Non-History of Civil Society in China  -  If you don’t build it, they won’t come

This is the second post in the series on civil society in China.

We took the Chinese government officials to a city council meeting in Evanston, IL, a town of about 70,000 people adjacent to Chicago and on Lake Michigan. The students watched … meeting discussions were about citizen involvement and relations with other suburbs and the federal government. The students later met with the city manager. The questions came fast and furious … who elects the city manager? Why is the mayor just a ceremonial post? Is the mayor just the party leader?

Then we got into the surreal. The city is a corporation?  Can sue and be sued? How can you sue a government? You sue other governments? 

Note: this is first in a series of posts on civil society in China. Some posts will be too long for some readers, but the citations make this more than just personal opinion. These are notes to myself, with some analysis.  These civil society posts are themselves part of a far larger work on zhongguoxing – Chineseness. 

 Posts are –

1. Society, Civil and Un - Definition of civil society and some history in China
2. Non-History of Civil Society in China -  If you don’t build it, they won’t come
3. Some Notes on Ancient Trust - Particular and generalized trust
4. Faith and Trust - In whom can you trust? Epistemological optimism and pessimism
5. How Lack Of Trust and Communication Manifests In Government - what happens with no ability to call foul
6. Between Family and State – The Center Cannot Hold
7. Moral Freedom and Nihilism - See, hear, speak no evil … What, me worry?
8. Failures Of Civility and Social Capital In China Now - No generalized trust means no loyalty and no moral authority  
9. International Difficulties - Forget civil society, we’ll take civility
10. Trusting is Believing. To Evaluate is to Doubt - meiyou wenti
11. Legitimacy - Who else you gonna call?
12. Does China need civil society to innovate or prosper?

Politically Correct Biblical Language

Ya know, it gets harder and harder to distinguish right wing America from CCP. 

Monkey See, Monkey Do

 History professor Heather Cox Richardson reporting a few days ago - "Not to be outdone, in Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis today signed a law requiring that public colleges and universities survey students, faculty, and staff about their beliefs in order to make sure the institutions support “intellectual diversity” … Without citing any evidence, Republican lawmakers have warned that there are “socialism factories” in the state universities. The law permits students to record lectures without the consent of the professor or other students to be used in legal cases against the school."

The Great American Cultural Revolution

Further to  Xi, DJT, GOP, CCP

About two years ago, I wrote a series of posts pointing out similarities between Mr. Xi and Donald Trump and their respective political parties.  Now comes the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution – with American characteristics. 

 Political values and social media in Trumpworld-GOP and CCP

Written back in June. Seems like ages ago, but the virus in all its forms is still with us, even after the election. And the Covid-19 vaccine will have 0% effectiveness on the political virus.  Michelle Goldberg back then on the recent NYT Tom Cotton op-ed business –

 It’s important to understand what the people around the president are thinking. But if they’re honest about what they’re thinking, it’s usually too disgusting to engage with. This creates a crisis for traditional understandings of how the so-called marketplace of ideas functions. It’s a subsidiary of the crisis that has the country on fire.