YYYFriday, November 09, 2007
A benign dictatorshipHoward French ("China's new paradigm: A thriving dictatorship," Letter from China, Nov. 3) could have been talking about Singapore.
Singapore shows what can happen when long-range planning is executed by a group of men and women carefully chosen by ability without the distractions of special interests.
As an American living in Singapore, I have had the opportunity to see the differences between the United States and Singapore.
Singapore can only be regarded as a benevolent dictatorship, with controlled media, one-party politics and little public debate over public policy.
And yet when compared to America's democracy it is hard to see exactly why this is a bad thing. Democracy in the United States has brought the corrosive influence of big money, public policy shaped for special interests, a voting public that feels disenfranchised, and a government structure so fractured that it is impossible for anyone to substantively address the major issues.
Perhaps the important question is: If the future of the public at large is to be decided, planned and executed by a small group of specialists, then how are those specialists chosen and how do we know that their plans are in alignment with the common good?
Wayne Herbert, Singapore
(
A letter from the International Herald Tribune)
Yes, my sentiments exactly!
5:39 PM
