Taking the best from left and right HoonTing@Taipei Times 20181223
One year after the
Political Parties Act (政黨法) came into being, 90
percent of registered parties have ceased operations. As the number of political parties shrank, some
people established the conservative Christian Formosa Republican Association.
Stephen Yates, a US
politician concerned with Taiwan’s democracy, denied in a Facebook post on Dec.
10 that he was involved with organizing the group, saying: “I am neither a
member nor a cofounder of” the association.
However, “for many
years, I have noted to friends that American conservatives lack a natural
partner in Taiwan for collaboration on policy and commentary... In that spirit, I have often encouraged
friends to consider organizing outside of the political process in a way that
would facilitate policy analysis and advocacy based on common principles and
values,” he said.
Although the
association is a minor group, the phenomenon is significant to Taiwan. The association considers Taiwan a
conservative society, but no political party represents that ideology. Its
members think that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is left-wing and the
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is a Leninist party, while government transitions
have been merely an illusion.
However, the KMT was a
complex right-wing and Leninist party under Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), but followed a socialist path under former
president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國). The DPP promoted social policies while in
opposition, but after taking power, it quickly befriended big business.
Taiwan’s two major
parties have no fixed values and can shift from right to left-wing and back
again when they see fit.
The values of the
conservatives are based on Protestant ethics: Morals override politics; people
should be responsible for themselves and solve their own problems first and
only then seek help from family, the community and the government in that
order; fundamental human rights are God-given, but people have the choice to
strive upward or fall. Conservatives
thus advocate limited government, and oppose socialism and communism.
It sounds logical, but
the association is naive in raising the idea of “rule by entrepreneurs,” which
is fraught with problems. East Asian
entrepreneurs, Chinese in particular, rarely introduce new technologies and
models to increase profit and then share the profit with their employees.
Instead, they tend to increase profit by cutting salaries and reducing
expenditure, and then invest in real estate.
They are selfish
believers in mercantilism, without the slightest sense of charity or
humbleness. Someone who wants to promote “rule by entrepreneurs” should first
ask themselves if they are mentally prepared for the consequences. The answer should be no and that is when
conservatives need the balance of some left-wing naive idealism and reform
fervor.
The long-term debate
and competition of values between the left and the right has achieved
spectacular accomplishments: democracy, human rights and environment
protection.
The coming impact of
artificial intelligence is likely to force people into a true left-right
standoff. For example, the popular basic income theory could be interpreted as
a left-wing social security measure, but it triggers an economic cycle favored
by the right. However, capitalists
oppose the idea without considering the devastating results to a stagnating
economy.
Taiwan’s democracy
movement has always been led by lawyers and political scientists. Three presidents over the past two decades
went through law school. This makes them
rigid and they tend to pay attention to detail. Now might be the time to elect a president
from another field.
There will hopefully
be a real policy debate between the left and right. This would be the only way to move beyond the
trap set by the blue, green and white camps. The white faction’s objective to overtake the
blue and the green camps is but an illusion, seemingly devoid of values and a
philosophy. They are just another set of
opportunists.
HoonTing is a
political commentator.
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