A conversation with a bartender in Hong Kong

Isaac_the_bartender.txt

...

JC:
What does China fear?

Isaac:
China is the last sovereign government in the world. Authoritarian but willing -- unlike U.N.-governed countries -- to give its people the freedom to do what they want.

JC:
As long as they don't break the law.

Isaac:
Listen to me. This is real freedom, freedom to own property, make a profit, make your life. The West, so afraid of strong government now has no government. Only financial power.

JC:
Our governments have limited power by design.

Isaac:
Rhetoric... And you believe it! Don't you know where these slogans come from?

JC:
I give up.

Isaac:
Well-paid researchers -- how do you say it? -- "think tanks", funded by big business. What is that? A "think tank"?

JC:
Hardly as sinister as a dictator, like China's Premier.

Isaac:
It's privately-funded propaganda. The Trileteral Comission in the United States, for instance.

JC:
The separation of powers acknowledges the petty ambitions of individuals; that's its strength.

Isaac:
A system organuzed around the weakest qualities of individuals will produce the same qualities in its leaders.

JC:
Perhaps certain qualities are an inseparable part of human nature.

Isaac:
The mark of the educated man is the suppresion of these qualities in favor of better ones. The same is true of civilization.