Yin Yang

There are no political ads on TV, no blue and red posters in front lawns, no witty bumper stickers. Nor are there people yelling loudly in my neighborhood. When I look out my window I see nothing but white, but that’s because it has been foggy here for the last week. Normally I would see smiling, happy people. A survey even says 72% of the people are happy. The others say they would be happy too if only they made more money. Other than that, they are OK.

No, I am not living in a dreamworld.

No, I am not under the influence of uppers, downers, screamers or laughers.

I am in………

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That’s right, China. That’s what it says above, Zhongguo in Chinese Characters. (Pronounced zong gwo) kinda, sorta.

In the Chinese language, there is no such word as “China”. Some white guy made it up around the mid 1500’s. Some say it’s root of origin was the Qin Dynasty (pronounced “chin” as in “wipe that drool off your chin, bubba”.) but the locals here say its origin is from the Chinese word “cha” which means tea. Makes more sense to me since tea is the beverage of choice here by far. Hell, they’d rather drink tea than forni…no, I take that back, but they do love some tea.

Zhongguo actually translates as “Middle Kingdom” dating back to the 6th Century and the late Zhou Dynasty.

But now I’m getting into the territory of The Unitary Moon Bat and I don’t want to go there.  Them bats can get mighty mad.  I know, I got bit by one when I was 12 and didn’t tell a soul because of the 21 shots and the 12 inch needle in the stomach thing. I lived, obviously, but I did develop strange radar-like powers.

It was those strange bat powers that brought me here in the days immediately proceeding the election of George W. Bush.

I knew it was gonna get a little weird….. batshit weird.

I was lying in a burned out basement

With the full moon in my eyes.

Actually, it was a flooded out basement, I was the one that was burned out. (poetic license) My job sucked out loud. No, the job was great, decent dollars for doing corporate websites and research, just boring.  The PTSD was getting to me bad.

I’ll admit something to you right now.

I have only voted once in my life.

November 2004

I can almost hear the cyber-gasp.

Why?

Well, it goes back to ’68.  I was 19 going on 20 when I was drafted. That alone pissed me off since I’d told my draft board on a questionnaire that I opposed the Vietnam War.  They obviously didn’t see it because I was drafted anyway.

(Later I would found out that they had and put it in my permanent record, wooooo).

But what really got my new olive drab underwear in a wad was that I wasn’t old enough to vote. I repeat (in bold letters) I wasn’t old enough to vote when I was drafted! I wanted to.  Shit, just a few months before I went down to see RFK speak and was about to shake his hand when several Secret Service guys whisked me away and took me behind the courthouse.  It seems that since I was the only longhair there (actually, the only one within 1000’s of square acres of Southern Indiana cornfields at the time), I needed a talkin’ to.  

I still wonder what these same agents were doing just a few weeks later in California.

It was then that I began to have suspicions about whether my future vote would be important when someone kept killing the guys I liked.  Come on, what are the odds that 2 lone wackos killed 2 brothers when they were surrounded by these vigilant secret agents?  Probably as high as the odds that 2 Skull & Bones members would run against each other for president. And we know that could never happen.

Where was I? Oh, being drafted, I remember now.  It takes some work to recall these things since I have trouble recalling much of what happened in those days.  Particularly the time I spent in the jungle.  It comes back eventually, usually in the middle of the night when the memories of forgotten firefights assault across the line between the subconscious into the conscious mind and I awaken on sopping wet sheets.

Somehow, I made it back and decided that I would be apolitical.  And that worked for me.  The country just seemed to get along fine without my vote or opinion.  Also, I didn’t really want to fill out any government type forms if I could avoid it. The first time I did my duty and registered for the draft down at the Post Office, I was sent to VietFuckinnam. I now suffer from a phobia whose name I do not know.  Maybe it’s Postofficephobia, I don’t know.  I just know I hate going in the damn things.  There’s no telling how many registered letters I’ve missed over the years. Sometimes I break out in a flop sweat just looking in my own mailbox.

There was a band playing in my head

And I felt like getting high.

In 2004, I realized that the little asswipe from Texas just might get re-elected.  I had followed the 2000 election closely enough to know that the “my 1 little vote doesn’t matter” excuse wasn’t gonna hunt this time. So, I snuck into the Post office. And then I learned something very important. The voter registration office was not in the Post Office; it was down at the courthouse. I did notice however that the Passport Office was there so I picked up an application since I was there. Then I went to the Courthouse and registered as an Ohio Democrat.

I was hoping for replacement

When the sun burst thru the sky.

And like most of you here, I was sucked into the campaign.  I watched TV and cussed at it a lot.  Being an ex-journalist, I couldn’t fucking believe my senses.

Then it happened.  The Swiftboating of a fellow Vietnam Veteran.

I was thinking about what a

Friend had said

I was hoping it was a lie.

As I watched CNN, Faux and others run the Swiftboat ad again and again and for fuckin’ free no less, I figured out that this election was our last chance to get rid of these neo-fascists. I thought we would win, but I filled out the Passport Application just in case.

Well, my first vote counted but many others in Ohio didn’t and that foul faux cowboy won again. Dammit. Dammit to hell. I’m outta here.

I came here alone. I didn’t know Jack Shit about China or what to expect.

Now, I’ve been in China going on 4 years and I’m starting to get this place figured out.  Maybe…..

I remember way back when (in blog years) when I first encountered Buhdy at Daily Kos (he was in his pre-pony period, both of us n00bs), he asked me “What’s China like?” and I replied that they seem to like rice a lot.”

Which brings me back to the subject I wanted to write about, the differences between China and America, socially and politically.

Did you know that they don’t vote here? And they could care less right now. Things are just swell for the average Chinese citizen. The standard of living has grown faster than Yao Min’s shoe size when he was just a kid. Everyone is buying cars and houses, investing in the Chinese Stock Market.  It’s the new Middle Class. You see, China is actually trying to build a middle class instead of devour one like America.  Knowing a manufacturing based economy will not go on forever, they are changing focus to a domestic consumer based economy.

What about the poor peasants? I knew you were gonna ask that (the bat thing). There have been tax cuts for the poor, tax increases on the rich and the abolition of all taxes for rural farmers this year.  The Moonbat of Unity would probably tell you that this has always been a problem in China’s distant past. Land and taxes.

And did they cut social services to do it? Nope, they are pouring money into rural schools and poor kids and minorities are now guaranteed 9 years of free education. In case you didn’t know, the public school system here is not free. Also in the works, a new Social Security System and a National Health Care Plan.

Just outside my window is a new hospital, a new suspension bridge, a new park and a planned zoo. This is all going on just in a one mile kilometer radius of my apartment (new 3 bedroom hi-rise, pool, gated, partial furn. for $120 US per month in case you are wondering.)

It’s not just here in Haikou, Hainan Island, it’s everywhere in South China I’ve visited.  Most sizable cities have new airports, train stations and bus terminals. To get to work I catch an air-conditioned city bus with flat screen TV’s to watch (fare:12 cents). The modern regional buses play movies and have stewardesses and most are quite comfortable even for my long legs. The taxis run on LP gas and the fares are reasonable. They are building subways, magnetic and bullet trains all over the country.

But they don’t have free elections you say. Here’s where the difference is of course.  They do have elections, but they are not the same as ours.  They call it a Social Democracy and perhaps that sums it up pretty good.  It starts at the grassroots level; districts, villages and rural communities have established watchdog groups to root out local government corruption and abuse.  These groups are elected by the community and no member or relative of a Party Member may serve. These watchdogs report to and are authorized by the Beijing government. Local politicians then must try to advance up the chain through the party into higher office if they choose.  It is a meritocracy, a system in which the talented are chosen and moved ahead on the basis of their achievement and rigid intellectual criteria. Positions of trust, responsibility and social prestige are earned, not inherited or assigned.

(Guess that would leave Mr.Is our children learning out, huh?)

Yes, there is corruption but again, new laws have gone into effect.  You may be aware that they former mayor of Shanghai was convicted of corruption and suffered a fatal attack of lead poisoning. He was not the only one. A guy that dumped tons of poison into a major river was given a suspended death (life) sentence. I’m sure Tom DeLay and his ilk are quite happy to be American Citizens when they see this. And speaking of the death penalty, local judges can no longer order executions. All death sentence cases must go through Beijing judges and executions are said to have dropped dramatically. Also, the types of offenses that are punishable by death have been reduced.

So as you can see, the US and Zhongguo are 2 different countries with 2 different systems. Are some of the people unhappy in China? Of course, but name me one place on this planet where every citizen is happy and there is no oppression, where there is no poverty, hunger or corruption.

Government is merely a way to serve the needs of and protect a nation’s citizens. Our system of government has evolved over time, as has China’s. They are still evolving and in my opinion, we are de-evolving.  Some systems are better than others, some worse, but all have one possible weakness. A bad leader. This is our dilemma, we are being out led.  China’s leader wants to do what it takes and our fearless leader takes what he wants.

If you are old enough to remember the Kennedy years, you will recall what pride we had as a nation, what lofty goals we had. I do. About 15 years ago or so, I visited my old high school in Southern Indiana for the first time since I left in 1965.  Most of it had been demolished but the large gymnasium where I took gym class was still standing. So, I walked inside and after about 10 steps a huge wave of emotion swept over me. I almost fell down the feeling was so overwhelming and unexpected. It was the exact spot where I was standing on November 22, 1963 when the P.A. announced that President Kennedy had been murdered in Texas.  I wasn’t trying to remember this, my mind associated this precise spot with that terrible day and released the same emotions I felt that day.

After years of lackluster, shortsighted and down-right dumb leadership, we need someone to show us out of this dark, dark place George W. Bush has taken us.  There was one I thought that could, but he would not, wounded by the mean spirited politics of the time, he has fallen. There is one still standing and in my opinion, that is Barack Obama.

You might ask why I should care if I’m so happy in China.  Why, if their system is running on all 8 cylinders and we running on fumes should it matter to me? The answer…because someday I want to come home to the America I remember before that horrid day in 1963. I want us all to go there…together and it will take someone that can unite us again.  I believe that someone is Barack Obama.

Can we get there from here?

Well, I dreamed I saw the silver

Space ships flying

In the yellow haze of the sun,

There were children crying

And colors flying

All around the chosen ones.

All in a dream, all in a dream

The loading had begun.

They were flying Mother Nature’s

Silver seed to a new home in the sun.

Flying Mother Nature’s

Silver seed to a new home.

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     ^{Neil Young, After the Goldrush}