Dictator for a day! ….

Many people fantasize about what they would do if they were rich and famous, but few consider the task if they were the supreme dictator of the western world….. So…. Here goes…

The governing style

I would strive to be a benevolent dictator, and rule with a very firm hand to only do what’s good for the majority of the western nations and its citizens.

Listening to the issues from across a range of perspectives would be the best way I would make decisions, but I would be un-swayed by minorities and fringe views. The decision would focus on the benefit to the majority of the citizens.

I would make it clear that if you don’t like my plan for the nation, then you are free to leave, but if you stay then you will be strongly encouraged to follow the plan.

The focus will be a return to common sense politics that can support National Prosperity. Look, without prosperity we have far less opportunity to afford the other trappings and choices of a modern society.

Cultural change

I would also be slow to allow any further change in the base culture of the western societies. It must follow the historical base values of the laws, order and norms of the nation. In fact, some of the mistakes of the last few decades need to be walked back if practical.

I would avoid religion and social extremes from getting in the way of the citizenship priorities of individual freedom, sovereignty, health, safety, harmonious social integration, economic independence, and ongoing prosperity. 

I would dispense with the focus on woke activities. I would reset national priorities away from the dangerous global initiatives driven by the DEI / SDG / ESG mandates currently being erroneously supported. They have created social dissension and have moved us away from the goal of a prosperous and integrated nation.

In other words,… I will place” how we are doing” very far ahead of worrying about “who we are”

Multilateralism?

I would remove support for all forms of global multilateralism such as the mandates of the UN and the WEF and other globalised organizations, as they exhibit practices and theories not in the best interest of a nations well being.

This would mean decommitting from the UNs climate change accord, free trade agreements, open border policies, rules for immigration, migration and refugees. The national citizens security, prosperity and well being would always come a strong first.

National Economics

This will have a distinct focus on citizen prosperity!

I would combine a group of geographically local nations into a true trade bloc. Then we would create an industrial policy that firmly encourages significant local trade within the trade bloc.

A strong industrial policy will be driven by a team structure formed from government, industry, business investors, educators and citizen interest groups to serve both national and regional planning.

The industrial policy will strive to ensure that trade is localized within the local trade bloc to ensure where practical that the citizens grow mine and make everything they consume.

This would reduce the need for unnecessary and wasteful imports, and ensure we focus on increasing local competitiveness and productivity. We would also ensure energy independence within the trade bloc.

We will rebuild the infrastructure to support re-industrialization. We must reduce wasteful government activities and regulations and redeploy any liberated capacity back to a more productive private sector.

Imports will be controlled so that its only for items that can not be provided within the trade bloc and dynamic controls will be used to enforce this mandate.

Exports outside of the trade bloc will be controlled to ensure they are a benefit to the citizens of the trade bloc.

National controls on capital will be undertaken to maximise investments within the local trade bloc.

In this way we can make citizen prosperity and economic affordability a top priority as a nation and within the local trade bloc. This will avoid the past wasteful and duplicitous activities of an uncontrolled broader global free trade economy, which has acted as an uncontrolled wealth transfer machine from the west to the rest.

Social Services

We must also rebuild national health, education, and housing systems to benefit citizens and support a self-sustainable workforce.

This will include a national means test process to abhor misuse of the social services, and ensure only citizens are eligible. A national welfare system should not become an uncontrolled and abused charity.

Immigration and border controls

We will far better manage borders and out-of-control immigration, migration and refugees.

Any of our nation port of entries will be strictly controlled with any unlawful migration or attempts at refugee or asylum claims at a port of entry being deemed a criminal act with immediate deportation for all those involved. Any such entry claims must be hosted at international consulates, but the rules for any admittance will be set high to ensure any approvals will be to the economic benefit of the nation and its citizens.

So, any Immigration will be strictly controlled and will be based on economic guidelines. New immigrants will only be admitted with pre-approved job offers. All current “back door systems for entry” such as temporary work permits for students or transient workers will be extremely limited.

Learning institutions

Schools must teach nationalism and its history and would focus on preparing children to become good national citizens.

The teaching subjects must better support the ability to function in a modern industrialized economy and must have a bias toward STEM and less on wasteful social studies.

Universities can have freedom of thought, but only if the education and learning and debate considers all sides of an argument without compromise to free speech and thought. This process must avoid indoctrination or suppression or topics not in the best interest of a harmonious nation.

Learning would be far more integrated between education, business and industry, with participants enjoying a highly affordable integrated learning system of education, training and experience for both school leavers and the mature learners. In this manner we must ensure we have a sustainable citizen workforce that can be productive to support a prosperous economy.

Climate reality

We must halt all action on the wild and crazy NetZero solutions and focus on our current technologies to recover our prosperity and industries. The facts so far show no trends on climate impact on our civilizations that solid adaption cannot easily fix. Mitigation of CO2 and the rush to replace fossil fuels is foolish and will cost far more lives and hardship. Plus, we are wasting our wealth on NetZero. Its time for common sense to prevail.

A better form of democracy?

Many may blanch at my approach, but our western societies are in real trouble, and we need to make a firm choice between….

A so-called team process of democratic party politics that breeds elitism, mediocrity, and also gets little done to the detriment of the citizens.

Or…

A more leader driven system of lead or follow and get out of the way!

So…. Shall I take the job?

Nigel Southway is based in Toronto Canada and is an independent business consultant and recently authored the advocacy book Take Back Manufacturing.

He is also the author of Cycle Time Management: The Fast Track to Time-Based Productivity Improvement, an early textbook on the concept of LEAN thinking and Six Sigma, and how to implement it.

He consults and educates worldwide on Business Productivity Improvement, Advanced Manufacturing Engineering, Sustainable Supply Chain Management, Industry 4.0, National Sustainability & Prosperity, Global technology transfer projects and joint ventures and more.

He has gained experience assisting clients across a wide range of business sectors and industries and helps clients develop a strategy and a vision to attack waste, capture productivity improvements, increase profits, and become more competitive in the global market.

He is a part time professor for Canadian Colleges and lectures on Advanced Manufacturing and Global Supply Chain Management.

He is a past chair of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers and the leading advocate and spokesperson for the Take Back Manufacturing (TBM) Forum, and the North American Reshoring initiative in Canada.

To learn more about the new book Take Back Manufacturing and the Author,

Go to www.nigelsouthwayauthor.com