3 ms·

> The people of anywhere should get to decide what they want. I don't dispute this. I dispute people in their comfy first world homes pontificating about how C

> The people of anywhere should get to decide what they want. I don't dispute this. I dispute people in their comfy first world homes pontificating about how China should have democracy, when they haven't been to China and experienced: 1.) the kinds of problems China faces and 2.) the difficulties facing solving those problems in China It smacks of arrogance and youthful naivety. Yes we have a democracy in the US and how is it doing? We have garbage voting machines that are easily hackable, rampant gerrymandering, and coordinated disinformation campaigns that contributed to Trump of all people being our president. Don't get me wrong, I'd rather have it than not have it, and I think we can solve these problems. I'm optimistic. But those are just the problems WE have in a developed country one third the size of China, and with better infrastructure, education, and quality of live overall. I can't imagine trying to implement an _effective_ voting system in a country like China where many people do not even have clean water or basic sanitation yet. Not to mention the fact that they don't have division of powers, so before democracy was implemented they'd require a whole bottom up restructuring of their entire governmental apparatus.

wil421 7y ago
What are a few specific issues that are unique to China?
- jhedwards 7y ago
  Honestly I could name a few things but it's such a massive, complicated place that it's hard to say anything about it. Certainly if you go there and travel around a bit you will learn a lot. You will only scratch the surface but it's a start. One big issue unique to China is related to fallout from the cultural revolution, which affected a huge number of people. Read this section of the Wiki about education to get some idea: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution#Education https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution#Education Another is the lack of a separation of powers. The geography of China carries a lot of challenges as well. One of the advantages the US had was being able to develop in an extremely protected place in the world. China has had pressure from a wide variety of neighboring states for almost its entire history.
komali2 7y ago
First off, a fantastic example of a massive democracy at scale is India. It hasn't "figured it out" entirely but it is doing an admirable job. Second, China actually does have a voting infrastructure in place - locals "elect" their prefecture "representatives," who go on to elect upwards further government officials. But yeah, the Party is not going anywhere without a fight. The obstacle to democracy in China isn't size or culture, it's Xi Jinping and his cronies.

wil421 7y ago

What are a few specific issues that are unique to China?

jhedwards 7y ago
Honestly I could name a few things but it's such a massive, complicated place that it's hard to say anything about it. Certainly if you go there and travel around a bit you will learn a lot. You will only scratch the surface but it's a start. One big issue unique to China is related to fallout from the cultural revolution, which affected a huge number of people. Read this section of the Wiki about education to get some idea: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution#Education https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution#Education Another is the lack of a separation of powers. The geography of China carries a lot of challenges as well. One of the advantages the US had was being able to develop in an extremely protected place in the world. China has had pressure from a wide variety of neighboring states for almost its entire history.

komali2 7y ago

First off, a fantastic example of a massive democracy at scale is India. It hasn't "figured it out" entirely but it is doing an admirable job. Second, China actually does have a voting infrastructure in place - locals "elect" their prefecture "representatives," who go on to elect upwards further government officials. But yeah, the Party is not going anywhere without a fight. The obstacle to democracy in China isn't size or culture, it's Xi Jinping and his cronies.