From East to West

I have been listening intently to my Chinese friends both during and after this time of COVID crisis.  From early on, instructions began to be given both from the National and the Provincial levels.  People seemed eager to heed both instructions and suggestions which were distributed via loudspeakers attached to all manner of transportation (police cruisers to civilian cars to electric bicycles). And the minority of people who, because of either ignorance or stubbornness, chose not to heed the instructions were policed not by the police - but by their neighbors!  The majority of society were convinced that collective obedience was the only pathway to ensuring their safety.  And as things are gradually returning to normal, a new sense of both patriotism and confidence in the Communist Party are surging amongst many of my friends. As I sit in my home country which I love, the sentiment is very different.  In Trump’s America, the economy (Pre-COVID) b...