If you have a chance to read Ai Weiwei’s column about Hong Kong in today’s NYT, do it. It does a wonderful job, in a backhanded way, of describing how liberal democracy should not be judged exclusively, or even primarily, in terms of economic growth.
Just because I think the current version of Hong Kong is doomed doesn’t mean I lack sympathy with the protestors. In a way, it makes them more admirable, not less.