Philosophies that Separate Two Worlds

Chinese philosophy rests on a holistic worldview that sees the universe as an interconnected whole rather than a set of isolated parts. It approaches complexity and diversity not as sources of contradiction, but as natural expressions of harmony—where opposing forces are complementary, interdependent, and mutually sustaining. Within this framework, human life is understood not through the lens of individualism, but through a commitment to collective well-being, with an emphasis on cooperation and communal flourishing. At its core, Chinese thought upholds unity, balance, harmony, and peaceful coexistence—favoring collaboration over conflict and mutual benefit over the defeat of adversaries. (see Understanding China: Yellow River and the Character of the Chinese Nation).

Grounded in collectivism, Chinese philosophy places the well-being of society above individual gain, advocating for social harmony through public morality. Human rights are understood not merely as personal entitlements but as responsibilities toward the collective good, aiming to ensure safe, equitable, and harmonious living conditions for all. While Chinese law protects individual freedoms, including the right to pursue wealth within legal bounds, it also curtails the unchecked influence of special interests to safeguard the broader interests of the people and society as a whole (see Understanding China: Geography, Confucianism, and Chinese-Style Modernization).

Economically, China promotes the vision of “common prosperity” through a hybrid model that integrates state-owned enterprises, private ventures, and market mechanisms. This system encourages individual initiative while ensuring that personal success aligns with public welfare. The state plays a crucial role in regulating capital to prevent it from undermining social equity and long-term stability.

Politically, China stresses the central role of the state in uniting the nation, managing differences, protecting the vulnerable, investing in infrastructure, and providing public goods. It adheres to the principles of democratic centralism and national cohesion, rejecting factionalism, partisanship and decentralization. Chinese democracy—often described as “people’s democracy” and “whole-process democracy”—is consultative and consensus-driven, contrasting sharply with the adversarial nature of many Western electoral systems; it involves citizens in policymaking, implementation, and oversight, ensuring that public decisions reflect broad consultation and careful deliberation. By minimizing partisan strife, Chinese governance aims to foster shared prosperity, social harmony, and egalitarian development.

On the global stage, China upholds five guiding principles: mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-aggression, non-interference, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence. It advocates for international cooperation, peaceful development, and a shared future for humanity marked by global prosperity and mutual respect.

In contrast, Western philosophy reflects an atomistic worldview, portraying the universe as a constellation of self-contained entities. Rooted in individualism, it regards human beings as autonomous actors driven by survival instinct and self-interest—a perspective shaped in part by Darwinian concepts of the “struggle for existence” and “survival of the fittest.” This outlook fosters a “law of the jungle” mentality, where domination and competition are seen as necessary for survival and success (see Darwinism vs. Confucianism). Western culture tends to prioritize self-interest, personal achievement, and strategic advantage, frequently at the expense of collective well-being and ethical responsibility. Its human rights rhetoric is hypocritical. While professing to promote universal freedom, it largely serves the interests of a privileged minority, enabling them to defeat the disadvantaged majority and dominate legislation, the economy, media, military, and foreign policy to their own benefit.

Economically, Western nations champion unrestrained capitalism, driven by competition and self-interest. While this approach may spur short-term growth, it often results in rampant inequality, unchecked greed, and systemic injustice. Capital gains precedence over national welfare, benefitting only a small elite at the expense of broader society. The result is that the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and for most people, "the pursuit of happiness" has become an illusion. The prioritization of profit over production inevitably leads to the hollowing out of the economy, eventually triggering systemic crises (see America Is in Big Trouble).

Politically, Western democracies often beset by partisanship, polarization, and social fragmentation. Despite formal democratic structures, these systems can devolve into political theater, rife with empty promises, ideological extremes, and sensationalism. Politicians, frequently funded by special interests, tend to serve their donors more than the public, reducing the role of voters to a periodic ballot with little real influence (see Democracy vs. Plutocracy).

In international affairs, Western powers often adopt a hegemonic posture, relying on tactics such as divide-and-conquer, military interventions, sanctions, and regime change. These actions have destabilized regions, perpetuated global conflict, and undermined prospects for lasting peace. The success of the West historically hinges on the conquest, colonization, genocide, exploitation, and plunder of weaker nations.

For a long time, the Chinese struggled to comprehend Western behaviors, yet they have now come to understand its underlying logic. Unless Western plutocrats alter their philosophical outlook, global peace remains elusive. This sentiment was succinctly expressed by the Chinese delegation during the Sino-US talks in Alaska: "We overestimated your integrity and assumed you would adhere to basic diplomatic norms. We must clarify our stance: You lack the authority to assert dominance over China." Despite the potential dangers inherent in their worldview, Western plutocrats are unlikely to relinquish it. They view China from their own perspective, assuming that once China becomes stronger, it will treat other countries the same way the West once did. It may require the collapse of the existing paradigm before humanity can aspire to construct a new world.

Thankfully, it becomes increasingly clear which philosophy holds more promise for humanity. As the world undergoes profound transformation, a new possibility is beginning to emerge. The rise of China and the relative decline of the West have given the Global South renewed hope. Many now glimpse the possibility of a new world order—one grounded in civilized values, peaceful coexistence, mutual respect, equality, fairness, justice, and win-win cooperation. This stands in stark contrast to the existing system, dominated by barbarism, self-interest, inequality, exploitation, and aggression (see Pluralism vs. Monism).

America Is in Big Trouble

Wealth is created by the real economy—agriculture, manufacturing, mining, energy, and construction. In contrast, trade, professional services, and financial sectors merely support the real economy, extracting value in exchange for their services rather than generating wealth independently (see Mammonism).

Driven by neoliberalism, the United States has undergone severe deindustrialization over the past few decades. Aside from a few remaining high-tech and military industries, most manufacturing has relocated to countries with lower production costs. Today, the U.S. economy is dominated by financial capitalism, relying heavily on monetary maneuvers to extract global wealth, even as its real productivity has long been unable to sustain its hegemony. America's perceived economic strength now rests more on financial engineering than on genuine economic output. Over the past 20 years, while the real economy has grown by only 1.5 times, the annual issuance of U.S. dollars has increased fivefold, national debt has surged sevenfold—exceeding $34 trillion—and private lending has ballooned to another $30 trillion. Much of this money flows abroad through the purchase of foreign goods, international loans, U.S. bond sales, and debt repayments, driven by continued global demand for the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency. It is estimated that more than $100 trillion in U.S. dollars circulates outside the United States.

This excessive money printing has fueled global inflation, doubling food prices, raising oil prices by 4.5 times, and tripling the price of iron ore. The dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency enables the United States to manipulate the global economy through its monetary policies. Monetary easing (lowering interest rates and increasing dollar supply) stimulates borrowing and spending, while monetary tightening (raising rates and restricting supply) strengthens the dollar, prompting capital to flow back into the U.S. and contracting other economies. Through this cyclical process, American financial oligarchs are able to periodically acquire foreign assets and stocks at discount prices. These monetary policies are reinforced by geopolitical strategies—fostering regional conflicts, inciting social unrest, and supporting "color revolutions" under the pretense of promoting human rights—to destabilize investment climates elsewhere. In this way, the U.S. extracts wealth from other nations while profiting from arms sales and wars. However, the primary beneficiaries are not ordinary Americans, but elite special interests.

From the perspective of developing nations, this global economic order—established and maintained by U.S. elites—is profoundly unfair and immoral. To protect this system, the United States has historically sought to suppress rising economic competitors, from the U.K., Germany, Japan, and the USSR in the past, to Russia, Europe, and China today. By instigating the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the U.S. seeks to weaken Russia while simultaneously engineering a security crisis in Europe. Severing Europe's access to cheap Russian energy has allowed American energy to dominate European markets at much higher costs, fueling inflation, driving up production costs, damaging European industries, and accelerating capital outflows. This has further eroded Europe's strategic autonomy, binding it more tightly to American interests against the emerging East. Similarly, in the Indo-Pacific, the United States is forging alliances—with Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, India, Australia, and NATO's expansion—aimed at containing China.

The American oligarchy’s commitment to maintaining global dominance directly conflicts with the aspirations of other nations, which seek a cooperative, equitable international environment conducive to mutual growth. Yet the U.S.'s pursuit of unilateral hegemony, its extraterritorial reach, and its prioritization of self-interest have provoked growing resistance around the world.

At home, soaring debt, inflation, and a hollowed-out economy have left U.S. policymakers increasingly anxious. Instead of addressing deep-seated structural and institutional weaknesses, they double down on aggressive tactics to externalize their crises: raising the debt ceiling repeatedly, coercing other nations into buying U.S. treasuries with little intention of repayment, flexing military power, provoking regional conflicts, launching trade and financial wars, imposing unilateral sanctions, freezing and confiscating foreign assets, and exercising long-arm jurisdiction. They also weaponize the U.S. dollar and the SWIFT financial system, sabotage foreign infrastructure, and engage in economic embargoes, decoupling strategies, and geopolitical isolation. While intended to suppress rival economies, these strategies simultaneously harm the U.S. itself, eroding its global reputation, undermining confidence in the dollar, and accelerating de-dollarization and global sell-offs of U.S. treasuries—ultimately hastening the decline of American economic dominance.

Meanwhile, rampant inflation has forced the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates aggressively, triggering a wave of bank failures, a global economic downturn, and widespread financial market turmoil, particularly in heavily indebted countries.

For its own self-interest, the United States has become a major source of global instability. Yet the ruling elite remains unwilling to change course, clinging to the belief that they can perpetuate American dominance through financial manipulation and military interventions. Some imagine they can continue harvesting the wealth of other nations indefinitely through unchecked money printing. Others seem willing to risk another world war to preserve their primacy.

On the surface, America’s crisis stems from over-financialization, but at a deeper level, it is rooted in the toxic ideologies embraced by its plutocrats—capitalism taken to extremes, neoliberalism, social Darwinism, Machiavellianism, the law of the jungle, and a zero-sum-game mentality (see Philosophies that Separate Two Worlds). They fail to recognize that hegemony built on endless debt, rather than real economic strength, is fundamentally unsustainable.

I believe that most tango dancers do not share the ideologies of America’s plutocrats. Tango, in its spirit, opposes such predatory mentalities. Nonetheless, we must remain vigilant about the insidious influence these ideologies may have on our lives—and on tango itself (see A Dance that Challenges Modern Ideologies).

The world that most nations seek is not one of dominance, but of democracy: a system where every country has an equal opportunity to develop and improve their people’s lives through cooperation and mutual benefit. If U.S. policymakers truly believe in democracy, they must abandon their selfish, coercive, hegemonic strategies. The American people deserve leaders of greater moral integrity. Otherwise, America will inevitably face the consequences of its own actions (see The Vicious Circle of Regime Change).

P.S.
The following video provides an in-depth explanation of the American monetary system—from the Bretton Woods Agreement and the decoupling of the U.S. dollar from gold, to its peg to oil, the rise of consumer capitalism, vendor financing, the outsourcing of manufacturing, job losses, trade deficits, growing inequality, military expansion, perpetual warfare, uncontrolled money printing, escalating debt, and the resulting dollar devaluation and inflation crisis. The speaker attributes these issues to the U.S. dollar's role as the world’s reserve currency and predicts that the system will ultimately collapse when a new currency regime emerges. The key question remains: will America's elite special interests allow change before their empire crumbles?

Democracy vs. Plutocracy

American political thought is fundamentally atomistic, rooted in the belief that individuals are autonomous beings endowed with inalienable rights to pursue their own self-interest. This philosophical foundation normalizes intense competition, where a few emerge as winners while the majority are left behind. Those who succeed in this system often consolidate their power by forming political parties, which claim to represent the public but primarily compete for influence and control.

Elections serve as the formal mechanism through which these parties alternate power. Over time, practices such as political donations, lobbying, and media campaigning have been redefined as forms of free speech, allowing those with greater resources to dominate the political arena. As a result, elections become increasingly ideological and media-driven, shaped by those who have the means to sway public opinion. Ultimately, this dynamic fosters a political landscape in which policies tend to favor the wealthy, deepening social and economic inequality.

With elections increasingly vulnerable to financial influence, misinformation, and character attacks, American politics has become deeply contentious. Elected officials often prioritize performative rhetoric and media attention over effective governance, focusing more on pleasing donors and securing re-election than advancing the public good. The frequent shifts in party control lead to erratic policy reversals, undermining long-term planning and institutional stability. Each administration tends to overspend, accumulate debt, and resort to printing money to inflate short-term approval—leaving the economic consequences to future governments. Meanwhile, partisan gridlock paralyzes decision-making and intensifies social division.

Despite these dysfunctions, many Americans still regard the current system as the only legitimate form of democracy. In practice, however, the U.S. political system operates more as a partisan democracy than a people’s democracy. Increasingly, scholars argue that it has morphed into a plutocracy—rule by the wealthy and well-connected. Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz famously characterized the United States as a nation “of the 1%, by the 1%, and for the 1%.” Backed by powerful special interests, political elites often sideline the needs and voices of the broader population.

The consequences of this distorted system are stark. The U.S. has the highest levels of inequality among developed nations, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, it suffered a death toll over 170 times higher than China’s and an infection rate 1,600 times greater. Decades of financial mismanagement have pushed the national debt beyond $30 trillion, much of it channeled into private contractors, defense budgets, and corporate subsidies. Meanwhile, deep-rooted social problems—ranging from racial conflict and poverty to drug addiction and gun violence—continue to plague the nation.

With less than a quarter of the population of China or India, the U.S. nonetheless has the world’s largest prison population. Its healthcare system is the most expensive globally, yet millions remain uninsured or underinsured. Retirement ages have steadily climbed, placing increasing burdens on the elderly. According to the U.S. Life Insurance Guide, the average retirement age is 67.9 for men and 66.5 for women, compared to China’s 60 for men, 55 for women. Public education is in decline, infrastructure is aging, and the country has been at war for 229 of its 245-year history. These conflicts, often justified in the name of “American values,” perpetuate high military spending, weapons exports, and global dominance—primarily serving entrenched economic and political interests.

Although this system is labeled a democracy, the average American has increasingly little influence over the decisions that shape their daily lives.

In contrast, Chinese political thought is fundamentally holistic, emphasizing the interdependence of individuals within the broader social fabric. Human rights in China are framed in terms of collective well-being rather than individual autonomy. These rights encompass not only personal freedom but also values such as coexistence, equality, cooperation, and social harmony. Whereas American thought tends to view individuals as independent actors pursuing self-interest, Chinese thought sees people as intrinsically connected, with mutual obligations to family, community, and society. Rooted in Confucian tradition, this perspective prioritizes ethical behavior, consensus-building, and the pursuit of communal interests as essential to maintaining social stability and order. (See Understanding China: Geography, Confucianism, and Chinese-Style Modernization.)

China adopts a model of people’s democracy, prioritizing collective governance over partisan competition. While individual interests vary, leadership is expected to represent the broader will of the population. With a 5,000-year tradition of governance, China has historically recognized both the risks of factionalism and the importance of unified political leadership. The Communist Party of China (CPC), comprising nearly 100 million members, positions national interest above partisan agendas. Leadership selection occurs every five years through the CPC National Congress and the National People’s Congress, with candidates evaluated based on character, competence, and proven achievement, rather than rhetoric or ideology. Policy development involves extensive research, public consultation, and meticulous planning to balance short-term priorities with long-term national goals. Unlike the U.S., where governance often reflects special interest influence, China’s system seeks to foster a just and harmonious society rooted in shared prosperity. Institutional safeguards—including collective leadership, term limits, anti-corruption measures, public supervision, and internal discipline—aim to enhance accountability and prevent authoritarianism.

Differences in human rights perspectives shape how each country approaches key issues. In the U.S., COVID-19 precautions were largely seen as a matter of personal choice, with individual liberty prioritized over collective protection. In contrast, China placed public health first, with temporary restrictions widely accepted for the greater good. Similarly, Americans often view gun control as an infringement on personal freedom, whereas the Chinese regard strict firearm laws as essential for public safety. In the U.S., business regulation is frequently seen as a constraint on economic freedom, while in China, such oversight is viewed as necessary to reduce inequality. Intellectual property in the U.S. is tightly protected, often limit accessibility and innovation, while China promotes shared technological advancement to accelerate national development. And while the U.S. frequently invokes individual rights to justify foreign interventions, China considers such actions—including the instigation of color revolutions and conflicts under the banner of democracy—as violations of national sovereignty and human rights.

No political system is immune to failure. History teaches that if a nation fails to confront its ideological, institutional, and systemic flaws, decline is inevitable. The dominance of special interests—such as corporate lobbies and the military-industrial complex—erodes democratic legitimacy and public trust. Drawing from China’s long history, the collapse of a democracy under the weight of corruption and plutocracy may take less than three centuries (see The Vicious Circle of Regime Change). This is why Chinese political culture values collectivism and egalitarianism over individualism. As China rises, Confucian values are poised to play a larger role in shaping global political thought—an evolution worth noting and, perhaps, celebrating. (See Pluralism vs. Monism.)