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this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2023
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Most dictators haven't gone by that term, preferring instead some other executive role like chairman, supreme leader, or president. If Xi doesn't want to be called a dictator, maybe China should start holding open elections, see how popular the CCP really is.
The CCP has higher approval rates than western governments and the vast majority of Chinese believe they are living in a democracy. This is confirmed by western studies; latest one I've seen was from Harvard.
So do the vast majority of Americans.
Belief can be a helpful thing
Okay but what meaningful influence does the average Chinese person have on who is chosen as Paramount Leader.
Enough for them to believe that they live in a democracy, it seems (and I don't say that sarcastically).
It's not like people in liberal democracies have more influence. We can't choose who runs, and each individual's vote is negligible. I don't know the specifics of China's government, but I suspect they value being able to influence local policy and higher official elections via the Communist Party more than a direct vote on its leader -- I would too, honestly.
A fair bit, actually. China's political system is basically a popularity system from bottom to top. At the lowest level, politicians only stay in power if their population is happy. This trickles up to the provincial level, where politicians again only stay in power if their population is happy. At a national level, the national leaders stay in power by building, essentially, large cabinets out of different provincial and regional leaders - thus, their entire position relies on keeping the provinces happy.
It's not the perfect system, but Chinese citizens can fairly easily impact local and even provincial policy and, by extension, influence national policy (recently, by repealing the COVID lockdowns with mass protests).
The CCP isn't an absolute monarchy or something. At the end of the day, it serves it's people. The power of the Chinese economy is in its industrial capacity, after all, not in its wealth: the needs of the people need to be addressed to keep the country stable.
The same as the average western person.. So probably very little.
don't make conflations with the USA and other liberal democracies. There are plenty of transparent, effective democracies where popular votes matter massively, and saying because the USA is electorally broken that everywhere is only serves the narrative that true liberal democracy "isn't possible" i.e., exactly what China and Russia suggest.
The CCP does not have confidence in that though, hence the way it runs the elections there.
I'd say that it has confidence in that, but their elections and government are structured in a different way.
Just like Ford sold their cars in any colour you want, so long as it is black.
If 95% of ford owners were satisfied with their black cars, vs 40% for another manufacturer that provides cars in multiple colors, then ford would be the better manufacturer.
Most forced elections haven't gone by that term, preferring instead some other description like people's elections, free elections, or secured elections. Made up words but you get the idea.
Don't forget Führer
Open elections when there is only one party in practice are moot
Tbh, with only two it's not too much better either.
You got to choose between Hoe Biden and Donald Trump last time. Get back in your box.
Yeah, our elections suck. They should be more open and should be ranked choice. Likewise, the Electoral College is complete bullshit. Even still, Xi is a dictator and China is not a democracy. Multiple things can be true.
Huh? China has elections.
You can choose between voting for wumao Pooh or being kidnapped. Great choice!
Nazi Germany had elections. North Korea has elections. As long as there's no actual opposition on the ballot, just having elections means nothing.
China is a democracy, the USA isn't. Xi is the democratically elected leader of his country and enjoys massive popular support. Your past two presidents are hated by the peasantry. You have no understanding of the world because you live in what you think North Korea is like.
Your press is censored, your internet is censored, you have a one party state with no democracy and people die from preventable diseases daily. Homelessness and poverty are rampant. Child slavery and child poverty have skyrocketed under the current regime. America is a shithole, circling the drain and your pathetic racist shit in this thread just exemplifies how little you have to come back with.
How many people voted for him? How many votes did his opponent get?
No idea. I couldn't even tell you that about my own country or the USA, you know that place that's totally a democracy where they don't count all the votes and keep the black people from voting with dirty tricks.
The general population does not vote for the presidency in China, the electors chosen by the CCP do. That is significantly less democratic than the US which is also not a very democratic country when it comes to the presidency.
Neither do americans get to vote for their president nor the germans for their chancellor.
but americans do get to vote for the electoral college, and germans iirc do get to vote for the bundestag
They do and the German chancellor is also not as important as the American president.
Theoretically, the Chinese parliament is also the actual governing body, but with its size and sporadic meetings that's pretty questionable.
no one tell this guy how bernie got the popular vote but didnt get to run
Okay well then just a simple question: when was the election?
Also no idea. I'm not your Google.
So you claim that China is a democracy based on... having absolutely no knowledge of Chinese politics?
Based on knowing the fact that China is a democracy.
Hate to break it to you but China is a dictatorship. They don't even pretend otherwise, the primacy of the Communist Party is literally part of their constitution.
Do you know how many political parties there are in China?
So how can you know they had an actual democratic election?
How does anyone know anywhere had a democratic election? I read it in the news. Who told you China was not a democracy?
Well, when did you read it in the news? That might give us a sense of when this election happened.
Chinese bots are welcome... to burn in a fire