China doesn't want to become America. Why that's bad news ... for us Opinion: American democracy is no longer seen as a better alternative to young Chinese - and no wonder. China is playing the long game. We are not.

Fred DuVal | opinion contributor

On our family coffee table is the book “Phoenix, Now vs. Then.” It compares photos of various local locations now and 40 years ago. My recent experience in China reminded me of that book.

I participated in one of the first American cultural exchanges with China 40 years ago. Our host counterparts were ambitious young Chinese leaders who demonstrated an insatiable curiosity about America, both our free enterprise system and our democracy. The youth in China were at the cusp of pressing their nation to resemble ours.

That was then.

Today the many young people we met have now largely concluded that their “managed economy” and “managed democracy” serve them better than the American-inspired and freer alternatives.

China has national strategies. We don't

They celebrate an economic growth rate almost twice ours, which is lifting more than 400 million Chinese into the middle class. They cheer their eventual emergence as the biggest economy on the globe.

And while they admire American self-expression and expansive human rights, the young Chinese now acquiesce to limits on it as an acceptable trade-off for the autocratically driven economic success that is occurring. As one pointedly said: “You may have a lot of free speech, but it seems that’s all you have, is talk.”

For centuries the Chinese were mired in a political and economic system that rendered them voiceless – and powerless – to change. Now they have more say and are exercising a choice. America is no longer seen as a better alternative.

They proudly explain that they have unified national strategies for long-term economic growth, education investment, energy and their global engagement.

And we have none of them. They are playing the long game – and we aren’t.

They observe Western democracies, such as our Congress and its policy paralysis, and cheap partisan vitriol and say, “no thanks.” They follow Brexit and think, “that’s another competitor gone.”

We win partisan battles yet lose the war

Trump cancels new tariffs with limited China deal President Donald Trump said Friday that the U.S. has canceled plans to impose new tariffs on $160 billion worth of Chinese imports Sunday as part of a modest interim agreement that de-escalates a 17-month trade war with China. (Dec. 13)

What does this mean for us?

Our two-party system, calcified by social media and siloed news corridors, has turned forward thinking and collaboration into political death warrants for our elected leaders.

Now, winning elections isn’t about better ideas but about better tactics for making the other side unelectable. Governing is about risk management, not leadership.

To those on both the right and left who have come to see the other team as evil in intent and traitorous in deed, and seek to punish those seeking broader common ground, it may work for partisan scorecards. But it isn’t working for our country.

We are stalling out. In our total preoccupation with defeating the other political party, we are losing our ability to address greater existential threats.

We have historic gaps in opportunity and income. We are falling behind other nations in educational achievement in a knowledge-based economy. Our national debt grows to new historic highs enabled by both parties – and we owe most of it to China.

Can democracy win? 2020 is a test

The climate crisis is exploding. The primacy of individual-based identity politics cannibalizes common national identity and goals.

We are stuck in ideological debates of the '60s and '70s. We have no strategy for the future. Both sides seem satisfied with winning the next election while sacrificing the century.

America won the 20th century because we pulled together as one nation to build a competitive economy for its time. We prevailed in two World Wars and built a functioning democracy that most of the world sought to emulate.

Churchill opined that the ills of democracy can be cured by the strengths of democracy. The 2020 election will test that belief.

The 21st century has its own new challenges. Leading it is not an American birthright. And the competition – with fundamentally different values – is bringing their game.

Fred DuVal is an Arizona civic leader, member of the Board of Regents, a former gubernatorial candidate and former senior White House staff member. He is a regular contributor to The Arizona Republic. Twitter: @FredDuVal