Vote today to be nourished
A billionaire Taiwanese businessman in China has said: “Democracy is not food.”
In response, an entrepreneur said: “Any food without democracy is bland.”
As the ancient saying goes: “People depend heavily on food.”
A Taiwanese proverb conveys a similar message: “Every meal is as important as an emperor.”
The billionaire is not wrong. Democracy is a concept, not a concrete thing, so of course it cannot serve as food. The entrepreneur’s response is superficially about food, but the deeper meaning is concerned with the value of democracy.
In an authoritarian country, free thought is suppressed. Any discussion deemed sensitive is silenced. Without a channel to express itself, public opinion does not exist.
When chatting with others, everyone has to take heed of special agents nearby, and worse, some might be “disappeared” all of a sudden and without trace.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdowns in China have driven people beyond despair and their anger has reached boiling point. Under these circumstances, the ruling party’s decision is public opinion. How could this food be palatable?
In a democracy, everyone has the right to freedom of expression, as long as they do not engage in ad hominem attacks, spread fake news or violate others’ freedom.
In Taiwan, personal freedoms are guaranteed in the Constitution. Every citizen has freedom of residence and of change of residence, of speech, of privacy of correspondence, of religious belief, and of assembly and association.
For those living behind the walls of an authoritarian country, these freedoms can be neither imagined nor experienced. For those who are able to breathe with freedom, the food tastes so much better.
Democracy does not come out of thin air. It has been wrought through blood, sweat and tears. Some have sacrificed their lives for democracy. Without our predecessors having planted the trees, we would not be able to enjoy the shade. We must cherish the hard-won democracy rather than taking it for granted.
At this critical moment, cast your vote for the sake of democracy.
Hsiao Su-chen
Tainan
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