I admire you post Ken but you don't think you stepped into that conversation with a few foundational ill conceived ideas about China's authoritarianism and USA's democracy? We so love to point to our democratic system but don't acknowledge enough how distorted, gamed and ineffectual it has become for average people. That's not a vote for authoritarianism. Its not one or the other. Its a vote for a fairer assessment of the reality. At ~90% citizen satisfaction the CCP are clearly not the cartoon version of authoritarianism we think they are. And at 30-40% we are clearly not the hunk dory version of democracy we think we are.
We're on the same page Ben. There's nothing saintly about our Australian democracy or that of the USA or others. The only advantage of democracy is that (in theory) we have high levels of transparency and accountability. As I said, 'in theory.' What I was interested in with my breakie/dinner fellow was in seeking to understand his perspective. If we don't understand the perspective of others we risk deluding ourselves about reality.
I admire you post Ken but you don't think you stepped into that conversation with a few foundational ill conceived ideas about China's authoritarianism and USA's democracy? We so love to point to our democratic system but don't acknowledge enough how distorted, gamed and ineffectual it has become for average people. That's not a vote for authoritarianism. Its not one or the other. Its a vote for a fairer assessment of the reality. At ~90% citizen satisfaction the CCP are clearly not the cartoon version of authoritarianism we think they are. And at 30-40% we are clearly not the hunk dory version of democracy we think we are.
We're on the same page Ben. There's nothing saintly about our Australian democracy or that of the USA or others. The only advantage of democracy is that (in theory) we have high levels of transparency and accountability. As I said, 'in theory.' What I was interested in with my breakie/dinner fellow was in seeking to understand his perspective. If we don't understand the perspective of others we risk deluding ourselves about reality.