Friday, November 15, 2002

[Colin Glassey 2 PM]   China's Government China has new official leaders. The policy for some 15 years now in China is that political and military leaders over the age of 70 must retire. However, looking at China's history it is likely that the old men will still wield significant power from behind the scenes, just like good old Deng Xiaoping who was making key ruling on Chinese government policy from his death bed. Still, I'm forced to admit a gruding admiration for the Chinese government. Handling transitions of power is one of the harshest tests for any human government. By all accounts, China has managed this task well three times (starting with Deng's retirement). I argue that political transitions are what seperates good governments from bad ones. Kings and dictators may (rarely) make for good leaders in the short run (10 or even 20 years) but over the long run, both forms of government are bad at transitions. Oligarchy's tend to be unstable even over the short term as it is very rare for a group of people to share power equally. Given China's success in peaceful transitions, it is hard for me to classify their government. They look like an oligarchy from the outside but maybe it really is a functional (though severly limited in franchise) democracy? What is hard to deny is that China is moving towards a free market economic system. We know from history that those who have the wealth will attain the power eventually. How long it will take is an open question. Already the Chinese Party of Power (they still call themselves a Communist party) has invited wealthy businessmen to join the party. Maybe someday soon they will actually let all the Chinese citizens vote. 2:22:00 PM     [Colin Glassey 1:30 PM] Heather Hurlburt has written a good essay for the Washington Monthly. Summary: she argues that 1) Democrats don't take security matters seriously and 2) Democrats failed to formulate a coherent policy vis. the rest of the world even though the Clinton administration actually had something. I must say, one reason why I support the Bush administration on foreign policy now is that they seem to have a much better idea of what to do than any Democrat, especially Al Gore. We were attacked because of what we are, not because of anything we have done/not done. The Democrats don't seem to understand this. We are in a state of war. Iraq is an enemy of the United States and is working to develop nuclear bombs. I don't trust Saddam to not give weapons to Al Qaeda. 1:30:28 PM

© Copyright 2002 cglassey. Last update: 12/2/2002; 12:37:31 PM. This theme is based on the SoundWaves (blue) Manila theme.