Wei
Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A531-W307
魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：
A531-W307
Release
Date: March 20, 2010
发布日：2010年3月20日
Topic:
The Way Out for China (Part II) -- Wei Jingsheng
标题： 《中国的出路》之二 -- 魏京生
Original
Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)
此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）
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The
Way Out for China, Part II
--
Wei Jingsheng
In
the past few years, there has been a lot of dispute on the issue of
democracy. To distinguish the
wrongs from the rights of these arguments, we need to clarify what really is
democracy. There are a lot of
books and articles pontificating about democracy during the old Greek and Roman
times. Then there comes the
agonizing: too bad these democracies were destroyed by dictatorship. The democracy we want today, is the
kind of democracy where everyone could participate.
As
a matter of fact, this kind of ideology is really not too far away from
us. Those friends who are
relatively older and have Cultural Revolution experience, as well as many
friends who are younger but like to read books, would probably know that during
the Cultural Revolution times, there were "free airing views" and
"big-character posters".
A majority of the people then even participated in the election of the
"Revolutionary Committee".
They even mobilized a whole mass judging of the court cases, by passing
the court cases on to each working-unit, where people cast their votes to
determine the terms of the criminal punishment. Even then the average person felt that it was like
children's games. However, for the
"democracy through mobilized mass" kind of people like Mao Zedong,
this was their ideology. This
ideology even got carried out with the support of the dictatorial
violence. Why was it that the
highest and true democracy in their ideology never appeared? Why would the ideology of so many of the
elite be a joke if it was realized?
The
ancient people already gave the normal explanation thousands of years ago. The democracy wherein everyone directly
participates is practical in a village.
But when it expands to a larger scale, even to a city, it gets more
difficult. One either chooses a
system that uses representatives to discuss official business, or ever shifts
further toward the reign of the king.
The election style of the Khan during the older times of the Xiongnu,
Sienpi (Xianbi), and Turks, lacked stability. The larger it was, the more there were internal fights and
mutual annihilation. So for both
the Orient and the Occident, it soon shifted to the relatively stable reign
succession through bloodline.
The
Chinese way of reign succession could be considered as the most efficient one
in the world. It did not depend on
the aristocrats, but the whole elite class. This is in some way like the "three
representatives" promoted by the Chinese Communist Party nowadays -- a
combination of three elite classes.
As described by the emperor of the Han Dynasty, when all the elite are
in our pocket, where would be the people who would revolt? Why should we worry about instability?
But
reality could be more complicated and the outcome would go against the
will. Although a system of
legitimate succession to carry on the ruling power was established, many issues
such as running into a stupid ruler, monopolization of power and corruption by
the government officials were hard to resolve. Those issues became so difficult that in the past more than
two thousand years, the system was often defeated by the tribes in China's
border regions which practiced the ancient representative system, and
eventually was defeated by a small group of "Western pirates". Only after that was China able to draw
a lesson from this painful experience. It started to learn from the West, and the so called
the most advanced, truest, and highest democracy.
However,
after one hundred years learning from the West, we got a dictatorial system
from the Communist Party. How
could this happen? People of good
will, as well as the elites and scholars have thought about this for more than
a half century now. Why did not
China build a democratic system like the West? Both Deng XiaoPing and Lee Kuan Yew (of Singapore) told us
that we the Orientals are not good enough, with many problems of being tied by
special cultural upbringing including language problems. From that saying, it seems we are
the inferior race and thus unable or do not deserve democracy. Or to use a milder expression:
the race might not be a problem, but we need to totally replace the
culture. The best way is to let
the Westerners rule for a period of time, in an effort to change our cultural
genes faster. Then we will have
democracy.
However,
thinking further, this attitude does not make sense. We share the same language base and racial base with Japan,
Taiwan and Korea. Some of them
even try to take our ancestors as their own, and have even preserved more of
traditional Chinese culture than we have.
Why can they have democracy, but not the Chinese? That logic is not right. In the past a few years, there have
been people manufacturing a theory for "government by
constitution". This theory
suggests that if we govern by implementing the constitution, then there will
not be a problem and we will have democracy. But even the common folk would say: that constitution has
been written for more than half a century. Some sections are even more detailed and thorough than in
some Western countries; why are they not carried out?
This
is exactly the question that people of good will have been thinking of for more
than 30 years, and also the one recently leading to a lot of discussion. Indeed, it is not wrong to implement
the constitution. Without
constitutional and legal protection, a democratic system could not exist and
maintain operation. However, why
then if the constitution is written, is it not implemented? That is because human nature includes monopolization. It is not necessary to say the
dictators have particularly bad human nature. When anyone is given too much power without restriction,
even a fool will become a dictator.
Even an originally kind and fair-minded person would be corrupted by
power and become a cruel and ruthless tyrant, at first only to protect his
"fair-minded" position.
If
we read Chinese history, we would know that so called "wise monarchs and
capable ministers" were really the ones who carried out good deeds when
they had to. They needed to
restrain their human nature. When
there was no need of restraint and they could do anything they liked, these
rulers were self-indulgent and despots; if not themselves, then quickly
replaced by such. Then let us
examine how the Westerners constrain their rulers. Instead of simply relying on a constitution and laws, these
rulers are controlled by the people with a strong opposition or opposition
parties. The existence of an
opposition or opposition parties who are also experts on politics is the
biggest and timely threat to the ruling group, and is a trustworthy guarantee
to suppress the nature of the rulers and to restrain their tendency toward
dictatorship.
To
hear Mr. Wei Jingsheng's commentary, please visit:
http://www.weijingsheng.org/RFA/RFA2010/WeiJS100304ChinaWayOut2.mp3
(Written
and recorded on March 4, 2010.
Broadcasted by Radio Free Asia.)
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中文版
Wei
Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A531-W307
魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：
A531-W307
Release
Date: March 20, 2010
发布日：2010年3月20日
Topic:
The Way Out for China (Part II) -- Wei Jingsheng
标题： 《中国的出路》之二 -- 魏京生
Original
Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)
此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）
如有中文乱码问题，请与我们联系或访问:
http://www.weijingsheng.org/report/report2010/report2010-03/WeiJS100320ChinaWayOut2A531-W307.htm
-----------------------------------------------------------------
《中国的出路》之二
-- 魏京生
最近几年，有关民主的问题争论很多。要分辨清楚争论双方的是非，首先要弄清楚民主到底是什么。很多书籍文章高谈阔论的时候，总是要提到古希腊、古罗马的民主。然后扼腕叹息说；可惜他们都被专制消灭了。而我们今天的民主，就是要恢复每一个人都参与其中的民主。
这种理想其实离我们并不远。年龄稍大一些、经历过文革的朋友们都见过。年轻一些好读书的朋友至少也听说过。那时候大鸣大放大字报；大多数人还参加过选举革委会。甚至连判案子都要全民参与，案件发到每一个单位，大家投票说该杀还是该剐。连老百姓都觉得像是儿戏。但在毛泽东这样的群众民主派看来，这就是他们的理想。而且在专政暴力的支持下确实推行了。为什么没有出现他们理想中的那个最高的民主，真正的民主呢？为什么那么多精英的理想，一旦实现反而成为笑话了呢？
正常的解释古人早在几千年前就懂得了。每个人都参与的民主，那在一个村子的范围内还可以，到城乡就很难了。要么是代表议事的制度；要么就是更进一步过渡到王权。像古代匈奴、鲜卑、突厥那样的选举可汗的制度缺乏稳定性。而且范围越大，内部的斗争和自相残杀越频繁。所以无论东方还是西方，很快就过渡到了相对稳定的王权继承制。
中国的王权继承制可以说是世界上最完善的。它不依靠贵族，而是依靠整个绅士阶级。那有点像现在中共的三个代表；三种精英相结合。用汉朝皇帝的话说，天下的精英都在我们的口袋里了，还会有人造反？还怕不稳定吗？
然而事与愿违。统治权的合法继承制度建立起来了。但统治者的愚蠢问题；官吏们的专权和腐败等等一大堆问题还是难于解决。成了两千多年来的老大难问题。反而时不时地败在了实行古老代议制的戎狄蛮夷的手里。最后败在了乘船来的一小撮西方蛮子的手里。这才痛定思痛，开始学习西方。而且是所谓最先进的、真正的和最高的民主。
学了一百年，学出了共产党这样的专制独裁的制度。为什么会这样呢？仁人志士精英学者们思考了半个世纪，为什么没有建立起像西方那样的民主制？邓小平和李光耀告诉我们：东方人的品种不行，文化独特包括语言都有问题。看来是不能或者不配享有民主的劣等种族。稍微温和一点的说法是：人种不是问题，但需要彻底更换文化。最好是让西方人统治一段时间，快速的改换文化基因。这样就可以民主了。
但细想下来也不对劲。日本、台湾、韩国和我们同文同种，甚至还在抢我们的祖宗。而且他们保留的中国传统文化比大陆还多。为什么他们能够民主，我们的文化和人种就不行呢？明显是逻辑不通。所以近几年有人造出了一个理论，说是要实行宪政。按宪法的设计施政就没有问题了，就民主了。可是连普通老百姓都会问一个问题：宪法写了半个多世纪，里边的条条款款甚至比一些西方国家还要细致周全。为什么就不能施行呢？
老百姓都懂的这个问题。正是仁人志士们思考了三十多年的问题。也是最近引起争论的问题。施行宪政是不错的。没有宪法和法律的保障，民主制度就无法存在和运行。但是为什么宪法写了却不能够实行呢？因为人的本性就包括了独占欲、垄断欲。这是人的本性，不是独裁者的人性特别坏。给任何一个人太大的权力而又不加制约，哪怕是傻瓜也会变成独裁者。哪怕原本善良正直的人，也会被权力所腐蚀，变成残忍冷酷的暴君。
看看中国历史我们就可以知道。古代所谓的明君贤相，都是在内外压力下不得已而为之。他们不得不时刻压抑他们的本性；一旦不需要压抑，可以随心所欲的时候，就是昏君或者暴君。回过头来看看西方人是如何压抑他们的统治者的。不是依靠宪法或法律，那些都是人操控的。他们依靠的是强有力的反对党和反对派。只有一批同样是政治专家的反对党和反对派的存在，才是对统治者最大的和随时随地的威胁。可以成为压抑统治者的本性，约束他们独裁倾向的可靠保证。
聆听魏京生先生的相关录音，请访问：
http://www.weijingsheng.org/RFA/RFA2010/WeiJS100304ChinaWayOut2.mp3
（撰写并录音于2010年3月4日。自由亚洲电台播出。）
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