Gulliver's Travels

Two days ago I returned from a trip to the Dominican Republic. I visited with dear friends, a prominent family who are involved in almost every facet of the commercial and financial life of the country. Members of the family haved served in their diplomatic corps, as ambassadors to the United States, the U.N., and several other
nations throughout the world. Their family foundation makes great contributions to
the people of their nation, as well as Haiti, to improve the economies, the health of the people, and in cultural affairs.

A good part of the time of my visit was spent discussing the conditions in the D. R.
and the other countries in which they are active, and how the United States is
perceived there.

With few exceptions in Latin America the political status is unstable, some in turmoil. The economies are fragile, with significant unemployment. The current recession in the United States has had dealt a serious blow to their
exports for which they are unable to compensate. None of that was a surprise.

They see the U.S. as a mixed bag. We are the world's largest single economy, but our
unregulated financial sector appears to them as disfunctional and based on wild,
greed based speculation. We are as Gulliver, held captive by the Lilliputs of
a disfunctional partisan congress which has demonstrated that it is incapable of governing, yet won't allow a strong executive to make necessary decisions in its stead. In foreign affairs we are seen as a hubristic bully, ignorant of the cultures
and political realities in far off places, and determined that all should be governed
by what we consider our superior system. They also see us as the most generous of people in times of disaster or tragedy, giving freely of our treasure and expecting nothing in return. Yes, a mixed bag.

They are schooled in English and send their children to our colleges but the graduates choose to live and work in a family centered society back home and give to their people of their wealth and knowledge. We could learn a lot about gracious living from them.