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Nina Hachigian is a Senior Fellow at American Progress. Based in Los Angeles, she is the co-author of The Next American Century: How the U.S. Can Thrive as Other Powers[…]

How does domestic policy link to foreign policy?

Nina Hachigan: I don’t think people make that connection enough, but it was a really interesting thing in doing the research- that we found that many of the criticisms that are laid at the feet of these other powers are actually, at the end of the day, factors that the U.S. has a lot of control over. So, for example, there is- during a period- a lot of concern about more and more innovation happening abroad, so more innovation going to India or to China or to Russia. And, at the end of the day, that is a good thing for the United States because if, you know, an Indian scientist comes up with a cure for Alzheimer’s, you know, Americans will benefit by that. So- and there’s no ceiling to innovation that- and there’s any infinite number of ideas out there. But, the United States has to continue innovating here at home, and that’s where domestic policy comes in, so that if we do a better job of educating our kids, especially in math and science, a much better job, then we would be able to- we’ll be prepared to thrive in a future even where more innovation is happening elsewhere, but that’s true across the board. It’s true of healthcare, so jobs are moving overseas because we don’t have a healthcare system here that works. And entrepreneurs are less likely to leave their corporate jobs because they can’t take the healthcare with them, and workers who are displaced because of trade are more anxious because they also lose their healthcare benefits, so you know, those are just two examples, but there are many more about how if we get our act together here at home, we’ll do much better on the global stage.


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