Essential Differences in the Meaning of Democracy in Ancient China, Ancient Greece, and the American System

Ancient Greece (Athens): democracy of the slave-owning aristocracy;

Ancient China: democracy within the feudal class rulers Today's China: proletarian democracy

America: bourgeois democracy.

Ancient Greece (Athens): popular sovereignty, majority rule, equality before the law, meritocracy, which is what it meant by "democracy".

Differences between democracy in the United States and in present-day China:

(1) The history and culture of democracy in China and the United States are fundamentally different

1. China is a country that grows from section to section, while the United States is a country that is put together piece by piece. The spirit of American democracy and politics emphasizes "the same", and the pursuit of a high degree of consistency is a typical feature of American society, so you must be the same as me, and to be different is to be different. On the other hand, the spirit of Chinese democracy emphasizes "harmony" and advocates "harmony and difference", and it is a characteristic of Chinese society that the stars are shining brightly, always reserving sufficient space for the individual and the society, which is crucial to the cultivation of the spirit of true freedom and true democracy.

2. The essence of independence is different from that of expansion. In the history of modern democracy in the world, China's pursuit and exploration of democracy has been overlooked and trivialized in the following ways: First, the history of China's resistance to the oppression of imperialism and the autocratic rule of the Kuomintang, and its pursuit of democratic statehood. National independence and autonomy are the basic prerequisites for a country to guarantee democracy for its people. The second is the exploration of the political path of democratic governance since the founding of New China. New China solved the problem of the mass base of democracy at the time of its founding, so it did not have the problem of political expansion that the United States always faced later. It is because of this broad mass base that the Chinese ****productivity party dares to engage in the mass line, to discipline itself to supervise itself, and to consolidate its ruling position through the mass line. Democracy in the United States, on the other hand, is both talked about among the rich and fought over and expanded abroad. Through bloodshed and sacrifice, black Americans did not have the right to vote until the 1960s. In international affairs, America's expansion and foreign intervention is evident to the world ****.

(2) The economic foundations of democracy in China and the United States are fundamentally different

1. The domestic economic foundations of democracy in China and the United States are fundamentally different from those of the public and private sectors. Democratic political economy with Chinese characteristics is based on socialist public ownership. China has always advocated that "the world is public". The fact that Marxism has been accepted and Chineseized in China has something to do with the compatibility of the Marxist idea of "public" with the traditional Chinese society's idea of "public". Private ownership and democracy, freedom and equality are inherently contradictory. The more a society is dominated by private ownership, the more likely it is to move towards the opposite of democracy, freedom and equality. The alienation of democracy in the U.S. to money masters is the inevitable result of this logic.

2. The international economic foundation of democracy in the United States and China is fundamentally different from that of *** birth and parasitism. U.S. democracy depends largely on a parasitic international economic system, and the U.S. modernization path is based on foreign expansion and war. On the other hand, China's path of political development and modernization is based on endogenous institutional innovation and is committed to building a mutually beneficial ****winning*** international economic foundation.

(3) Different Institutional Arrangements for Democratic Politics in China and the United States

1. "One in Many" and "One divided into Many"

Any big country's politics attaches importance to "one", and this is the case for two big countries, China and the United States. "This is a point of ****similarity between the two great powers, China and the United States. While the multi-party cooperation system led by China's **** Producer Party is one divided into many, the two-party system of the United States is one divided into two, and the separation of powers is one divided into three. The "one" in Chinese politics can accommodate the "many", so the "one" can expand, be compatible and change its capacity in the continuous renewal, which is a people's democracy. On the other hand, the separation of powers in the United States is different. Sometimes the President is very strong, sometimes the Congress is dominant, and sometimes the judiciary is very arbitrary, behind which is the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. It attaches importance to the "many" in the checks and balances rather than arbitration, the formation of a balance will be "one"; checks and balances once imbalance, there will be the current U.S. government deadlock and democratic failure phenomenon.

2. "Combination" and "division"

Many people believe that the keyword of American democracy is "division". Whether it is the division of party politics into two, the separation of powers between the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary, or the separation of powers under the federal system, on the surface, it is indeed "division". However, the trend of centralization in the United States after the September 11 attacks is very obvious. When many countries learn from the politics of the United States, since they do not see its aspect of division in form but integration in reality, they mistakenly think that "division" is the essence of its politics, and after learning and practicing it, they end up with a divided country, political confrontation and confrontation among the people, which is the tragedy of many developing countries in the world nowadays. This is the tragedy of many developing countries in the world today. The failure of democracy in the United States is also related to its division of power. Under China's socialist system, there are no organized interest groups, and power is only divided but not divided. But in the United States, organized interest groups cut state power into pieces, checking and balancing each other, and easily forming a deadlock.

3. "Working one term after another" versus "working one term after another"

The characteristic and advantage of China's political party system is that it works one term after another, so that it can focus on doing major, difficult and urgent tasks in a persistent manner. In a competitive international system, if a country is to remain competitive, the party system must ensure the spirit of working one term after another. A multi-party system runs counter to this common sense of governance. The two-party system of governance in the United States is characterized by "one term after another" or "one term against another", which is, in Fukuyama's words, a system of mutual veto. Of course, the two parties in the United States also often support each other, in the peaceful evolution of the Soviet Union, the United States is a term after a term of work, not until the collapse of the Soviet Union will not stop.

4. "Election" and "Election"

Many people think that the U.S. electoral system is a sea election, which is not unrelated to the fact that the media are devoted to showing the hustle and bustle of the election. But this is only on the surface, in fact, the essence of the internal election, manifested in the nomination system. The United States national party congresses of the two parties to select the candidate is the most critical, which is also the easiest to be a minority, by the money manipulation. When it really comes to national elections, voters are left with two choices. The decline in turnout in the U.S. reflects voter disgust and fatigue with this election process. Many key positions in the U.S. national institutions, such as justices, Federal Reserve Chairman, etc., are not elected at all, are behind the compromise of the direct nomination of the internal election. Therefore, the United States "lift" has a great deal of closure. Moreover, the U.S. system of internal election and revolving door politics also makes the collection of election funds and other corrupt practices legalized. China's elections, on the other hand, emphasize "competing virtues and competing abilities" by selecting the best people for the right positions through layers and layers of selection, regardless of their origins. Many developing countries only see the superficial "election" of the American electoral system, and they also organize popular elections or referendums, which eventually lead to social and political turmoil. The West also advocates the popular vote as an important criterion of democratic politics. China's wisdom lies in its ability to see through the flaws of the Western-style democratic election system and firmly rejects this kind of random election. (D) The difference in governmental responsibility between Chinese and American democracies

1. The responsibility of a fair government versus the "automatic immunity mechanism" of a private government

People generally think that the United States is a small government and a big society, but in fact, the United States is a big and strong government. This is evident from the percentage of the U.S. government budget in the gross domestic product. But the United States is a government that can not find people responsible for the two-party political rotation can be shirked responsibility, officials resign even more frequently, throw down a mess to go away, in foreign countries to a small country after the chaos of the hands of many examples, this is the two-party rotation of the ruling party led to the "responsibility of the automatic exemption mechanism". In China, individuals, society, political parties and the state are destiny **** the same body, the government's willingness and ability to solve problems for the people is very strong. The government's sense of responsibility lies in the fact that the government is the people's, the government and the people are one family. U.S. Hurricane Katrina came when the officials ran away on vacation, this situation in China must be removed from office on the spot.

2. The blame system and "responsibility for the transfer of generations"

In the United States, you blame the Democrats, the ruling **** and the party, in your blame **** and the party, the ruling is the Democratic Party. This American system of "intergenerational transfer of responsibility" is very deceptive. One of its fatal consequences is the accumulation of costs to future generations. On the other hand, the Chinese Communist Party advocates and adheres to the principle that the Party is public and rules for the people, and that the government is one that truly serves the people and is accountable to the people. The government is always under the supervision of political parties, the state, society and citizens, and once problems are discovered through supervision, even if the government has changed and officials have been transferred, they will still be held accountable. (E) Scientific decision-making in Chinese and American democracies is different

Scientific decision-making is a problem that needs to be solved in any democratic system, and it is also an important criterion for distinguishing between good and bad democracies. A good democracy is one that has the ability and motivation to solve problems, which is "standing"; and the second is one that has the ability and motivation to identify problems, which is "anticipating". In China's democratic politics, decision-making to listen to a wide range of different views, in the consultation and tolerance of the concentration; in the United States, the rulers can not listen to different views, and there is no need to listen to different views, the two parties have different platforms, which makes it difficult to tolerate dissenting views. China is seeking unity in tolerance and expansion, while the United States is seeking unity in confrontation. The reality of bipartisan politics amplifies dissent and reinforces identities and camps by amplifying dissent. This can easily tear society apart. At one point in the 20th century, bipartisan politics in the United States was moving toward a centrist policy to overcome the drawbacks of adversarial decision-making, but now the adversarial phenomenon has reappeared, and this is the American political stalemate, and some people in the United States are already talking about reforming the U.S. political system.

Those who are superstitious about Western-style democracy think that China's democratic politics has no mechanism for correcting mistakes, which is also a misunderstanding. Consultation, letters and visits, collective study, inspection tours, research, and going to the masses are all institutional bases for ensuring scientific decision-making under China's democratic politics. Some people summarize this as Chinese-style vertical democracy. Comparatively speaking, it is the U.S. democracy under the corrective mechanism often fails, the U.S. government and Congress to correct Wall Street's mistakes can not be done.