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September 23, 2008 8:46 AM
Christ First, America Second, Business Third
Gorgeous, clear fall mornings this week so far and a fair number of apple and lunch customers yesterday--for a Monday. I can't get over how many people have never heard of Oak Glen, but it stands to reason: people tend to ignore their backyards. A few years ago, I stopped by the Edward Dean Museum and was astounded to see fully re-created 16th century interiors just a few miles down the road.
Write what you are excited about: I'm an unrepentant capitalist, (given the dismal failure of secular collectivism, it's difficult to be anything else), so I tend to defend business people in most public policy disputes, but I am beginning to note that there is a particular sort of businessman who needs a good scolding. A story by way of background: years ago, during the Cold War, I saw a news report about a Japanese company that was selling submarine prop-silencing technology to the Soviets. This technology made it difficult for western countries to monitor the location of Soviet nuclear subs. A group of congressman held a press conference on the steps of the capitol and announced their intention to levy massive trade penalties against the company in question, and they even followed it up by smashing the company's consumer electronics with a sledge-hammer. "Love it," I said. "That's great." A friend of mine--a Stanford M.B.A.--was annoyed with me. "That's just going to make personal computers more expensive. They'll just slap more tariffs on our stuff." "Skippy," I said. (Whenever someone says something stupid, I call them Skippy.) "We are talking about NUCLEAR SOVIET SUBS." "Different unit," he said. "Skippy? Did you say 'offend?' Are you seriously worried about offending someone who is making it easier for nuclear subs to sneak up on us by arguing--what?--we've got the wrong product manager?" There's a certain sort of global corporate goon who really has no country, no heart, no soul, no allegiance to anything but market share. I keep seeing, in my mind's eye, a pastor arguing with a Mitt Romney type, freshly returned from the Beijing Olympics. The pastor keeps saying "but they torture religious dissidents." Mitt just smiles patiently and says something bland and hopeful like, "but we're giving the Chinese people economic opportunity, and increasing our market share." Pastor: "Forced abortions." Mitt: "Market Share." Pastor: "No Freedom of Religion." Mitt: "Market Share." When Benjamin Franklin and John Hancock risked their fortunes to help a country with no real navy fight the greatest naval power in the world, they weren't thinking about market share, or global partnerships, or the "prudent" course necessary to protect their pocket books. They were thinking about truth first, and markets second. It's one thing when a kook like Janeane Garofalo describes herself as a "world citizen," but when American businessmen, or even American churches, begin assuming there is a common cultural reality between Riyadh and Beijing and Kansas City, we are in trouble. As I told my MBA friend, "Just because you can make a sale, doesn't mean you should."
More of the Farm Journal -- September 22, 2008
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