Re: China: Mandate of heaven?

On Thu, 22 May 2008 13:16:08 +0800, BobLee1964 wrote
(in article 
<f07bbc63-7ec2-4b53-bef7-f7cb96fe8cd4@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>):

> On May 21, 8:18 am, Jim Walsh <jimNOwalsSPA...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> On Wed, 21 May 2008 13:56:30 +0800, BobLee1964 wrote
>> (in article
>> <477b8e7d-c83b-42de-8a49-145062f7b...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>):
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> I prefer living in autocratic Hong Kong to living in democratic Iraq
in a
>>> heart beat.
>> 
>> 1. Who told you that Hong Kong was autocratic? It is number one in
economy
>> freedoms according to many surveys.
> 
> Hong Kong is autocratic because the political power is overwhelmingly
> in the handle of Chief Executive, who is elected by a small special
> committee and approved by the Chinese government. The legislature has
> little power,

autocrats do not permit a free press. Hong Kong's press is free (the PRC's

press is not). Ditto freedom of speech, religion, etc.

Autocrats do not permit independent courts. The courts in Hong Kong are
not 
under communist control.
 
> Don't be confused economic freedoms with democracy, or you have to
> agree that Hong Kong, even PRC, is more democratic than the west.

Agree that we can distinguish between economic and political freedoms.
Hong 
Kong has more of the former than most of the rest of the world (according
to 
reliable sources). The PRC is not remotely as free ECONOMICALLY as most of

the rest of the world. Most surveys put the PRC in the lower half in terms
of 
economic freedom.

The most prestigious index of Economic Freedom lists the PRC at 126
(Mostly 
unfree).

> 
>> 2. Who told you that Iraq was democratic? Where you really such a fool
as to
>> believe them?
> 
> Iraq is more democratic than the United States,

LOL. You are one strange dude.

> because its government
> is elected by the majority of the voters, who include pretty much all
> adults. Remember poor Al Gore who won majority of the votes?
> 
> I guess you have never been informed that the United States became a
> (kind of) democratic country only less than 100 years ago, when it
> allowed women to vote.

My undergraduate degree is in US history. My graduate degree is in law. If

there were a significant fact about American legal history that you knew
and 
I didn't, I would shoot myself.



-- 
Love, Jim
(I often delete parts of the previous post and I often remove excessive 
crossposts.)


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