More Mini-Postage

NRO says China should teach U.S. lessons about economic freedom, since apparently Chinese citizens enjoy more economic freedom than their counterparts in the U.S.  Joe tweeted:

"NRO says China could teach US lesson in economic freedom. I say: Stop smoking crack, wannabe edgy Obama critics!"

I agree and disagree with what Joe's saying here.  NRO should stop smoking crack, and they are wannabe edgy Obama critics, but as a an openly conservative magazine, NRO kind of has a duty seemingly to massage some Obama criticism into nearly everything that outfit puts out.  It's par for the course, which is why I rarely read NRO these days.  I prefer to get my "conservative news" from Sarah Palin's facebook page.  No, not really.

Nevertheless, as I commented in Google Buzz a few days ago, I don't think it's at all controversial to claim that Chinese citizens enjoy more economic freedoms than their counterparts in the U.S., nor is it an attack on Obama. It's just a fact.  Without a strong regulatory state to impose things like safety standards and enforce zoning laws, people with money in China can pretty much do whatever they please, as long as they don't criticize the government.

People fallaciously assume that democracy and capitalism forever go together like peas and carrots.  I prefer to think that capitalism is the natural state of civilization.  Fighting free markets is like trying to grow European crops in the New World.  Democracy on the other hand, as history seems to attest to, is fragile, and must be protected by complex systems of law and civic robusticity.   

That is to say, imposing Democracy neccesarily entails curtailing economic freedoms.  I can't buy votes.  I can't bribe officials.  I can't pay you to kill a business rival.  etc.