Amateur Hour

For all the talk about China as the next country rising to the level of international superpower, I have to balk a little after what I've seen recently. Despite the collapse of the Soviet empire in the late 1980's and early 90's, China has stood strong as the only real communist power in the world for the past two decades. (Cuba - if you're listening, nobody gives a shit!) Of course, China's economy has changed drastically over this period, giving them somewhat of a hybrid system that could not be accurately referred to as "communist." Then again, neither Soviet Russia nor Maoist China could ever really be characterized as "communist" judging by the manifesto, since neither money nor political elites ever went away like Marx envisioned. China's major claim was (and still is, I suppose) the Communist one-party rule. However, in the 1980's Beijing decided to allow peasants to vote directly for its village leaders, as one of many small but surprising steps by China toward democratic reform. While tangible progress has been rather sluggish, more changes may be inevitable due to the emerging grassroots movement. So you may start to wonder, with its economy already rolling toward future market dominance (their GDP grew by nearly 10% in a 9 month period in 2005), and now with its government moving gradually toward liberal reforms, will China be surpassing the US as the world's superpower?

Probably not, after seeing this story. It turns out, Chinese politicians are amateurs. For a while, they employed a crude yet undeniably effective method for getting out the vote: bribery. The logic is infallible; pay enough voters, they elect you to office, you repay them for their support, they reelect you to continue the cycle. That's democracy at its purest. Of course, in America, we've elevated the craft to a level where not only do we achieve the seamless give-and-take dynamic of money for votes, but we can also justify it on principle -- here we call it "pork," and its perfectly legitimate due to its indirect character. Naturally, the Chinese have emulated this practice, and had created a pretty solid system.

But then they went and made a pact not to bribe voters anymore. Are they crazy? Are they seriously just going to let the voters make up their minds without any sort of monetary incentive? Quite frankly, that's just un-American. No wonder the voters are pissed. And the consequences are frightening. Just think - voter turnout in the US is already pretty lethargic; just imagine what it would be if none of us were getting any sort of kickback, financially or otherwise. You send the president of Amoco to the voter booth with nothing but a bowl of rice, and see if he votes you back for another term. Fat chance.

A word to the wise: if you want democracy to thrive, make sure a small portion of your population benefits to an obscene degree. I'm talking Publisher's Clearing House-style checks, 700% milk subsidies, and land grants to study rock flatulence in your benefactors' home districts. Maybe then we'll get some parity in the political scene.