ha-ha When I read this article in the New York Times about local Chinese politicians requiring children in their province to salute cars as they passed I knew I had found new evidence proving that Republican Democracy is a f superior method of governing than single party communist rule in China.
The law in China requires that all children salute cars as they pass by. The reason for passing the law is to reduce traffic accidents. Are you kidding!? I would think that having hoards of children saluting my car while I drove past would distract me from the task of driving and perhaps...... oh I duno... Cause an accident!?
Apparently this is not an uncommon occurrence in China as the local party leaders are many times incompetent and unable to..... Think.... Though apparently sometimes they do things that one might think would help local province. For example,
"Often, the skewering gets results. In April, one county in Hubei Province in northern China drew nationwide ridicule after officials ordered civil servants and employees of state-owned companies to buy a total of 23,000 packs of the province’s brand of cigarettes every year. Departments whose employees failed to buy enough cigarettes or bought other Chinese brands would be fined, the media reported."
Of course once the people refused to purchase the cigarettes and the national media bloodied the idiots noses a bit they repealed the edict.
Of Course in the United States we have plenty of laws that don't make sense as well but many of these laws simply exist because they had historical relevance and haven't been repealed since their passage a long time ago. Either way, go Democracy!!!!
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I felt an urge to comment on this, as I know call China my place of residence. Beijing in particular which is not nearly as non-western as most places in China. I do agree that there are some pretty foolish, burdening, and problematic laws/edicts passed throughout China, but this is NOT one of them. Your other points about requiring workers to buy ridiculously large amounts of their products was much more true to the point you were getting at. China has a traffic/car driving problem. There are really no well defined traffic laws, lanes, right of way or general rules to follow. As a result walking on any street any where in China is taking your life in your own hand at some degree. Seeing kids salute cars will not distract drivers to crash. I believe it will actually do what it is meant to do and alert both the students and drivers to each other. Sorry if this sounds bitchy or all knowing, its 4am here, I can't sleep and sometimes posting never comes out right. Ultimately, I do agree with the premise of China has a lot of stupid laws, but this one isn't one of the worst, by a long shot.
I'd say more that one of the primary benefits of representative Democracy over an authoritarian system like China's is for the purpose of efficiency in government and for accountability. For all we bemoan about government incompetence in the United States, the very fact that the government is beholden to the people probably makes it more efficient. At virtually any level there is some encouragement to the government to make services more accountable and effective, along with the rule of law. All moral arguments aside, that the people get the "throw the bums out" urge every decade or so virtually ensures a high turnover rate of government officials, meaning that fresh blood is brought in enough to keep things from calcifying. In China, there's gotta be some mid-level Communist party officials/governors that date from the latter part of Mao's Day, and who probably can't manage their way out of a paper bag, much less deliver effective services to the people, who they theoretically serve.
I agree that our representative Democracy's ability to "throw the bums out" is a wonderful feature. If only we used it more. Incumbency account for something in the range of 90% of how an election is decided(If I remember my numbers correctly, see Bruce Larson for actual numbers). Whereas in China, they don't have the ability to throw the bums out, the flip side is they have the ability to try things without fear of it being quickly shuffled away. Experimental ideas and unpopular decisions can be carried to term instead of quickly run away from as public opinion erodes. Here, if the government want to do something, it gets done. It is by no means perfect, right, moral or even the best. But there is some credence to a one-party system. Now, that isn't to say i'd choose it over my beloved Democracy, but it also isn't the evil its been vilified to be either.
I don't just mean Congressional Reps, which yes, do have a reelection rate that tends to the quite high except in wave years-- i mean the resultant appointees and mid-level positions changed in the Federal and State Government when administrations change-- even at the Deputy Director Level of say the FBI, CIA, or the Department of Transportation. Appointees from one administration or party generally cause a change in the actual running of the government(the spoils system may be dead, but elements of it remain) This can be extrapolated to the state or local level.
Meanwhile, I think it is impossible to understate the evil that a one-party totalitarian system is for those of us fortunate to be born in the tradition of liberal democracy. Even at a functional level in China, look at that earthquake scandal earlier this year where the main buildings collapsing in rural towns were shoddily constructed schools (filled with the only children of Chinese citizens) because of Communist party officials cutting too many corners and no citizen being able to question them. The Chinese government's main purpose seems to be the survival of the Party-- the only thing that can explain its abandonment of anything resembling Maoist principles.
haha the comments in my last post were meant to be sarcastic so my apologies if it didn't come off that way, I am glad that such a fruitful discussion about political theory resulted from me poking fun at our Eastern friends haha
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