living, thinking and writing
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| PRACTICE living, thinking and writing |
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Monday, March 22, 2004 Nessun Dorma We stayed up till four o’clock in the morning waiting for the result of TW election. I’m not a fanatic unification advocator, but I’m concerned about the consequence of the election to my hometown, where my parents and friends live and where might one day become a battle field or at least front, because of its proximity to Taiwan. Fujian, my hometown, for several decades after the revolution, had been strategically under-developed for its strategic position to Taiwan and for the possibility of military conflict. Every radical political move from the other side of TW Strait is followed by the scandal of tenser military practice in our backyards. No need to say, the re-election of President Chen will only intensify the situation. We were nailed in front of our computers and kept our eyes on the ballot information updated every two minutes at Chinatime, where we could read the number of ballots from every city. Votes of the two parties were so close all the way that it struck me that the real divergence today is not between the Mainland and TW, but within the small island: green at south, and blue at Norht. Lian and Song, the two candidates of KMT who each won 30% of vote in last election (and lost the campaign to Chen because of the diversion of the votes), while this time forming an ally, can only attract 50% of the votes. Just IM with a friend, who is a political analyst in TW and who is a supporter of KMT; what bothers him most is not the fishy success of Chen, but how divided TW has become. Even KMT wins, how could they win the heart of the other 50% of voters at South, those aborigines (opposite to immigration from Mainland after defeat of KMt) who are, generally, less rich and less educated? I had been wondering how Chen’s administration, in the past four years of economic slump, fussy political stunts and corruption scandal, pulled in even more votes than before. I could not help comparing this campaign to the one in the US. I guess people vote for whom they identify with, not those who would really do good. Chen, who dubs himself as the son of TW, talks in the dialect and advocate TW identity, and Bush, who presents himself with an all-American style, keeps his cowboy and God-believer identity, and feels proud of not being cultivated by elite education from Ivy League, are both very successful in campaign, especially considering their lame leadership in politics or economy. Well, I’m a little off track, and I’ve forgoten my original intention when starting this blog (and I love blog, where discursion is not a sin). But there is another thing just comes into my mind. When Howard Dean lost his place as the Democratic front runner, I was amazed by how the country is divided: all my acquaintance who are in such vacations as professors, graduate students, writers and scientists are fervent supporter of Dean, and elite media had then introduced Dean as the indubitable Democratic candidates; But it turned out that this Dean sensation is only a phenomenon limited in a small potion of the people. The mentalities of intellectuals and general public diverged from each other to such a great degree that most of political predictions end up clueless. On that, we can't avoid speculating on elite democracy, which, however, seems forfeit the essence of democracy. Democracy is a wonderful thing, but it comes with the cost. Nonetheless, to be involved in democratic practice must be even more wonderful, than being just an outsider, like me, who can only observe others’ democracy, from distance, with wishfulness. posted by lmeimei @1:35 AM| permanent link| | |
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