This United States election is very close, and a week after polling day, the question of who will be President is still hanging in the balance. This is because the internal and external policies of the United States are in a period of transition, which has not been seen for many years, and the controversy is very intense. And the democratic politics of peaceful and rational non-violent resolution of political controversies does not rule out a fierce struggle. By contrast, the so-called ravenous unity of the world often ends up having to be resolved by violent struggle, which is the fundamental difference between democracy and authoritarianism.
It is common sense that where there are people, there are divergent views. There are roughly three different ways of resolving arguments over differences of opinion. One is to reach an agreement through consultation and then implement it together, which is the ideal way. The second is to agree to a minority and then follow the majority, which is a less than ideal but practical way. The third way is to be stubbornly stubborn without reaching agreement, and to fight separately, weakening or even cancelling each other out, which is the least ideal way.
The first way is so ideal that it may only work in a small area, not even in a small area like the family. And so evolved patriarchy, which had flourished in ancient times. The patriarchal system, also known as the one voice system, became more and more obviously flawed as the scope of the state gradually expanded. So the history of more than two thousand years in ancient China is the process of gradual restriction of supreme decision-making, or gradual intensification of collective decision-making.
Any country where the scope of decision-making is standardized is able to form dynasties with a long history. Otherwise, they are short-lived dynasties of varying lengths. In fact there are many times more short-lived dynasties than there are twenty-four histories. Even the long-lived dynasties eventually perished in the alienation of the decision-making process and the inability to correct faulty decisions. On a much larger scale than families and small groups, wrong decisions are the biggest life-or-death problem. While ancient China continued to weaken patriarchy, it did not finally get rid of the shell of patriarchy. That’s why modern, knowledgeable people initiated the study of Western democracy.
What is a democracy? It is about settling for second best and using voting to decide the final decision when there is no consensus. The other aspect of democracy is that no one should be stubborn in his or her own opinion and that decisions should be made and implemented together. Thanks to a reasonable and legitimate joint decision-making process, everyone is able to implement decisions together in a calm and peaceful manner after they have been made, and this is what truly raises the nation’s power.
In the last hundred years, China has failed to learn from the West, and has failed to draw a tiger as a dog. Instead of returning to the limited collective decision-making system of ancient China, it has learned from the authoritarian paternalism that came from the West. The catastrophe caused by this dictatorial patriarchal system of Mongolian and European serf masters in the past century is obvious to all. In particular, the individual dictatorships of Mao Zedong and Xi Jinping created wrong decisions, which led to the collapse of the country and its people.
In ancient times, the limited collective decision-making system made it difficult to correct such stupid and tyrannical emperors. The Communist Party, which now leads China, does not even have limited collective decision making anymore. Mao Zedong died in the late 1970s, and this was used as an opportunity for China to restore limited collective decision-making. Many people now hope that Xi Jinping’s health is in trouble.
Mao’s death was a coincidence; it was the bold decisions of Hua Guofeng and others that were the decisive factor in China’s dramatic change. Unfortunately, the last dynasty was characterized by the fact that “there are no more men” at the decision-making level. Even if Xi Jinping dies, there will be Wang Jinping and Li Jinping to continue the dictatorship until the end of the regime. If you have the time to ridicule others for their imperfections, why don’t you take a look in the mirror and face reality?
It is common for people to judge others for not being perfect this and that. Usually they are making fun of themselves for being even less perfect, or, like the fox touting the song of the crow, they are doing it for the meat in the crow’s beak. Of course, it’s human nature to use this opportunity to flatter for personal gain, and it’s not unusual to see it.
Recent Comments