[Victerius]

The rise of China is testing and will continue to test this assumption. The Chinese government does not require consensus. It can build 40,000 kilometers of high speed rail in just a few years. It can pull hundreds of millions from poverty. It can shut down entire companies and industries overnight (e.g. private school tutoring), jail corrupt corporate executives, and in general coerce compliance to any law.

Do you know how many school teachers in China must buy supplies for their students with their own money? Zero.

Do you know how many Chinese ambassadorships are left vacant because of political bickering? Zero.

I am not a shill for the Chinese Communist Party, Xi Jinping, or the ideology of the Chinese political system, but I increasingly am a shill for the ruthless efficiency of the Chinese government.

[nixgeek]

They’re ruthlessly efficient at persecuting the Uyghurs as well. I’m not sure “ruthless efficiency” is actually that desirable in a government.

[Victerius]

China is one extreme. The other extreme is the United States, which isn't able to accomplish anything, good or bad. All the US does anymore is renaming post offices, mailing social security checks, funding the army, and tax stuff. Tax cuts, tax credits, tax rebates, tax incentives.

China may well supersede the United States in the future, despite its treatment of minorities.

[shadowgovt]

China does not have a monopoly on persecuting minorities, especially in comparison to the United States.

The US's genocidal oppression has been ongoing far, far longer than the oppression of the Uyghur people.

https://www.npr.org/2022/06/29/1108717407/supreme-court-narr...

[robonerd]

> The US's genocidal oppression has been ongoing far, far longer than the oppression of the Uyghur people.

And knowing that, you'd take the guard rails off? Crazy.

[shadowgovt]

I'm not sure what you mean in this context. Which guard rails off of what?

[robonerd]

The system of checks and balances that impede the efficiency of the American government.

[shadowgovt]

Sorry, I'm not sure what I said that implies I would want that.

[swader999]

We can do the same kinds of things in war time and have.

[vorpalhex]

They also can't enforce building codes leading to fires that kill a lot of people, have no real food safety and dramatically impinge on any sense of individual rights.