I’ve been to China,recently...several times.I’ve seen two of the most prosperous cities in the country (Guangzhou and Shenzhen) and even the people *there* live like dogs.
Benevolent authoritarianism is a myth; it doesnt exist.
Benevolent authoritarianism is like a pink elephant; you can imagine one, you can even paint an elephant pink but under the paint is a plain old grey elephant just like every other elephant. You can even look at an ordinary elephant an in your mind see a pink elephant but the truth is that it is still an ordinary gray elephant.
This is how Friedman and the other socialist statist look at China, Cuba and the other socialist/communist countries that they praise in their columns for their education and healthcare systems. They see what they want to see. They see the equality and standardized government services with their childish wish fulfillment eyes that see the pink paint that is the words of totalitarian propaganda covering the elephants grey skin which is the reality of totalitarian tyranny, torture, gulags and political murders.
The paint has been on the elephant a long time it is time for the children of the Left to see the patches of grey reality wearing through pink paint of wishful thinking.
Scary is that there are a lot of GOP who agree with Friedman....in fact anyone still supporting our current “Free Trade” policies with Communist China pretty much is marching goose-step with Friedman.
Communist China authoritarianism lasts only as long as they can keep the “economic success” charade going...or until our US leaders grab a pair and jack up the tariffs on Communist Chinese products