My thinking has begun to change

 I've been preparing a new post for awhile now, but this will be one of those times where inspiration pushes it back to the periphery.

I've constantly been hearing....reading, about America owning 5% of the global population but 20% of the COVID cases.   And people of course look at other nations such as South Korea and various places in Europe.  And Taiwan(not a nation, I know)....and of course China.   I think it is pretty simple to understand Taiwan, surrounded by water as it is. 

But can we really understand why China has so few cases?  This post is not about China's lack of cases, but in short I will give a small reply.  China is "built" for a disaster such as this.  The people are internalized for something such as this.   It is in their wheelhouse.  Control is the "Fabric" in Chinese society. 

The Chinese bureaucracy has done a fascinating job organizing society.  The impetus is control over its citizens.  The by product is a safer place.  A more convenient way to board a train, etc.  Of course don't forget everything is ID Card oriented.

A Chinese would without question call America backward by comparison.  It would take a Chinese intent on living in America and not going back(or your country in Europe or Latin America, etc) probably a few years to really appreciate life here.  The pace of life.   By comparison I'm not surprised by the numbers of Chinese wanting to come here and study, and then return to China.  It is that group that comes here and never assimilates.  They have no motivation to do so, because they already know they are returning.

They have a better lifestyle waiting for them back home.   Where life is a bit less strained, shall we say.

But let's talk about America. 

A kitchen full of delicious ingredients means nothing if the cook is bad.

A company of excellent and capable workers is useless if the CEO is incompetent.

And America is suddenly a radical and divisive place, with a cratering economy, if led by an incompetent person.  But by saying this we give Trump too much credit.  He has facilitators.  Yet, I've said it before.  If America was a stock, I'd buy it.  Warren Buffet once said the time to buy is when blood is in the streets.

If this ain't that time in America, then you'll never see it.

But China's leaders are better than ours.  And they showed it by dealing with COVID in a competent and proper fashion.  America has been blessed with good leaders, experienced and capable.  From 1932 to 1974, one could argue the American Presidents were one way or another all above average.   Yes, I include Nixon.  Even Jimmy Carter agreed to return the Panama Canal.  

From 1980 to 2000, America was blessed with more above average leaders.  Yes, Reagan gave us a massive debt and was ridiculed about his "Star Wars" defense system.  Who's laughing now?  The old man was ahead of his time.   

Trump has brought a fantastic silver lining, a gift to us all.  His Presidency has shown us the dangers of a President with no empathy or compassion for others.   Should he win re-election, he will take us out of NATO and also start a war with China.  China's economy will disappear into oblivion because tariffs will never drop.  

But because of him, we know where all our weaknesses lie.  Boy are we gonna fix those problems.  You won't even recognize America from today come June 2021. 

China as such has decided to wait Trump out.  The rumor is China wants Trump to win re-election.  But be careful what you ask for.  You will get a drunken man with a chainsaw in his hand, high on drugs.   You want to do business with this guy?  This guy can wake up at 3am and order 5 carrier battle groups to your front door and no one will know why?  

Give me a beautiful girlfriend or give me an average babe I can sit down and reason with?  I'm not 21 anymore buddy.  Give me the calm, reasonable China Girl everytime.  

My thinking has begun to change.  As I've grown older, I've begun to understand the finer side of "control".   Not from a "1984" perspective, mind you.  Uh-oh.  No way, no how.  But while we nod approvingly from a very safe distance at China's ability to successfully control it's own population,  have you forgotten America has 330 million people?  

White America has stopped having children.  Hispanic America (I'm so tempted to utter Catholic and anti abortion Hispanic America) meanwhile is having kids like their on sale.    But I digress.

In short, America has too much damn freedom.  We lack discipline.  Something the Chinese have in spades.  Utter spades. We need focus. China is very good at focus.  Just a few days ago China came back with the good old trustworthy "The Chinese people are organized and cannot be  humiliated 辱不得" mantra, because like, you haven't heard that before right?  (He was talking about the 70th anniversary of the failed North Korean invasion of the South.  Because if they had succeeded, we'd never have the opportunity to watch sexy South Korean girls dance on YouTube, right?)

Our focus on "freedom" at the expense of "safety" and every damn thing else is draining away our sense of the American Ideal.  The American Ideal wasn't based on a "I can do whatever I want" mentality.    While not a wild fan of Chinese policies, something I've said before is that China has succeeded in giving its people "purpose".  Laughable or not, there are no AR-15's on every street corner in China.  No drug dealers killing one another over territory.  Do you want a China awash in guns? Is that better for the planet or worse?  

We are 300 million people and we need to get our shit together.  We need to be put in line. Leadership is like herding cats.  The goal of the leader is to drive them in one direction towards one goal.  China's goal come hell or high water is "we have to act tough towards you to avoid further Chinese humiliation".   No clue which "humiliation" he is talking about.  None.  Do the Chinese spending 10,000 RMB at a nightclub fuel themselves off this "humiliation"?  Do Chinese feel so angry about being "humiliated" they go and buy a Tesla simply because it's made in China?  How many of these "humiliated" Chinese own an Iphone?  

Trust me, they don't feel humiliated, they feel superior.  After all, they have new shiny, subways and we don't.  If your city doesn't have an 80 story skyscraper, well then your city sucks!  I see lots of pix of clubs in China where NO ONE is wearing a face mask.  As I write this 8 months after the pandemic hit America, we have an alltime high in infections. What's my point?

At some time in the very near future, we need to go "China Style" on our own ignorant ass people, and quite frankly, tell everyone you can't "eat" freedom, you can't "fuck" freedom, and you can't "shit" freedom.   It's becoming an increasingly hollow slogan on a cheap tshirt. 

Discipline leads to focus, and focus leads to progress.  America needs all three of these.