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J M Hatch's avatar

The story of Zhao’s captivity prompts two reflections: If a patriotic official only came to the conclusion that democracy was needed for China after years of nothing to do but think, what chance is there for a busy official today to have the leisure or the security to think such thoughts while on the job(and plenty of opportunities to see how "democracy" lead to elite capture of the EU by the USA, and in turn the capture of the USA by robber barons)? And if he did manage to come to such a conclusion, how would he implement these ideas in the teeth of Party (and anti-oligarchy factions) in opposition at all levels of society?

One has to remember the students (and the powers behind their democracy) were protesting the effects of Zhao's reforms in Tiananmen, in Shanghai, in Dalian, in Chongqing. They were not asking for more. In someway he was like Gorby, he had an idea of democracy from books written by those who never held power with in a democracy or who did but were part of perverting one. He missed out that there had to be protections like a highly educated population and systems to prevent over concentration of wealth to keep it from being malformed, and that these protections are fragile. American's 10 Amendments, a corrective to the overworked tool of the assassins' of the Articles of Confederation over abundance of democracy, was an attempt to prevent capture of power by factions and money. In the end all they seem to have done is slow down the spread of poison, like the tourniquet that holds off a snake's bite but eventually brings on heart failure from gangrene toxins.

China is a victim of it's geography as much as it is a winner through it, but you'll never find a UK or USA growing in that soil. Perhaps that's for the best. In the end though, I'll leave that to the Chinese.

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Ivan Encinas's avatar

Really fascinating read! I wonder if China will get another leader like Zhao Ziyang in the near future. I doubt it but that would be a step in the right direction.

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