If you like this article, please click "Follow" in the upper right. Thank you for your support and encouragement, and hope it will bring you a comfortable reading experience.
In early 2020, at the seminar on "Integration of Civil Technology into Military Space Prospects" held in San Francisco, USA, US Air Force Admiral John Thompson raised a sharp question to the Tesla CEO Elon Musk who attended the meeting: How can the United States defeat China?
Musk
Musk blurted out without thinking: "We must stop the infighting in the United States and stop slapping ourselves in the face, otherwise China's economic scale will eventually surpass the United States."
But unexpectedly, after hearing this answer, the audience was silent and silent. Because they know very well that the United States can no longer stop infighting.
Why is there any internal strife in the United States? Why can't the United States end the infighting now? In contrast, why can China always unite in pursuit of development? This starts with the two-party system in the United States.
The two-party system has a long history, and the world pattern has changed
The two-party system is an important feature of American politics, but it is not an institutional design that was founded by the United States when it was founded. The two-party system was born relatively late.
The earliest political parties in the United States were Federalist Party and Democratic Republican Party , but at that time there was no system of taking turns to rule through elections.
By the 1820s, the Federal Party disappeared and the Democratic Republican Party split into the Democratic Party and the Whig Party. It was not until then that the two-party system was initially formed.
Then, the abolitionist dispute that emerged in the 1840s reconstructed the two parties. The Whigs and Northern Democrats, who advocated abolition, formed the Republican Party, and the Southern Democrats, who advocated slavery, formed the new Democrats.
1860, Lincoln represents the Republican Party’s first takeover, opening the prelude to the rotation of the Democratic and Republican parties in the United States, and the modern two-party system in the United States was officially formed.
Lincoln
From the history of the formation of the two parties, it can be seen that although the class interests of the representatives of the two parties are different, and political views are also different in many aspects, at least we still seek common ground while reserving differences.
Objectively speaking, after the establishment of the two-party system, it has indeed promoted the political participation of voters to a certain extent, improved the level of democracy, and played a positive role in building political consensus and maintaining national stability.
But now the two parties are trapped in endless disputes and there is no longer a consensus. It has become a manifestation of social division and chaos in the United States, and further promotes the deepening of the social gap. The main reason why
is that this happens is the changes in the international landscape.
During the Second World War , after the industrial revolution , Europe, which firmly occupied the center of the world economy, became a ruin, but the United States took advantage of the superior geopolitical conditions and became the most powerful country in the world.
But after the end of the war, there was an oversupply of industrial production and capital in the United States. In order to help capital find new circulation channels and help industrial production explore new markets, the United States has mainly done two things.
One is to support the reconstruction and rejuvenation of old European capitalist countries, and the other is to work with these capitalist countries to jointly promote the so-called " economic globalization ", trying to turn the entire earth into its raw material supply place, product sales place and capital investment place.
Therefore, economic globalization was originally the product of "selfishness" of capitalist countries such as the United States, but in the actual implementation process, globalization has undergone changes that are not shifted by the will of the United States.
Global Economy Double-edged sword, coping with insufficient results to differentiate
In the early stage of globalization, developed countries such as the United States actively invested in and built factories in developing countries, just to take advantage of the low labor, land, raw materials and other advantages of developing countries to earn more profits, but unexpectedly it brought two unexpected results.
The first consequence is that after large American companies invested and built factories overseas, they successively closed their domestic production lines, causing a large number of industrial workers to be unemployed and resulting in an increase in the unemployment rate.
But this impact mainly occurs among large multinational enterprises. If small and medium-sized enterprises are developed, they can still absorb these unemployed people. However, the second consequence of globalization has blocked this channel. This consequence is the rise of developing countries.
The United States and other countries go to developing countries to invest and build factories, with the original intention of using resources and encroaching on the market. They have never thought of promoting the development of developing countries.
But unexpectedly, while they are profitable, they have also inadvertently helped developing countries to cultivate many technical workers and management talents.
Since then, developing countries have also begun to independently develop national industries, and soon produced rich variety, high-quality and low-cost industrial finished products. Subsequently, they used the international rules established by the United States to export these goods to the United States in reverse.
The production costs of small and medium-sized enterprises in the United States are high, so how can they be the opponents of these developing countries? Therefore, in the process of competition, they went bankrupt, causing serious hollowing out of the US manufacturing industry, especially the low-end manufacturing industry, and causing a large number of middle and lower-class workers to be unemployed.
Because their knowledge level is generally low and their work skills are relatively single, once they are unemployed, it will be difficult for them to find a suitable job, and they can only make a living by doing lower-end jobs such as hourly work and odd jobs.
But at this moment, many foreign immigrants took advantage of the policy convenience brought by globalization and flocked to the United States.
Although they can only do low-end jobs such as hourly and odd jobs in the United States, they are more hardworking and able to accept low rewards than the native Americans, so they quickly squeezed out job opportunities for local people, making local people more and more hatred for them.
Today, the " Rust Zone " that appears in the Midwest, Northeast and Great Lakes of the United States is the main manifestation of the decline of the United States' manufacturing industry. Most of the American people living in these areas have a relatively tragic situation.
However, at another level, economic globalization provides a broad investment market for capital owners in the United States, and provides a broader platform for senior white-collar workers and high-tech workers, thus allowing them to accumulate a large amount of wealth and become the real "beneficiary group" of globalization. The US government before
has always been an elite politics. Ordinary people have not participated in politics very well, and the elite class naturally will not consider the interests of the middle and lower classes when formulating policies. Therefore, with the deepening of economic globalization, the gap between these two classes in American society is getting bigger and bigger, and the gap between the rich and the poor is getting worse and worse.
By 2019, the wealthiest 1% of the United States' population accounted for as high as 35% of the total national wealth, while the latter 50% of the population accounted for only 1.5%.
As Nobel Prize in Economics winner Joseph Stiglitz said, the United States has become a country with "1% ownership, 1% dominance, 1% enjoyment".
The so-called economic foundation determines the superstructure . As the gap between the rich and the poor becomes increasingly serious, the thoughts of the two classes have differentiated, resulting in serious divisions and oppositions in the economy, society, culture, race, social values, and cognition of the United States.
In order to change their embarrassment situation, ordinary people have no other way to participate in politics, resulting in the increasing political participation of the American people. This trend can be seen from the increasing turnout rate in the US presidential election .
Social division has become a stalemate, and the two parties have contributed to the fire. Under normal circumstances, the government should have tried to make up for this division.
In American history, there have indeed been responsible "political elites", but as the political participation of ordinary people becomes deeper and deeper, if the Democratic Party and the Republican Party want to come to power, they must make choices between the two classes, otherwise they will fall into the embarrassing situation of "both sides please and both sides offend".
Therefore, in the long-term election struggle, the Democratic Party gradually stood on the side of the social elite, while the Republican Party gradually stood on the side of the middle and lower classes of society.
is reflected in political views. The Democratic Party is generally "liberal", while the Republican Party is generally "conservative".
In terms of specific policies, the Democratic Party emphasizes the use of diplomatic methods to resolve differences, advocates the expansion of government institutions, agrees with cultural diversity, advocates economic globalization, and supports abortion and human genetic research.
, while the Republican Party advocates force, advocates streamlining government institutions, advocates the Christian spirit, supports conservatism , and opposes all forms of abortion.
Within the increasingly divided society, no matter which political party comes to power and no matter what policy it introduces, it will not be able to get unanimous support from both classes.
compromises with a slight compromise, not only will it be called a "bend" by voters of this class, but it will also be ridiculed by voters of the other class as "imitating the world".
So, instead of trying hard to get it, they might as well try every means to stabilize their basic foundation. Therefore, the policies issued by the two parties are becoming increasingly narrow and short-sighted.
This further aggravates social division. Such a vicious cycle cannot be found.
Entered the 21st century, the ideology between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party has become more serious, and the problem of polarization of the two parties' party struggles has become more prominent.
Nowadays, the gap between the rich and the poor, crime, immigration, racism, gun control, drugs and other problems are rampant. Everyone believes that this is a problem that affects the fate of the United States and is also an urgent problem to be solved.
But when it comes to the solution, they are always bound by their own interests and cannot break out of the fixed mindset. Therefore, after so many years of disputes, they have never been able to resolve them, but they are becoming more and more intense.
In American history, there have been situations of class division. Later, it was due to the intensification of external troubles, which awakened the American people's sense of family and country, and enabled them to overcome selfishness and dangers. In the end, not only defeated external troubles with the same hatred of the enemy, but also bridged social division and achieved reunification at the social level.
For the United States, China's rise has become their biggest "external trouble". The Democratic Party and the Republican Party have indeed reached a consensus on the issue of containing China, but the difference is that they all believe that it is necessary to "contain China", but in terms of specific policies, they are completely different.
Generally speaking, the Democratic Party values the importance of multilateralism and active participation in world affairs, and emphasizes the need to establish international cooperation with other countries on important issues to jointly compete with China.
, while the Republican Party emphasizes that the United States is preferred and advocates head-on struggle and comprehensive decoupling with China.
So although the two parties have a consensus, they have not reached cooperation. Instead, the issue of China has influenced other domestic issues, making the country more divided.
This fully shows that the two-party system in the United States has gradually become "money politics", "veto politics", and "short-sighted politics", and has become a fundamental flaw in the current American political system .
China's system shows its advantages, and it focuses on accomplishing major tasks. When the United States continues to fight, and does not know that "danger" is approaching, China seizes the opportunity well, seeks development wholeheartedly, concentrates on construction, unswervingly promotes reform, and embarks on a magnificent road to the rise of a great power. The achievement of
is entirely due to my country's new party system.
Our country’s new party system is a great innovation of the Communist Party of China.
In terms of balance of interests, our country's party system can effectively listen to the interests of all sectors of society, and effectively protect the general interests of the majority and take care of the reasonable demands of the minority, thereby enhancing social cohesion.
From the perspective of inter-party relations, it is completely contrary to the relationship between the competitive political parties in the United States. The Communist Party of China and the eight democratic parties of are in a relationship of "conflicts with each other and honor and disgrace". They cooperate in close cooperation, grow and develop each other, think in one direction, work together to unite the heart and mind for the development of the Chinese nation, effectively avoid unnecessary internal friction, completely eliminate the drawbacks of the two parties in the United States, and provide guarantees for the stable development of the country.
From the perspective of decision-making efficiency, our country's party system emphasizes both decision-making democracy and execution responsibility.
In the decision-making process, we can give full play to the advantages of sufficient wisdom, strong representation, wide connections and great inclusiveness to ensure scientific democracy in decision-making. During the execution process,
can correct errors in time.
Our country's party system effectively avoids the defects of "veto politics" in the two-party system in the United States, truly solves the problem of "discussing but not deciding, and not deciding" in major national affairs, realizes the efficient and pragmatic decision-making and strong execution, and improves administrative operation efficiency.
From the perspective of democratic quality, our political party system has both election and consultation, creating a new form of democratic politics that organically combines electoral democracy and consultative democracy, which more fully reflects the true wishes of members of all sectors of society, effectively avoiding the drawbacks of "elite politics" in the two-party system in the United States, and truly reflecting the people's mastery of the country.
The so-called "Survival does not have to be the same, but the expectation is appropriate; governance does not have to be the same, but the expectation is beneficial to the people." The key to judging the advantages and disadvantages of a party system is to look at its governance performance.
It is under the leadership of this party system that our country has achieved remarkable achievements.
In terms of the total economic output of , my country's GDP increased from US$12.3 billion in the early stage of the founding of New China to 17.7 trillion US dollars in 2021, becoming the world's second largest economic power.
my country's economy accounts for The proportion of the US economy has also caught up from 7.6% to 77% in 2021, effectively improving people's living standards and surpassing the United States is just around the corner.
In terms of economic structure, on the basis of poverty and backwardness, my country has built an industrial system with complete categories and complete functions, becoming the only country in the world with all industrial categories. More than 220 industrial and agricultural products have been sold to the world. It is a veritable world's largest manufacturing country, the world's largest foreign trade country, and the world's largest foreign exchange reserves, effectively enhancing my country's international influence. In terms of infrastructure construction, our country is even more famous for the world-renowned " infrastructure madman".
After more than 70 years of construction, my country has achieved the world's first place in high-speed rail business mileage, highway opening mileage, inland waterway navigation mileage, port cargo throughput, container throughput, etc., and has effectively changed the face of the country and the people's lifestyle.
In terms of technology innovation , China has ranked first in the world for many years in terms of patent applications, invention patent applications, invention patent authorization and trademark registration.
A number of major scientific and technological achievements such as Tiangong, Tianwen, Jiaolong, Tianyan, Wukong, Mozi, Dahua, aircraft, , etc. have also been released one after another, and they are moving further and further on the road to a strong country in science and technology.
The practice of the People's Republic of China shows that the effectiveness of our country's new type of party system is changing with each passing day, and governance performance is becoming increasingly prominent, which has become an important "political system code" behind China's realization from standing up and becoming rich to becoming stronger.
As a foreign scholar said: "China's reform and opening up has achieved remarkable achievements, maintained rapid economic growth, and hundreds of millions of people were able to get rid of poverty. The facts have proved the rationality and superiority of China's party system."
China's rise is inevitable, welcome the United States to "copy homework"
2020 epidemic, the new crown pneumonia epidemic swept the world. my country is people-centered , takes the initiative to fight, takes positive actions, and takes a series of fruitful response measures. While protecting the lives and health of the people, it also ensures the stable and healthy development of the economy.
The United States, which claims to be the richest medical resources in the world, fell into a state of silence, which not only caused the deaths of nearly one million people, but also caused the economy to fall into negative growth. Only by comparing the two can the world understand how powerless the United States is and how powerful China is.
Even if the United States stops internal struggle as Musk said, it will not stop China's rise. China's total economic output exceeds the United States is an inevitable event in the future. But if the United States does not stop fighting, China will not only exceed twice or triple in the future.
So I advise the United States not to "transfer all domestic contradictions in the United States to China", nor to enjoy the dividends of globalization while opposing globalization.
Globalization is a double-edged sword. The focus of the two parties in the United States should be on the institutional causes of the domestic gap between the rich and the poor, and focus on reforming the unreasonable distribution mechanism in China. First, make the "cake" bigger, and then divide the "cake" well, so that the lower-level people and marginal groups can share the dividends of economic development.
In this regard, China has long provided an example for it. The ready-made homework depends on whether the United States is willing to copy it.
