TED Talk
Eric
X. Li: A tale of two political systems
The basis for an economy is
driven by the type of government a country chooses to adopt. In order for the
country to provide a high standard way of life is to decide whether to be one of
several different types and can also be described as a linear progression
starting with primitive civilization followed by slavery, feudal, socialism and
capitalism. The top of the structure would be a mix of the best aspects of both
socialist and capitalistic points of view thereby forming communism according
to Karl Marx. China accepted this concept and have continued this way for
over fifty years. In the TED Talk with Eric X. Li, the form of government and
resulting economy of China is discussed in terms of telling a new story to the
next generation of people in this world as one possible alternative to the
democratic capitalist societies that have been prevalent in Europe and the West
for over two hundred years.
Eric began his talk by
explaining some of his background in how he had experienced both American and
Chinese culture growing up and heard both sides of the story. He explained that
Communism is typically classified as being Operationally Rigid, Politically
Closed and Morally Illegitimate. He argued that communism is adaptable and can
be shown in the structure of the political party in that it is designed to
self-correct itself over time and has done so in several ways since Chairman Mao Zedong. Term limits have been implemented for all working political
leaders forcing them to retire at age 65. He explained that there have been
more than 6 major structural and cultural shifts in the last fifty years that
have taken place that would essentially leave the structure unrecognizable to
its predecessors today.
Secondly he described the basis
for advancement being merit, satisfaction and improvement proven over the
lifetime of ones career. A system of human resources was created in order
to create organization for political party members starting with jobs that
include responsibilities in civil service, social organizations, and state
owner enterprise before reaching the top 300 leaders working within the Central
Committee and ultimately the Premiership. He noted that only college graduates are
allowed to enter the governmental public service field of career. He added that
Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama would barely qualify to work as
small county managers in this system based on their experience. Career paths
take anywhere from 20 to 30 years to reach key leadership status among the
Central Committee.
I also recall growing up
listening to the criticisms of communism and from what Eric said in his talk it
is a new perspective on how a country can be very successful in the
implementation of this system. He further went on to discuss recent polls that
show a positive outlook among the Chinese from all age groups and areas of
interest to include 85% overall satisfaction with the system, 70% of Chinese
people believe they are better off today than last year, 82% say that their
future looks bright and 93% of youths are positive about the future. These
statistics are eye opening in that here in the United States we do not see
anything close to this when speaking about satisfaction with our leaders, our economy and our general sense of
happiness.
I still have reservations about
freedoms that are not available to the people that live in China. I realize it is easy to be enveloped in one perspective and personal bias can take a hold at an
early age so I am curious to see if future generations will indeed adopt Eric’s
plea for universality to make way for plurality.
References
Li, Eric X. “A
Tale of two Political Systems.” Online video clip.
YouTube. Youtube, 1 Jul.
2013.
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