As U.S. Democracy Points In A Radical Direction: A Reminder Where That Leads ... by gimleteye

This image was taken in 1957 by the late French photographer, Marc Riboud. It shows the Forbidden City in Beijing during winter, representative of a dynasty abandoned, itself a ghostly reminder of government nearly 2000 years old.

The year is important. 1957.

Only months later, Chinese autocrat Mao Tse Tung would launch the Great Leap Forward, a plan to 'make China great again'. The Great Leap Forward was a catastrophic failure -- social engineering on a gargantuan scale -- but Mao's catastrophic regime would last another two decades. His enemies were forced to suffer.

The photograph reminds us: in the moment, autocracies are evil wherever they arise except to the elite that control them. In our homeland, the United States, that lesson is a durable one.