Although China may be a recent arrival in the “Big Power Club,” it is a very old, and wise culture. They have developed their nation to this point on the profound understanding that the average voter in the western world is basically a moron whose main life interest is in next week’s pay-packet. Why should you let this person have any say in the long-term strategic interests of your country?
So, they don’t. And unlike our politicians, who have to pretend they listen to highly unqualified opinions, they are free to get on with the job of running their country.
The Chinese, unlike us in the West, are running with a long-term plan, ably enacted by highly intelligent and practical visionaries (in a population of 1.3 billion, there are plenty; contrary to the popular image of China being a country of peasants) unencumbered by democracy (read: lowest common denominator). Therefore, China knows that there is money to be made from the conversion to a sustainable world economy, and they are investing heavily in this technology. Sooner or later we will be paying big money to buy this technology from them. (We already are, but the snowball has only just got rolling.)
In the meantime, the US government has to bow down to the ossified thinking of the corporations that own it. And those of us who want to change to a sustainable economy have to tread water while the US Government oscillates between (Democrat) Tweedledum, and (Republican) Tweedledumber.
Petra Kelly (Founder of German Greens) had an interesting observation to make in an interview once: she was asked if the Greens had ever made any major mistakes. Her reply was unequivocal: yes, they had made one very big mistake; that was to waste their time going national. She said that if they had focused their energy at the local and state level, the Greens would have achieved far more, far faster, than they ever did in the national government. And therein lies the answer to the US political dilemma: let Tweedledum and Tweedledumber waste their time in Washington; Greens should not do the same.
“Think globally; act locally” is the perfect mantra for us.
Article by Roy Hopkins, appearing courtesy 2GreenEnergy.
