https://amgreatness.com/2022/10/24/halloween-and-election-day-days-for-the-undying-dead/
Some very scary ideas never seem to die. There is a great Geico Insurance commercial playing off horror film tropes, in which several teenagers hide in a shed behind some chainsaws rather than go to a waiting automobile to escape a serial killer. But unlike this commercial, our political tropes are not so funny. The political ideology of socialism has killed and maimed hundreds of millions, haunting us for the last 100 years. Yet political leaders just continue to change the name—national socialism, communism, progressivism—and try again.
The basic reason authoritarians get away with this is because some academic minds never seem to tire of the idea of trying to make everyone equal. It is not enough to have equal opportunity; they want equal results. The attempts to implement this insanity and the failures are well documented—empirically, historically, and existentially. Nevertheless, new dissertations clog the diploma mills every year as young minds, well-shaped by a politically progressive public school system, attempt to square the circle.
During the recent funeral ceremonies for Queen Elizabeth II, several seemingly well-educated commentators seemed to offer their support for the idea of the British monarchy, with its stability and traditions, as a better alternative to our messy democracy. Never mind that America isn’t supposed to be a democracy but, rather, a representative republic. It’s still too messy. But Lo! Within just a few weeks that same hallowed British system has collapsed yet again. Who is messy now?
Similarly, a number of financial commentators have extolled the efficiencies of the “Chinese system.” They really know how to get things done, don’t ya know. They don’t waste energy on political games. A crafty dictator like Xi is better suited to a complex world of shifting priorities. The yuan will soon replace the dollar as the standard for the world. China is already more powerful than the United States, both economically and militarily. etc. etc. Except for the fact that it’s not true, it makes for compelling copy if you are the sort who longs for such certainty.