I dislike both the outright dictator and the wannabe dictator (Trump).
Abandoning Maoism is a good thing. Of course I would rather that China become a liberal society. which it isn't.
Abandoning 220 years of Constitutional democracy is inexcusable and horrific. I consider Donald Trump a vile demagogue who would sacrifice democracy for his own glorification and the enrichment of his cronies. China has gone from one sort of dictatorship (the sort that starves its people in the name of world socialist revolution) to a system that permits free enterprise and consumerism, if not freedom of expression, thought, and faith. Donald Trump has gutted the democratic heritage of America while making promises of unprecedented prosperity -- and if that unprecedented prosperity does not come but people have lost their freedom, so what?
Any people that gives up its essential liberty on behalf of a promise of economic improvement will surely lose its liberty and get practically no economic improvement.
Donald Trump has offered Pascal's Wager -- live miserably in this world in the promise of getting a better one in the distant future or in the Next World. When a slimy con-artist offers it (and demagogues are the worst con-artists) the results are horrible.
If China has gone from being a dictatorial society in which starvation is commonplace to a dictatorial society in which people get to enjoy consumerism characteristic of modern capitalism, then that looks like an unqualified improvement. If the United States goes from democracy to dictatorship, then that
Abandoning Maoism is a good thing. Of course I would rather that China become a liberal society. which it isn't.
Abandoning 220 years of Constitutional democracy is inexcusable and horrific. I consider Donald Trump a vile demagogue who would sacrifice democracy for his own glorification and the enrichment of his cronies. China has gone from one sort of dictatorship (the sort that starves its people in the name of world socialist revolution) to a system that permits free enterprise and consumerism, if not freedom of expression, thought, and faith. Donald Trump has gutted the democratic heritage of America while making promises of unprecedented prosperity -- and if that unprecedented prosperity does not come but people have lost their freedom, so what?
Any people that gives up its essential liberty on behalf of a promise of economic improvement will surely lose its liberty and get practically no economic improvement.
Donald Trump has offered Pascal's Wager -- live miserably in this world in the promise of getting a better one in the distant future or in the Next World. When a slimy con-artist offers it (and demagogues are the worst con-artists) the results are horrible.
If China has gone from being a dictatorial society in which starvation is commonplace to a dictatorial society in which people get to enjoy consumerism characteristic of modern capitalism, then that looks like an unqualified improvement. If the United States goes from democracy to dictatorship, then that
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
