Is there any way to convince Tom Friedman to stop making false equivalences between the U. S. and China? His most recent New York Times column is practically a catalog of such equivalences. Is self-censorship for political reasons really the same thing as holding your tongue lest you be thrown into prison? When was the last time the U. S. murdered 50 million of its own citizens? The Chinese regime has done so within living memory. There is no effective rule of law in China. Nearly every day there’s news of checks on presidential power by the courts or the Congress in the United States. President Xi has just been made president-for-life.
The Chinese regime is genuinely different from our would-be aristocracy. For one thing China’s rulers don’t just imagine themselves to be elite as ours do. They are elite. I don’t think any productive purpose is served by attempting to diminish just how different China is from the United States.
Friedman has fallen into the trap of Mussolini’s admirers, who because Benito ‘made the trains run on time’ meant his model of governance should not only be admired but emulated. Efficiency of operation does not and should not excuse brutality of execution.