NY Times columnist Tom Friedman is a little bit in love with China, following these successful Olympic games:
"That said, there are some things we could learn from China, namely the ability to focus on big, long-term, nation-building goals and see them through. A Chinese academic friend tells me that the success of the Olympics is already prompting some high officials to argue that only a strong, top-down, Communist Party-led China could have organized the stunning building projects around these Olympics and the focused performance of so many different Chinese athletes. For instance, the Chinese have no tradition of rowing teams, but at these Games, out of nowhere, Beijing fielded a women's quadruple sculls crew that won China's first Olympic gold medal in rowing."
Hmmm. Read the whole thing. Be careful. Yes, China accomplished a lot in hosting these Olympics, and created some impressive facilities and amazing spectacles. But at what cost? Sure, the air was clean in Beijing--because the government ordered motorists off the streets and summarily closed factories. The people affected had nothing to say about it. Sure, the Cube and the Bird's Nest were something--but they were built at least partially because the Beijing government ordered people out of their private homes and then bulldozed them. The people affected had nothing to say about it. Yes, Friedman acknowledges this and says he just wants American democracy to "work better." But I worry when people complain about our media and our "news cycle", and imply that our democratic fractiousness harms us. Yes, such divisions make legislative accomplishments come slowly. But you know what? I'll gladly take that--because conservatives know, as Russell Kirk taught us long ago, that change ought to be slow. It ought to come with difficulty. It ought to come with deliberation. Only then can we be sure that we've considered all alternatives and done the right thing.
Don't despair about the stuff that comes along with democracy, like a lot of debate in legislatures and slow progress and the back-and-forth in the news media. Don't get tempted to wish for some strongman to come and sweep it all away and "get things done." That's what the German people wanted once. They got Hitler. That's what some Chinese people still want. They got their dictatorial government. Yes, some of the accomplishments of the Chinese people are impressive. But beware what you "learn" from it.
