Democracy vs. Plutocracy

American thinking is atomistic. Americans atomize people into individuals, believing that each person is an independent and autonomous being with an unalienable right to pursue happiness and is responsible only for their own interests. Consequently, competition with others is justified. American law promotes and protects this competition. Anyone may defeat another as long as the means are legal. The result is that a small number of individuals gradually defeated all others and established their dominance. These individuals argue that they have the right to form political parties to protect their interests. Conflicts of interest between various groups are irreconcilable, and each must be represented in the political decision-making process. For fairness' sake, political parties alternate in power through elections. One-party rule is considered undemocratic. Using money, lobbying, and media to influence elections and policy-making, on the other hand, is defined as freedom of speech. Consequently, the media is exploited to become a political instrument, making elections increasingly ideological. Those with the financial means to control the media control public opinion and political games, causing legislations and policies overwhelmingly favoring the wealthy. Since elections can be manipulated by money, misinformation, incitement, and slander, they become increasingly dirty. The elected politicians tend to be sensational and lack moral integrity and practical abilities. They serve their donors and their own re-election more than the interests of the people. The rotation of power between opposing parties causes policies to swing between extremes, making long-term planning impossible. Current administrations often engage in actions like overspending, over-borrowing, and excessive money printing to benefit their own tenure, leaving future administrations to handle the disastrous consequences. Partisan conflicts severely weaken the government’s ability to govern and cause deep divisions among the people. It is a highly corrupt, divisive, and inefficient system, yet Americans seem to believe that this is the only way to be a democracy.

In fact it is a partisan democracy rather than a people’s democracy. A growing number of researchers argue that the American political system has become alienated into a plutocracy controlled by capital and special interests, and is no longer a democracy. Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate economist, has famously stated that the United States is currently of the 1%, by the 1%, and for the 1%. The political elites funded by the special interests have no regard for the interests of the majority of the American people. This can be clearly seen from what they have done. America has the highest level of inequality in the world. Its Covid-19 death number is 170 times that of China, and infection number is 1,600 times that of China, the highest in the world. The nation’s finance has been so badly mismanaged that it has a debt of $30 trillion dollars and counting, much of the money went into the special interests in the form of government contracts and subsidies. It has severe racial conflict, human rights abuse, poverty, doping, gun proliferation, and public safety problems. Its prisoner population is the largest in the world although its total population is only one fourth of that in China and India. Its healthcare is the most expensive in the world that ordinary Americans cannot afford. It is among countries with the latest effective retirement age, a grief for its elderly population. (According to the US Life Insurance Guide, the average retirement age in the US is 67.9 for men and 66.5 for women. By contrast, the retirement age in China is 60 for male, 55 for female white-collar workers, and 50 for female blue-collar workers.) Its public education is broken and infrastructures crumble. It has been at war for 229 years in its 245-year history, constantly creates tensions and provokes conflicts around the world in order to maintain its global military presence, lucrative arms sales and massive military spendings to benefit the vested interests. These special interests are the loudest hawkers of the so-called American values, which is how they keep themselves in power and dominate the world. They call it a democracy, but the American people actually have very little say in matters that concern them.

By contrast, the Chinese thinking is holistic. Human rights as understood by the Chinese are the collective rights of the people. These rights include coexistence, equality, sharing, cooperation, and the well-being of society as a whole, as well as personal freedom. The Chinese regard people not as isolated, independent and autonomous individuals but interconnected and interdependent members of society who are born into relationships with roles and responsibilities to fulfil. The Confucian culture prioritizes community over individuality, encouraging people to seek common ground and set aside differences, put communal interests above personal interests, abide by the ethics established to maintain social harmony, and work together as a team. (See Understanding China: Geography, Confucianism, and Chinese-Style Modernization.)

Democracy as understood by the Chinese is people's democracy rather than partisan democracy. People have different personal interests and opinions; therefore, uniting them and governing the country according to the overall interests and common will of the vast majority of the people is the essence of democracy. Five-thousand years of governance experience have made the Chinese deeply aware of the harms of partisan politics and the importance of a unitary political organization, or "party" to borrow the Western term, that serves the interests of all people. This organization, the CCP, with nearly 100 million members, regards the interests of the nation as a whole as its highest mission, playing a pivotal role in uniting and leading the people. The country's decision-making body is elected every five years by the CCP's National Congress and the National People's Congress based on candidates' character, experiences and achievements rather than sensationalism, empty promises and ideological nonsense. Political decisions are made after carefully investigating and consulting the people and are carried out with the full participation and supervision of the people. These decisions address the common concerns of the people and long-term interests of the nation as a whole. Chinese government does not work for special interests. Its mission is to build an egalitarian and harmonious society for all and lead the Chinese people to common prosperity. The government ensures its purity and self-renewal through continuous improvement of various institutions and mechanisms such as collective decision making, age and term limits for officials, clean government, self-correction, anti-corruption, people's supervision of the government, reporting and petitioning system, disciplinary inspection, and impeachment procedures, etc., to ensure good governance and prevent dictatorship.

The differing understandings of human rights between Americans and Chinese are reflected in their attitudes toward various issues. For example, Americans view Covid-19 precautions as a personal matter, where individuals are responsible for their own well-being and do not require others to dictate their actions. They believe in the freedom to act according to what suits them personally. In contrast, Chinese see Covid-19 prevention as not only a personal responsibility but also a matter of public safety. Thus, some restrictions on personal freedom are considered necessary for the safety of the broader population. Americans see a gun ban as an infringement on individual rights. Chinese, on the other hand, believe that a safe living environment is a fundamental human right for the vast majority of the people, thus gun control is necessary. Americans view restrictions on private enterprises as aninfringement of the right to pursue wealth. Chinese, on the other hand, place a high value on equality as a core human right, supporting policies that limit practices that widen the wealth gap. Americans believe that individuals are entitled to their own inventions. They use patent barriers to prevent others from succeeding in the same field while they make huge profits for themselves. Chinese, on the other hand, see invention and innovation as ways to benefit society, showing greater willingness to share intellectual property, which explains China's extensive collaboration in research and development and rapid advancements in science and technology. Americans believe that individual rights are superior to sovereignty. The United States frequently uses human rights as a rationale to interfere in other countries' internal affairs and impose its own values on other nations. Chinese, on the other hand, view actions such as inciting color revolutions, waging wars under the pretext of democracy and freedom, and creating global instability and refugee crises as significant human rights violations.

As successful and powerful as the United States once was, a country that fails to mend its ideological, structural and institutional flaws will end in disaster. These ideological, structural and institutional flaws inevitably lead to the domination of a handful of special interests such as military-industrial complex, arms dealers and capital predators, and the failure of the vast majority of the people. The process of a democracy turning into a plutocracy and its doom, learning from the long history of China, will not exceed three hundred years (see The Vicious Circle of Regime Change). For this reason, Chinese culture stands for collectivism and egalitarianism against individualism. With the rise of China, Confucian values will also have a greater impact on the world. I believe that will be something to celebrate for the world. (See Pluralism vs. Monism.)