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Certainly, legislation would be enormously helpful, but legislation isn't incantation. Economic factors are real. Western countries need to rebuild their domes
by bobthechef 5y ago
Certainly, legislation would be enormously helpful, but legislation isn't incantation. Economic factors are real.
Western countries need to rebuild their domestic manufacturing bases. There is no other way to guarantee that production will respect ethical norms and no other way to realistically punish violations. Legislation must incrementally direct industry back to the West and provide conditions under which it can flourish. This is easier said than done which is why any temptation to outsource ought to be VERY carefully considered because once you outsource industry, not only do you destroy the industrial base and mutually beneficial complex relationships, but you also starve domestic expertise and competence and the culture of that industry. Industry is a culture and culture is only transmitted when it is living, when there is a society of people who communicate and share and contribute and make use of it. If you ship textile manufacturing abroad, your domestic textile culture atrophies and withers. I think people underestimate this. It's not just a matter of willing something. You don't just say "well, all we need to do is build a factory for making X". Yeah? Who knows how to build that factory and to make X, and make it well so that it is competitive? Not you. Western cultures have forgotten how to make certain things. It's like trying to go into the pyramid building business by just wanting to do it or by looking over some old papyrus. Yeah, sure, you have to start somewhere, and do start, but don't expect it to be easy.
Decentralizing production is also better for security by removing unnecessary dependence. You want production to be distributed. You do not want one guy to make all of X.
And placing your bets on Chinese reform or political pressure on China to "be nice" is so ludicrous that I won't waste my proverbial breath. I will only say that the vast imperial ambitions of China are not only obvious, but that the elites of our own countries have taken a liking to their methods. The recent self-hatred of Westerners creates a vacuum, and Chinese ideas seem poised to fill it.