In the pay of China?
There’s a new book by Peter Schweitzer about American politicians and other movers and shakers who are on the China payroll. It’s entitled Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win.
Certainly sounds interesting.
The New Neo
A blog about political change, among other things
That is beyond comprehension, it is almost, what’s that word? Inconceiveadl……
Might be my next. It is obvious what happened for most of us, only the details are unknown. 30some million is a bargain to buy a US President, and Sundowner hasn’t disappointed them yet.
Who needs a book to tell them what they already know?
I saw his interview with Levin. His story is both chilling and nauseating. Schweitzer makes such specific charges against various high profile individuals that you have to believe that there is at least a kernel of truth. Otherwise he would be a surefire litigation target from people with very deep pockets.
Schweitzer alleges that a significant number of elites, representing various segments of our society, simply sold out to China. He is very specific about the Biden family.
He portrays the “Silicon Valley Oligarchs”, as he calls them, as admirers of the perceived efficiency of totalitarianism, and particularly as demonstrated by Xi Jinping. Many of them certainly act the part. But, if true it is also an indication of their historical naivete. The central planning that they seemingly admire has yet to prove itself successful, and there are ample examples of its failure. Then again, if the right people had only been in charge.
The NBA is corrupted by Chinese money. So is Hollywood. Certainly, the Bidens are in on it.
When the GOP captures the House, they need to impeach Joe. Steve Bannon is predicting it. And, yes, we’ll have to take our chances with Harris.
China appears to me as a fascist economic model much like that of Mussolini’s Italy. Companies are privately owned and operated. However, they are closely tied to the government and the Bank of China. The government has been quite aggressive in promoting any manner of industry that can find markets in wealthy countries. With cheap labor they have managed to strip industries out of wealthy countries, especially the U.S.
Our elite thinkers decided way back in the 1980s that the U.S. should become an information economy. No more of that dirty manufacturing, mining, lumbering, etc. for us. White collar, intellectual jobs were the wave of the future – so they said. Tell that to the unemployed factory worker whose job went to China.
Many of these collaborators actually believed they were doing good. Help the U.S become an information economy while helping the Chinese multitudes to rise out of poverty. What could go wrong? We’re now reaping the harvest of that idea. We’re learning that exporting basic industries and letting our tech secrets be stolen, has led us to a position of dependence on a nation that doesn’t play fair and definitely plans to become THE #1 World Power.
The Chinese have used bribery as one of their major tools to help them accomplish their goals. Bribery works with many people. Especially if they can tell themselves, it’s all for a good cause. Given the type of person in our political and academic elite, Schweizer’s book shouldn’t surprise us.
We can turn things around, but the hour is getting late.
I don’t think we’ve ever had elites this bad and this bad on every dimension.
I too saw the interview of Schweizer on Levin last night. What Oldflyer does NOT point out is that Schweizer thinks the Chinese have bought the Bush family too, from GHWB down to GWB and Jeb Bush. Even Neil (a brother whose name I don’t recognize, so don’t know what generation to put him in) is said to have benefited from a very large financial gift to manage an investment fund.
If this is all true, and I trust Schweizer’s research more than the NYTimes, we’re really in a difficult place. God help us all; God help our nation.
Do not expect the GOPers to clean up the mess.
After all, all the Bush dynasty are Sinophiles as well.
And China has lots of our money to spread around to buy people.
Why do you think the demonkraps are so hard against Russia? It is diversion so you will not see how in bed they are with China.
J J…”China appears to me as a fascist economic model much like that of Mussolini’s Italy”
I agree. It should be called Fascist China, not Communist China. The ‘Communist’ part is mainly for historical continuity and branding.
F, I did not name any names other than Biden.
Lest we forget, it was Richard Nixon who established the Liaison Office in China, and GWH was the second Envoy. I do think that GWH, and probably GW, thought that engagement with China would modify their behavior. We now know that was a futile hope, if not downright naive. I don’t know what Neil Bush thought.
The Bidens have no such excuse.
Art Deco has the right of it. It is the greatest betrayal by a governing elite of a free people in history. Greed and power and ego. Plus a monumental degree of stupidity. Imagining that in the end they’ll get to keep their ill gotten gains. Nationalization and asset seizure await them.
Gerard,
We all knew it. Yet confirmatory details matter, they are the flesh surrounding the bones of what has long been obvious.
Cornhead,
“When the GOP captures the House, they need to impeach Joe.”
Good thing that the ChiComs only bribed democRats, right?
Edward,
McConnell is fully on board with the protect Ukraine meme. Which means that plenty of the other Republican leadership are on the dole as well.
J.J. and david foster,
A fascist economy controlled by Communist ideologues. Using capitalism, bribery of the corrupt and stolen intellectual property to challenge the U.S.
this explains much of what has gone in the two years, of course we know turtles taiwanese legacy (which leans toward the dragon) China is actively acting against our interests, on a whole host of fronts Ali Baba’s Joseph Tsai has greased enough palms at Yale, for instance, the national pulse has chapter and verse on most of this, the Qataris have another big chunk of wasta (pull) the Russians krisha, loosely connections,
The excessive dependence on China, the increasingly-obvious submissiveness to China…these are both parts of a larger and very malign social trend which I have dubbed The Great Liquidation:
https://ricochet.com/1123115/the-great-liquidation/
Z pens his usual; Americans are stupid, he is wise, he is not some wage slave serf as he has rubbed elbows with the right “muckety mucks.” Because Americans will do the easy thing, as we always have, Civil War (doh?) or throwing out the British (doh, duex).
Z essentially sees America as a threat to his rice bowl.
And of course the Palestenians, not the original folks who lived there; nope those original folks get way too much slack. His particular family is far more deserving. It in fact needs its own country; Z’domstan or Z’stania.
Shilling for Xi, Vlad, and the O’gharchs.
Even Neil (a brother whose name I don’t recognize, so don’t know what generation to put him in) is said to have benefited from a very large financial gift to manage an investment fund.
I think you’ve confused him with his brother Marvin, who works in the financial sector. IIRC, Neil sells software for a living.
So Zaphod is basically calling for many of us to adopt something akin to the approach of quite a few intellectuals in ancient China who–disenchanted with the endless wars, court politics, and corruption–and enchanted with nature–withdrew from society, and wandered away into the mountains or to travel the land, there to mourn, starve, contemplate, and write poetry.
Snow on Pine:
You forgot the sackcloth, ashes, gnashing of teeth, self flagellation, …. Oh, we are not worthy. Now Z, he is worthy of fine toys, fine foods, sweetmeats, and stereo systems, because, Z.
He lost me at “Chinkyland”.
@SnowOnPine:
Perhaps the Ultra-dimensional Little Green Men are coming to save you.
I’m suggesting that there’s not much you can do short of rising up and killing them (Relax… your ruling class… not the Little Green Men) all. The mess the West is in cannot be resolved piecewise or from within. There will have to be a Discontinuity. A Rupture. Not a Rapture, Om. Since that day may be near or far (I suspect further into the future than most Big Talking Boomers realise), best adopt a detached posture and raise grandchildren, grow potatoes, pickle vegetables, and preserve fruits… or something. Don’t advocate for Bread and Circuses foreign adventures which will just (you hope) get other flyover people’s grandchildren immolated
Here’s the thing. China and India were around in recognisable form 3,000 years ago. They’ll very likely be around in recognisable form 3,000 years hence. We Westerners most assuredly were not and will not be if we don’t up our game. Which means carefully examining our Givens. Freedom has become an article of fanatical religious faith with the death of Christianity… But how free are you? I point out regularly that the average Han Chinese has more personal freedom today than most of you here… Many here in this blog are insulated because old, retired, and did very nicely out of the 80s and 90s. I’d rather be a 20 year old Chinese university student in Shenzhen today than a White American one at Caltech faced with a looming lifetime of having to look over my shoulder constantly worried about the latest political fads destroying my life and career.
As for your quip about Chinese intellectuals being back-footed throughout much of history. China has always had the sense to be governed by an intellectual scholar elite and at the same time keep them sufficiently culled and cowed such that they never turned into, you-know the current faculty of Harvard, for example.
The thing with intellectuals is that they are necessary but the dose is the poison.
Besides… Life is *meant* to be tragic. There are meant to be holocausts, err… sorry for patent infringement.. I mean sacrifices. It’s who we are. Perhaps you could ask the Little Green Men to re-code our DNA if you don’t like it.
We (Westerners) are the Madmen. The Tertiary Syphilitics. The Faustian Fools who think that we can have it all. You want Liberty? Fine… But that gets you a lot of other stuff too… including a greatly reduced civilizational life span.
@Dwaz:
— He lost me at “Chinkyland”.
You were lost long before that in that case 🙂
The problem is your ruling class and either they are a reflection of you (in which case the problem is you) or they are now your grown apart and alien usurper overlords (in which case you need to do some self-reflection on how you permitted this to happen and then can either decide to submit or rise up at the appropriate time and destroy them).
Chinese ownership of some of your government is downstream of this. Very far downstream. Pathogens love to find an HIV Carrier. You might as well blame a dog for barking.
Everyone piled onto China during C19 and first half of C20 in a great rapacious carpetbagging free-for-all. The Chinese deserved it because they became decadent and weak… Then they became very mad about it.. even went totally mad for a while… and now they’re back. And they know a thing or two about turnabout being fair.
The West, or at least the bits of it which want to survive will have to go through a similar process. Hopefully less blood-soaked than the Chinese… but as all the Usual Suspects present will attest, that’s no sure thing.
One of the things the Chinese did was boycott foreign goods back during the second decade of C20 when they felt riled up about foreign interference. So you could all start with that one. Find a good American-made hoe and get busy cultivating your gardens.
Zaphod:
Every now and then you appear to feel the need to trash people on this blog and Americans in general. You may have noticed that sometimes I get rid of those comments of yours, particularly if they contain gratuitous insults like “[insert insulting adjective of your choice] Boomers.” It adds nothing but a troll vibe to your comments and certainly doesn’t make them more believable and persuasive. And those comments of yours sometimes consist merely of diatribes against Americans, about whom you actually know much less than you think you know.
You write (among other things) “I point out regularly that the average Han Chinese has more personal freedom today than most of you here.” You do indeed “point that out.” But nothing you have ever said has justified that assertion, and I beg to differ. Again, you know little about how most Americans actually live on a day to day basis, or how much liberty we have. At present, we have a lot. People who work in certain venues – in particular, universities come to mind, as well as tech giants like Google – have reduced freedom of expression. But that’s a very small percentage of Americans, and most of those people are already on the left so it’s really only the even smaller number of people on the right at those places who have to stifle themselves.
It’s certainly possible that Americans are on track for greatly reduced liberty in the future, as people who comment here are well aware. But that’s a different issue.
“I don’t think we’ve ever had elites this bad and this bad on every dimension.”
The U.S. does seem to have hit an awful trifecta of elite degeneracy.
1. They are conventionally corrupt.
2. They are alienated from their fellow citizens and a large chunk of society.
3. There are so damn many of them. One of the things that made America what it is (was?) is that there just weren’t enough northeastern WASPs to run everything. That meant there was room for smart and talented people from Oklahoma or Alabama. Now we have this congealed socioeconomic class that just dominates the managerial economy.
Mike
In a perfect world, the Russians and Chinese would hire/bribe/compromise a better class of American Quislings.
If you’re going to maximise your countries’ utilities during the collapse of a decaying empire, the least you would hope for would be a sensible controlled demolition.
The problem is that the US Elite is so far gone that all anyone can do is engage in a free-for-all frenzy of bribery and co-option and hope and pray that some lunatic doesn’t go off-piste and start the Big One over some nonsense off somewhere over there.
Conversely the USA in its present state is far too dangerous and unstable to be left fully to the deranged devices of its own insane ruling elite. You cannot have a self-actualising nuclear superpower ruled over solely by people who believe that boys are girls and that Blacks are Wakandans and that the whole world needs to don rainbow flags and sodomise children.
The good people of this blog and all similar have no control over the Rulers of the American Empire. Your best hope sadly and perversely is foreigners.
I know… I know… I’m a big bad depressing nasty meanie. But it’s still true. This thing has to end. Hopefully without getting us all killed. Then build something fresh and better.
Z says the world is thanking Xi, Vlad, Little Kim, and Eyeatold ya, for doing what is right and taking out the USA.
Not sure what world Z lives in any more. All those people longing to sneak into Xi land (other than little Kim’s slaves of course), or into Vlad land, or into Eye a told you stan.
Even Hong Kong has people rushing to get into their shackles. Well maybe not, Z, your sales pitch isn’t persuasive. Xi may notice, and that’s not good for your rice bowl, Chappie.
Zaphod:
Comments like this are why I say you are once again in troll territory:
“I know… I know… I’m a big bad depressing nasty meanie. But it’s still true…”
No one gives a rat’s ass if you’re a “big bad depressing nasty meanie.” And your simply stating, “But it’s still true!!!” doesn’t make it so.
Your sweeping generalizations – about all politicians or all Americans – are based on nothing but your own extrapolations from what some exhibit, and those generalizations of yours are unpersuasive.
Ignorance and arrogance is not a winning combination – or at least it’s not a persuasive combination. State your case, offer evidence, and stop insulting people and screaming how TRUE everything you say is, and maybe you’ll get more respect.
On the other hand, Z comes up with the occasional gem that makes me hope he doesn’t get banned. E.g.
“The thing with intellectuals is that they are necessary but the dose is the poison.”
By the way, y’all know who the original Zaphod is, don’t you? In case some of you don’t:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaphod_Beeblebrox
Note especially the “As a character” section.
re China: it seems to have been forgotten, but there was a huge to-do during the Clinton administration about Chinese money going to the Democratic Party. As I recall, though I didn’t follow it that closely, the Democrats pretty much stonewalled investigations.
Yes we know who the original two faced (literally two headed) unscrupulous, thieving galactic grifter/politician, and alien, was. 42 and thanks for all the fish!
“It adds nothing but a troll vibe to your comments”
neo is so droll! however the topic of the thread is something I’m sure auntie z is quite knowledgeable of.
FOAF:
Inconceivable! Zoot alours!
This is mostly a reply to Z.
The advantage that America, the UK, and fewer parts of Europe have had over the past two centuries is the idea that creative destruction is good, because even though some people are hurt, the newer ideas create more wealth than they destroy. Top-down societies such as modern China, or the USSR in its hey-day, are fully capable of making one-time changes from an agrarian society to an industrial society, and their supporters always say that this is the system that “works”.
But it is only a society that allows creative destruction to function that can sustain two century-long growth spurts. The Russians couldn’t do it, many Latin American countries cannot pull it off, and I doubt the Chinese will either. The reasons is that as soon as the elites become addicted to the rents that come from protected industries, the whole thing dries up.
So the problem in the west is that too many believe these top-down run economies work. All they work to do is enrich the connected ones. A free society is one in which failure is expected. So the wise learn to save during the good times, fools spend like there is no tomorrow. Top down economies just serve to push failure farther down the road. Maybe our society is on that path, but if you look back over the last two centuries of data, it is the west that is 20 times richer today in per capita terms. China was still where the west was in 1800 as late as the 1940s. They are now still poorer than Mexico on a per capita basis. As long as we have economic freedom, there is no limit to how much our future holds. China, Russia, and the Latin countries all have much lower limits because they are designed to keep the current elites rich, not to make their society rich. The referenced book suggests that maybe our society is heading in that direction. But we, unlike the Chinese, allow political competition, so some enterprising politician is going to see that getting back to what works is the road to reelection. At least, it has worked pretty well for two and a half centuries.
JohnnyB,
Thank you for that most insightful comment. Cultural fundamentals matter.
“Cultural fundamentals matter.”
They sure do. Drag Queen Story Hour is now a cultural fundamental. Should you disagree, feel free to cancel all your credit cards before they’re cancelled for you.
@ Mac > “re China: it seems to have been forgotten, but there was a huge to-do during the Clinton administration about Chinese money going to the Democratic Party. As I recall, though I didn’t follow it that closely, the Democrats pretty much stonewalled investigations.”
Smart money, to buy both parties.
Did Obama’s administration get in on the grift, or were they too hooked on Iran?
@ David+Foster > “These are both parts of a larger and very malign social trend which I have dubbed The Great Liquidation:” LINK
Great essay – covers all the problems in detail. I read it over at Chicago Boyz a couple of weeks ago. Highly recommended to Neo’s Salon.
PS Are you also ‘david foster’ or do you have a doppelganger on the board?
OTOH, it looks like “The Plan(TM)” of our political, business, technical and media “elites” is proving to be wildly successful!
“China Builds 27 Empty New York Cities”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/china-builds-27-empty-new-york-cities
(“The Plan” being, of course, to “pretend” to play “the Chinese game”—i.e., to “out-corrupt” the Chinese and suck them into the Capitalist—or should that be “Reality”?—“Death Spiral”(TM)—so as to hollow China out from within…)
Oh, those wily, cunning elites of ours…. Playing—yo’ Zaphod, listen up!—the “Long Game”.
Master strategists!! Patriots all!!!….
(Of course, WWIII might result, but no matter: it’s the SHEER ELEGANCE of the strategy—together with the flawless execution—that really count…Just ask the architects, orchestrators and choreographers of “Russiagate” and “The Great Steal” how utterly satisfying it can be….)
I always get a kick out of it when auntie z talks about “Drag Queen Story Hour” or “GloboHomo Conspiracy”
Self own Z, remember that great Xi idea, “Social Credit” system? Universal, omnipresent video surveillance and enforcement of approved behaviour, for your own “good” of course? With enforcement that cancels all your “cards” (the life cards).
That’s one of those Xi things that Z can get behind! Good for the Han, good for all, go Xi!
It’s always been curious to me how modern leftism focuses on using hard and even soft state control of corporations as an extension of government. In that sense, the Chinese model really isn’t all that different from the modern American left model.
Of course, at the same time leftists will insist that facism is actually an ideology of the right.
And Z commits a BIG unforced error. You let us see your hand. You told the Truth and it makes you look real bad Sunshine…real bad.
“…an extension of government…”
Well, perhaps in certain cases…but is it the “government” that is controlling the corporations? Or is it the corporations who decide that it is in their “best interests” to kow-tow to the “government” (or “hop on the bandwagon” as it were)?
…which is perhaps a meaningless distinction, since I suppose corporate kow-towing could well be interpreted as a form of “government control” (with the govt. in the role of “nice-company-ya’-got-there” thug….)
In any event, regarding ‘some “governments”…’
“What Does Vladimir Putin Have on Joe Biden?
“Joe and Hunter Biden’s seedy involvements in Ukraine may have given the Russian leader all the ‘kompromat’ he needs to keep America at bay”—
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/what-does-vladimir-putin-have-on-joe-biden
IOW (but we already know this)—Nord Stream, anyone?—the most corrupt “president” in American history “won” the 2020 “elections” with a “record number of votes”.
A year into that “record-breaker”‘s administration, the price of that “record number of votes”—of that “historic popularity”—is being seen. And felt.
And we’re just getting started….
Peter found out who’s on the payroll as well as the cheer squad? good.
Zaphod,
“Cultural fundamentals matter.”
“They sure do. Drag Queen Story Hour is now a cultural fundamental. Should you disagree, feel free to cancel all your credit cards before they’re cancelled for you.”
Saying it is so does not make it so. And the credit card cancellation is an empty threat when the person threatened fully understands that “man does not live by bread alone”.
“I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.
You can’t conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him.” R.A. Heinlein
And there are far worse things than being killed while fighting evil.
AesopFan…it is indeed I.
RE: What’s really going on inside China?
Travel vloggers laowhy86 *, and SerpentZA** also at ADVChina *** spent some ten years living in and traveling all over China by motorcycle, and investigating and filming in areas that most westerners never get to or see, so I’d trust what they say as being accurate about what is really going on in China.
* https://www.youtube.com/user/laowhy86
** https://www.youtube.com/user/serpentza
***https://www.youtube.com/user/churchillcustoms
I am curious as to the locale in which Zaphod abides, so that perhaps I can understand through which lens he view the world, and America in particular. Perhaps I would consider emigrating; although I suspect not if he considers China and India to be beacons of human advancement.
I know this is a rather trite argument to use against one so erudite, but I do wonder why so many of my Physicians are of Chinese or Indian descent. (and, alas, the sample size is not small.) Don’t they understand?
They understand Oldflyer…they could even give you a more complete understanding onto Z.
Old Flyer:
Hong Kong is Z’s claimed current stomping grounds. He is an ex-pat from South Africa (Durban).
JohnnyB,
Great comment. Thanks!
Snow on Pine,
I watched that first video from laowhy86. Fascinating*! Thanks for posting the link.
I’ve recommended it here before; Thomas Keneally’s book, “River Town.” It ends years before the political crackdowns lawhy86 encountered, but Mr. Keneally’s experience is strikingly similar (even married a Chinese gal and started a family); initially embracing the culture but gradually understanding he will never be accepted.
*Also quite disturbing.
zaphod,
A sincere attempt to help you understand something you seem to be missing.
To paraphrase neo on a recent reply to you; you often pontificate in absolutes; all people, all Americans, all men, all women, all nations…
What, I think you miss (and I don’t want to speak for others who may disagree with you), is just how unique the United States was regarding ethnic, religious and race relations. Our history in those areas is well known, no need to go into that, but the ideals America was founded on were mostly, fully realized by the 1970s, and even in prior years America had made more, greater strides in those areas than most any other government.
I think most of the readers can relate to my experience. I grew up in a lower middle class, blue collar neighborhood and attended public schools. 99% – 100%? of my classmates either had grandparents from a foreign country or parents from a foreign country. Many had parents from different foreign countries. Many spoke a foreign language at home.
There were ethnic, racial and religious jokes, but all in sincere, good fun, and we were a beautiful, sincere community. There were ethnic festivals that we all attended, regardless of ethnicity. The 4th of July was a reverent, joyous, wonderful occasion. Homes would display the flag of their native land AND an American flag, always with the American flag above.
I could go on, and on, and yes, there was crime and there were ugly people who behaved poorly, but we were Americans. America was an idea, and if you ascribed to the idea of America you were American. And your neighbors had your back. And you had theirs. You were also Lithuanian, or Jewish, or Chinese or … but you loved America, were proud of YOUR country and proud to be an American.
Since the revolutionary war America had been on a trajectory of embracing and improving upon the ideals of its founding and it got better with every generation. Never perfect. But always better.
Until now. In the past 20 – 30 years it has gotten worse, and that degradation appears to be accelerating.
You likely agree with all I wrote above (except you’d doubt the sincerity I believe we all felt in the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and oughts), but I assume you’d think it was all a facade. Human nature as it is, there is no way a group of different ethnicities and religions can peacefully, successfully live under one, national umbrella. This decline was inevitable, as is the eventual collapse of the whole thing.
Well, as someone who has personally lived through it, I can tell you that it was real. Americans, with few exceptions, were Americans first and did not hate or feel ill will towards others based on their race, ethnicity, gender and/or religion. Not only was there NOT ill will. There was pride. We welcomed and desired different faiths, cultures, skin tones, accents. We were Americans! We’d chew all that stuff up and churn out Jazz! Movies! Baseball! Fajitas! Chop Suey! Marlene Dietrich! Americans didn’t love America because we love Pilgrims and Calvinists in black ill-fitting clothing, living drab lives. We loved America because it was the exact opposite of those people.
This destruction seems intentional. Purposeful. It is not the natural degradation of a system that was always fated to collapse in on itself. The system was beautiful and worked. We are going backwards.
Malicious actors are working tirelessly to derail the system, to pit countryman against countryman, neighbor against neighbor. People not worthy to untie the buckles of the founders’ shoes are aggressively trying to unravel 240 years of progress. It does not have to be this way. This is not the American way, and I will not laugh cynically watching others destroy it.
So, zaphod, hopefully this sheds some light on, at least, my opposition to your views. People of different skin tones, languages, foods and feast days did peaceably co-exist in this nation and they were happy. I witnessed it with my own eyes and I know it remains within our grasp.
Thank you Om. That is an interesting piece of information, and explains a lot. Now, the question is how much credence to give to the opinions of a person who has migrated from one historic bastion of repression to another current example, and deigns to lecture Americans about our own problems?
It takes a special set of blinders to hold out Chinese history as an example of a stable, progressive culture. A fellow named Genghis Khan would say that he overhauled and invigorated a decaying Imperial system. Later the Europeans upset the cart for awhile, but also brought a measure of modernity into a corrupt culture. Then, some could say that the Chinese would be speaking Japanese today if it were not for America. By fits and starts, it seems to me that China’s most notable progress has been from a repressive Imperial culture to a repressive culture with a modern face.
Now, Xi Jinping has dreams of international dominance. Some would say that he looks outward in an attempt to ignore serious internal conflicts. We will see if there is another Cultural Revolution in the future.
Rufus T: “Well, as someone who has personally lived through it, I can tell you that it was real.”
Yes. I and no doubt many others here can testify to the same, though my background was vastly different. I believe it was Bob Dole at the ’92 or ’96 Republican convention who said something similar.
It is sad beyond words to be reduced to being an old man saying “It wasn’t always like this” and knowing that people don’t believe you. Or else they think you’re just an old racist white guy lamenting that you’re no longer able to oppress the POC as freely as you used to. We all understand that there were many things wrong with that old world, yet those who are succeeding us are destroying what was good while failing to fix what was bad.
Rufus, great comment. And I concur with you and Mac “that it was real.”
Affirmative action, even when employed distastefully, was working – at least up to Obama’s term and 2007/08 campaign. A growing cohort of successful and competent black people were visible to the whole of society in the media, medicine, education, politics, engineering, business leadership, entertainment, athletics, law and law enforcement, etc. Similarly for the feminist contingent.
But it does appear the Leftist indoctrination had been growing like mold inside the wall, and only now in these last 20 years has finally shown itself on the drywall inside the room.
@R2L:
So you’re saying that you’ve had positive experiences posting a letter and at the DMV in years gone past?
It got to about as good as it was ever capable of getting and then it imploded. Because the entire edifice (Affirmative Action) was a house built on sand and a denial of facts pertaining in base-level Reality… the bit that doesn’t go away when you stop believing in it.
Don’t need to go back to the Dark Ages. Do need to base social policies and forms of government on what people demonstrably *are* rather that what one dreams they ought to be.
“So you’re saying that you’ve had positive experiences posting a letter and at the DMV in years gone past?”
Actually I have. Never had anything else, actually. People bitch about the post office all the time, and I’ve sometimes wondered if part of the reason is an ideological grudge. At any rate I can go a lot further than “have had” positive experiences: I’ve never had a negative one, in the sense of feeling that the employees were hostile or incompetent. The worst thing that’s ever happened to me there is a long line, and the employees were not to blame for that: there just weren’t enough of them to handle the number of customers.
Nor do I find any dealings with vehicle license stuff especially unpleasant, although I’d certainly rather not bother.
I suspect, but can’t prove, that the explanation for the difference in experience is that I’ve always lived in small towns. People don’t just habitually act like jerks in places like this, as they apparently do in some cities. Maybe part of it is also living in the South. Southern good manners are over-stated, but still, you just don’t go around snapping and snarling at people, no matter which side of the counter you’re on. Anyway even on the occasions when I’ve used the post office in the nearby moderate-sized city (~200,000), I’ve never encountered a rude clerk.
Mac demonstrates experience of an American versus Z’s experience talking about Americans, ah, the intertube elites.
Good experience with our local DMV (Maryland)….post office, not so much, not obnoxious or anything, but low-energy and seems not well-organized.
I’ll take exception to Maclin Horton here. I’ve not been mistreated at the post office, but postal clerks tend to be less energetic and agreeable than ordinary service employees. Mail and parcel delivery is a fee-for-service activity that emerges naturally on the open market. Most aspects of what the postal service does could be undertaken by private enterprise, though making the postal service a private enterprise would have some frictional costs.
Wherever I’ve lived, DMV service is head and shoulders above what I knew in Rochester ca. 1980. It is one aspect of American life that has dramatically improved.
AD, I’m not defending the p.o. as an institution (or attacking it, either). Just reporting my experience, which seems to be different from that of many.
https://twitter.com/julie_kelly2/status/1486079309303500803?cxt=HHwWhsC-scPQzp8pAAAA
While we’re at it, just who are National Review‘s paymasters?
Just reporting my experience, which seems to be different from that of many.
Point not raised, but one emphasized by Charles Peters, a critic of the Postal Service, a generation ago. People tend to regard letter carriers agreeably but tend to dislike postal clerks. I’ve forgotten Peters’ elaboration on the issue. I think the source of that is that the letter carrier is out on the streets bringing you something you value. The postal clerk is behind a desk taking his time giving you a service you require. In my experience, the dispositions of postal clerks are a function of the local culture and of the probability the clerk will run into you on the street. Small town postal clerks are pleasant to the customers. They have something in common with postal clerks in general: they putter. The gentleman who said ‘not well organized’ I’m wagering is referring to the whole mise-en-scene where the line runs out the door, you have four service points, and three of them are unmanned (while some rando is wandering around in the back by all appearances doing nothing of much urgency). One of my more recent experiences saw three employees leave for the day out a staff egress while the line ran out the door. The desk clerks are not being rude to me, but they are underperforming (most likely because their supervisor does not insist that customers are given priority over miscellaneous processing tasks).