This has been a week when we have seen both up close. It occurred to me that the American way involves two enormously wealthy, and well connected people fighting it out. 99% of the population have no chance whatsoever of being President even though there must be literally thousands of people better suited to carry out the task. In China it appears that they select around ten people with a leader to govern for ten years. I am not knowledgable on the subject, but I can't help thinking that I prefer the Chinese way.
0
Comments
Huge corruption at provincial level too, the American system is far from perfect and there is pork all over the place but still preferable to living under an authoritarian regime like the Chinese.
Important to remember that China is not really a communist country at all, they simply have an authoritarian government.
But, fair play, facilities for the disabled are faaaar better in usa /n america /west
Second term USA presidents are often susceptible to poor decisions and behaviour.
Down to individual choice. Mugabe and the like are utter c***s because they choose to be or because of the people they are as individuals.
Oh wait, I live here already.
For all it's problems China really is an amazing country that is changing at an insane rate.
USA, land of the free, don't make me laugh, atleast China are honest about what it is. You only need to speak to locals to realise how much things are changing here and how much more 'freedom' they are getting.
Yes, of course, China has its problems, corruption and - abuse of - guanxi (connections) are epidemic but I think it's safe to say most people are happier than 10 years ago.
The government know they can't rule like they have in the past, the people just won't stand for it. This is mainly due to the internet, we have the 'Great Firewall of China' but most people have VPN's. Of course some stuff still gets edited, or removed from sites like RenRen (China's facebook) but that often leads to people making an even bigger deal of it. The government knows this and it adapting.
I don't know if you read anything written by common Chinese, such as SinaWeibo or QQ blogs but many, many people make very critical comments about the government everyday. If you want a peak at some of the stuff Chinese people say head over to www.chinasmack.com - it translates a lot of stuff into English for those that don't read the lingo.
Give me one example where an autocrat hasn't had people murdered etc. There isn't one in history.
Try pulling some Tea Party style antics in China, try some Poll Tax style protests or Countryside Alliance or even wide-scale trade union activity and see what happens, the reaction would make the Met Police look like a bunch of ballet teachers.
How China gradually opens up to more protest and allows more significant dissent will be critical.
The infrastructure revolution in China these last 20 years has been unbelievable, nothing like it has happened before in human history.
However, this has only been possible because the government drives it and does not have to worry about re-election and doesn't have to worry about citizen protests or legal challenges - just look at the Three Gorges Damn project.
If you want to see the reverse of this look at India, they cannot get anything done on a national scale because of petty local politics and constant legal challenges.