I've come to think of it as the pact, the willingness of intelligent, well-to-do people to trade certain liberties in return for the promise of either prosperity or security. The model is Singapore, the city-state where I was born and a place that never ceases to fascinate me. But the pact's appeal is now far more widespread and takes in not just the countries you might expect China, Russia but plenty you might not. Perhaps even the country you live in.
I'm not talking about totalitarian regimes, where fear is the predominant mechanism...
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