Well written and I am one of the fortunate, so it is presumptuous for me to offer opinions about truly despotic societies.

I have however spent a lifetime in the U.S. and have now spent over a decade in China.

It is my belief that the 'freedom' and 'prosperity' enjoyed by the U.S. has been funded by a global military/corporate/financial collaboration that has now evolved beyond national boundaries and no longer finances an expanding middle class. In many ways now the Chinese poor are more upwardly mobile than the multi-generational U.S. underclass.

Being able to 'vote' for Coke or Pepsi for president in the U.S. does not in my mind qualify as substantively superior to one party rule in China. Internet activity in the U.S. is as closely monitored as it is in China, with just variations in key word searches.

U.S. citizens have responded favorably to corporate media messages that pacify them into accepting a diminishing quality of life, the threat of China being just one of many bogeymen.

Chinese citizens, buying their first car and high-rise apartment, are at least well funded for their limited political options, just as my father was as McCarthy and Nixon ranted about the threat of global communism.