The Western Elite from a Chinese Perspective
I find it interesting that the author only considers America from the top down - from the perspectives of institutions (Stanford, Goldman Sachs, Costco) and slogans (American Dream, All people deserve to live healthy lives). Part of me wonders if that’s due to America&#x27;s own marketing, or due to his upbringing in a more totalitarian government, but for most Americans these perspectives are just as foreign.<p>At dinner tables and in churches all across the country, you hear people say &quot;God is in control”. You’ll hear reminders to be humble and appreciate what you have, because anyone can get ill at any time, or lose all all their belongings in fire, or any number of bad events. The chaos out there is real, whether one believes in it or not. And there&#x27;s an even bigger danger in trying to control the chaos, and history has plenty of examples (Mao&#x27;s China and USSR most recent). The limited government in America was founded on a distrust of power, top-down control, and people who want to control the world. Without that bottom-up perspective, America will never make sense.