barriomulas.com - The Luxury of Misunderstanding

"The poor man has always a precise view of his problem and its remedy," states John Kenneth Galbraith, "he hasn't enough and he needs more. The rich man can assume or imagine a much greater variety of ills". Galbraith continues by referring to the rich man's woes as "the luxury of misunderstanding." Throughout his book "The Affluent Society", the author's concept concerning Conventional Wisdom is laid out before the reader.

While the topic was not necessarily my favorite in Galbraith's book, his observations lead me to ponder whether or not they had anything to do with the fact that most "developing nations" feature states identified with either the extreme left or the extreme right while the dominating political parties in post-industrial states tend to share more similarities than differences. The spotlight and importance of issues such as same-sex marriage, abortion, and environmentalism tend to be limited to "developed" nations. Rarely would either make or break a Latin American election. It's simply not a major political concern.

An example can be seen throughout Latin America, where the differences between the Communists and Socialists within any given left wing coalition are many more times larger than the U.S. Democrats and Republicans. Neither of the later really push for a complete destruction of the current system. States tend to be ruled by either a firebrand socialist or a neoliberal businessman, with rarely any truly moderate candidate arising. Electors can also elect one radical only an election after choosing an opposing radical. It seems as if the poor have no room for patience or process.