There's a supposed beacon on a hill that shines ever so brightly for all humankind hankering for democracy, and that is the United States, which was just four years shy of its 250th independence day last July 4.
And then, there is Malaysia, celebrating its 65th National Day this week. It is no empty boast when Americans speak about how people the world over, consciously or otherwise, try to model their countries in America's image.
In our case, this is embodied in the Jalur Gemilang: a crescent moon and a lone star distinguish our national banner from the stars and stripes of the American Old Glory.
This is no accident. American ideals capture hearts and minds everywhere, even when the idealism, almost inevitably, falls short.
America's legions of detractors do not dispute those ideals.
They merely point to the hypocrisy of America falling short, especially when Americans deign to criticise others for the latter's shortcomings.
Often, we tend to forget that the global democracy project is a work in progress, even for the nearly 250-year-old America.
We all fall short all the time but in America's case, it is perhaps safe to conclude it rose to become the sole (still) global superpower through the strength of its ideals and the power of its example in trying to live by and up to those ideals.
China, whom many expect to be the next superpower, inspires worldwide awe for lifting an impoverished nation of more than a billion to what it is now and all within little more than a generation.
But, and this is where I think many China boosters today ignore, the Middle Kingdom becomes what it is today by dint of the extraordinary agility of a remarkable people combined with the largely benign benevolence of the sitting superpower (despite Chinese officials seeking to portray the US as a blood-thirsty hegemon).
This Chinese pragmatism suited China well internally and externally, yet it is an open question whether it is politically sustainable in the long run. But I digress.
Back to Malaysia and the United States. It is no hyperbole, I think, to assert that both nations are at identical and critical political crossroads.
Malaysia's political system is being tested as it probably never has been.
There is a much-dreaded political paralysis at the national level, even as we come out rather spectacularly post-pandemic by topping the regional chart in economic recovery and growth.
The spectacle of an ex-prime minister in the dock before a bench of top judges and ultimately having the former's conviction for corruption reaffirmed, twice and unanimously, and being finally sent off to serve his custodial sentence immediately, cannot but have a certain cathartic effect.
This is the culmination of the watershed 2018 change of government, the only one after more than 60 years.
Relief was written on many Malaysian faces over such a turn of events.
Relief was also evident when US president Donald Trump was booted out of office in 2020 after a tumultuous four years that turned American politics on its head.
What has been described as the Trump-led insurgency may yet be further roiled should he be charged with mishandling classified official documents, with the nightmare scenario that his still-potent political base may become so re-energised that Trump is returned as president in 2024.
Likewise, the big question facing Malaysians is whether the jailing of Datuk Seri Najib Razak will so galvanise the Umno base that it returns triumphant in the next general election.
People tend to view political struggles through the prism of right versus wrong and black versus white. But political reality is typically a gigantic grey glop.
If democracy is really the only game globally, what happens now in Malaysia or the US must be viewed in proper context, with vigilance retained and abiding faith renewed that whatever momentary distraction or detour cannot derail the journey on a long and winding road.
The writer views developments in the nation, region and wider world from his vantage point in Kuching