Chapter 10 4. The West has begun to reflect on the system

Over the past few decades, the Western world, especially the United States, has been promoting its own institutional model all over the world.Observe carefully, they mainly promote two things: one is market fundamentalism and the other is democratic fundamentalism, but the effect seems to be getting worse and worse. The "color revolution" has basically "faded" with the separatist turmoil in Ukraine, and the "Arab Spring" has become the "Arab Winter" with the conflict and shock in Egypt.Probably because they have done too much deceiving others, and many Western countries themselves really believed in these things, but they themselves were also deceived.Take a look at the West today. Countries such as Iceland and Greece have gone bankrupt one after another. Portugal, Italy, Spain and other countries are on the verge of bankruptcy. Most Western countries are deeply in debt crisis. The US economy is not doing well. , In the past 20 years, there has been no improvement, but a decline, and the country is even more heavily in debt.Such a result is probably not expected by the West itself.

In sharp contrast to this is China, which insists on following its own path. It is rising rapidly with a scale and momentum never before seen in human history, and the living standards of most people have been greatly improved.In the face of such facts, many people in the West have finally begun to reflect on the problems of their own systems in the West. In March 2014, "The Economist" rarely published a long cover article "What's Wrong with Democracy", admitting that "the development of (Western) democracy around the world has stagnated, and may even have begun to reverse...1980-2000 Democracy suffered only minor setbacks during the 1990s, but after entering the new millennium, democracy suffered more and more setbacks.”The author attributes this setback to two reasons: "One is the financial crisis that began in 2008, and the other is the rise of China." The author even quotes my sharp criticism of the Western system: "(Western) democracy is destroying the West, Especially in the United States, because this system institutionalizes political deadlock, makes decision-making mediocre, and often elects some second-rate leaders like Bush Jr."

What is wrong with the Western model of democracy?Judging from the reflections of Westerners on the Western democratic model, it can be roughly summarized as three problems, namely money politics, dysfunctional regimes, and debt economy. "Money politics" has been fully exposed in this financial crisis. "The Economist" article pointed out, "Money has gained political influence unprecedented in American history. Thousands of lobbyists (more than 20 lobbyists per Congressman on average) make the legislative process more lengthy and complicated. complex and give special interest groups more opportunities to get involved."An example is Obama's health care reform bill. As mentioned earlier, it is more than 2,000 pages long, including various supplementary and exception clauses. Frankly speaking, it is a compromise document produced after a large amount of money and power was exchanged. The landmark event of "money politics" is the 2010 US Supreme Court ruling: there is no upper limit on donations from companies and groups to support campaigns. "Washington Post" columnist Harold Meyerson (Harold Meyerson) exclaimed: "This ruling seems to confirm the Chinese criticism of American democracy, that is, American democracy is a rich man's game." Not long ago, the US Federal The Supreme Court also ruled that there is no upper limit on individual campaign donations, and American democracy has really become a "money master." Even the right-wing US Senator John Sidney Mclain III said with concern: "The United States will continue to have scandals in the future."

Fukuyama, an American conservative scholar, believes in the article "The United States has nothing to teach China" that "in the American political system, money has become the trump card of elections, and the Supreme Court recognizes that companies have the right to use their strong economic strength to support their operations. Candidates and policies of the government...China is just the opposite. It is impossible for China's system to sacrifice the needs of the entire system and allow enterprises to participate in government decision-making so as to meet their bottom line."

The "failure regime" is mainly manifested in the general decline in the governance capacity of Western countries: the Icelandic government's ineffective national governance led to national bankruptcy; the extremely chaotic government governance in Greece and Italy has led to the current deep-seated crisis; Belgium has experienced more than 500 days of no governance. The situation of the central government; the efficiency of solving practical problems within the European Union is extremely low; It has brought disaster to the United States and the world, and the comprehensive national strength of the United States has also plummeted.

The "failure regime" is also reflected in the "polarization" of American politics, that is, fierce partisan confrontation leads to "veto politics" and "governance paralysis."Fukuyama said the Chinese system "makes big, complex decisions quickly and ... makes them better implemented. The American constitutional principles of checks and balances, which guarantee individual liberties and keep the private sector vibrant, have now become antagonistic." , fragmentation and rigidity". The situation in Greece is also illustrative.Greece's political parties are wrangling endlessly for the next round of elections despite the country's deep debt crisis.On the one hand, Greece relies on external rescue, but on the other hand, it is unwilling to accept the arrangement of cutting welfare.For this reason, last year, the Greek leader publicly advocated the use of a referendum to blackmail the European Union, causing tension throughout Europe. Various political parties continued to fight fiercely for elections to seize power.The British "Financial Times" commented on Greek politics in this way: "Greece invented democracy. But modern Greece may bring democracy a bad name. The politicians in Athens are arguing, which may escalate the European debt crisis, which is harmful to Greece, the European Union and even the European Union. There are serious consequences for the world economy as a whole."

Stein Ringen, a professor at Oxford University, even warned that British and American democracies may have reached a "critical point" that would repeat the fate of Athenian democracy. better serve the public. But today, with power gridlocked and gridlocked, the country is deprived of much-needed good governance. Any observer will be easily and dismayed to discover that America's 'social inequality' and 'government inequity' As' is so inextricably linked. The powers originally given to the constitutional system have been squeezed and usurped by organizations such as political action committees, think tanks, media, lobby groups, etc." "In ancient Greece, when the rich became extremely rich and refused to play by the rules When the system of government is destroyed, the death knell of the collapse of Athens’ democracy will sound. Today’s Britain and the United States have also reached a critical point.”

As for the "debt economy", almost most Western countries today have become debt-dependent economies that live beyond their means, that is, to solve economic and financial problems by borrowing new debts to repay old debts.From a political point of view, politicians in Western democracies compete to please voters in order to win votes, and write all kinds of direct and indirect welfare checks to drain the national treasury.The debt crisis in southern European countries was formed in this way, and in a sense, the debt crisis in the United States was also formed in this way. The Economist article acknowledges that "the greatest challenge to democracy comes neither from above nor from below, but from within, from the voters themselves. As it turns out, Plato's assertion that a democratic system would keep citizens 'indulging in moments of pleasure all day long'" Worries are prescient. Governments in democracies have developed a habit of dismissing large structural deficits. They borrow to meet the short-term needs of their constituents while ignoring long-term investment. France and Italy haven't done it in over 30 years Balance of payments. The financial crisis has exposed the unsustainability of this debt democracy.”

Kishore Mahbubani, a famous Singaporean scholar, wrote such a passage at the end of 2013: "On October 7, 2013, I attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting in Bali. Unfortunately, President Obama was absent. The Chinese leader caused quite a stir there, inspiring The excitement generated was palpable. Some of the more powerful countries witnessed the emergence of a new world order in which the United States became distraught. Relatively speaking, China seemed to receive much greater special attention. ” Obama advocated a high-profile "return to East Asia", but he was unable to attend such an important summit, because the US government had to shut down for several days due to obstruction by Congress.Fukuyama also seemed to be fed up with this, commenting: "The much-admired system of checks and balances in the United States can be seen as a 'veto regime'—it allows various political factions representing minority positions to Prevent the majority from taking action, and prevent the government from taking any action." His judgment of the American political system today is: "Our political system makes it easier to prevent action than to make forward-looking decisions."

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