Hey, who needs American democracy when you can have Chinese meritocracy?
Indeed, with the Chinese system of meritocracy in place, it is inconceivable that people as weak and incompetent as George W. Bush or Yoshihiko Noda of Japan could ever get to the top leadership position…
Notwithstanding its many deficiencies, the Chinese government has ensured the world’s fastest growing economy and vastly improved living standards for most people. According to the Pew Research Center, 82 percent of Chinese surveyed in 2012 feel optimistic about their future, topping all other countries surveyed.
Indeed, Abraham Lincoln’s ideal of “government of the people, by the people, for the people,” is by no means easy to achieve, and American democracy is far from meeting this objective. Otherwise the Nobel economics laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz would not have decried, in perhaps too critical a tone, that the U.S. system is now “of the 1 percent, by the 1 percent, and for the 1 percent.”
China has become the world’s largest laboratory for economic, social and political change, and China’s model of “selection plus election,” is in a position now to compete with the U.S. model of electoral democracy.
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Yeah, because when I think of countries run – literally – entirely by the 1%, America is the first that leaps to mind and China is the last.
In the American system of democracy, it was inconceivable that the person who won our Presidency would actually matter…until now. Guess which country they wish to emulate?
HitNRun on November 10, 2012 at 7:03 PM
I’m pretty sure I read the same column penned by Soviets 30 years ago.
Clark1 on November 10, 2012 at 7:03 PM
China is not meritocracy. China is ruled by an oligarchy of corrupt Chinese families out to enrich themselves and a revolutionary aristocracy of “princelings” who land lucrative jobs based on their birth.
China is corrupt from top to bottom.
Punchenko on November 10, 2012 at 7:03 PM
Our system is broken and can be fixed.
Theirs is fixed and needs to be broken.
AshleyTKing on November 10, 2012 at 7:04 PM
The other 18% were executed the next day.
darwin on November 10, 2012 at 7:08 PM
And 18% were never heard from again.
Kataklysmic on November 10, 2012 at 7:09 PM
Doh!
Kataklysmic on November 10, 2012 at 7:10 PM
While I don’t want a system like China’s, I also hate democracy… people who worship democracy are stupid. Democracy has become a new religion.
Democracy: The God that Failed
http://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Economics-Politics-Monarchy-Natural/dp/0765808684
ninjapirate on November 10, 2012 at 7:12 PM
What’s old is new again. In the 1930′s the NYT had the Soviet propagandist Duranty. Today they are apparently building a Chinese propaganda committee headed up by Friedman.
NotCoach on November 10, 2012 at 7:13 PM
You could poll the entire rest of the world outside China and the USA as to where they would rather live, and I bet USA would get 99% of the vote.
China is a corrupt, polluted $hithole.
WisCon on November 10, 2012 at 7:13 PM
In China, elementary schools are forced labor factories for children. They have 6 and 7 year olds making firecrackers. I lost count how many of these “schools” have blown up killing numerous children.
Blake on November 10, 2012 at 7:14 PM
Sorta like ex Congressman Weiner, it’s hard to take Mr. Weiwei seriously.
ElectricPhase on November 10, 2012 at 7:15 PM
While we should not be worshiping any government, I’m gonna have to say I ain’t pining for a monarchy…
“Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” – Winston Churchill
NotCoach on November 10, 2012 at 7:17 PM
China is estimated to have over a 100 million homeless people.
Blake on November 10, 2012 at 7:18 PM
Zhang is blind:
http://thediplomat.com/china-power/wen-jiabaos-riches-and-political-reform-in-china/
lester on November 10, 2012 at 7:18 PM
It looks like even the Chinese are too politically correct to criticize Obozo.
Capp on November 10, 2012 at 7:19 PM
Wrong, democracy is often worse than one party states. Democracies are way too easy to subvert… for instance, the reason the west is flooded with immigrants is that one political party usually benefits from this flood.
ninjapirate on November 10, 2012 at 7:20 PM
Wonders never cease…
Although I suspect you are actually more concerned with other people’s money then with actual liberty or corruption.
NotCoach on November 10, 2012 at 7:22 PM
It doesn’t work when the lower 51% can vote themselves entitlements from the upper 49%.
WisCon on November 10, 2012 at 7:22 PM
Yes. Because everyone who rises to power in China comes from differing political backgrounds and ideologies.
And by that I mean they’re all Communists. So at the heart of it, the power belongs to the Communists. And the most meritorious Communists get to lead the Communist country.
Doesn’t sound like Cronyism at all.
Nethicus on November 10, 2012 at 7:22 PM
OK. You can spend your time kneeling before your king of choice. The rest of us will argue about how to preserve liberty.
NotCoach on November 10, 2012 at 7:23 PM
The conflation of democracy with liberty is the beginning of all western self-delusion.
You can’t preserve liberty in a democracy because a democracy will fill the wants and needs of The People which are often authoritarian. Is there really any one “free” democracy out there?
ninjapirate on November 10, 2012 at 7:28 PM
You highlight the inferiority of man, not the superiority of one type of government over another. The Founders did not build a pure democracy for reason. Yes, we’ve gone off the rails, but only we can correct it. In the real world (the real world is not a midevil fantasy novel) human nature applies. And where there is human nature there is only tyranny under any king.
Ultimately in our system we get the government we deserve. No king will fix that. We fix it ourselves, or we slide into one form of tyranny or another. Perhaps even a monarchy under King Obama.
NotCoach on November 10, 2012 at 7:37 PM
Okay, raise your hands if you believe that China is a functioning meritocracy.
Now, raise your hands if you think Mr. Weiwei is kind of a dick.
…
Thought so.
ElectricPhase on November 10, 2012 at 7:37 PM
I used to say what you’re saying about “pure democracy” and the founding fathers but quite honestly I think that view is completely wrong. The problem with Representative Republics are way too easy to hijack. Representative Republics = hidden tyranny.
I’d rather have a “pure democracy” with limited suffrage.
ninjapirate on November 10, 2012 at 7:41 PM
LOL!
This reminds me that despite how much it may suck right now in America, the rest of the world is doing worse for the most part. China is in for a fall at some point and we will see how those stiff CCP technocrats deal with it.
Our system of government produces consistent mediocrity, some presidents have been good (Reagan) and others not so good (Obama), but never forget we have never had a Mao, a Stalin, a Hitler, or the host of other psychopaths and jokers that have appeared in a corrupt single party state like China has.
William Eaton on November 10, 2012 at 8:29 PM
The Chinese system is the example on what not to do with things like:
Restricted educational and lifetime work opportunity access based on one test score.
Regional discrimination by the Hukou system
Government control of workers through nominally private businesses
The dependence on being in the right family for your continued freedom and prosperity, instead of merit
There are other things, but those four stand out as evidence of a caste system and not a merit system.
sethstorm on November 10, 2012 at 8:39 PM
I agree, but the problem is that the entire world right now is in a race towards the bottom. We just happen to be losing the race right now.
NotCoach on November 10, 2012 at 8:46 PM
While failing at actually preserving it, I note with bitter irony.
MelonCollie on November 10, 2012 at 9:50 PM