Even Authoritarian Regimes Have Trouble With COVID

One of the primary strengths of China is its people. They have a “somewhat” common cultural heritage and they are “generally” compliant when it comes to their government.

I remember when there was a terrible winter storm and all the roads were impassible in one region. The Chinese government asked all its citizens to go out and shovel snow! And they did shovel, shovel, shovel. When you get tens of thousands of people shoveling, work can get done.

China has used this citizenship and alignment with its people to have rigorous controls on COVID-19 and when and where people can be at any one time. They have cameras watching people, they had drones telling people to get back inside — early in the pandemic. They locked down entire cities, blocks, buildings. They even forcibly removed people from their homes to go to a holding area. I’m not sure if that was quarantine or isolation.

However, with the protests that erupted in the last month or so, China has now done an about-face (meaning “turn around” — which is also the meaning of the word “repent”) and opened up, changing many of the previous restrictions, yet people are still being very careful.

What it shows to me is that even with all the commonality and adherence to social norms, people have their limits!

Interestingly, I also see something a little bit similar, but not the same, in Ukraine. There you have a free country, under attack, and its people are bending under an onslaught of missiles that are causing power outages, water shortages, etc. Yet, they are willingly doing their individual part to support the common good. I think the Ukrainian example is a much better one and the only one that will work here in the United States.