Can we do it Without a Hitler?
I was looking through World War II era propaganda posters the other day, and I was struck by their intensity. A clean plate with a pair of bare chicken bones bore the headline: "Food is a Weapon. Don't Waste It." The imagery, rather different from Soviet imagery of the time, showed Americans rolling up their sleeves and bearing hardship for the war effort.
During my time in China, I've often reflected on the role World War II played in empowering America as the preeminent global superpower; and how and why China's own efforts at development have failed so miserably to create an economy that runs on domestic production of and consumption of quality goods. One conclusion keeps coming back to me: that while Americans pulled together and made willing sacrifices to protect themselves from a dangerous external threat, the greater part of Chinese development has been done under the compulsion and threat of violence from China's own government on her people. Where we made sacrifices to protect ourselves from an enemy, the Chinese were forced to make sacrifices or be punished by their own government.
The Waning of the Current Global Economic Order
The article "China still fully coupled" by Walden Bello from Asia Times highlights very clearly the problematic policies that continue to deepen the global economic crisis, while tearing down the myth that China now represents a stable, self-sufficient economy that will rise above the decline of Western economies.
A clear understanding of the global relationship between the economy of China and the United States will be essential for shaping America's economic policy both foreign and domestic. This article warns against tightening domestic spending budgets on the one hand and protectionism on the other.
I believe that while America would be wise to increase it's manufacturing capabilities quickly for the sake of self-sufficiency, creation of jobs, and insurance of sound labor practices, the crumbling of China's economy in the current world order would be to our disadvantage.
What is Civitas?
After half a century of premier world power, our nation has begun to decline. Where once we were the breadbasket and factory of the world, we are now increasingly merely the center of capital and finance—a notoriously flighty thing. Where once we led the world, now we are on the back foot, trying to maintain our power in the world while the basis on which that power is built rapidly slips away from us.
Our decline was not inevitable; it had its basis in the misgovernance of blind, polarized politicians ruled by overpowerful lobbies and irresponsible corporations all of which were content to enrich themselves at the expense of our Republic. Our two-party system, never particularly functional, has broken down almost completely. A professional caste of lawyer-politicians populates our supposedly representative government. Our nation’s fall has been short, sharp, and severe; its collapse will be long, chronic, and miserable. The current recession and the current period of political stagnation mingled with chaos is but the first of many shocks we are doomed to suffer—unless there is meaningful change not merely in the personnel of government, but in the very way Americans govern themselves.
Amidst Protests, China Silences Dissidents
In the midst of cacophonous protests throughout the Middle East, another Eastern dictatorship is quietly managing its population in a bid to save face– and the powers that be behind Western governments would like to see them succeed.
In response to potentially inflammatory dialog on several Chinese-language websites hosted outside of China, the PRC has taken preemptive action to arrest would-be inciters of protest–dissidents, lawyers, and human rights activists–because the last thing that China wants amidst this newsworthy rage of protest is to be lumped in with the Middle Eastern dictatorships that are making headlines.
We should be lumping them together.
China is a Distraction
Ten years after the attacks of September 11th, the specter of terrorism has lost its edge. As a result, American public attention has begun to focus squarely– and not a moment too soon– on domestic issues. Americans are beginning to realize that their government has only demonstrated its inability to represent them, and that even now, at the inception of a New Depression, America’s politicians are scrambling to sell her citizens to the highest bidders and shield themselves ineffectually from scrutiny. There’s an audacity to their behavior, in fact, that is stunning. They seem to truly believe, in spite of our history that shows the contrary, that Americans are blind, stupid and ignorant.
Enter China. There’s been so much talk about the ascension of this Eastern Power, the vast majority of it by people who know little more about China than the average high school graduate. Our mass media would have us believe that China is on the cutting edge of technology-related education, that its middle class is a vast consumer market to be feared and respected, and that Chinese infrastructure is growing into competition with the Western powers. China’s military power, which is significant, is dramatized into an existential threat to America’s might (which it isn’t). These sentiments are echoed by politicians high and low, and creepy images of Chairman Mao set to darkly dramatic music have entered political television commercials more juvenile and asinine than those we have become accustomed to in the nineties… and that’s saying something.
Andrew Carnegie in China
One of my students came to me for help with her reading for the elective class American Intellectual History. For the first week she’s reading a short selection from Andrew Carnegie's “Gospel of Wealth.” She summarized the main point of the selection to be that “the wealthy deserve their money, but that they should give it back to society as they grow old rather than passing it down to their children.” A revolutionary idea for its time, and perhaps even for today.
From there, our conversation turned from the point of the selection, to how one thinks critically about it. The student confessed to me how much she admired Carnegie, and his “rags to riches” story; and how much she admired his philanthropy. Then we turned to her assertion and respect for the belief that the wealthy deserve their money. I thought that she would defend the basis of this idea– a sort of social Darwinist manifestation that wealth is acquired by the intellectually or spiritually superior– stubbornly.
