Letter to a World Addicted to Its Own Myths

To those who build ideologies to govern others — and forget that power always writes its own contradictions.

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Dear whoever still believes the slogans,

You hear it everywhere: the United States is the home of freedom and free markets. And then there’s China, still calling itself the People’s Republic — a phrase often treated as a contradiction. But maybe the contradiction isn’t in the system. Maybe it’s in how others expect it to behave. It doesn’t follow liberal scripts, yet it doesn’t collapse. For many, that’s confusing. For China, it just works. Two giant systems, locked in a battle for the soul of the world. Or so they say.

But look closer, and it all starts to unravel.

The United States loves to talk about deregulation and shrinking government — right up until the moment banks need saving, or tech giants need protection. Free markets? Only when they behave themselves — which usually means not threatening the wrong people’s money, influence, or vote share. The invisible hand, it turns out, has a favourite finger. Democracy? Of course — but try finding a policy most Americans want that actually gets passed. Somewhere between Wall Street and Washington, “freedom” became a brand, not a practice.

And then there’s China, still flying the banner of the People’s Republic. In name, it’s a socialist state. In practice, it’s one-party capitalism, built on growth, control, and careful management of loyalty. The slogans stayed; the system changed. Markets everywhere, yes — but always orbiting the Party.

The irony? Neither system looks much like the story it tells about itself. They don’t clash because they’re opposites; they clash because they’re too alike in one uncomfortable way: both are experts at using ideology as camouflage.

China isn’t offering a new story. It’s pulling at the loose threads of the ones we already told ourselves. Meanwhile, the US finds itself borrowing tactics it once condemned: industrial policy, protectionism, strategic intervention. Watching the two is like seeing a magician angrily accuse another magician of trickery.

The difference is, America sells its story better. Ask an average American what they value most, and odds are they’ll say liberty, freedom, or something proudly from that shelf. The slogans stuck. They became identity. China, for all its banners and declarations, treats ideology more like a tool than a faith. It adapts when it needs to. America believes its myths; China manages them.

The truth is, this isn’t really a contest between freedom and control, or democracy and dictatorship. It’s a slow-motion collapse of ideological certainty. The myths that once structured the world — that markets guarantee freedom, that development requires liberal democracy — are fraying. Power keeps moving, but the stories fall apart.

And honestly? Maybe they always were just stories. Maybe the real shock isn't that systems lie — it's that we ever believed they wouldn't.

In the end, it’s not about which side wins. It’s about how long any system can keep pretending that growth equals legitimacy, that slogans equal truth, that narratives can outrun the contradictions they’re built on.

Spoiler: they can’t.

Sincerely, Someone still watching, still curious.