An election is the most important political event in the era of democracy. Although political democracy in Taiwan has often been accompanied by wild comedic episodes, they do not strain the eyes too much if we consider them simple interludes in the transformation from an authoritarian regime to political democracy.
However, the holding of elections has led to many problems. In every single election, all the warm-ups before election day, irrespective of whether they are the mobilization of local factions or mud-slinging in the media, are aimed at achieving nothing less than a victory.
But an election is different from a running race. Before a race ends, no one can be certain who will take the lead. This is where public polls take on an important role, that of an announcer covering a horse-race, by closely monitoring the election.
"Monitor" is a term that implies neutral observation. However, the truth is not so simple.
Under quantum physics, the principle of uncertainty tells us that the mere act of measuring the position or speed of an electron creates interferences on the movement of the electron, so that once we obtain the former, we cannot accurately measure the latter and vice versa.
Similarly, the process of conducting a poll also interferes with the popular will. From the sampling of voters and designing the questionnaire, down to the attitude of the interviewers, all impact on the result of the poll.
Even if an institution has every intention of producing an objective poll, it may still be unable to come up with an accurate result, not to mention those institutions supported by special-interest or ideological groups.
The polls deceive not only the voters, but the candidates as well. This may be considered as a principle of uncertainty with respect to popular will.
The principle of uncertainty also applies in the decision-making process of a political democracy.
After a popularly-elected politician takes office, scholars, experts, political staff, lobby groups and even the mass media get involved with the decision-making process. The politicians and/or their organizations typically rely on the elites of the society.
The role of popular will often becomes seriously compromised and is sometimes even reduced to a secondary consideration in the policy-making process.
In an era where the power supposedly lies in the hands of the people and the voters are supposedly the real leaders of the country, isn't it ironic that the popular will is often lacking in transparency, twisted and unable to materialize into policies?
Taiwan's politics have been corrupted by black gold (money politics). The level of structural deformity is far more serious than other countries. Black gold is the biggest parasite on Taiwan's political democracy.
Popular will is inevitably subjected to double dosages of uncertainty. One takes place in the process of conducting popular polls before the election. The other takes place during the policy-making process after the election.
As an intelligent voter facing such a structural deformity, in addition to focusing on the candidates' characters, policies and capabilities, one would probably need to broaden his or her vision and give top priority to the development of political democracy in Taiwan in this election.
Which candidate and his team can truly crystallize the popular will? This is the standard upon which we should evaluate and judge the candidates.
Therefore, if a candidate amends his policy in accordance with the popular will, it is something to be encouraged. After all, policy is different from character.
It is meaningless to demand consistency from the beginning to the end. If we still want to worship a prophet, rather than trusting the collective wisdom of the people and hand over our destiny to the elite, an authoritarian regime may be more convenient and efficient than political democracy.
If a candidate emphasizes that his team is most efficient and therefore "capable of solving all the problems without the brainstorming of the public," as well as makes fun of the private sector's extensive participation in his opponent's policy-drafting process, then he ideas run counter to political democracy, irrespective of whether he is flawed in terms of character.
Taking into consideration the double uncertainties of popular will, we must realize that democracy needs to be materialized not just at the election time, but at every link of in the chain of political democracy.
For the future of Taiwan's democracy, we cannot pick a candidate who thrives on and is in fact linked with black gold.
We cannot pick a candidate without any common sense about democracy and with questionable character either. The only remaining choice is quite clear.
A system that offers periodic elections without the ability to put people in charge is definitely not a good democratic system.
Fortunately, we still have the chance to change the system with our votes.
Lin Jyh-liong is a doctoral student in the department of physics of National Chiao Tung University.
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