Designed in China, Assembled in California via iA

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A fourth of July soliloquy:

As China starts outdoing us economically, technically and strategically, we are turning Chinese, slowly losing the spiritual, cultural and political texture that made us different....Silicon Valley spies on us like the Chinese Government—and in many ways they see China as their role model. They admire entrepreneurs that don’t sleep, don’t see their children, don’t care about such touch-me-feel-me nonsense like the truth, justice, beauty or how others feel.

So what makes the West unique? The author suggests the following 16 items:

  1. That all men are by nature equally free and independent
  2. That all power is vested in the people
  3. That government is instituted for the common benefit
  4. That no man is entitled to exclusive privileges
  5. That legislative executive should be separate and distinct from the judicative;
  6. That elections ought to be free
  7. That all power without consent of the representatives of the people is injurious
  8. That in prosecutions a man hath a right to demand the cause and nature of his accusation
  9. That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted
  10. That general warrants are grievous and oppressive
  11. That the ancient trial by jury is preferable to any other
  12. That the freedom of the press is one of the greatest bulwarks of liberty
  13. That a well regulated militia is the proper defense of a free state; that standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided as dangerous to liberty
  14. That the people have a right to uniform government
  15. That no free government can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue
  16. That religion can be directed by reason and conviction, not by force or violence

And what's so special about these? They are ideas whose impact cannot be directly measured, which is why perhaps in our day they go undervalued:

The West has 16 things to lose [which cannot] be touched, bought or expressed in numbers. It’s not the GDP, it’s not the number of STEM graduates, it’s not the top positions in the charts of the biggest banks. What we can hope is that the bureaucrats and technocrats continue to undervalue how powerful the unmeasurable is. These 16 ideas have survived Napoleon, ended First World War and won against the Nazis. They have survived the Khmer and they have survived Stalinism. Happy fourth of July.