There are any number of people on the American Right who think that they own prosperity and morality. They are wrong. There are many people all over the world who are good at business, in places such as Dubai, Austria, Switzerland, Lebanon, Hong Kong and Nigeria. As for morality, it is something that pre-existed the American Right by thousands of years and has been practiced all around the world and continues being practiced all around the world, in many places to a greater extent than in America.
My grandmother was a Soviet Communist. She had both the virtues and the flaws of American Conservatives. She was hard-working, ethical, family-oriented and responsible. She was also heavy-handed, dogmatic, nationalistic and authoritarian. Both what is right about Right and what is wrong about Right, she had.
The same can of course be said about any number of civilizations. Nigeria is a country with vast population and giant potential. Its population is very talented at business and commerce. When people who are talented at business live in a place with a stupid system, they become scammers and thieves. And another thing they do is go outside their country to practice their business under a better system, as the Chinese have done all around the world.
When the Right can no longer claim to own prosperity in light of prosperity achieved by any number of others, they can’t handle it. Suddenly it’s the evil Commies or the damn Jews. If you are liberal and not doing well, you are a loser. If you are liberal and doing well, you are a sociopath. With some people you just can’t win.
That other places are learning to do well economically, is to their credit. I am especially encouraged by the economic performance of Africa in recent decades. Here are people who were treated as the lowest of the low, who ended up doing reasonably well. I am acquainted with some people from there, and I am impressed with their strength and intelligence. With China and India, opening up to the West has allowed them to improve their condition vastly. Here are countries with vast populations who are willing to work, and it is right that they be hired at what to them is quite high salary to benefit their countries with hard work.
That other places are learning to do well economically, is also to the credit to a large extent for America. These places have learned from America’s successes and have implemented ways that work. They also had attention of American entrepreneurs who helped them to develop. So that while for a long time America was the place to go, now there are any number of places to go. That, once again, is testimony to America’s success. As for America, it remains at no shortage of people wanting to go there, and if some Americans go elsewhere they stand to be replaced by a larger number of people coming in.
So that while there are many American conservatives who are good at business, so are any number of others, and most of these people are legit. I’ve worked closely to my bosses at several Democrat-run or foreign-owned organizations, and they were just as effective at business as most American Republicans. As for ethics, I’ve found people in these organizations to be very ethical. They are the proof that business doesn’t need to be cruel or unethical in order to be good at what they do.
There are many ways to get to the top of the mountain, and the existence of one way does not mean its monopoly. Intelligent things stand to be gained from learning all the major ways to the top. Then it becomes possible to see who is right and about what. This knowledge can cut across systems to achieve the best outcome. And intelligence stands to grow and produce good fruit.