America does not allow human rights, democracy and Justice to be intentionally subverted by authoritarianism. The protests in Hong Kong which are occurring as I write this are a classic example of the result of a system and ideology which will only continue to subdue the rights of the individual to the power of the State.
America is not perfect and is honest enough to understand that democracy is a dynamic which must be steered by the people and not the State.
China, Russia and other authoritarian states believe the People must have limits in their ability to participate in the dynamic of the State therefore they have static and/or regressive democracies.
However, dynamic democracies have to ensure that the State apparatus is inclusive and not exclusive. There is a direction within a dynamic democracy that pursues an exclusion as Governments struggle to understand that it must ensure it allows the underlying cohesive structure of the Nation State to maintain democracy.
The ‘Nation State’ upholds democracy as it gives the citizens the ability to identify with a proven set of values – to ignore those values leads to extremism as citizens resort to violence in order to maintain them.
China is the polar of the Nation State as it imposes not the collective history of China and its lessons but a Centralist idealism which seeks to suppress the dynamic of the present formed by the past. Russia too ignores the ‘fight for freedom’ and is becoming more like China in its inability to understand the progress of the individual in our World.
Authoritarian States do not see the individual as a dynamic who is becoming more educated and more aware of the World we live in with developing expectations for themselves and others. They perceive them to be static binaries to be counted and accounted for in an automated system of Centralism.
There is a systemic failure in democracy that it is possible to ‘hijack’ its administration and use it for a purpose alien to democracy – President Trump has been subjected to such attempts but appears to be able to identify and remove them. That is not possible in China or Russia unless of course the Heads of State are not aware of any such ‘hijack attempts’.
America wakes up and states ‘How can we each of us as individuals improve our lives?
China wakes and states ‘We will tell you how to improve your lives’
Both systems have system failures.
I can go to Los Angeles and speak to the homeless on the streets of ‘America should be ashamed of themselves’ and show them how to improve their lives. As homeless crisis worsens in L.A, the county leans on city officials to act
I can go to China and be impressed by China’s structural physical achievements but I am dismayed by China’s growing subversion of the right of the people to speak out. ‘One million’ march in Hong Kong to protest against China extradition law.
I prefer America.
Share this:
