Karma for introducing me to the term Overton window. And I do agree with you that we should encourage China to continue to liberalize. I just wanted to try to offset what I feel is a somewhat one-sided view of the Chinese situation.
I'd also like to point out that, despite how the Western media often presents it, the CCP isn't monolithic. Power swings between two poles: Beijing and Shanghai (Beijing being the political and military hub, Shanghai being the economic hub). For example, Jiang Zemin represented the South and was what we would consider more economically liberal and now Hu is more friendly toward the military, more focused on 'political stability', and more representative of the North. I highly suspect the next president will be a conscious swing back to the 'liberal' side of the spectrum.
And the power hubs tend to alternate every decade or so. I suspect when democracy does start to trickle down to the Chinese population, the party will split somewhere along this line. We just need to give it a few more decades.
Here's hoping that world events allow them time to do so.
What is required is a way for one bunch of people to say "hell, the people running the government right now are idiots. Idiots I say! Let's completely do things differently!" and be able to assume power and change things without force of arms or violence.
And do this on a regular basis.
I know I'll feel better when that day comes. Because well, sometimes the folks running things are idiots. And they have all the guns.
I'd also like to point out that, despite how the Western media often presents it, the CCP isn't monolithic. Power swings between two poles: Beijing and Shanghai (Beijing being the political and military hub, Shanghai being the economic hub). For example, Jiang Zemin represented the South and was what we would consider more economically liberal and now Hu is more friendly toward the military, more focused on 'political stability', and more representative of the North. I highly suspect the next president will be a conscious swing back to the 'liberal' side of the spectrum.
And the power hubs tend to alternate every decade or so. I suspect when democracy does start to trickle down to the Chinese population, the party will split somewhere along this line. We just need to give it a few more decades.