Men and women are different just as races and cultures are different. The key to human progress is equality of opportunity, regardless of gender, race, or culture.
Angela Saini (Author, British science journalist, reporter for the BBC, written articles for The Guardian, New Scientist, and Wired UK.)
Angela Saini’s book challenges while clarifying the argument that male dominance is grounded in the history of human society. She illustrates how cultures varied in their belief and practice of sexual hierarchy but generally were more patriarchal than matriarchal. Archeological evidence suggests gender relations varied. The fact that such evidence is based on fragmentary archeological evidence and the vagueness of interpretation weaken arguments of either sexes’ superiority. Nevertheless, Saini’s research shows most societies have patriarchal tendencies rather than either equal or matriarchal societies. Her history is well documented, but it is a bit tiresome. Because of her research, and the length of her book, one gets the feeling she narrows her thinking to evidence that only supports a preconceived opinion.
Saini notes cultures in northeast India, an area of China, and the North American’ Iroquois and Shoshone seem to show patriarchy takes a backseat to women’s preeminent role in society. She also notes evidence of bonobo primates that are female that show dominance of their species despite strength differences between the genders. This is credible research that suggests gender strength is not the determinate factor in superiority.
Women were found as capable of tending to the farm as men during the agricultural revolution; particularly as mechanization became the hallmark of production. In general, Saini’s book fails to recognize belief in superiority is not the cause of gender discrimination. Power structures in communities and nations whether capitalist or communist are not determined by gender differences. Male or female superiority is not a matter of gender equality, but opportunity inequality. Even though male superiority is obviously false, opportunity inequality shows most societies make it appear true.
Male and female are complementary sexes that are different in their own ways. Both sexes have the capability of being either workers or leaders or whatever a nation needs as long as each has an equal opportunity to be what they choose to be.
Equality of opportunity, whether it is about race or gender, is the gold standard of human equality and achievement. Historians who identify the ills of society based on gender miss the fundamental point of life which is, as the U.S. Army’ slogan once said, “Be All That You Can Be”. Social organizations that get in the way of that goal diminishes human value and interferes with human progress. Men and women are different just as races and cultures are different. The key to human progress is equality of opportunity, regardless of gender, race, or culture.
Profits, Prophets, Coaches and Kings (When Do Leaders Matter?)
By: Jared Diamond
Narrated by: Christopher Ragland
Jared Diamond (American author, scientist, and historian. Considered as one of the top 100 public intellectuals who also wrote “Guns, Germs, and Steel” that received the 1998 Pulitzer Prize.)
Diamond has written a ponderous history of world leaders, sports coaches, famous entrepreneurs, and founders of religion. Why and how great leaders change the course of history, corporations, winning sports teams, and religious belief are the subjects of “Profits, Prophets, Coaches and Kings”. He eventually concludes that leaders do matter but the time and social circumstances in which they live have a great deal to do with what they accomplish. By accomplish one presumes he means what leaders have done whether it is for the good or harm for those they lead. He offers no particular revelatory conclusion other than great leaders are driven to succeed.
Hitler & StalinBill GatesJesusJohn WoodenRachel Carson
Historians have struggled with Diamond’s idea of great leaders for centuries. He offers a conclusion that sits on a fence between leader’s strengths, weaknesses, and the social conditions of the time in which they lead. Diamond argues leaders’ matter, but their impact depends on energetic ambition, personal drive, and, most importantly, the social circumstances of the era in which they live.
Opportunity and risk.
Historical conditions create opportunities and risks. A leader capitalizes on personal attitude, and a vision of the time in which they live. A leaders’ interpretation of experiences in their personal lives and the events of the society in which they live, at the time of their rise to leadership, determine their success or failure. All of these characteristics are noted in “Profits, Prophets, Coaches and Kings (When Do Leaders Matter?)”.
WINSTON CHURCHILL (1874-1965)
A political example of Diamond’s point is the advent of WWII. When analyzing an event like WWII, Winston Churchill’s life experience and the society and economy of the country in which he is raised are entirely different from what Adoph Hitler’s life experience and German society foretells. Churchill and Hitler tapped into the strengths and weaknesses of their societies to exercise similar but different leadership skills. Hitler uses his military experience, abhorrent prejudices, and oratorical skills to create a fascist state. The personal experiences of Hitler’s life are imprisonment, poverty, and created prejudices that resonate with Germany’s roaring twenties feelings of powerlessness. The burden of WWI reparations is crippling German society. In contrast to Hitler, Churchill uses his war experience, oratorical skill, and patrician life of privilege to martial the forces of the West against Germany’s invasion of Poland, the precursor to WWII.
The fall of Germany in WWII.
Germany’s hyper-inflation caused by the financial burden of reparation imbued German citizens with a sense of powerlessness in their lives. Hyper-inflation and a weakened German economy made Western Powers’ reparations an impossible obligation for the German people to meet.
Hitler appears to have overcome personal hardship and gained ground in German politics by cleverly currying favor with German leaders in this time of economic hardship. Hitler gains a platform for addressing German citizen’s social discontent. He offers a message that resonates and rewards citizens who are drawn into Hitler’s belief that the world unjustly penalizes Germany for WWI. Hitler capitalizes on citizens’ powerlessness by rebuilding the German army as he gains political power. By invading Poland, and blaming others (particularly Jews) for the condition of German society, Hitler’s power and influence increases. He appeals to German society in ways that diminish rationality by blaming others for the ills of a collapsing the economy.
Poverty, raised taxes, and helplessness in Germany before WWII.
Hitler operates within social conditions that are present in Germany at the time of his leadership ascension. Hitler is suited to the moment because of his personal life and developed oratorical skill that overcome feelings of powerlessness. His idea is to blame others for German poverty and hyperinflation which resonates with many German citizens.
Invading Poland becomes the western world’s cost for unfair reparations that make Hitler an early hero of many German citizens. It is a small step for Hitler to organize blame for Germany’s economic crisis on Jews with tacit, if not complicit, cooperation of many who wished for a scapegoat for Germany’s economic collapse. Hitler uses learned oratorial skill to capitalize on feelings of citizen powerlessness to become Germany’s autocratic leader.
Hitler starts acting like a King.
Once the general population accepts Hitler as leader, he has sovereign authority to act like a King. He chooses to invade Poland. As Germany’s new leader, Hitler creates a nationalist agenda to rebuild Germany as one of the great powers. Initially, the international community is not prepared to respond. Another world war appears in the offing. Is that because of Hitler’s decisions or the circumstances of the time and the mistakes engendered by the Treaty of Versailles?
Diamond implies WWII is not solely because of Adolph Hitler but of a confluence of his leadership skill and the social condition brought about by WWI reparations. That is the theme of Diamond’s argument for “When Leaders do Matter”. They matter when a society, a business, a sports team, or a religion is floundering and seeks someone to lead them out of a crisis. The tragedy of that truth is that it is as possible for there to be a Hitler as a Lincoln to come to the aid of a society in crisis.
Qualities of leadership.
The author concludes powerful political, economic, religious, and sport’s leaders are driven personalities who serendipitously capitalize on social crises. Diamond implies no great leader, or entrepreneur is likely to succeed without an evident political, economic, religious or sport’s crisis felt by a concerned societal group. Of course, talent, intelligence, and ambition are essential for a leader to become successful (meaning powerfully good or bad), but a societies geographic, economic, and institutional environment play a big part in their success as leaders. Diamond concludes that if great leaders of an era are taken out of their time, their success or failure is likely to be different.
THOMAS EDISION (1847-1931, AMERICAN INVENTOR, BUSINESSMAN CONSIDERED BY SOME TO BE AMERICA’S GREATEST INVENTOR)John Wooden (Basketball Coach)Ross PerotWILLIAM KOCH (AMERICAN BUSINESSMAN, SAILOR, AND COLLECTOR)JAY-Z (BUSINESS MOGUL, ENTERTAINER)
Diamond argues this is true, not only for political leaders, but business moguls, sports coaches, and religion leaders. Every successful leader has followers that are grounded in societal influences that reinforce leaders’ success.
Those leaders who succeed have independent skill, but their success lies not only with their personal skill but with the people who choose to follow. Three examples given by Diamond are Bill Gates, John Wooden, and the infamous Jim Jones.
Computer generation.
The personal computer revolution had already begun when Bill Gates hit the scene. Semiconductor technology was advancing rapidly. Large markets for software were being developed. New companies were popping up every day. Diamond explains that Gates gained technical competence in the field of computers with a vision for licensing software and creating a platform for computing. Gates plowed fertile ground because of the many people who were interested in the technology of computers. He helped shape the wave of computer technology but only because of the society in which he lived. He is aided by his parents and the education he received but market recognition of the potential of computerization was already there for the taking. It is the same acceptance Hitler received from the German people before the advent of WWII.
John Wooden (Led UCLA to 10 NCAA championships, the first to enter the Basketball Hall of Fame.)
The legendary John Wooden is Diamond’s example of great coaches who excelled in basketball. The measure of his success is not the wealth he gained from his coaching skill but from the number of championships his teams achieved in his career. Wooden won 10 NCAA men’s basketball national championships in 12 seasons as the coach of the UCLA Bruins. Seven of those wins were consecutive between 1967 and 1973, an unbroken record. His teams achieved 12 Final Four appearances. In his career he had a record of 664 wins which is over 80 percent of the games his team played. Wooden’s success has never been equaled which shows how important a great leader can be, but he is supported by the wealth of UCLA and an athlete recruitment system that brings great athletes to the university.
Religious leaders.
The last chapters of Diamond’s book address religious leadership. To many listener/readers, his analysis is likely to be offensive. To this reviewer, Diamond’s history is insightful but somewhat biased in that religion has been a builder as well as a destroyer of society. His emphasis is on religion’s destructive history. As a personal non-believer, Diamond reinforces atheism. History shows that religion has aided human care for others despite its ongoing destructive history which is evidenced today in the hostility between America and Iran that is supported by many religious believers. Innocent people on both sides of conflicts about religion are inevitably killed.
Diamond also gives the example of Jim Jones–
As a leader of a purported religion, Jim Jones induces men, women, and children to drink a cyanide concoction that kills 918 followers in Jonestown, Guyana on the northern coast of South America in the 1970s.
Diamond shows leaders are human which by definition makes them imperfect.
“Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister” shows that wealth, belief in something greater than oneself, and human relationship are the powers behind revolution.
Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister (Three Women at the Heart of Twentieth-Century China.)
By: Jung Change
Narrated by: Catherine Ho
Jung Change (Author, Chinese-born British writer whose autobiography is banned in the Peoples Republic of China.)
“Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister” is an historically important book about major political struggles that have shaped modern China. It is a story of three sisters who were closely connected to early twentieth century China when it was teetering between being a Republic, independent of the West, and later a communist autocracy. Though China is not yet, by definition, a republic, twentieth century China seems destined to follow Sun Yat-sen’s “Three Principles of the People”. 1) Nationalism-being independent and sovereign. 2) Democracy with Executive, Legislative, Judicial, Examination, and Yuan Control branches 3) A government that attends to people’s livelihood concern including land reform, regulation of capital, and improved living standards for all.
Sun Yat-sen notes the Qing Empire’s decline and emphasizes a need for China’s sovereignty and unity as a singular nation. He insists on independence from the influence of the West. He demands reduction of foreign influence in China from unequal treaties between the West and China. He seeks political unity by reinforcing Chinese national identity. His goal is to establish China as a constitutional democracy in stages beginning with initial military rule but evolving through political tutelage of the people about democracy. His goals are delayed (if not defeated) by the class revolution led by Mao Zedong. China’s historical transition is viewed through the history of three sisters, one which is married to Sun Yat-sen, a second who marries Chiang Kai-shek, and a third older sister who holds the wealth behind the influences of their marriages.
The three sisters of the Soong family.
The oldest of the three sisters creates wealth through personal effort and a marriage to H. H. Kung, one of the wealthiest financiers and businessmen in China. All three sisters are educated in the United States. Their father was a Methodist Christian minister educated in America. The oldest sister (Big Sister), Soong Ai-ling became one of China’s wealthiest women. “Red Sister” married Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Chinese Republic who served as a high-ranking member of early 20th century rule of China. “Little Sister” married Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of Nationalist China.
Soong Ai-ling (Graduated for Wesleyan College, became a secretary for Sun Yat-sen.)
CHIANG KAI-SHEK (China’s ruler from 1928-1948)
Jung Change’s story unfortunately obscures the momentous differences between Chiang Kai-shek’s and Mao Zedong’s rule of China with a somewhat ponderous history of the marriages of two of three daughters born in the Soong family. All three sisters are raised as Methodists in America. Chiang Kai-shek ruled China from 1928 to 1948 and governed Taiwan until 1975. His rule is guided by the political beliefs of Sun Yat-sen.
Chiang Kai-shek ruled China as a nationalist one-party state under the Kuomintang (KMT) while Mao ruled China under the Chinese Communist Party. Mao also used the KMT to enforce his rule as leader of the CCP. The contrast between these two rulers is poorly organized in the writing of “Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister”. The author’s history obscures, if not diminishes, the book’s historical importance. It reveals many interesting and surprising facts about early and mid-century China, but the author’s focus is too fragmented.
Sun Yat-sen (Chinese physician, revolutionary and political philosopher who founded the Kuomintang and set the table for what became Taiwan.)
Chiang Kai-shek adopts Sun Yat-sen’s “Three Principles of the People” in his rule of China. The Kuomintang enforces the principle of unity of China with the presumed intent to democratize the government in the future as was envisioned by Sun Yat-sen. Democratization would take time to educate citizens on the principals of political representation. The KMT would exercise military rule until the principals of representation could be understood by China’s citizens. Even when Chiang is exiled in Taiwan, the KMT is in control of its citizens until Chiang’s death. Chiang dies from pneumonia and other ailments in 1975. Taiwan did evolve, as Sun predicted, into a democracy similar to America’s after Chiang’s death. Taiwan endorsed fully competitive elections in 1992 and had its first direct presidential election in 1996. This seems a fulfillment of Sun Yat-sen’s longer-term goal in the “Three Principles of the People”. Sun Yat-sen died from liver cancer in 1925. He was 58 years old.
Rules of nation-state leadership and representation had to be taught to the citizens in Sun’s view of China’s future.
The two sisters of the wealthy Soong family are shown to have had an important impact on the philosophy of rule in China. Sun Yat-sen’s ambition and beliefs gained credibility by being married to a daughter of the wealthy Soong family. Soong Ching-ling is celebrated as the “Mother of Modern China”. She becomes the bridge between Sun Yat-sen’s political beliefs and what became Communist China when Mao Zedong rose to power. Sun Yat-sen’s wife stayed in mainland China and supported the new Communist government.
Soong Mei-ling (First Lady of the Republic of China, wife of Chiang Kai-shek.)
As the wife of Chiang Kai-shek, Soong Mei-ling became the ambassador of China to the West. Because of her fluency in the English language, she helped America understand Chinese government’s relationship to the West. She secures American sympathy during China’s war against Japan and acts as an intermediary between Chinese and American leaders with her intimate understanding of both cultures.
Soong Ching-ling (Chinese politician and activist wife of Sun Yat-sen.)
In contrast to Soong Ching-ling, Soong Mei-ling leaves mainland China to follow her husband to Taiwan. After her husband’s death in 1975, she returns to the United States and dies in New York at the age of 105. In the end, the three sisters were closely allied with China but ended up on opposite sides of the 2oth century’s greatest ideological divide. Soong Ching-ling (Sun Yat-sen’s widow) became a firm believer in Communist China. Soong Mei-ling sided with her husband and became a leading figure in Nationalist Taiwan, while Soong Ai-ling, the oldest and wealthiest of the three, chose to leave China and return to the United States.
It is surprising to find that three Chinese sisters with American Christian backgrounds had prominent roles in China’s twentieth century leadership. “Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister” shows that wealth, belief in something greater than oneself, and human relationship are the powers behind revolution.
Simone de Beauvoir’s argument for women’s equality may be broadened to argue that every human being should have an equal opportunity to achieve social equality and economic independence.
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
“The Second Sex”
Author: Simone de Beauvoir & 2 more
Narration by: Ellen Archer & 1 more
Simone de Beauvoir (French existential philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist.)
Because “The Second Sex” is a translation, there are two translators who interpret the writing of this brilliant French author. Simone de Beauvoir’s social, cultural, and historical analysis of women’s societal inequality forcibly reinforces the need for human equality in the world. Despite that truth, women and minorities throughout history have been treated unequally.
It is absurd to think that 49.7% of the world population may be treated less equally than men.
Simone de Beauvoir’s history shows women are not afforded the equal opportunity of men despite baring children who sustain the human race. In the early days of human existence de Beauvoir notes difference in strength between men and women may have led to a mistaken belief that the sexes are unequal. As the centuries pass, de Beauvoir argues strength difference undoubtedly influenced the perceived role of women in the world. In the industrial age, with the advance of machine power, strength became less and less a distinction between the sexes. Machine power should have led to a better understanding of human equality. However, de Beauvoir suggests experience and history of past lives seems to have set a societal belief in sexual inequality that is, at best, only slowly being reversed.
Sweden begins to rectify inequality in the early 20th century but even it fails to change entrenched belief in sexual inequality.
The rise of communism in 1917 became a frontline movement for sexual equality. The role of women in Russia changes in both war and peace with women assuming roles of combatant, worker, as well as child bearer. Ms. de Beauvoir believes neither communism nor Sweden’s policies eliminate sexual inequality. Socialism and communism helped but patriarchy is not eliminated by equal economic opportunity or alleged women’s liberation. Despite Sweden’s formalization of legal equalization of the sexes, the cultural expectations about femininity, motherhood, and men’s domination have been accepted in most, if not all, nations of the world. Neither socialism nor communism fully remove the learned behaviors of human history. Simone de Beauvoir’s point is that laws and economic systems have not erased generations of human history but rather assumed or endorsed sexual discrimination.
The conclusion de Beauvoir has is that no form of government by itself has successfully eliminated discrimination based on sexual identity.
The interpretation of natural bodily functions in women’s lives like menstruation is noted by de Beauvoir as interpreted by men and accepted by society as a biological “otherness” that is (at least in 1949) viewed as impure and pathological. Menstruation is viewed as a symptom of women that makes them less than fully human. This natural cleansing of a female reproductive system is viewed as a time of emotional instability that makes women unclean and an example of their being less equal to men. Menstruation is something that identifies women as the “other” rather than the equal of human beings. (The truth only changes beliefs slowly.)
Simone de Beauvoir’s argument for women’s equality is expandable in that every human being should have an equal opportunity to achieve social equality and economic independence. The designers of the American Constitution understood this principle but, like the rest of the world’s population, fail to practice it. Social inequality remains a problem for democracy and all known forms of government.
Simone de Beauvoir explains women’s natural reproductive system differences are interpreted by society as a measure of human inequality.
One listens to de Beauvoir’s book and realizes what she has written about sexual inequality as a person who has experienced it. Inequality has diminished in 21st century America with increases in women’s opportunities without marrying or committing to a relationship with a male. Though de Beauvoir published her book in 1949, the difference today is in degree because economic independence remains a greater struggle for women than men in America. Too many young women are working for wages that require help from a relationship with men to meet their cost-of-living for a decent life. Being able to make a decent living is true of all poor Americans, but it is more widely experienced by women because they are half the human race.
Because the author’s focus is on women, she argues every woman should have control over their reproductive rights, be treated equally in the culture in which they live and be able to transform false beliefs of inferiority based on accomplishment, not on false societal beliefs. In some ways, today’s America is regressing as is evidenced by 21st century policies on reproductive rights. Simone de Beauvoir goes on to give many examples of how differences between men and women reinforce the false belief of sexual inequality.
H.G. Well’s interesting message is that human beings may not be able to save themselves from a technologically superior foreign invasion, but established societies and culture are more enduring than technological superiority. Wells is suggesting an invasion by a technologically superior force does not eradicate a society but changes it.
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
“The War of the Worlds”
Author: H. G. Wells
Narration by: Christopher Hurt
H. G. Wells (1866-1946, English novelist, journalist, sociologist, and historian.)
“The War of the Worlds” is an odd book. Published in 1898 when the British Empire was near the height of its global power and prestige. It shakes the foundations of world hegemonic ambition. Listening to the book in the 21st century, it has relevance but in today’s hearing it seems too long and melodramatic. Giant fighting machines, heat rays, black smoke chemical weapons, city panic, and refugee flight are too familiar in today’s world. The shock value of a Martian invasion is lost. However, in the reality of a horrific war by Russia on the Ukrainian people, America’s bombing of Iran’s citizens, and Iran’s brutalization and torture of its people make “The War of the Worlds” as important and relevant today as when it was written.
H.G. Well’s Martian Invasion
Most of Wells’ book appears to say an invasion by technologically superior Martians will dominate the earth. What Wells shows is that technological superiority is not enough to conquer the world. As the British army and its weaponry fail to defeat the Martians, Earth’s natural pathogens and environment is shown to seriously challenge Martian’ survival. Technological superiority is not enough to win a war. A combination of nature’s pathogens and human resistance are challenges that suggest, despite technological superiority, singular societies ultimately prevail. History shows that eternal domination of an independent distinct society is unlikely to prevail. A distinct society may change from the influence of an invasion, but it does not disappear, it adapts. Glasnost is evidence of that truth when the former nations that were part of the U.S.S.R. reestablish themselves as independent societies that do not entirely abandon the influence of Russian domination. Native tribes that lived in what became the United States retain much of their social identity despite America’s English occupiers.
H.G. Well’s interesting message is that human beings may not be able to save themselves from a technologically superior foreign invasion, but established societies and culture are more enduring than technological superiority. Wells is suggesting an invasion by a technologically superior force does not eradicate a society but changes it.
One remains skeptical of Landemore’s solution, but America and other purported democracies need to wake up to unequal representation in government rule.
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
Politics Without Politicians (The Case for Citizen Rule)
Author: Hélène Landemore
Narration by: Hélène Landemore
Hélène Landemore, (French professor of political science at Yale University. Received a PhD from Harvard with a thesis on the idea of collective intelligence.)
Hélène Landemore has a radical idea to replace professional politicians like those leading America, Great Britain, and her home country of France by a random selection of citizens to become their government’s legislators. Landemore is obviously an accomplished and well-educated person, but her idea of reform is a problem of scale and the faults of human nature. The complexity of managing any form of nation-state’ government requires more than inexperienced leaders whether elected or arbitrarily chosen. Her weak example is the ancient government of Athens. The size of Athen’s population was miniscule in comparison to today’s democratic countries. Athens is hardly a reasonable comparison to 21st century democracies. However, Landemore notes a fundamental truth about modern democracies.
The fundamental truth of Landemore’s political idea is better representation of the population needs to be created for democracy to survive and prosper.
Governance certainly requires more than deliberation. However, the solution cannot be arbitrary selection of representatives. There have to be fundamental qualifications for those who can represent their economic constituencies. They cannot have a criminal record, and their qualifications must conform to the characteristics of the constituency which they represent.
Capability and accountability become murkier with elected representatives that are inexperienced.
As popularly elected managers of people and bureaucracies, one’s ability to be re-elected may be the best measure of qualification for office. The length of a representative’s term would be limited based on equal representation and an age limit based on an annual mental competency assessment by a board of physicians beginning at age 65. One may argue voter representation would improve over time with popular re-election by those who continue to vote for the person they have chosen to represent their needs, subject to the age 65 competency assessments. This is a controversial issue but with the availability of social security in America, this seems a responsible way of assuring competent constituent representation.
One should keep in mind that ambition is not always bad because people like Lincoln, FDR, Mandela, and Havel were driven personalities. However, poor representative elections of the mostly financially secure and privileged undermines equal representation. Professional politicians elected by wealthy supporters encourage corruption, self-serving legislation, and detachment from the general population. But critics argue that in large societies some form of political specialization is unavoidable, just as medicine requires doctors and law requires lawyers. The question may not be whether politics can exist without politicians, but how politicians can be more representative of all; i.e., including the rich, poor and those who have chosen to be or are inadequately educated.
Presidents can be corrupt, self-serving, and detached. In theory, checks and balances by a wider swarth of Congressional representatives would counter polices of a corrupt President.
Scaling of a more representative body would be the greatest challenge to democracies like America, Great Britain, and France. Potential elected representatives who know or can learn how to assemble interested participants in governance must represent their constituency. The big “ask” of these new representatives is that they also work to gain some understanding of foreign policy, government military action, budgets, international trade, and pandemic management. Legitimacy of a constituency representative would be tied to elections that are central to the demographic interests they represent. One way for America to become more representative is to increase the size of the House of Representatives. The limit of 435 members was created in 1929 when the population was 1/3rd of what it is today.
Fairer representation of all is the preeminent goal of democratic governance. Trump is the antithesis of that goal.
One remains skeptical of Landemore’s solution, but America and other purported democracies need to wake up to unequal representation in government rule. The strongest single objection to Landemore’s political idea is in a method of election and government policy creation that offers fairer representation of all nation-states’ citizens. Her fundamental truth is that today’s professional politicians fail to represent the diversity of democracies’ citizens.
It is up to this generation to revise the checks and balances of American Democracy to assure the abuses of power by a President will not destroy the fundamental strengths of democracy.
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
Regime Change (Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump)
Author: Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan
Narration by: Robert Petkoff
Jonathan Swan (Australian and American investigative journalist at NYT, reporter who won the Emmy Award for Best Edited Interview for Axios.)Maggie Haberman (American journalist, political analyst for CNN, White House correspondent for the NYT, published a best seller, “Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump” in 2022.)
If only a small percentage of Swan’s and Haberman’s history is objective, Trump’s presidency shows the weaknesses of American democracy. America’s president supervises executive departments, directs cabinet secretaries, orders the firing of employees, sets executive branch priorities, and issues lawful orders to federal agencies. Every American President’s power to hire executive branch employees has the ability to create a managerial ruling class that concentrates wealth and power in a like-minded group with direct reports to the President. Trump, with the character traits of a martinet, allows no disagreement and demands loyalty above all. He hires a cadre of rich Americans to lead the executive branch with total loyalty to one person’s beliefs and actions.
President? Trump.
The President of the United States has direct power over military operations with the right to deploy military force at will. Trump demonstrates that power with the bombing and intended domination of Iran. Trump’s intent is to eliminate Iran’s leadership and its nuclear bomb ambitions; i.e., objectives that fail on many levels. Congress only has the power to declare war, fund the military, and regulate armed forces. Trump did not declare war. He legally uses the military to attack an independent nation; murder alleged drug traffickers without trial and institute an American immigrant deportation policy without either American congressional or judicial endorsement just because, as President of the United States, he can.
January 6, 2021, Trump’s patriots?
The President’s power to pardon leads to the release of hundreds of Americans who had been jailed for attacking the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Over two thousand rioters attacked Capitol Police, damaged the chambers of Congress, and threatened elected officials like the House Speaker and Trump’s chosen Vice President who would not endorse Trump’s belief that his reelection had been fraudulently stolen.
“Regime Change” is a difficult book to be objective about because of a personal distaste for Donald Trump. Much of what Swan and Haberman write reinforces a view of corruption by bullying of a President who is undoubtedly as controversial to some Americans as Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and FDR were in their times. The difference is that Trump is a proven liar whose public statements are proven false by independent fact-checking organizations. An objective judge of Trump’s presidency will only be fairly revealed by historians in future years. Though “Regime Change” seems well documented, the emotion of current times and the rage of citizens who elected this scofflaw will refuse to believe the truth.
Trump’s cabinet updated April 2, 2026
With a second term control of Trump’s election, he handpicks executive department employees and cabinet secretaries principally based on loyalty. Trump proceeds to issue lawful orders to federal agencies as a part of his administrative power. The President’s power to create executive orders requires no legislative oversight. That power is only constrained by constitutional and statutory authority over which a President has no control. That constraint requires time to be enforced, and Trump chooses to do as he wishes until restrained by either congressional or judicial action, neither of which are happening because of time or Constitutional right.
Trump exposes structural weaknesses in American Democratic government.
It is up to this generation to revise the checks and balances of American Democracy to assure the abuses of power by a President will not destroy the fundamental strength of democracy.
China’s 19th century corruption and the opium war are penultimate examples of China’s golden age decline. One fears Ameica’s golden age may be in a similar decline in the 21st century.
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
Imperial Twilight (The Opium War and the End of China’s Last Golden Age)
Author: Stephen R. Platt
Narration by: Mark Deakins
Stephen R. Platt (Author, American historian, professor of Chinese history at the University of Massachusetts.)
As an audiobook listener and fortunate traveler of the world, books about China are an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. Stephen Platt’s “Imperial Twilight” reinforces one’s understanding of how different and alike China’s strengths and weaknesses are to younger nations of the world. America is a newly born baby in comparison to China. One comes away from “Imperial Twilight” with the feeling that China is at the dawn of a new “…Golden Age” in the 21st century. Platt’s history clearly explains the fall of one of China’s earlier golden ages that is accelerated by the rise of Great Britain and “The Opium War…” of the 19th century.
Platt explains the opium trade accelerated the decline of China in the early 19th century.
The Qing dynasty arguably created a golden age in China between 1661 and 1796. Emperor Kangxi (1661-1722) consolidated Qing family rule by defeating three feuding factions in China. He manages to reach a diplomatic settlement with Russia that had been encroaching on Chinese territory. Kangxi patronized scholarship, science, and cartography during his reign. He is compared to Louis XIV and Peter the Great for the length and effectiveness of his reign. His two heirs carried on China’s golden age up to the end of the 18th century when Great Britain arguably grew into its second golden age (the Victorian Age of 1837 to 1901).
William Jardine (1784-1843, Scottish physician, merchant and opium dealer who co-founded the Hong Kong based conglomerate Jardine/Matheson & Co.)
Platt argues William Jardine and James Matheson were key Englishmen that grew wealthy from the opium trade in China in the early 19th century. Britain had a massive trade imbalance because the rest of the world coveted the tea, silk, and porcelain produced by China. Jardine and Matheson capitalized on the opium trade because it was not regulated by either Britain or China with China becoming a massive importer of the deadly drug. Belief in free trade exacerbated opium sales in the most populated countries of the world with China having the greatest number of users. The Qing dynasty attempts to quell the opium trade but were met with derision by British insistence on free trade despite the addictive and deadly effects of opium.
Lin Zexu (1785-1850, Chinese political philosopher and politician who led China during the decline of the Qing Dynasty.)
Jardine and Matheson are challenged by Lin Zexu, the Qing dynasty official who is ordered by China’s emperor to suppress the opium trade. Zexu confiscates and destroys large stocks of British opium in Canton in 1839. His campaign triggers the Opium war. Platt characterizes Zexu as an intelligent Chinese patriot with imprecise information about Britain and its concern about the opium trade. The emperor of China has contradictory reports about Britain’s concerns about the opium trade and their intent to regulate or eliminate its role in trade with China.
Sir George Thomas Staunton (At the age of 12, Staunton was left by his father in China to learn the Chinese language. He became employed by the East India Company and rose to be a member of parliament.)
Platt ponderously explains the history of important British citizens who live in Canton and learn the Chinese language. George Staunton, as a young child, is left to live in China by his father to learn Chinese to become a conduit for Britain’s trade in Canton, China. Staunton eventually becomes a member of British parliament that supports the Opium war waged on China. Despite the length of Platt’s book, it is an amazing story to find a father who essentially farms out his son to learn Chinese without much financial support. The advent of the Opium war is characterized by Platt as a tragic and avoidable conflict that marked the end of China’s last golden age.
Sir John Francis Davis (British diplomat and sinologist who became the second Governor of Hong Kong from 1844 to 1848.)
John Francis Davis also seriously studies Chinese and works for East India Companies that produce most of the opium that is traded in Canton. Davis becomes Governor of Hong Kong. Davis is shown to believe Britain should stand firm in pursuit of fair trade but questions the need for military confrontation. The war is strongly supported by men like William Jardine, undoubtedly because of his lucrative opium business, but surprisingly George Staunton, an Englishman who had a lifetime understanding of Chinese suzerainty and understood the Chinese language and culture, also endorses the war.
Government corruption.
Despite the length of Platt’s book, it is enlightening to hear of the rise and fall of China and the corruption that existed before the Qing dynasty. It reminds one of reports of Xi’s efforts to eliminated Chinese corruption in the 21st century. Whether Xi will succeed in restoring another golden age for China remains to be seen. Corruption in America today seems as appalling as the history of China in the early 19th century. President Trump seems more interested in increasing his family’s wealth and creating monuments to himself than serving the interests of the American public. America, like China in Platt’s history of the Opium war, has a drug problem.
China’s 19th century corruption and the opium war are penultimate examples of China’s golden age decline. One fears Ameica’s golden age may be in a similar decline in the 21st century.
“The Black Shield” is a disjointed story that inexpertly reveals the truth of organizational discrimination in American society. Inequality based on sex and race is a fact of American life and most, if not all, nations of the world. Cooper’s story is not revelatory but a sad truth about human nature.
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
The Black Shield (An American Memoir of Family and Power)
Author: Wilbert L. Cooper
Narration by: Wilbert L. Cooper
Wilbert L. Cooper (Author, graduate of Ohio University and New York University with a master’s degree in publishing.)
As a writer for national publications like The Guardian, The New York Times, and the Wall street Journal, Wilbur L. Cooper investigates a “2020 police killing” in his former hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. He profiles the president (Vincent Montague) of a Black police organization called Black Shield. Surprisingly, the leader of the Black police organization shoots a young unarmed Black man he thought would run him over. He is not charged. The shooting is ruled as justified and Montague is suspended for one-day for using poor tactics and unreasonable force. What Cooper reveals in “The Black Shield” is partly about Black discrimination despite recruitment that is presumably meant to reduce police force discrimination in Cleveland.
Police training is no joke despite it being often-represented humorously.
Cooper argues the long-standing pattern of hiring and promotion in Cleveland’s police force reinforces Black discrimination in its training and recruitment of both white and Black officers. To be promoted in the department, whether one is Black or white, is influenced by an officer’s reputation as a believer in stereotypes of people based on the color of their skin more than their character. Cooper argues it is a socio/political and acculturation feature of Cleveland’s police recruitment that undoubtedly exists in all human organizations.
Cleveland’s population is approximately 50% Black, but the police force is nearly 75% white.
Cooper notes the department fails to hire minorities based on changing demographics in Cleveland. Cleveland’s population is approximately 50% Black, but the police force is nearly 75% white. His Black father is a Sergeant in the police force who is ironically in the department of “Office of Professional Standards”. (Cooper notes his mother also sought employment in the police department but is rejected. In fairness, that could be based on something other than discrimination.)
Cooper’s point is that experience of living as a white person in America fails to understand or fairly address the socio/economic realities of being Black in America. He believes Black discrimination is embedded in the recruitment and advancement opportunities of the Cleveland police department. Cooper notes that early Black applicants to the Cleveland police had to sue to be hired or promoted in the Department. He suggests his mother’s rejection from being hired is because of her sex and color. He argues his father’s career advancement is inhibited by the management structure of the department. The story of Sergeant Victor Montague is more complicated because of his deadly force use in the death of a Black citizen.
Sergeant Victor Montague (fired by the Cleveland Division of Police in 2021 for ethical violations.)
Cooper tells the story of Victor Montague, a charismatic and outspoken Black leader in the department. He became the public face of “Black Shield” and spoke openly about racism in the department. He pushes for accountability and reform but comes up against entrenched power in the police department. Montague became a target of internal hostility and is closely supervised by his immediate superiors. His confrontational attitude and unwillingness to play politics offended the Department hierarchy. Montague set himself up for a second policy violation by putting himself in a position with a private company that offered to donate to Black Shield in return for security service for a bar owner’s business. This would have been a violation of department policy. It also appears as a potential avenue for bribery of Montague. Similar arrangements had been considered by white officers without noted consequences according to Cooper. This episode undermines leadership in “The Black Shield” organization.
A measure of race and ethnic inequality.
“The Black Shield” is a disjointed story that inexpertly reveals the truth of organizational discrimination in American society. Inequality based on sex and race is a fact of American life and most, if not all, nations of the world. Cooper’s story is not revelatory but a sad truth about human nature.
There is an ongoing hybridization of American capitalism and Chinese communism. Is Trump’s authoritarianism becoming more like Xi’s communism or Xi’s authoritarianism becoming more like Trump’s capitalism? One wonders–are we growing closer together or farther apart?
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
House of Huawei (The Secret History of China’s Most Powerful Company)
Author: Eva Dou
Narration by: Nancy Wu
Eva Dou (Author, American journalist who reports on technology for The Washington Post.)
“House of Huawei” is a complex history of the growth and development of what became a Chinese multinational technology company that builds smartphones, laptops, smartwatches, and most importantly, telecom infrastructure for cloud services around the world. It is China’s version of Amazon that becomes a massive seller of tech equipment, internet use, and communication.
Ren Zhengfei (Chinese entrepreneur and engineer, founder of Huawei Technologies.)
There are many names of Huawei business leaders that are largely unknown to most Americans. Ren Zhengfei is the founder and most important person in Dou’s story. He is born in 1944 to schoolteacher parents during the Cultural Revolution. He served in the Chinese armies engineering corps that shaped his management style. He worked through famine, political purges, and the strict discipline of military service. He became the founder of Huawei in 1987.
Deng Xiaoping (China’s Chairman of the Central Advisory Commission of the Chinese Communist Party, 1982-1987)
The advance of Deng Xioping opens a capitalist door to the world for Huawei. Beginning in 1978 through 1989 Deng reforms the communist party and encourages a limited form of capitalism in China. When Xi takes over, Huawei becomes more directly subject to communist party oversight. As a company, Huawei is pulled closer to China’s government control. The Huawei network is classified as a national-security asset. Though Huawei may or may not have sought closer association with the CCP, it became entangled with state strategy.
Xi makes Huawei a national champion of innovation and semiconductor technology. It becomes a symbol of China’s technology ambitions while being a target of U.S. sanctions. Dou shows Huawei becomes a battleground for tech strategy between China and the Untied States
Sun Yafang (Chinese engineer and Chairwoman of Huawei, 1999-2018.)
Sun Yafang is a former chairwoman of Huawei. Her ties to Chinese intelligence services are viewed as a recurring controversy with Huawei’s involvement with America. Her relationship with China’s state power structure creates concern on the part of the U.S. with Huawei’s data collection as a part of Huawei’s practices in America.
Meng Wanzhou (aka Cathy Meng or Sabrina Meng, Deputy Chairwoman and CFO of Huawei.)
Ren’s daughter, Meng Wanzhou, becomes the Chief Financial Officer of Huawei. Wanzhou became known to the world when she is detained in Canada in 2018 at the request of the United States. Her arrest ironically leads to more familiarity with Huawei and its expansion in the world. The primary concern the author reveals is how dependent Huawei may be on the Chinese government for information about America’s technology services.
The fundamental concern of America, Germany, and Japan is Huawei’s use of data collection in their countries.
In the end, these countries decide to ban or restrict the use of Huawei’s equipment because of their ties to the Chinese Communist Party, government, and military. Beginning in 2019 the U.S. banned some of Huawei’s services and global chip supplies. By 2026, Huawei is banned from American federal networks, and telecom infrastructure services. Germany and Japan take similar actions between 2018 and 2026.
Dou explains Huawei’s history exposes deep contradictions with China’s government-directed economic growth.
The authoritarian and state-directed economic and political structure of China is a challenging contradiction to the idealism of communism. China’s communism is compelled to change ideologically from Marxism-Leninism to a state-directed form of capitalism. Huawei becomes a telecom giant euphemistically called socialism with Chinese characteristics. In truth, Huawei is structured to be more capitalist than communist with interventionist potential by the state if it conflicts with centralized control of the party.
Communist captitalism.
Dou explains how Party committees are created within Huawei’s management system. These committees exercise ideological control over Huawei’s executives. Huawei’s objectives are required to conform to national priorities. The development of 5G and telecom infrastructure becomes a national, not private asset of the company. This generates fear in the U.S. about security liabilities and foreign influence of China on U.S.’ and allied countries’ political and/or economic affairs. Dou notes China’s leadership insists on enforcing its security laws, data practices, and CCP’s rules of the road for Huawei’s operations.
Huawei discipline.
Dou notes that Xi’s anti-corruption campaign pressures Huawei to tighten internal governance. Executives of Huawei were disciplined for being too extravagant. The CCP organized ideological training for company employees to more fully align them with the Party. China’s government interference in Huawei’s management leads to U.S. sanctions and an arrest of Meng Wanzhou’s in Canada. The United States has effectively banned Huawei telecom and surveillance equipment. Federal agencies cannot use Huawei devices. American internet companies in the U.S. that receive federal funds must remove Huawei equipment. Though Huawei phones and laptops are not banned in the U.S., they are not sold by major U.S. carriers or retailers. The UK, Germany, France, Japan, Australia, and Canada have taken similar actions against Huawei services. Huawei product like laptops and mobile phones are not universally banned but many Western countries have barred telecom infrastructure because of national security concerns.
What is striking about Dou’s book is the history of Huawei shows both confluence and separation between Communism and Capitalism.
Both use the capitalist tools of competition, private enterprise, and global markets. Both are involved in the private sector and provide preferential treatment, political protection, and financing. Nationalism is a greater force than Marxism for both China and the U.S. American corporate discipline is similar to communist party discipline. Further, economic and political strategies of America and China have similarities. However, the two cultures conflict with each other over globalization and levels of interference or control of private companies. America leans toward transparency, partnership, open markets, and international trust. China opts for secrecy, political reliability, ideological conformity, and oversight to ensure national security. Furthermore, America thrives on risk-taking, experimentation, a free market and decentralized decision making while China emphasizes political correctness, Party control, ideological discipline, and insistence on corruption elimination.
In sum, it seems there is an ongoing hybridization of both American capitalism and Chinese communism. Is Trump’s authoritarianism becoming more like Xi’s communism or Xi’s authoritarianism becoming more like Trump’s capitalism? One wonders–are we growing closer together or farther apart?
