Unfortunately, the USA has a lot of impediments to forming a scientifically literate populace. Theres the classic religious detriment as well as our general lack of decent educational opportunities for large portions of our population but in addition to those obvious issues, I recently heard about a movement to cancel science because science is racist. Apparently, because the advances made during the Enlightenment were done by European white men , somehow, that makes science racist. Don't know how accurate that is, as I've just learned about it this morning and I don't know how widespread it is but it is certainly troubling.

What those watching carefully fear about China is that it’s not a Democracy. As messy as ours gets (in the USA), we still have choices. Even god worship is a choice, one of many ..many issues we openly confront. The fact we’ve the right to challenge them keeps & makes us strong, me proud, and alleviates the fears of many.