaply. 

                So, the U.S. needs to pass restrictive tariffs on foreign products.  Companies which employ workers overseas, will need to pay high tariffs if they want to sell their products in the United States.  This will lead to a rise in employment in manufacturing in the United States, as most large companies will do anything to avoid taxes.  In addition to this foreign companies, will begin to locate more of their manufacturing in the U.S. in order to gain tax free access to the American marketplace.  And lastly, if foreign companies don’t manufacture things here, they will still mostly likely want to sell their products here, and the tariffs will help our government raise revenue.

               

                So what it seems the world might benefit from is a sense of nationalism.  This does not have to be an imperialist nationalism where countries try to dominate others.  It can be a more human nationalism, where countries look after their own citizens better.  It will be the type of nationalism, where nations will say that these are their people, and we are going to do our best to allow our people to live the best lives that they can.