I have always lived here so it comes as no surprise to me that I have the basic skewed, snobbish and elitist view shared by my friends and fellow natives that Boston in particular and Massachusetts in general is the "Hub of the Universe."
There is no basis in fact behind this assertion other than perhaps a good deal of pride in our past history. Living 10 minutes from Lexington and Concord and growing up reading about all the sons and daughters of Massachusetts who contributed to the creation of our nation and the concepts of freedom and liberty drove home the idea that this was a special place.
In the present there is also a lot to be proud of. It seems as though around every corner there is a college or university here, some of which are world recognized names and indeed some are a destination for scholars the world over.
As with education, we have also carved out a spot in the area of medicine. When reading about advances in medical research or education it is common to see the names of doctors or hospitals that reside here.
These two areas have naturally spilled over into the business world. Many of the research advances that have occurred in our educational or medical institutions have found their way into the commercial sector and subsequently spawned many successful companies and provided high paying jobs for our residents and a solid tax base for our communities.
In the world of sports how can we not have a cocky attitude? Three Super Bowl wins, two World Series wins, and now the Celtics back in the NBA finals pretty much makes this a spectator paradise.
Politics is another area that is a source of pride. In our lifetime the state has seen a sitting president and two other candidates head the national ticket. On the legislative side we have instituted a health care plan as well as many other first in the nation programs.
One disturbing aspect of our political culture is how one sided it has become. Although Massachusetts is arguably a place where dissent originated in the nation, it is a place where it is tolerated and encouraged only if you are on the left side of the spectrum. Get a left winger up here to talk and free speech is the mantra. Bush hating, America as an imperialist warmongering nation, plundering the world's resources and oppressing people is a common theme here. If you deviate from those kinds of politically correct ideas then you are unlikely to be invited to be the commencement speaker at an institution of higher learning.
Even in the mainstream it is obvious that there is little tolerance for political diversity. How is it possible that in a nation with a two party system, we do not have a single member of the other party representing us in either our state constitutional offices or our congressional delegation?
I got to thinking about this because of an email I got from a friend who had read the following passage written by John Mauldin. Mauldin is the President of Millennium Wave Advisors, LLC which is an investment advisory firm. He writes a regular newsletter on various investment topics. The following is a perspective that you rarely would read in anything coming from politicians or observers in Massachusetts.
Mauldin was in Switzerland speaking on behalf of Bank Sarasin to their institutional clients. Another speaker was a Swedish Economics professor named Dr. Kjell Nordstrom. Mauldin had the following comments regarding the professor's presentation.
"When I travel around the world, I am used to a certain amount of America and/or Bush bashing. It is just part of the background noise.
So, I was somewhat surprised to see the professor, in the middle of a talk on why some businesses succeed and others fail, put up a rather large flag of the United States and went on to say that the US would be the dominant developed country for his life, the life of his children and the life of their children's children. You could feel the surprise in the room. It is not what they were expecting to hear. I certainly did not.
He started out saying that someone could come to the US and within 3-5 years you could become a citizen. Making a long story short, in his native Finland it took 3-4 generations before you would be considered Finnish. He went on around the world. There are very few cultures where an immigrant can become a naturalized citizen and be accepted into the culture. China? No. Japan? No.
In Germany, the professor recently talked to the top 100 managers of Siemens. This is a company that employs 462,000 people doing business in 192 countries. In that room of the top management there were 99 Germans and one Austrian. Think of similar multi-national companies in the US. Such a room would be full of diversity.
A young lady Ph.D in physics in Lajore, Pakistan does not dream at night of immigrating to China or Germany, where opportunities would be very limited. No, she and millions more like her dream of coming to the US. He said that 85% of the people living in Silicon Valley were immigrants. The best and brightest in the world choose to go there.
Because for him, America is not a country, but an idea. It is the idea that any person can come and make a life for themselves as an equal. And it is that freedom to rise or fall that makes the US what it is."
