Those that regularly read international relations or economics are informed about the rise of Communist China, I have written extensively on this topic mostly from the standpoint that China is a competitor that must be confronted in its expansionist aims. The famed ancient historian Victor David Hanson has written engagingly on this topic that I would like to present here if only to validate previous books that Hanson has written.
“The notion that we are doomed and the Chinese fated to prosper is not written in stone. It is simply a matter of free will, theirs and ours. They must deal with a new era of coming suburban blues, worker discontent, unions, environmental discretion and regulation, an aging and shrinking population, and greater personal appetites, social unrest, and nonconformity, in the manner that industrialized Western Nations did in the early 20th century. . . We in turn can easily outdistance any country should we remain the most free, law abiding, and economically open society as in our past. A race gender-blind meritocracy, equal application of the law, low taxes, small government and a transparent political and legal system are at the heart of that renewal. America could within a decade become a creditor nation again, with a trade balance and budget surplus, drawing in the world’s talent and capital in a way not possible in the more inflexible or less meritocratic China, Japan or Germany. Again, that is our choice, not a superimposed destiny from someone else.” AMEN.