The Ingenious Chinese Political System

[nanook12]

I don't even know where to start. The Chinese system for determining political leaders is amazing. Instead of electing leaders democratically, the Chinese political department hires recent grads that have to slowly work their way up a sophisticated politically latter managing larger and larger populations (village => larger village => city => county => larger city => larger county => state =>etc) along the way. The systems framework is designed to weed out individuals until only the most competent people are in the top positions. What a brilliant way to insure that leaders are always competent. In contrast, democracy is a crap shoot. We may elect a competent leader or we may elect a rotten apple. The electorate is fallible; therefore, it cannot always elect competent leaders.

One of the commonly accepted beliefs in the world is that, "in order to be a highly technologically advanced society, a country must copy the west's style of democracy." However China is also proving that this common thought is bogus. China has one party in its country, the communist party. It does not have democracy, but it still manages to adjust to the wants and needs of its people through the entirely new concept of responsive authoritarianism. The Chinese state conducts vast surveys in which its people respond to what they want changed.

It is also proving that a certain form of communism can work, state run capitalism. Basically, the Chinese communist party are the ones running the major corporations in China. Communism in control of capitalism.

China is literally doing away with the old beliefs that democracy is necessary and communism doesn't work.





To top it all off, China is aiming to reduce income inequality and it is already at better levels than the U.S.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/usa-chi...omic-research/

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/14/why-...-in-china.html


Damn man my hat is off Chinese comrades. You are doing it right!

[Thekri]

Ok, you do you China!

[Corvus]

China hasn't been communist for a while.

And they seem to have an awful lot of corruption amongst the political 'elite'.

[Zandalarian Paladin]

If there's one government that I can claim to be objectively worse than our modern "democracy", it's China.

Censorship, disappearances, cultural homogenization and constant surveillance mean that people in China live under the thumbs of one of the worst authoritarian regime on Earth.

So no, thanks but no thanks.

[DarkTZeratul]

The systems framework is designed to weed out individuals until only the most competent people are in the top positions.

Incorrect. The system's framework is designed to weed out individuals until only party loyalists are in the top positions. Corruption runs rampant, and any overtures of democracy are merely illusions. In one case a village was fed up with the corrupt party official leading them and voted in someone else. The government subsequently intervened, removing the democratically elected leader and replacing him with a different corrupt party official.

China hasn't been communist for a while.

Also this. There was a joke I heard recently: an American senator, a Soviet premiere, and a Chinese party official are driving a car when they come to a fork in the road. The sign says "Left: Communism. Right: Capitalism." The senator shouts, "We must turn right!" The premiere shouts, "We must turn left!" The party official says, "We must signal left... And turn right!"

[nanook12]

If there's one government that I can claim to be objectively worse than our modern "democracy", it's China.

Censorship, disappearances, cultural homogenization and constant surveillance mean that people in China live under the thumbs of one of the worst authoritarian regime on Earth.

So no, thanks but no thanks.

Although China is authoritarian, it is a whole new kind of it. It is called responsive authoritarianism, and it is a completely new paradigm.

[Sunseeker]

Although China is authoritarian, it is a whole new kind of it. It is called responsive authoritarianism, and it is a completely new paradigm.

Who cares? It's still authoritarian. You can put a bow on it, give it sparkle makeup and it's still a top-town autocratic regime that engages in some of the worst elements authoritarian governments have to offer.

[Edge-]

Although China is authoritarian, it is a whole new kind of it. It is called responsive authoritarianism, and it is a completely new paradigm.

"Hey, they may be authoritarians who restrict freedom, broadly distribute propaganda, and severely punish dissent, amongst a host of other awful things, but they're nice authoritarians!"

Do...you realize how awful this argument is?

[primalmatter]

"Hey, they may be authoritarians who restrict freedom, broadly distribute propaganda, and severely punish dissent, amongst a host of other awful things, but they're nice authoritarians!"

Do...you realize how awful this argument is?

Human life is almost worthless there... you won't get many authoritarians point to china as something they want.

[Edge-]

Human life is almost worthless there... you won't get many authoritarians point to china as something they want.

Are you kidding me? It's great. Media is largely state-run, dissent is dealt with swiftly and often violently, there's rampant corruption within the government that largely goes unchecked, they have a heavy hand in controlling (and manipulating) their economy and the value of their currency, etc. etc.. It's a damn authoritarians dream.

[Thekri]

"Hey, they may be authoritarians who restrict freedom, broadly distribute propaganda, and severely punish dissent, amongst a host of other awful things, but they're nice authoritarians!"

Do...you realize how awful this argument is?

Human life is almost worthless there... you won't get many authoritarians point to china as something they want.

Edge and Primalmatter both agreed the OPs argument is dumb, and that Chinese government sucks. If you managed to convince both of them you are an idiot at the same time, you should probably just go.

[JohnBrown1917]

China is not communist, do the workers own the means of production? No.
Do the workers get exploited by the ruling class? Yes.


Does not sound communist to me.

[Grapemask]

I watched this documentary a couple years ago called "The Chinese Mayor." It followed the mayor of Datong through a massive city building project, and touches a lot on how Chinese political ladders work - especially toward the end, when the ladder gets shuffled.

It turns out it's great for putting politicians where they're best suited, but really shitty for the citizens under the rule of those politicians. It results in a country constantly in flux and always trying to stitch completely incompatible agendas together between a constant stream of incoming/outgoing political administrations.

[nanook12]

Human life is almost worthless there... you won't get many authoritarians point to china as something they want.

So let’s see what the Chinese Government is currently providing for its citizens:

Homes. 85% of people own their homes, mostly mortgage-free, and 95% of poor people own their homes, too!


Health. Health care is free or cheap. It’s pretty basic but it’s getting better as the country gets richer. And, while people’s lives are getting shorter in America, Chinese are living longer.


Education. In terms of bang for the buck, China has the best education system in the world: it spends little yet is much better than America’s (which is literally off this chart).


Safety. China is one of the safest countries on earth, yet China spends only 20% of America’s budget on domestic security.

Democracy. By almost any measure–constitutionally, electively, popularly, procedurally, operationally, substantively or financially–China is hands down the world’s leading democracy. You weren’t expecting that from a Communist government, were you?.

Trust. China is one of the most trusting countries in the world, and is becoming more so. The new Social Credit system will make it the safest country on earth to do business.



Rising Wages. Every Chinese worker has doubled her wages every ten years since the Communist government came to power.


Thrift. China’s Communist government doesn’t waste people’s money. It taxes them very lightly and takes very little for itself.


How do they feel about that? Do you think they might prefer a Capitalist government, like America’s? Or are they happy with their Communist government?

[Theodarzna]

China's horribly lopsided demographics and failing fertility rate will destroy it.

[primalmatter]

Are you kidding me? It's great. Media is largely state-run, dissent is dealt with swiftly and often violently, there's rampant corruption within the government that largely goes unchecked, they have a heavy hand in controlling (and manipulating) their economy and the value of their currency, etc. etc.. It's a damn authoritarians dream.

I don't think you know what authoritarian means...

It isn't just everything you find in a corrupt government...

[nanook12]

China's horribly lopsided demographics and failing fertility rate will destroy it.

I think you are talking about Japan, not China.

[primalmatter]

So let’s see what the Chinese Government is currently providing for its citizens:

Homes. 85% of people own their homes, mostly mortgage-free, and 95% of poor people own their homes, too!


Health. Health care is free or cheap. It’s pretty basic but it’s getting better as the country gets richer. And, while people’s lives are getting shorter in America, Chinese are living longer.


Education. In terms of bang for the buck, China has the best education system in the world: it spends little yet is much better than America’s (which is literally off this chart).


Safety. China is one of the safest countries on earth, yet China spends only 20% of America’s budget on domestic security.

Democracy. By almost any measure–constitutionally, electively, popularly, procedurally, operationally, substantively or financially–China is hands down the world’s leading democracy. You weren’t expecting that from a Communist government, were you?.

Trust. China is one of the most trusting countries in the world, and is becoming more so. The new Social Credit system will make it the safest country on earth to do business.



Rising Wages. Every Chinese worker has doubled her wages every ten years since the Communist government came to power.


Thrift. China’s Communist government doesn’t waste people’s money. It taxes them very lightly and takes very little for itself.


How do they feel about that? Do you think they might prefer a Capitalist government, like America’s? Or are they happy with their Communist government?

When I went to China six years ago and went off the beaten path with a few of my friends we hired a local to show us around.

They had people in trucks being shipped off to be executed with planks around their neck. We found a corpse of a homeless man on the street who didn't have relatives to collect him. The body stayed there for the three days we walked past it.

Don't even get me started on how people paint fruit at the markets...

You are not going to convice me china is good for anything but cheap labor. With any luck it will collapse and reform when it population burst happens.

[nanook12]

When I went to China six years ago and went off the beaten path with a few of my friends we hired a local to show us around.

They had people in trucks being shipped off to be executed with planks around their neck. We found a corpse of a homeless man on the street who didn't have relatives to collect him. The body stayed there for the three days we walked past it.

Don't even get me started on how people paint fruit at the markets...

You are not going to convice me china is good for anything but cheap labor. With any luck it will collapse and reform when it population burst happens.

You are in denial of the future.

[Theodarzna]

I think you are talking about Japan, not China.

China's birth rate is roughly 1.6 per woman. So marginally better than Japan's 1.4, however China spent decades aborting most of its women. Men outnumber women by some 33 million. So not only are China's demographics loopy but they also have very low birth rates.