Paul Craig Roberts: Unplugging Americans From The Matrix

Americans, the British, and Western Europeans are accustomed to thinking of themselves as the representatives of freedom, democracy, and morality in the world. The West passes judgment on the rest of the world as if the West is God and the rest of the world are barbarians in need of chastisement, invasion, and occupation. As readers know, from time to time I raise questions about the validity of the West's extreme hubris. Washington's Insouciance Has No Rival and Is Western Democracy Real or a Facade? China is often a country about which Washington's moralists get on their high horse. However, China's "authoritarian" government is actually more responsive to its people than America's "elected democratic" government. Moreover, however incomplete on paper the civil liberties of China's people, the Chinese government has not declared that it can violate with impunity whatever rights Chinese citizens have. And it is not China that is running torture prisons all over the globe. For some time I have had in mind a realistic comparison of the two countries instead of the standard propragandistic comparison, but Ron Unz has beat me to the task. Unz provides a chance for an education. Don't miss it. Unz has done an excellent job. Moreover, he cleverly understates the case for China and overstates the case for America so as not to unduly arouse the flag-weavers. Nevertheless, the conclusion is clear: The Chinese are less threatened by their "extractive elites"than Americans are by their counterparts. Moreover, it is America's, not China's, extractive elites who are bombing, occupying, and droning other countries. As the bumper sticker says, "Be nice to America or we will bring democracy to your country."