Sunday 3 April 2011

Rick Fisher's Grade: C+

“When I read an official Chinese document identifying Taiwan independence as a threat, Taiwan independence as bad, Taiwan -independence as destroying the sovereignty of the great and glorious Chinese nation, I know they are talking about democracy,” he said. “It is not Taiwanese independence they are frightened of, it is democracy. That’s what threatens the Chinese Communist Party.”
Not quite Fisher - democracy threatens only their modus-operandi of power; the primary threat to the CCP is the constitutional limitations to State power that may complement the instantiation of democratic mechanisms. The members of the CCP are afraid of democracy only to the extent that the limitations on State power accompanying it would herald a depoliticization of Chinese society. That is why Liu Xiaobo and others like him are rotting in jail.

The CCP are afraid of freedom, not democracy.

3 comments:

  1. I think you are right, Mike, and I put a link on my own blog to your post (above).

    My interest in the article and Fisher's comments is that it is a kernal of real challenge to a regime that many in the United States are trembling and/or running from in fear. I think a sustained challenge, quite similar to Reagan's challenge to Gorbachev/the USSR, to the PRC is needed, and even though Fisher falls far short of this--the argument, you're right, should be for "freedom," not "democracy"--he does hit on it amidst all the defeatest bullshit. You give him a C+, and I'll give him a B.

    (And let's face it: Reagan wasn't arguing for freedom in any pure sense; he was arguing for freedom in a United States' sense. To be fair, however, that was--and still is, I hope--far better than the USSR and/or the PRC had/have to offer. I'm hoping, however, that it will yet be taken one step further, but I'm not overly optimistic.)

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  2. Yes - depoliticization at home and abroad.

    I'd be happy to pay 10x my annual income tax for those F-16s, if only I knew the Air Force was free to buy them and Lockheed were free to sell them.

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