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If the best way to improve the lives of Haitians is to place them under the rule of (probably white) foreigners, why do it by emigration? After all, it's not l

If the best way to improve the lives of Haitians is to place them under the rule of (probably white) foreigners, why do it by emigration? After all, it's not like it's the dirt that's causing their problems. We agree they need foreign rule, but instead of bringing them to foreign rule, we could bring foreign rule to them. Rather than exporting the whole population, it seems like it'd be a lot easier to import a few tens of thousands of foreign bureaucrats, leaders, and functionaries to run the senior half of government. The U.S. could take over the country and turn it into a Puerto-Rico like protectorate. This would be much faster and less disruptive to both the U.S. and Haiti.

barry-cotter 9y ago
This is politically impossible. Even if by some miracle the Haitian political class had a referendum with a question "Do you want to be governed for fifty years by a competent nation?" and that option got a 60% majority for yes the US wouldn't do it. Republican support would be at best lukewarm and the Democrats would have a substantial absolutely hell no brigade. The US is not politically capable of long term controversial projects like this. Over the next twenty years the US culture wars are going to get worse and worse. While there is not currently a Democrat consensus on Open Borders there does seem to be one that enforcing immigration laws is immoral. Support for amnesty has gone up by a lot since Trump was elected and Open Borders is only going to become more mainstream. There is actually a plausible path to letting huge portions of the Haitian population immigrate to the USA. It only requires one administration to do something. There is none for anything that looks even remotely like colonialism, even with consent. That would be a twenty year project if you plan to do anything but help for four, eight years before the next President pulls out. Paul Romer put a lot of time and effort into trying to get Charter Cities off the ground, one, anywhere. He failed. Exporting good governance by consent is not possible if you have to work with real polarised democracy because there's not going to be elite or popular consensus.
- michaelmrose 9y ago
  What makes you think our rule would be competent. I think everyone would end up poorer for it
  - barry-cotter 9y ago
    More competent than the Haitian government is a bar so low the Venezuelan government flies over it. Without outside support Haiti would be a failed state within months. It's reasonably close already.

barry-cotter 9y ago

This is politically impossible. Even if by some miracle the Haitian political class had a referendum with a question "Do you want to be governed for fifty years by a competent nation?" and that option got a 60% majority for yes the US wouldn't do it. Republican support would be at best lukewarm and the Democrats would have a substantial absolutely hell no brigade. The US is not politically capable of long term controversial projects like this. Over the next twenty years the US culture wars are going to get worse and worse. While there is not currently a Democrat consensus on Open Borders there does seem to be one that enforcing immigration laws is immoral. Support for amnesty has gone up by a lot since Trump was elected and Open Borders is only going to become more mainstream. There is actually a plausible path to letting huge portions of the Haitian population immigrate to the USA. It only requires one administration to do something. There is none for anything that looks even remotely like colonialism, even with consent. That would be a twenty year project if you plan to do anything but help for four, eight years before the next President pulls out. Paul Romer put a lot of time and effort into trying to get Charter Cities off the ground, one, anywhere. He failed. Exporting good governance by consent is not possible if you have to work with real polarised democracy because there's not going to be elite or popular consensus.

michaelmrose 9y ago
What makes you think our rule would be competent. I think everyone would end up poorer for it
- barry-cotter 9y ago
  More competent than the Haitian government is a bar so low the Venezuelan government flies over it. Without outside support Haiti would be a failed state within months. It's reasonably close already.