Ever since Deng Xiao Ping’s remark that “it’s not the color of the cat that matters, but whether it catches mice,” it has been clear that the old Cold War divisions of left and right, communism and democracy, were obsolete. Indeed, the China that Deng began to build in 1978 is now communist politically and capitalist economically. But the tendency to apply old labels remains strong, so that everyday we hear gross simplifications like the current one that holds that Latin America is now undergoing a powerful leftist wave.
Ever since Deng Xiao Ping’s remark that “it’s not the color of the cat that matters, but whether it catches mice,” it has been clear that the old Cold War divisions of left and right, communism and democracy, were obsolete. Indeed, the China that Deng began to build in 1978 is now communist politically and capitalist economically. But the tendency to apply old labels remains strong, so that everyday we hear gross simplifications like the current one that holds that Latin America is now undergoing a powerful leftist wave.