The Retreat of Western Liberalism

by Edward Luce

The Communist Party’s traditional view on US democracy is that America’s moneyed classes engineer the victory of the candidate who can best defend the interests of capital. The process is always a sham. The view of China’s pro-democracy groups, on the other hand, is that the American people freely choose the best person after a vigorous and fair debate. Both schools have been turned inside out by the 2016 outcome: China’s conservatives because Trump won against the wishes of Wall Street, which is not meant to happen in a capitalist democracy; China’s liberals because charlatans like Trump are not supposed to win. The process should be foolproof. ‘China’s liberals are in a bind,’ says Eric Li, a Chinese venture capitalist in Shanghai, who runs his own thinktank. ‘They despise Trump. But they can’t quite bring themselves to say . . . the people are wrong. Such an admission would not help them make the case for Western-style democracy in China. After all, if the people can be so wrong, how can you give them the vote?’