Baum bites back
Dear Johnny,
As I'm just back from places where the Internet is scarce, I'm slow in catching up with the fuss you raised over my comments on Taiwan's democracy. It's a daunting subject, and as usual your humor is not wasted.
Still, I can't put my finger on just what upsets you so much.
"Out of touch" is easy to say, but I've been quietly present for almost all the major happenings in your adopted country in the past five years, and then some. And coming from the worst-governed place in the developed world, I'm pleasantly aware how fortunate Taiwan is to have a president who does not start wars on false pretenses, manipulate public fears, ignore the Constitution and so on.
This may be hard to believe, Johnny, but I was not considering punch-ups in the legislature as anything more than a minor symptom of the larger problem. They didn't figure even obliquely, so I'm not taking my cues from CNN either.
As for worries over who benefits by talking about a chronic crisis of governance, that doesn't sound much like the democracy I know.
When it's all said and done, democracy is a way to organize and nurture the communities we live in. It's not only about truth-telling and defending your turf, but mainly about doing things together. What I miss here is the political entrepreneurship of reconciliation and collaboration that would make this place a more habitable and admirable society.
To balance those arguably necessary campaigns over national identity and history, where are the robust social programs and local development projects that motivate people to identity with their communities? Where's the dedicated leadership of elected officials who serve the people instead of factional interests? Who's taking the initiative to build community and national consensus on improving education, infrastructure, policing and other public services?
Sure, Taiwan's voters go to the polls in large numbers, as they have done for nearly 60 years. Ballots get counted fairly, by and large. That's a huge plus, and you should be sending consultants to the US on that one.
But just ask Filipinos or Thais or Americans if such exercises alone produce good government. In general, Asia has not been solid ground for democracy, and governing institutions routinely fail to do their job. There's a long history of backsliding in the region, and Taiwanese should not be complacent ("smug" is the word I heard from informed Southeast Asians in recent weeks) that a carelessly amended Constitution, failure to identify with the common good and the distractions of personality-oriented politics won't overwhelm you. It's happened in too many countries.
No one's talking these days about Taiwan being a model. That was a KMT [Chinese Nationalist Party] line for simpler times. But there's an obvious demonstration effect from a prosperous, liberal, well-governed society as an example to those on the other side blinded by the dishonest promises of consumerism and a hard-core nationalism that, frankly, looks scarier from here than from across the Pacific.
Maybe these things don't concern most Taiwanese, but perhaps they should.
Julian Baum
Johnny replies: Thanks for writing. Let me guide your finger.
The legislative deadlock is first and foremost a product of the pan-blue camp's desire to cripple the executive, which you have ambiguously called "divided" government. Most of what you complain about stems from this.
But there is only so much we can blame a government or legislature for if we re-elect them. This is more the case now that electorates have one legislator.
A survey might ask why one is disillusioned with democracy, but I am more interested in why a person might vote for a party that blocks legislation simply because it can, shuts down the top watchdog agency and tries to place executive agencies under party control -- and then whines about how democracy is failing him.
Your citing "high nostalgia" for authoritarianism is misleading because the actions that would restore autocracy (as opposed to efficient rule) receive little oxygen outside KMT think tanks, party cheerleaders and a small minority who suckled on decades of KMT handouts.
Where is the evidence that a majority prefer autocracy, or that they would not vote -- or act -- to oppose it?
And I trust, Julian, that your "informed Southeast Asians" are not from Singapore?
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