>The outside world can't tell the difference anyway Why not, plurality of the outside world has PRC as their biggest trading partner, seeing increasingly highe

>The outside world can't tell the difference anyway Why not, plurality of the outside world has PRC as their biggest trading partner, seeing increasingly higher tier goods. Some even visit and see delivered goods with their own eyes. It's convenient for democracies to pretend the knowable isn't knownable, that non democratic systems can deliver some things better. That failed democracies are actually autocratic failures are when slide into authoritarianism is democratic system failing. And really if one peers back throughout history, many democracies were built off the imperialism/extractive base from when countries were not democracies / periods when country was more authoritarian. Sometimes that base is substantial enough to snowball durable advantages from, sometimes the runway runs out and populist start questioning the system that squandered the lead. Or dismiss concerns because autocrats are faking their orgasms.