society

China represents the only society on this planet to weather the transition from pre-industrial to postmodern intact and gaining strength. The American Experiment is merely a chapter or two compared to the volumes of patient, pragmatic, skilled governing that has led one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse areas on the planet to remain intact as a single country. The USSR couldn't do it, Europe is only beginning to get serious about it, Africa is years away from pulling together, and even the USA is too young a nation to judge its success.

We in the West like to think of ourselves as more advanced because we've invented enviable and useful technology. But when we consider that America is still making up its mind how to deal with the fundamental questions that come with being a secularly governed, pluralistic, market-aware society, China has kept a tight reign and is marching at an alarming rate toward all the goals we imagine are our inheritance.

Jewish human-rights activist Michael Horowitz praises — and pointedly counsels — evangelicals in How to Win Friends and Influence Culture. From among the abundance of "trees"-oriented talk aimed at Christians nowadays, it is refreshing to read such a "forest" view of their influence in the world. His view resonates with my observation that despite the many prominent examples of evil actions by those who claim the name of Christ, the quiet current of Christian influence over time has served the rest of humanity well.

Having grown weary of the enmity between the compassionate, hard-working, generous people I know from all points on the political spectrum, and having watched for a long time the forces at work, I've identified what I believe is the key point of tension and my personal strategy for addressing it.

The two-part key point of tension is this: people are continually tempted to use problematic means to achieve admirable ends; people tend to justify their own means by focusing on their own intentions and criticize the means chosen by others by ignoring their intentions. In short, we are comfortable with our own shortcuts but find fault with those of others. People of all shades of social/political persuasion do this all the time. I'll come back to this in a second, but first let me offer my solution.