I used to think… Now I think…
I used to think that it would be good to have a good authoritarian leader for a nation. Now, I think that it may be better to have a balance between democracy and absolute power. Taiwan’s politics is a mess. The country’s policy is a mess because of the split between the KMT and PPP. The KMT supports Taiwan’s current state, where no official declaration of independence is made, while the PPP supports official independence. Because of the rift between the two parties, Taiwanese government’s policy, rather than being beneficial to Taiwan as a whole, are just farces set for a party’s or candidate’s cause. For example, a trade pact with China, which is signed by South Korea and other countries who have economic ties with China, is not signed by Taiwan. If signed, this pact can save millions of import tax for both side, which could strengthen Taiwanese industries who exports product to China. Second, the metro card in northern Taiwan, including Taipei. Toyuan, and Hsinchu, is different than those in southern Taiwan, Tainan and Kaohsiung. It is because the government in northern Taiwan is dominated by KMT while the government in the south are dominated by PPP. Hence, because of the difference in the political parties, the local government issue different versions of metro card in northern and souther Taiwan, which can become inconvenient for people who travel. Third, the Taiwanese president, in order to gain the votes from the labour class, made it hard for people to hire Philipino, Vietnamese, or Indonesian maids because these maids who demand lower wages would steal the jobs of these Taiwanese workers who demand higher wages. But this policy would reduce the birthrate of Taiwanese since there are no maids who can help these parents take care of their children. Furthermore, many educated Taiwanese women who graduated from great colleges would stay at home in order to take care of children, which is a waste of talents in Taiwanese companies. Because of the dirty politics in Taiwan that have malignant effect for the nation as a whole, I used to wish that Taiwanese government can a good, capable, and powerful president that has great power over the people, just like the Singaporean government, so that these politicians will not have to implement bad policies for their own cause to win elections.
But after learning about absolutism in Europe, where many once powerful empires such as France, decline because of absolutism, I changed my mind. Although a capable emperor can be beneficial to a country for decades, there are two faults in a system of absolutism. First, although a leader may be shrewd in conquering more land, he may not be as wise in terms of controlling the national budget. Second, the political system itself will lead the country to decline since the country will not always be able to have skillful rulers who makes the best decision for the country as a whole. First, look at the French Louis monarchy. Although Louis XIV increase Frances’s military and economical power by building a strong army, increasing trade, and supporting New France in North America, Louis XIV’s court expenses greatly exceed the proper national budget by building the expensive Versailles and living lavishly. Furthermore, his heirs were not as capable as him, such as Louis XVI who also spend great amount of money to support the English colonists in the American revolution, built more expensive palaces, and live lavish lives. As a result, the monarch increased tax, which further burdened the French peasant’s already hard lives, leading to the French revolution. Another example can be seen by Napoleon’s rule, where he exploited his power over the French national budget to wage wars in Europe. This gave France heavy lost after its defeat, which weakened the state significantly.
After learning about the faults of absolutism and England’s successful constitutional monarchy, I now think that it will not be good for Taiwan to have an absolute ruler like Singapore or 1600s’ France. After the death of Lee Kuan Yu, a capable Singaporean leader, Singapore’s future prosperity is questioned. Thus, it may be best to increase the span of presidency and limiting it to one term so a shrew leader will not have to worry about future elections. But if a president is incapable and sets bad policies, he does not have the right to stay in power after his term like Louis XVI did.
I used to think that it would be good to have a good authoritarian leader for a nation. Now, I think that it may be better to have a balance between democracy and absolute power. Taiwan’s politics is a mess. The country’s policy is a mess because of the split between the KMT and PPP. The KMT supports Taiwan’s current state, where no official declaration of independence is made, while the PPP supports official independence. Because of the rift between the two parties, Taiwanese government’s policy, rather than being beneficial to Taiwan as a whole, are just farces set for a party’s or candidate’s cause. For example, a trade pact with China, which is signed by South Korea and other countries who have economic ties with China, is not signed by Taiwan. If signed, this pact can save millions of import tax for both side, which could strengthen Taiwanese industries who exports product to China. Second, the metro card in northern Taiwan, including Taipei. Toyuan, and Hsinchu, is different than those in southern Taiwan, Tainan and Kaohsiung. It is because the government in northern Taiwan is dominated by KMT while the government in the south are dominated by PPP. Hence, because of the difference in the political parties, the local government issue different versions of metro card in northern and souther Taiwan, which can become inconvenient for people who travel. Third, the Taiwanese president, in order to gain the votes from the labour class, made it hard for people to hire Philipino, Vietnamese, or Indonesian maids because these maids who demand lower wages would steal the jobs of these Taiwanese workers who demand higher wages. But this policy would reduce the birthrate of Taiwanese since there are no maids who can help these parents take care of their children. Furthermore, many educated Taiwanese women who graduated from great colleges would stay at home in order to take care of children, which is a waste of talents in Taiwanese companies. Because of the dirty politics in Taiwan that have malignant effect for the nation as a whole, I used to wish that Taiwanese government can a good, capable, and powerful president that has great power over the people, just like the Singaporean government, so that these politicians will not have to implement bad policies for their own cause to win elections.
But after learning about absolutism in Europe, where many once powerful empires such as France, decline because of absolutism, I changed my mind. Although a capable emperor can be beneficial to a country for decades, there are two faults in a system of absolutism. First, although a leader may be shrewd in conquering more land, he may not be as wise in terms of controlling the national budget. Second, the political system itself will lead the country to decline since the country will not always be able to have skillful rulers who makes the best decision for the country as a whole. First, look at the French Louis monarchy. Although Louis XIV increase Frances’s military and economical power by building a strong army, increasing trade, and supporting New France in North America, Louis XIV’s court expenses greatly exceed the proper national budget by building the expensive Versailles and living lavishly. Furthermore, his heirs were not as capable as him, such as Louis XVI who also spend great amount of money to support the English colonists in the American revolution, built more expensive palaces, and live lavish lives. As a result, the monarch increased tax, which further burdened the French peasant’s already hard lives, leading to the French revolution. Another example can be seen by Napoleon’s rule, where he exploited his power over the French national budget to wage wars in Europe. This gave France heavy lost after its defeat, which weakened the state significantly.
After learning about the faults of absolutism and England’s successful constitutional monarchy, I now think that it will not be good for Taiwan to have an absolute ruler like Singapore or 1600s’ France. After the death of Lee Kuan Yu, a capable Singaporean leader, Singapore’s future prosperity is questioned. Thus, it may be best to increase the span of presidency and limiting it to one term so a shrew leader will not have to worry about future elections. But if a president is incapable and sets bad policies, he does not have the right to stay in power after his term like Louis XVI did.