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I don’t know why I am continually surprised that people still think this way outside of a college lecture hall. Thomas Friedman in, of course, the NYT today:
Progressives do envy totalitarian regimes. Of course, such a system of government has “drawbacks” too but nothing the masses should worry about. Sleep tight little people – the big brains will make everything dreamy.
Democracy is only favored while out of power; once power is achieved it becomes so inconvenient. This song and dance is nearly 100 years old and the bit has gone stale.
Watching both the health care and climate/energy debates in Congress, it is hard not to draw the following conclusion: There is only one thing worse than one-party autocracy, and that is one-party democracy, which is what we have in America today.
One-party autocracy certainly has its drawbacks. But when it is led by a reasonably enlightened group of people, as China is today, it can also have great advantages. That one party can just impose the politically difficult but critically important policies needed to move a society forward in the 21st century. It is not an accident that China is committed to overtaking us in electric cars, solar power, energy efficiency, batteries, nuclear power and wind power. China’s leaders understand that in a world of exploding populations and rising emerging-market middle classes, demand for clean power and energy efficiency is going to soar. Beijing wants to make sure that it owns that industry and is ordering the policies to do that, including boosting gasoline prices, from the top down.
Our one-party democracy is worse.
One-party autocracy certainly has its drawbacks. But when it is led by a reasonably enlightened group of people, as China is today, it can also have great advantages. That one party can just impose the politically difficult but critically important policies needed to move a society forward in the 21st century. It is not an accident that China is committed to overtaking us in electric cars, solar power, energy efficiency, batteries, nuclear power and wind power. China’s leaders understand that in a world of exploding populations and rising emerging-market middle classes, demand for clean power and energy efficiency is going to soar. Beijing wants to make sure that it owns that industry and is ordering the policies to do that, including boosting gasoline prices, from the top down.
Our one-party democracy is worse.
Progressives do envy totalitarian regimes. Of course, such a system of government has “drawbacks” too but nothing the masses should worry about. Sleep tight little people – the big brains will make everything dreamy.
Democracy is only favored while out of power; once power is achieved it becomes so inconvenient. This song and dance is nearly 100 years old and the bit has gone stale.
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