• FlyingCircus@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    10 days ago

    Except in practice, when rich people are allowed to participate in the political process, they use their wealth to influence everything. So in the West, we technically have democracies, but in practice we actually have oligarchies where the entire system is set up to empower the wealthy and prevent the working class from gaining real power. Since China doesn’t allow the capitalists to participate in politics, their democracy remains in the hands of the people.

    • mrbutterscotch@feddit.org
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      9 days ago

      It would be extremely naive to think that the wealth doesn’t influence Party Politics in China.

      And there is no democracy in China. Electoral Democracy is one of the core pillars of Democracy itself, without it, it simply isn’t democratic. For that to be true in China there would have to be elections where everyone gets to vote.

        • mrbutterscotch@feddit.org
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          9 days ago

          Sure, and those definitely aren’t just Ji Jinpings political enemies that he is eliminating, as is usual in an authoritarian state.

          And yeah, no. That’s not what Electoral Democracy is. Or when was the last time a different party with different ideas was elected to Power in China?

          Honestly, the lengths tankies go to in order to convince themselves China is a Democracy is insane. Literally 1984 DoubleThink.

          • FlyingCircus@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            9 days ago

            I used to think that too, then I started learning things. Always remember that the capitalists want you to think communism is the worst possible thing. Your opinions on China are based almost entirely on anti-communist propaganda designed to protect the oligarchies of the West.

            • mrbutterscotch@feddit.org
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              9 days ago

              then I started learning things

              Apparently not about democracy. I’ll ask again, when was the last time China held a general election which allowed opposition parties?

              • FlyingCircus@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                9 days ago

                Democracy isn’t defined by allowing opposition parties, it is defined by how closely the government follows the will of the people. And socialist governments almost universally are significantly more aligned with their people than capitalist states. China’s CPC has a 90+% satisfaction rating, most US governments never get above 40%. Capitalist states have the illusion of democracy, socialist states actually have it.

                  • freagle@lemmy.ml
                    link
                    fedilink
                    English
                    arrow-up
                    1
                    ·
                    2 days ago

                    Yeah, it’s just not the case. Demos - people. Kratos - rule. The rules of the people, Democracy. Parties are not a necessary mechanism for establishing the rules of the people. All that’s necessary is for the rules to be written based on input from the people and to meet the needs of the people providing that input.

                    The problem with liberal democracies is that they allow parties like “The party that thinks we should kill all non-white people” as though it’s a legitimate party and they protect their right to free speech but they don’t allow “the party that thinks we should repress the violence of white supremacists” because that goes against freedom of speech. This is why the US government protected the rights of the KKK to parade before and after they committed lynchings and then said “well the lynchings are a local problem that the police have to handle”, meanwhile the police are literally klansmen. But also why the US government blackballed all communism sympathizers in TV, Hollywood, radio, journalism, and literature, killed a number of communists, and passed laws banning communists from ever holding office.

                    Because the reality is that party politics in liberal democracies are punch and judy shows that keep the population engaged in electoralism while the same rich white racist slave owning pedophile rapists that founded the country continue to run the country 250 years later.

                    Meanwhile, if the billionaires in China tried to start a political party to convince the people to vote for them, they’d be hanged.

                    Because in China the rules are of the people, and in liberal democracies the rules are of the wealthy.