In a recent survey of nearly 6,000 high-income, college-educated individuals in 25 countries, the Edelman Trust Barometer found that 43% trusted government institutions. In the United States that figure was 45%, while in China it was 75%. The fact that more of the “informed public” in China trust government than in the United States may seem puzzling.
America has a constitution that limits the power of government and protects individual rights; China has no genuine rule of law, a one-party state, and weak or nonexistent protection of human rights. How can successful people in China have greater trust in government than those in America?
The answer is simple: in China the surest path to riches is through power; in America it is through freedom. The all-encompassing hold on political power by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its control of the commanding heights of the economy mean that those who hold power are privileged in the race to the top of the economic ladder. Even with more than three decades of economic reform, political reform has seriously lagged.
There is no independent judiciary to safeguard rights to life, liberty, and property. State-owned banks lend to state-owned enterprises, all of which are run by the party elite. Asking the “princelings” if they trust government is like asking children if they like candy. If the Edelman Trust Barometer had asked ordinary Chinese whether they trusted government institutions, their answer, if they were free to express themselves, would be an emphatic “no!”
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