The author of this article certainly implicates the congruent motivations of Capitalism and Dictatorial regimes, but it bears emphasis.
The whole point of capitalism is to control the flow of any commodity. It's very nature is the economics of scarcity, for in that is a fundamental aspect of value; at least as far as such an abstract system would deem to consider value at all.
The problem we have now that Capitalism has been electrified is that information itself becomes the primary commodity. Directly or indirectly, information is synonymous with money. This is why Capitalism is now fundamentally antithetical to Democracy. As such, it should be no surprise that the titans of capital here would embrace the crony Capitalism of China.
A lot of people fear China precisely because of its growing economic power. That this power grows in large part because our titans see greater profit from playing along with their hard ball of allowing as little corresponding access to their markets as they demand from us is infuriating enough. That they might also be so cynical to play both sides against each other with that fear, seeing ever greater profits from any new arms, or space race, or whatever else you might want to imagine, is almost enough to make you want to line them all up against the nearest wall and play target practice.
I, for one, however, see the Chinese as potentially great allies, and partners in all sorts of endeavors. We just need to step carefully as they negotiate what will be a very difficult reintegration of culture, equity, and a social contract that has been written, torn apart, and rewritten at least several times before in the past. They are a proud people, and rightfully so. We can no more dictate to them than we can condescend; especially with hypocritical diatribes about the rule of law and democracy.
We've got our own money fueled bit of inequality, and corruption, to worry about. What we can do in recognizing our own faults, however, is lead by example. We can see the intolerable mix of Capitalism and Democracy we now have and make the conscious choice to start over with a better system. One that, as I have said many times before, allows a better balance between individual liberty and the greater good of society as a whole.
If we can do this. If we can show that it can be done, we might just be more than a little surprised on how inspiring that would be. Relying on the invisible hand of markets is just as absurd as the Chinese leadership relying on the sanctity of "order."
Salon article:
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