Mark Winston Griffith

Lessons from Viet Nam

When I arrived in Viet Nam last week the last thing I imagined is that I would be inspired to reflect on the democratic nature of public policy in the United States. Led by a Vietnamese-American colleague of mine, I am part of a small study group touring Viet Na. We are meeting with government, NGO, academic and business leaders to learn about this beautiful and resilient country emerging from a long history of foreign intervention and war.

Viet Nam has been dismissed by the right and left alike as a communist hold-out. But what immediately struck me when I got beyond the surface politics was the pragmatic approach that Viet Nam takes to meeting the needs of its eighty-plus million people using an odd mix of aggressively free-market economics, socialist rhetoric and authoritarian state control over political life.

The question that immediately came to mind was, what can America learn from this?

Perhaps a little something. The lure of socialism is that the role of government, at least theoretically, is to look out for the common person, to make sure that s/he is not overwhelmed by the greater market forces that can swallow people up whole. In the U.S. all we have to do is look at the steady dismantling of consumer protections, like the latest bankruptcy bil, and the corporate dollars that are steering everything from trade policy to domestic economic policy, and it becomes clear that when it comes to the capitalist jungle, the current administration in Washington expects us to fend for ourselves.

Of course, America is a capitalist nation, but that doesn't have to mean that American humanity has to be subservient to capital. Governments can use any language they want to dress up their policies. For instance, the Viet Nam geovernment calls itself socialist, but has decidedly let the capitalist genie out of the bottle and is offering up its labor force to multi-national companies looking for a cheap globalization date. Of course, in order to lift wages, bring it's people out of poverty and usher Viet Nam into the new world economic order, it had little other choice.

At the same time, free education and universal health care, the cornerstone of any socialist society worth a damn, are, practically speaking, not available to the Viet Nam people.

There is a sense, however, that the Viet Nam government is committed to trying to keep its citizens from being exploited and are preparing for a time when Viet Nam will establish higher-paying, high-tech jobs, create its own companies and become a competitive exporter like South Korea or Taiwan. Perhaps a more equal position in the world economy and the capacity to establish a social safety net are in Viet Nam's future.

Ideology aside, in an increasingly globalized world, governments are worthless to their citizens if they ultimately cannot protect them from corporate bullying and dominance. To that end, I hope those in control in Washington and Hanoi alike always keep in mind that there is a difference between the national interest and the corporate interest.

Mark Winston Griffith: Author Bio | Other Posts
Posted at 6:54 AM, Nov 28, 2005 in Democracy
Permalink | Email to Friend