Morning Must-Read: Jeff Weintraub: China’s Man in Hong Kong Explains the Problem with Democracy–It’s a Threat to Capitalism

Jeff Weintraub: China’s Man in Hong Kong Explains the Problem with Democracy–It’s a Threat to Capitalism: “The argument that democracy is dangerous…

…because it means mob rule by the ignorant unwashed masses–or rule by unscrupulous and even tyrannical demagogues who can manipulate those masses–is a very old one…. [The] more specific version… that political democracy… threatens the basic requirements of a capitalist market economy, was made quite often throughout the 19th and into the early 20th century…. For better or worse, history seems to have demonstrated that such claims about the fundamental incompatibility… were exaggerated…. [The] inherent tensions… [are] a good thing…. Some pro-plutocratic and market-fundamentalist ideologues still share that 19th-century fear of the perils of democracy, and occasionally some billionaire will blurt this out in an unguarded interview. But in most western societies, people who hold these views can’t state them… openly and straightforwardly… [but] euphemistically… with various circumlocutions. In some other parts of the world, however, those anti-democratic arguments can still be made publicly with refreshing honesty.