Here is where I remain confounded when it comes to the state of America and China in today’s world. If the States were to refrain from the current path of pseudo- authoritarianism, essentially taking the path of China but less overt in its messaging (gaslighting?) and return to the country’s roots or individual freedoms and true meritocracy, then there would be no competition.

The Chinese I speak with here like to joke that at least in China the average citizen knows and accepts their particular lot in life. All levers of power over the population reside with the government. Americans, on the other hand, believe deeply that they have agency, privacy and the like, but – to the chortling of the Chinese – in reality this is viewed as delusional thinking. Ironically, the average Chinese person sees more clearly than their American counterpart this reality and the path which has been taken for the past 30 years.

On this comparison, there is no argument to be made. I suspect that all of us here don’t even view this as being a joke. And yet, when you strip out all of the noise, this is the reality of where the America vs. China debate resides at this very moment.

For America to actually thrive globally all that is needed is for the government to allow aggressive openness of its society. No other nation-state, with the resources and tenacity of drive, could come close to competing and that is doubly so the case when it comes to China.