What Maketh a Successful Society?
Andrew Singer, from The China Chronicle, compares China with the USA
Andrew Singer, author of The China Chronicle, is a friend, client, and colleague. He has taught me a great deal about China without the decades-long filter of my own government’s positioning. He divides his time between the United States and China and is a serious strategist on Chinese history, culture, and government. His column offers a clearer understanding of China and our evolving relationship with it. The next installment comes out next week and is well worth the read. Thank you, Andrew, for allowing me to share it here before it goes live. – CM
“A successful society is one that is supported by a majority of the people.” This comment during a recent conversation led us down a new path. I would add that a successful society is also one in which the people are proud, confident, and satisfied with their place in the world.
By this metric, the People’s Republic of China is currently more successful as a society than the United States of America. In other words, China is doing something right by a majority of its people; America is not.
Chinese society, led by a government we demonize that is anchored on a political system that scares us silly, is more supported by its citizens than is American society by Americans.
Why would a people support their government? First, a reflection. No government enjoys universal support. It will do things right; it will do things horribly. Societies stratify and threats abound. Governments always face complex issues that are difficult to manage and may be impossible to resolve and could (and repeatedly have) become domestically existential.
The above notwithstanding, today’s Chinese government by many measures functions at a high level for its people and the nation:
It provides infrastructure.
It promotes policies to protect the environment and enhance quality of life.
It prevents extreme poverty.
It supports education and healthcare.
It encourages and funds economic and technological research, development, and advancement.
Streets are clean and safe. Crime is low. Homelessness is not a crisis.
Daily life is mostly peaceful. Hope is still on the agenda.
The quid pro quo in China is a government that demands loyalty. A government that surveils. A government that dictates and enforces policies in a command and control manner. If one lives within the strictures of the system, life is good. If one disobeys or breaks with the system, the penalties are swift and substantial. And yet,
Most Chinese look at their nation with pride. The country has risen from its status as a tiny player in world governance five decades ago to now be one of the two most powerful players on the planet. There is a robust state capitalist economic system that has created a wealthy class, a large (if for the moment battered) middle class, and a lower class that has by and large not been abandoned to its own devices. China continues to advance as a global trading partner, a consistent and increasingly trusted peer to much of the world, and potentially a future international power broker.
On this side of the Pacific, it is not a stretch to argue that every single measure listed above about China is diametrically the opposite here. The government is barely functioning. Society is being ripped apart by culture and economic wars. Few (of any political party or leaning) support the direction of the country. Physical and emotional infrastructure is collapsing. Hope is in short, if not nonexistent, supply. We bully and alienate. Now, because America has been so strong and so powerful for so long, the country remains wealthy and continues to operate from a position of (declining) strength. The question is for how long.
China advocates a glowing, coherent image of its historical narrative that is harnessed to reach new national heights. America cannot agree on what our history is, and this undermines our present and future. Each country believes it is exceptional, but each is veering in seemingly opposite directions. I do not count the U.S.A. out, nor state unequivocally that China will surmount the pole. However, at the present time, by the measure of its citizens satisfaction, China as a successful society is eating our lunch.
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I suppose that one could say the same thing about organized religions. There is a kind of calming safety in, for example, Catholocism and the reverance of the Pope.