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Whatever it needs to do becomes different based on how your country is governed. China has unelected* leaders that at least in theory holds only Communist idea
by kebman 4y ago
Whatever it needs to do becomes different based on how your country is governed.
China has unelected* leaders that at least in theory holds only Communist ideals.
While flawed, in a republic at least you get to vote for your leaders, and thus choose what ideals you like the best.
Of course republicanism or democracy does not preclude a country from committing horrible acts, but they are cleaned up much sooner, and those who are responsible for it are thrown out of office (and sometimes even into jail). Not so in authoritarian countries like China.
* You can technically vote in China, but due to its authoritarian nature only one party is allowed and you're expected to uphold the party line.
- _emacsomancer_ 4y agoThe US also runs on an authoritarian single party system, it's just that with typical American extravagance, they have two of them.
- kebman 4y agoNo it doesn't. Except for cancel culture (which isn't state run btw), you can say and think almost whatever you like in the USA so long as it isn't prejudiced or harassing. You are also not punished for starting other parties in the USA, since it's completely legal. Thus there are alternatives to the Democrats and Republicans. The First Past the Post system just means that that it's extremely unlikely that alternatives will ever challenge the biggest two. Other than that the American system is decidedly liberal and free.
- _emacsomancer_ 4y ago"Other than in [any way that matters materially] the American system is decidedly liberal and free."
- kebman 4y agoCan you please expand upon how the American political system isn't free in any way that matters materially?
- _emacsomancer_ 4y agoFor starters: https://www.prisonstudies.org/highest-to-lowest/prison_population_rate?field_region_taxonomy_tid=All https://www.prisonstudies.org/highest-to-lowest/prison_popul...
- kebman 4y agoWhat has that got to do with the political system in the USA? You have every opportunity of changing how American prisons are organized by participating in the political system. Nobody will jail you for having an opinion about it, or campaigning for prison reform, or hell, even legal reforms in general. Not so in China. If you criticize the state there, you do indeed risk jail, if you don't just suddenly vanish. The main difference here is that the USA has a largely liberal system, while China has an authoritarian one. Good luck surviving (!) in China if you have a strong political opinion about any issue pertaining to their state or their leadership. One of the main differences between the American and the Chinese system is that scrutiny and criticism is welcomed as a means of making things better in the USA, while it is punished in the People's Republic.
- _emacsomancer_ 4y ago> You have every opportunity of changing how American prisons are organized by participating in the political system. How so? Both parties are all in on the prison-industrial scam. Likewise for healthcare, etc. I agree that the US has a largely 'liberal' system, in the classical sense of 'liberal'. I.e. capital trumps human beings. And you ignore the fact that the US imprisons a much higher percentage of its population than other countries. Part and parcel of the authoritarianism (which is only increasing).
- kebman 4y ago
- akho 4y agoIn the US, you are expected to uphold the line that brings you donors. That makes leftist parties non-viable. That’s not such a big difference from the Chinese situation as you’d think, except in direction.
- roca 4y agoThe CCP: -- Put a million Uighurs in camps -- Persecutes followers of pretty much all religions --- Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Falun Gong, etc -- Flat-out censors anything that offends them in the slightest -- Puts whoever they want into detention with no kind of due process, from small-time activists to billionaires -- Harvests the organs of (not previously dead) prisoners -- Had drones peering into apartment windows during the latest COVID lockdown, broadcasting the literal message "control your soul's desire for freedom" -- and of course is an autocracy in which Xi Jinping has absolute power The USA is far from perfect but one thing we learned from Trump in 2016 and Bloomberg in 2020 is that money isn't everything in American politics. The parties do have major differences and bad actors can be held accountable. I'm not American, but this equivalence that some people like to draw between the governments of China and the USA drives me crazy.
- akho 4y agoI was speaking strictly about access of differing view / value systems to the voting ballot, not judging the systems a whole. China sucks more. (Though viewing China as a full autocracy with absolute power of a single individual is extremely simplistic)
- roca 4y agoPolitical representation of different view/value systems is much better in the USA than in China. > (Though viewing China as a full autocracy with absolute power of a single individual is extremely simplistic) It's overly simplistic, but less "overly" than it was 10 years ago.
- FreqSep 4y agoWhat makes leftist parties unviable is the majority of the population disapproving of socialism. People online vastly overestimate the actual effect of money on political results, naturally disregarding all the donations made to candidates that lose and ignoring races where the lesser funded candidates win. If Americans wanted a leftist government, they’d vote for it, simple as that. And yet even in the most left leaning states and cities in the nation , leftist principles have failed to gain much electoral ground.