Once China and Now America

China used to be public ownership.  People could not have their own property.  The income of government employees is just different on several levels. Different isn’t big.  The food, oil, sugar, etc. were all ticketed. Farmers are not allowed to raise animals such as chickens, sheep, and pigs in their own house.  Raising farm animals is to grow the tail of capitalism. It will be confiscated by the village. In the name: cutting the tail of capitalism. Because of the left-wing ideology, economic development was tied up, and the people were poor for a long time. Later, reform and opening , first in Anhui, farmers signed contracts with villages to  produce cereals. It increased a lot of the enthusiasm of production. Gradually the farmers' lives improved. The problem of food shortage was solved usually in the spring season: autumn is still far away, but food from last year is eaten out. There was a slang in that time ‘if you want rice, look for Wanli.’ At that time, Wanli was the governor of Anhui Province.  Farmers sign contracts with villages starting from AnHui. This was the initial chapter of reform and opening. Since then, in the pragmatic spirit of ‘regardless of white cats and black cats, cats catching mice is a good cat’. The spirit widen and more widen the road of reform and open. The new era has started. Over the past few decades, economic development has achieved extraordinary success.

 

The situation in the United States is another extreme. Once the topic is about democracy, no one dares to speak anything else.  Some just pursue the form of democracy, it causes inefficient and decision not easy. .

 

For example, the commuting system in the Bay Area needs to be improved. If Bart can reach San Jose, it will be much better. But the locals are against it. Because if  Bart is connected, all kinds of people will go there. Some areas, the housing shortage is harsh, but we can’t build new houses because local residents often oppose it for their own vested interests. As a result, the interests of small groups are protected, but regional issues cannot be solved.

 

In recent years, wildfires in California have caused a lot of damage. It’s a disaster. Certain groups of people believe collapsed trees, branches, and leaves should stay where they are, can’t be removed. Even it will increase the risk of causing a wildfire.  So those areas can’t be cleaned up. It’s about right and wrong. Nothing about democracy.

 

Sometimes, some things need to be done with all their might. Such as wartime. Without personal will, one must obey orders and commands.  Usually our environment is not as harsh as in wartime. But It is not difficult to understand if you have the spirit of wartime, the task will be completed better.

 

There is news about  people being brought to votes and lobbying for something. For some people, money is more important. There are also various rumors of interference in all kinds of elections. In both China and American sometimes even law isn’t guaranteed.  In a situation like this, talking about democracy is too luxury and too shallow. 

 

Democracy is our essential spirit, but it must be supervised and implemented well. Procedures to let Democracy come true and come right should be improved time by time.   Democracy can’t just be a slogan and can’t just in form.