Anecdotes

as of 7/7/08

This afternoon my language teacher commented, “I fully expect to be able to vote one day.” Interesting.

The country is clearly moving in the direction of capitalist inspired democracy. The speed of change is still debatable and most assuredly still very volatile. The definition of this new Asian democracy may certainly encompass a constitution, but the whole Bill of Rights idea most likely will take longer to catch on because it iconically represents the West.

From Chinese lessons today, I wonder the validity in the following statement from my instructor:

Democracy is less efficient (I assume than communism). When China reaches the prosperity of the west, even surpasses it, then it will be ready for democracy. Until then…

I have never considered democracy in terms of efficiency, but rather only in terms of precision and hopefully accuracy. Historically there have been issues with the masses making decisions. Let “Are you smarter than a 5th Grader?” prove its point. Yet history has also commonly asked, “Do we fully trust our leaders?” Indeed if I was the leader, do I even fully trust myself?