The New Republic

How many times have we heard a politician joke about the nature of state capitalism in China? The punch line revolving around how much easier it would be to get things done here if only that gosh darn pesky democracy stuff could be shunted aside.

In some respects, of course, the joke is on us.

The punch line being the manner in which core economic and foreign policy decisions are grappled with and then unfurled by and for the Bilderberg Brigades in each of the G7 nations.

And though The New Republic almost never goes there [in print or on line], the editors are almost certainly aware of how and why this unfolds as it does. They just see it in a less "conspiratorially" manner than I do.

Or maybe not. Maybe some actually believe the 4th of July bullshit is literally true. After all, you can never really underestimate the capacity of the idealist to accrue the cognitive dissonance necessary to rationalize, well, just about anything, right? I mean, gee whiz, look at the mind boggling incredulity Christians display here about so many things that are on par with, say, a child believing in Santa Claus?

Be that as it may, the crony capitalists in Beijing are indeed on a level the Big Buckmeisters and their political enablers in Washington can only drool about. The pork and the earmarks there are so much more concentrated in the hands of those who can dump the money where it is most critically needed. They don't have to worry nearly enough about placating "the voters" back home, do they?

So: You can't help but wonder if that is where things are heading here. Will a domestic/economic facsimile of the BushWorld Unitary Executive policy [already in place regarding national security and foreign policy] soon sprout?

Ironically, it may well be precipitated BY the success China is now achieving. In other words, maybe that will be the only way the U.S. CAN effectively compete against them.

Think about it:

Marxism, Leninism, Stalinism, Maoism. They each set out to centralize all decision making in The Party. The Party would facilitate one or another rendition of the "dictatorship of the proletariat". That, uh, didn't take. But the institutionized infrastructure/superstructure is still largely intact. So, they took full advantage of this when they shifted gears from socialism to capitalism.

History. You gotta love the way it unfolds over and over again inside one or another replication of "the law of unintended consequences". The winners are those who grasp this and then situate themselves strategically to take hold of the reins.

george walton

[danny/annie]

- iambiguous

August 2, 2009 at 4:01am