Government by Campaign

In Communist China, Mao ruled by Campaign.

The Counterrevolutionaries Campaign (1950)

The Three Antis and Five Antis campaign (1951-1952)

Campaign against hidden revolutionaries (1955)

The Anti-rightist campaign

The Great Leap Forward (1958).

Mao came up with "more, better cheaper faster" as a part of one of these campaigns.  I had arrived at it independently observing how free markets work, and was astonished to see Mao had asked for it in Communism.  Just think, if the free marketers had gotten to Mao before the communists, how the history of China may have been different!

The greatest of the campaigns, or worst was the GPCR.


The USA has become a government by campaign.  It started with the depression, and government "doing something."  They did it.  Then there was WWII, then the campaign against communism, then the war on poverty, then the war on drugs and so on.  


We have small  campaigns too, which are the object of great abuse, such as Sanofor's war on cholestorol.


Crowds and campaign sweep people up to do things they normally would not do.  Herd mentality takes over.  Great good can be achieved without these campaigns, but we need to understand that good comes slowly but surely.


As the song says "Battle lines are being drawn..."  Don't join.  Seldom affirm.  Never deny.  Always differentiate.  Think it through.  Campaigns are fun, but the damage is done dring the fun part.  The housing bust is the unfun part of the fun campaign for "home ownership for everyone."

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