The Hill
Date: 08/11/19
By: Seth Cropsey, Opinion Contributor

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL

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Hong Kong police have repeatedly assailed pro-democracy demonstrators in street clashes for weeks now. In mid-July, suspected Chinese organized gang members assaulted protesters at a local train station.

The introduction of gang violence to quash Hong Kong’s pro-democracy groups was reminiscent of the Polish communist party’s recruitment of violent criminals to help put down Solidarity protests in the early 1980s. And, just as with the Solidarity movement, the Hong Kong protests that began two months ago against a proposed extradition law are part of a larger historical question of democracy’s future — and of China’s growing threat to it.

This requires perspective.

Modern liberal politics embraces universals. Universal rights — both for citizens and for mankind — undergird contemporary Western morality. Variations exist between constitutions — the centralized French model vs. German federalism or British parliamentarianism. Nevertheless, each regime locates the ultimate source of its political power in its people. Democratic elections are consistent affirmations of popular legitimacy.

The ancient world, by contrast, classified regimes by two categories. The first, who rules — the one, the few, or the many — is familiar to modern students of political science; it is an empirical category that distinguishes between governments based upon who holds political power. The second, just or unjust, is less familiar to contemporary observers; it demands examining the goals of each regime and understanding the relationship between a government and society on the one hand and human happiness on the other.    [FULL  STORY]