The high price of democracy

THU, JUN 06, 2019

YOUR AFTERNOON NEWS UPDATE AND MARKET ACTION FROM CNBC

AS OF THU, JUN 06, 2019 • 12:05 ET

DJIA		25587.49
		+0.19%	+47.92

S&P 500		2829.38
		+0.11%	+3.23

NASDAQ		7568.64
		-0.09%	-6.83

EDITOR'S NOTE

This is a poignant week for democracy.

Today we have the 75th anniversary of D-Day, which helped end World War II by pushing Germany out of occupied country. As Queen Elizabeth put it in her speech this week to mark the occasion: "Seventy-five years ago, hundreds of thousands of young soldiers, sailors and airmen left these shores in the cause of freedom."

She added: "It is with humility and pleasure, on behalf of the entire country—indeed the whole free world—that I say to you all, thank you." Amen to that.

Does "the whole free world" today include China? It could have. Tuesday, June 4th, marked the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. China marked the occasion by blocking access to Wikipedia and, as usual, scrubbing the internet and messaging platforms of any possible reference to the event.

There is nothing I can add to the WSJ's excellent weekend coverage of the massacre and its significance. As Orville Schell observed, "In the spring of 1989, a democratic future for China seemed possible. Then came Tiananmen," in which the Chinese authorities sent tanks and troops in to massacre the pro-democracy crowds that had assembled for weeks there.

Even as recently as 2007, when I graduated from college, it seemed like China was on the cusp of opening up to the world. I almost skipped the end of my senior year lacrosse season to go on a spring term trip to China and see for myself the miracle we had heard so much about. That was under Hu Jintao as leader. Now, we have Xi Jinping, and China's autocratic, illiberal turn under his leadership is plain to see.

It's almost become cliche to say now, but it shouldn't be, because of all we've witnessed: freedom, like Reagan said, is never more than one generation away from extinction.

See you at 1 p.m.,

Kelly

Kelly Evans

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