Can you recognize the following quote:
"...when men have realized that time has upset many fighting faiths, they may come to believe even more than they believe the very foundations of their own conduct that the ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas -- that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market.."
If you can then congratulations! You have at least an awareness of the historical friction between democracy and capitalism in the United States.
What strikes me is that contemporary Chinese intellectuals lacks a particular vigor in applying the analysis of the country's current constitution and its founding intentions in formulating political theory for the state. Unless these analysis are hidden in the archives of the Central Party School somewhere, which still doesn't do anyone much good. Perhaps, reconciling the country's founding intentions with law (the constitution and institution) could go some way in easing the mental indigestion of Chinese intellectuals, who are trying to fit a square peg into a round hole by advocating wholesale adoption of western institutions. And doing it with such disregards for the complexity and historic scope of China's problems that would make any disingenuous supporters of democracy in China proud.
The current problem that needs to be examined in China is, can the free market and authoritarianism co-exist?
P.S. the quote is from the dissenting opinion of Oliver Wendel Holmes in Abrams v. U.S., 1919. The interesting thing about this opinion is that Holmes in a previous decision sided with the right of the state to interfere in economic matters. Yet here he limits the state's interference in speech. This paradox between democracy and capitalism is the defining issue of American politics.
A more salient contemporary example is how the energy industry have such a strong influence on American domestic and foreign policy. Often these interests are out of step with public opinion in issues such as global warming and American intervention abroad.
