Democracy: Cycle of elect and regret

Democracy: Cycle of elect and regret
(Herman Tiu Laurel / DieHard III / The Daily Tribune / 11-10-2014 MON)

The term "Responsive Authoritarianism" came to my attention via a
"Technology, Entertainment, Design" (TED) global talk forum that
brought together various thinkers, whose motto is to advance "Ideas
Worth Spreading."

The speaker, Eric Li, who cited that concept coined by Francis
Fukuyama, is a Berkeley-educated venture capitalist born in China at
the height of the Cultural Revolution. He started with two failed
"meta-narratives" about the world. The first was the great
communist-socialist view and, the second, democracy and elections from
the West in which "all societies... must progress from traditional... to
modern... (wanting only) one thing: the vote... (to) produce good
government and live happily ever after."

Li says, "This story also became a bestseller. According to Freedom
House, the number of democracies went from 45 in 1970 to 115 in 2010.
In the last 20 years, Western elites tirelessly trotted around the
globe selling this prospectus: Multiple parties fight for political
power and everyone voting on them is the only path to salvation...
Those who buy the prospectus are destined for success. Those who do
not are doomed to fail. But this time, the Chinese didn't buy it...
Fool me once... (laughter from the audience)... The rest is history. In
just 30 years, China went from one of the poorest agricultural
countries in the world to its second largest economy."

From thence Li explained China's system today, "Yes, China is a
one-party state run by the Chinese Communist Party ... They don't hold
elections ... Most political scientists will tell us that a one-party
system is inherently incapable of self-correction ... Now here are the
facts: In 64 years of running the largest country in the world... the
Party's policies have been wider than any other ... From radical land
collectivization to the Great Leap Forward, then privatization of
farmland, then the Cultural Revolution, then Deng Xiaoping's market
reform, then... the giant political step of opening up Party membership
to private businesspeople..."

On lifetime rule, "political leaders used to retain their positions
for life... (up to) the Party-instituted... mandatory retirement age of 68
to 70 ... (leading many to think that) 'political reforms have lagged
far behind economic reforms' ... (But) the truth is, political reforms
have never stopped. Compared with 30 years ago... every aspect of
Chinese society... (is) unrecognizable today ... (China) is one of the
most meritocratic political institutions in the world ... The
Politburo has 25 members ... Only five of them come from a background of
privilege, so-called princelings. The other 20... come from entirely
ordinary backgrounds." (Filipinos can compare this with the
Philippines' old families in Malacañang, the Senate, and Congress.)

Since many have asked how this is all possible in a one-party system,
Li explains: "The Party's Organization Department... like a giant human
resource engine that would be the envy of even some of the most
successful corporations... made up of... civil service, state-owned
enterprises, and social organizations like a university or a community
program.... recruit(s) college grads... and they start from the bottom ...
Then they could get promoted through four increasingly elite ranks ...
Once a year, the department reviews their performance. They interview
their superiors, their peers, their subordinates... conduct public
opinion surveys. Then they promote the winners..."

China's President Xi Jinping, though a "princeling," took 30 years to
get to his post; he started as a village manager then went up to
managing a total population of 150 million people and combined GDPs of
$1.5 trillion.

Li was then asked, "The Party wasn't voted in by election. Where is
the source of legitimacy?" to which he replied, "How about
competency?" citing a Pew Research poll showing 85 percent Chinese
satisfaction at the country's direction.

"In contrast, most electoral democracies around the world are
suffering," Li continues. "Governments get elected and then they fall
below 50 percent approval in a few months ... Democracy is becoming a
perpetual cycle of elect and regret."

On corruption, "Transparency International ranks China between 70 and
80 in recent years among 170 countries ... India, the largest
democracy in the world, (is) 94 and dropping. For the hundred or so
countries that are ranked below China, more than half of them are
electoral democracies ... How come these countries can't fix it?"

Li's ended by saying, "China's political model... doesn't pretend to be
universal ... The significance of China's example is not that it
provides an alternative, but the demonstration that alternatives exist
... Let us stop telling people and our children there's only one way to
govern ourselves and a singular future towards which all societies
must evolve. It is wrong. It is irresponsible. And worst of all, it
is boring."

I am nail-bitingly bored and restless over the Philippines' so-called
democracy of perpetual elect-and-regret-and-elect-and-regret without
end. Will some new groups rise and present us with our own roadmap of
"Responsive Authoritarianism"?

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