Space and politics

The Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union symbolized a struggle for technological and political supremacy during the Cold War-era of the 1950s and ‘60s.

The U.S. won. On July 20, 1969, the crew from Apollo 11 made the first successful moon landing, edging the Soviet’s initial lead of sending Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, into orbit in 1957. More importantly, the moon landing signified democracy defeating communism.

Fast forward to 2008. China is the third country after the U.S. and Russia to conduct a spacewalk. While the media coverage has been about the financial fire storm and the economic bailout, three taikonauts went to space onboard Shenzhou VII and back, marking a heroic and successful return to Beijing. The Chinese government’s burgeoning space program aims to reach the moon eventually.

China’s spacewalk and the collapse of Wall Street comes at a crucial time. Symbolic as it is in showing the transition of economic and technological resources from one region to another, it also underscores a very important question: Does a capitalist market need an open and democratic society? The Chinese success demonstrates that a free market might not need an American-style democratic society.

Despite the current melamine food scare and the frequent spate of negative publicity on China portrayed in American media, China’s hosting of the Olympics and this spacewalk are strong statements to the world that the Chinese have arrived.  

Of course, China is not the USSR, and worries of its threat to Washington are largely unwarranted. It is in name a communist country, but it has adopted a market economy since 1978. The gradual liberation of many other aspects of society shows that it is emulating the U.S. in many ways. It is, however, not a true representative democracy like the U.S.

The U.S. has established that a free and open society is quintessential to a free market economy. President Bush even addressed the nation saying that “Democratic capitalism is the best system ever devised.” The irony was that Bush advocated interventionism in what he termed as “not normal circumstances.”

Having experienced life in quasi-democratic Singapore, I understand what it’s like to live in a relatively regulated society. Nevertheless, government intervention being the norm in society has meant that Singapore usually gets itself out of problems unscathed. Singapore largely escaped the Asian financial crisis of 1997.

During the SARS crisis, the Singaporean government swiftly contained the epidemic, unlike how the U.S. handled Katrina. In Singapore, no political games are played, no flip-flopping or bickering on partisan ideals, no spinning of news – everything is no-frills.

While this is good for most businesses that thrive on a stable economy, freedom of expression is mitigated.

On the other hand, having lived in the U.S. for more than a year now, what I witness is corporate America running society. They hire the best lobbyists and spin doctors.

They manipulate the people. They control government. Do we want corporations to have power and influence, or government to have power and influence? In the end, the strongest economy of the 21st century, whether that of the U.S., China, Russia or India, will dictate ideology and say its way is the best.