Questions

When people think of the US, they don’t immediately think of figures like Washington, or Abraham Lincoln — they think of the Statue of Liberty. It’s the land of freedom. The focus isn’t really on one person ruling everything, but on elevating an abstract ideal. It presents itself as the champion of democracy.

Back then, Western countries thought that if you bring market economics, capitalism, investment, and trade into a society, democracy would naturally follow. So they opened up to China. A lot of factories got moved across the Pacific too because of cheap labor. But in the end, what came out was a state that never really gave up its authoritarian side, yet somehow became advanced enough to challenge the West technologically.

Do you ever worry that we might end up losing our freedoms? Like political executions, authoritarian rule, being monitored 24/7, all that kinda stuff?