Obsessively trying to force toothpaste back into the tube does not telegraph a general sense of well-being and confidence. China may be a 'superpower'. But a 's

Obsessively trying to force toothpaste back into the tube does not telegraph a general sense of well-being and confidence. China may be a 'superpower'. But a 'superpower' like the US? Or the USSR? Obviously they've avoided the worst tendencies of the latter, but will they every master the best aspects of the former? Alternately, will we continuing relentlessly undermining our own advantages to the point where China doesn't have to bother taking civil liberty seriously?