Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
The first time Ma ran in Taipei City's mayoral election in 1998, he appeared rather awkward at public events. He has changed considerably over the past few years. He now appears very pleased with himself singing, dancing and putting on a show. In a way, he is looking more and more like President Chen Shui-bian (
Election politics shape politicians. It softens their postures and make their styles more homogeneous. By putting on a show of having a good time with average citizens, a politician does not express political concepts or a platform. Such efforts are only for dramatic effect.
We can no longer see the distinction between blue and green in the styles of these political stars, who know how to "have a good time with the people." There is not much difference between the ruling and opposition parties in terms of policy either.
Everyone is most adept at throwing small favors to voters. Throwing dance parties, increasing stipends for retired farmers, increasing subsidies for village and borough chiefs, easing up on traffic fines -- both the blue and green camps know how to give away these small favors when they are in power.
The opposition will then accuse the other side of "policy vote-buying" and use technicalities to block these policy sops.
In reality, however, the opposition dares not oppose them too loudly. Who would want to offend voters? Who would put an end to the "vote-buying tools" that one can use when one takes power in the future?
In the authoritarian era, people praised their leader as a "great helmsman," a "wise master" or a "man of great foresight." Such words sound very feudal these days and politically incorrect. They seem to imply that leaders stand on people's heads and ride on their shoulders. However, even if we don't use such descriptions, no one can deny that a political leader should have broader vision than ordinary citizens and look at problems five to 10 years into the future, instead of merely calculating on the basis of an election to be held in half a year.
Political stars with a tendency to be homogeneously soft are arranging very similar schedules and putting on shows that are very much the same. They don't have any differences of vision or political thinking. They merely compare who is throwing more sops to the public.
It's like giving the public lip-sticks of different colors, dazzling them and keeping them busy choosing between the colors in order to make them forget that the political leaders are merely offering small, cheap lipsticks.
Lipsticks provide just a small satisfaction. One easily gets tired of them. Political leaders then have to come up with an even bigger variety of lipsticks for the public to choose from -- because they don't have the ability and vision to provide goods that give one greater satisfaction.
The small favors given to voters are essentially the same, no matter how much variation one puts into their forms. The effect is merely to numb voters and make them temporarily forget their dissatisfaction.
Voters also find it difficult to recognize whether it is the blue camp or the green camp that is offering the lipstick, or what the difference is between them.
How to win voter sympathy then? At this point, politicians will resort to some issues that they simply have no ability to resolve, such as the "unification-independence" issue. The political leaders know that the nation's political status is, to a considerable extent, determined by bigger international political structures and that the subjective will of the people can only bring limited change to the status quo.
However, exactly because the results need not be examined immediately, one can talk loudly about this issue. Also, because only a small part of any policy can be implemented, one can easily transfer or hype the issue into a more tangible ethnic one.
Politicians who have received the same training in marketing and are pushing the same lipsticks cannot come up with the better goods for which voters are asking. They will then begin to sell voters dreams that cannot be realized and are difficult to examine.
Ku Er-teh is a freelance writer.
Translated by Francis Huang.
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