October 29, 2022
Democracy, The Most Dangerous Religion
民主，最危险的宗教
5. Chapter 5 – Choosing Government Leaders
第五章——选择政府领导人
By Larry Romanoff
拉里•罗曼诺夫
译文：珍珠
Content
目录
5.1. Selecting China’s Government Leaders — A Bit of Background
5.1. 中国政府领导人的选择 一点背景
5.2. The World’s Number One University
5.2. 世界排名第一的大学
5.3. Evaluations
5.3. 评估
5.4. A Comparison
5.4. 比较
5.5. Epilogue
5.5. 结语
One of the greatest things about the United States of America is that it is truly a land of unlimited political opportunity, a country where a man with no education, training or experience, a man bereft of both intelligence and ability, a man with a character eminently corruptible, can rise to become the President of the United States. And many do. And not only in America.
美国最伟大的事情之一是，它确实是一个政治机会无限的土地，一个没有受过教育、训练或经验的人，一个既没有智慧和能力的人，一个性格极其腐败的人，可以崛起成为美国总统。而且很多人都是这样。而且不仅仅是在美国。
One of the most blindingly-obvious flaws in the Western democratic model is that elected government officials require no credentials of any kind whatsoever to qualify for their positions. For this essay, I had a conversation with an HR executive at 7-11, who informed me that when filling a position as a store manager, they look for years of successful retail marketing experience and very much prefer an undergraduate university degree in all applicants. But to become the President or Prime Minister of a Western democracy, there are no prerequisites. Surely, I am not the only person who sees this as lunacy. It is a serious indictment of the democratic system that even the manager of a 7-11 must have minimum credentials of some nature, but the President of the US or the Prime Minister of Canada or any other Western democracy need have none.
西方民主模式中最明显的缺陷之一是，当选的政府官员不需要任何资格证书来获得职位。在这篇文章中，我与7-11的一位人力资源主管进行了交谈，他告诉我，在填补店铺经理职位时，他们寻找多年成功的零售营销经验，并且非常喜欢所有申请人的本科学位。但是要成为西方民主国家的总统或总理，没有先决条件。当然，我不是唯一一个认为这是疯狂的人。这是对民主制度的严重指控，即使是7-11的经理也必须具备某种性质的最低资格证书，但美国总统或加拿大总理或任何其他西方民主国家不需要任何资格证书。
In a multi-party electoral system (a “democracy”) anyone can ‘try his hand’ at running the country. If he fails, the economy may suffer, millions may lose their jobs or their homes (or their lives), but he loses nothing. In no other part of life is it possible to have so much power and take on so much responsibility, with so few consequences for incompetence or bad judgment. Surely there is something very wrong here that Westerners appear unable and unwilling to face. How is it possible for us as intelligent people, to tell ourselves this is the best of all systems? On this basis alone it cannot possibly be the best of anything; all indications are that it could well be the worst.
在多党选举制度（“民主”）中，任何人都可以“尝试”管理国家。如果他失败了，经济可能会受到影响，数百万人可能会失去工作或家园（或生命），但他不会失去任何东西。在生活的其他方面，一个人不可能拥有如此大的权力并承担如此多的责任，而不会因为能力不足或判断失误而承担如此少的后果。这里肯定有一些西方人似乎无法或不愿意面对的非常错误的东西。我们作为聪明人，怎么能告诉自己这是所有制度中最好的？仅凭这一点，它就不可能是最好的；所有迹象都表明它很可能是最糟糕的。
There is something disturbingly perverse here, an attitude suggesting that schools, hospitals, corporations, even charities, are somehow ‘real’ things with real purposes and with potentially serious consequences if mismanaged, but that government in some perverted way is not real, but a game where participation has no requirements and gross mismanagement has no consequences. Government – the strategic managing of an entire country – is treated like some kind of team sport where inexperience and incompetence are not determining factors in obtaining a position. Doesn’t it seem to you that something is wrong with this picture? Something is indeed perversely wrong; “government” has been replaced by “politics”.
这里有一种令人不安的倒行逆施，一种态度暗示着学校、医院、公司甚至慈善机构都是某种“真实”的东西，有真正的目的，如果管理不善，可能会产生严重的后果，但政府以某种倒行逆施的方式不是真实的，而是一场游戏，参与其中没有要求，严重的管理不善也没有后果。政府——对整个国家的战略管理——被当作某种团队运动，缺乏经验和能力不是获得职位的决定因素。你不觉得这幅图有问题吗？确实有些东西是倒行逆施的错误；“政府”已被“政治”取代。
Let’s try to make something clear: managing a country, deciding and implementing a strategic direction for a nation of tens or hundreds of millions of people, is a big job with grave responsibilities. Being the leader of such a management team is more than nothing. The Prime Minister or President of a country is responsible for the well-being of all citizens, for the economy, for the country’s foreign affairs policies and its relations with all other countries, for the military and related decisions. This person’s decisions can cost millions of lives, can improve or degrade world peace and security. The responsibilities are formidable and I’m sure we will all agree this is not a place for a child, for the ignorant, inexperienced and untrained.
让我们试着说清楚：管理一个国家，为拥有数千万或数亿人口的民族决定和实施战略方向，是一项责任重大的工作。作为这样一个管理团队的领导者，这绝不是什么。一个国家的总理或总统负责所有公民的福祉，负责经济、国家的外交政策及其与所有其他国家的关系、军事和相关决策。这个人的决定可能会使数百万人丧生，可以改善或破坏世界和平与安全。责任是艰巨的，我相信我们都同意这不是一个孩子、无知、缺乏经验和训练的人应该担任的职位。
To fully appreciate this fatal deficiency in the Western model of selecting government leaders, it will be easiest if we compare it to another kind of model. In spite of the anticipated avalanche of accusations of my being a shill for the Chinese government, let’s look at the way China does it. We will return to the Western model at the end.
要充分理解西方选择政府领导人的模式中的致命缺陷，最简单的方法就是将其与另一种模式进行比较。尽管我预计会遭到大量指责，称我为中国政府的代言人，但让我们来看看中国是如何做的。我们将在最后回到西方模式。
5.1. Selecting China’s Government Leaders — A Bit of Background
5.1. 中国政府领导人的选择 一点背景
Many Westerners have at least a dim awareness of China’s Gaokao, the system of annual university entrance examinations, taken by about 10 million students each year. This set of examinations is quite stiff and perhaps even harsh, covering many subjects and occupying three days. The tests require broad understanding, deep knowledge and high intelligence, if one is to do well. These examinations are entirely merit-based and favoritism is impossible. Students who produce the highest grades in these examinations are in the top 1% of a pool of 1.5 billion people. Obtaining a high mark qualifies a student to enter one of the top two or three universities, which will virtually guarantee a great job on graduation, a high salary and a good life. Moving down the scale of results, the prospects become increasingly meager.
许多西方人对中国的高考至少有模糊的认识，高考是每年约1000万学生参加的大学入学考试制度。这套考试相当严格，甚至可能很苛刻，涵盖许多科目，占用三天时间。如果想要取得好成绩，需要广泛的理解、深厚的知识和高智商。这些考试完全是择优录取的，不可能存在偏袒。在这些考试中取得最高成绩的学生在15亿人中排名前1%。获得高分的学生有资格进入前两所或三所大学之一，这将几乎保证毕业后有一份好工作、高薪和美好的生活。成绩越低，前景就越渺茫。
Few Westerners are aware that China also has a system of bar examinations which every graduate lawyer must pass in order to practice law in China. For these, we can bypass “stiff” and “harsh” and go directly to “severe”. These examinations require not only high intelligence but deep knowledge of the laws and a broad understanding of all matters legal, and are so difficult that many refuse to even attempt them. Of about 250,000 graduate lawyers who sit the exam, only about 20,000 will pass and obtain qualifications to actually practice law in China. If you meet a Chinese lawyer, you can be assured you are dealing with someone from top 0.1% of that same pool of 1.5 billion people.
很少有西方人知道中国也有一个律师资格考试体系，每个毕业律师必须通过这个考试才能在中国执业。对于这些，我们可以绕过“僵硬”和“苛刻”，直接进入“严重”阶段。这些考试不仅需要高智商，还需要对法律有深入的了解，对所有法律事务有广泛的了解，而且非常困难，许多人甚至拒绝尝试。在参加考试的约25万名毕业律师中，只有约2万人会通过考试并获得在中国实际执业的资格。如果你遇到一名中国律师，你可以放心，你正在与来自15亿人口中0.1%的顶尖律师打交道。
I mention these two items only to introduce a third – the Civil Service Examinations.
我提到这两个项目只是为了介绍第三个项目——公务员考试。
The Imperial civil service examinations were designed many centuries ago to select the best administrative officials for the state’s bureaucracy. They lasted as long as 72 hours, and required a great depth and breadth of knowledge to pass. As one author noted, “It was an eminently fair system in that the exam itself had no qualifications.” Almost anyone, even from the least educated family in the poorest town, could sit the exam and, if that person did well enough, he or she could join the civil service and potentially rise to a senior management position. The modern civil service examination system evolved from the imperial one, and today millions of graduates write these each year. They are extremely difficult. Of perhaps two million candidates only about 10,000 will get a pass. And that pass doesn’t get you a job; all it gets you is an interview. When you meet someone who has entered the civil service in China’s Central Government, you can rest assured you are speaking to a person who is not only unnervingly intelligent but exceptionally well-educated and knowledgeable on a broad range of national issues, and also is in the top 0.01% of a pool of 1.5 billion people.
中国公务员考试是几个世纪前设计的，目的是为国家官僚机构选拔最好的行政官员。考试持续了72小时，需要非常深厚和广泛的知识才能通过。正如一位作家所说，“这是一个非常公平的制度，因为考试本身没有资格限制。”几乎任何人，即使是来自最贫穷城镇受教育程度最低的家庭，都可以参加考试，如果成绩足够好，他或她可以加入公务员队伍，并有可能升任高级管理职位。现代公务员考试制度是从帝国时期发展而来的，如今每年有数百万毕业生参加。它们非常困难。大约200万名考生中只有大约1万人能通过。而且通过考试并不能让你找到工作；你得到的只是一个面试机会。当你遇到中国中央政府公务员时，你可以放心，你面对的不仅是一个令人不安的聪明人，而且是一个受过良好教育、对各种国家问题有广泛了解的人，也是15亿人口中排名前0.01%的人。
And the examination is only the beginning of 30 to 40 years of an accumulation of the knowledge and experience necessary to become a member of China’s Central Government. The top 1% of this tiny group will then form the Politburo, with one of these few becoming China’s President. These people who have passed the civil service examinations and will become the senior officials and civil servants in China’s national government, have entered a lifelong career in a formidable meritocracy where promotion and responsibility can be obtained only by demonstrated ability.
而考试只是成为中央政府成员所需的知识和经验的30至40年积累的开始。这个小群体中的前1%将组成政治局，其中少数人将成为中国国家主席。通过公务员考试并成为中国国家政府高级官员和公务员的人，已经进入了一个终身的事业，在这个强大的精英统治中，只有通过展示能力才能获得晋升和责任。
We should here consider that the Chinese generally score about 10% higher on standard IQ tests than do Caucasian Westerners. When we couple this with the Chinese process of weeding out the bottom 99.99% from consideration, and add further the prospect of doing the weeding from a pool of 1.5 billion people, you might expect the individuals in China’s Central Government to be rather better qualified than those of most other countries. And they are. The point of this is to bring your attention to the disparity between the quality of “politicians” in Western countries and China’s government officials. The discrepancy is so vast that comparisons are largely meaningless. China’s government officials are all highly-educated and trained engineers, economists, sociologists, scientists, often at a Ph.D. level. A visit to any top university campus in China would make it obvious to anyone that the Communist Party continues to attract the best and the brightest of the country’s youth.
我们应该在这里考虑到，中国人在标准智商测试中的得分通常比西方白人高10%。当我们把这一点与中国从考虑中剔除最低99.99%的过程结合起来，再加上从15亿人口中剔除的预期，你可能会认为中国中央政府的个人比大多数其他国家的人更有资格。他们确实如此。这样做的目的是让你注意到西方国家“政治家”和中国政府官员素质之间的差距。这种差异是如此之大，以至于比较基本上毫无意义。中国政府官员都是受过高等教育和训练的工程师、经济学家、社会学家、科学家，通常都是博士水平。参观中国的任何顶尖大学校园都会让任何人明显地看到，共产党继续吸引着该国最优秀和最聪明的年轻人。
There are some who will tell you that family connections in China can produce a government job for some favored son, a claim that may be true for minor positions at a local level, though extremely difficult beyond that and impossible at the national level. No number of connections will move anyone into senior positions or to the top of decision-making power, those places reserved for persons of deep experience and proven ability. Also noteworthy is that family wealth and influence plays no part in these appointments. Of China’s highest ruling body, the 25-member Politburo, only seven came from any background of wealth or power. The remainder, including China’s President and Prime Minister, came from backgrounds that offered no special advantages and rose to the top based on merit alone. In the larger Central Committee, those with privileged backgrounds are even scarcer. References in the Western media to China’s “Princelings” are merely an offensive and ignorant racial slur.
有些人会告诉你，在中国，家庭关系可以为一些受宠的儿子带来政府工作，这一说法可能适用于地方一级的次要职位，但除此之外就极其困难，在国家一级则不可能。无论有多少关系，都无法将任何人提升到高级职位或决策权力的顶端，这些职位是为经验丰富、能力得到证明的人保留的。另外值得注意的是，家族财富和影响力在这些任命中没有起到任何作用。在中国最高统治机构——由25名成员组成的政治局中，只有7人来自任何财富或权力背景。其余的，包括中国主席和总理，都来自没有特殊优势的背景，仅凭个人能力升至高位。在更大的中央委员会中，拥有特权背景的人更少。西方媒体对中国“太子党”的提及只是冒犯性和无知的种族诽谤。
There is another distinction here of immense importance that is never discussed in the West. In our Western democracies we have “politicians” and we have “civil servants”, who are two entirely different species, the civil servants being those whose jobs require serious credentials because we cannot have elected nincompoops running our National Revenue Service or transportation networks. These people function in spite of the politicians. But because China has only one “party”, the country has nothing that we could refer to as “politicians”; in fact and reality, all Chinese government officials are what we could term “civil servants”. They are all simply managers at various levels. In the West, and using Canada as an example, it is legend that senior civil servants in the Finance or Foreign Affairs Departments generally despise the elected politicians who typically know little if anything about the actual operation of their departments and must refer to the civil servants for knowledge. In China, it is the opposite, where the Minister of Foreign Affairs or Finance is the ultimate reservoir of knowledge. This is essentially the same as we would find in any corporation, where the V-P of Finance is the final authority rather than being an “elected” executive given the Finance Department as a place to “earn while you learn”, which is what we find in an electoral democracy.
这里还有一个非常重要的区别，西方从未讨论过。在我们的西方民主国家，我们有“政治家”和“公务员”，他们是两个完全不同的物种，公务员是那些工作需要严肃证书的人，因为我们不能让选举出来的笨蛋管理国家税务局或交通网络。这些人无视政治家而发挥作用。但是因为中国只有一个“党”，这个国家没有我们可以称之为“政治家”的东西；事实上，所有中国政府官员都是我们所谓的“公务员”。他们都是各级管理人员。在西方，以加拿大为例，传说中，财政部或外交部的高级公务员通常鄙视当选的政治家，他们通常对部门的实际运作知之甚少，必须向公务员寻求知识。在中国，情况正好相反，外交部长或财政部长是知识的最终来源。这基本上与我们在任何公司中所发现的相同，财务副总裁是最终的权威，而不是一个“当选”的行政人员，因为财政部是一个“边学边赚”的地方，这是我们在选举民主中发现的。
5.2. The World’s Number One University
5.2. 世界排名第一的大学
It is not widely known in China, and not at all in the West, that hidden in Beijing is an institution that is almost certainly the top university in the world, one unlike any other, and whose qualities in conception and execution put all Western universities to shame. This University, sometimes called “the most mysterious school in China”, is the Central Party University, with a slate of both students and faculty that are an order of magnitude above colleges like Harvard, Cambridge or the Sorbonne. To say that entrance qualifications are extreme, would be an understatement of some magnitude. This is not a place like Harvard where a $5 million donation to an endowment fund will obtain admission for your dim-witted offspring who will be taught primarily by part-time so-called adjunct “professors”.
在中国，乃至西方，很少有人知道，北京隐藏着一所几乎可以肯定是世界顶尖的大学，这所大学与众不同，其构思和执行能力令所有西方大学相形见绌。这所大学有时被称为“中国最神秘的学校”，是中央党校，其学生和教师数量比哈佛、剑桥或索邦大学等高校的数量多一个数量级。说入学资格极端，可能有些保守。这不是哈佛那样的地方，500万美元的捐赠基金可以让你愚笨的后代获得入学资格，他们主要由兼职的所谓副教授教授。
Originally founded in 1933, the University’s purpose is to educate and mature those individuals having passed the civil service examinations and to prepare them both in their career development and in the responsibilities of governing the world’s most populous nation. It is the training ground for future leaders of the country, and whose headmaster is usually the President of China. To date, this university has trained perhaps 100,000 government leaders and high officials. The school is not normally open to the general public, but in the past few decades this university has offered some very high-level postgraduate and doctoral programs for about 500 non-official students, focusing on philosophy, economics, law, politics and history.
这所大学成立于1933年，其宗旨是教育和培养通过公务员考试的人，为他们的职业发展和治理世界上人口最多的国家的责任做好准备。它是该国未来领导人的训练场，其校长通常是中国的国家主席。迄今为止，这所大学已经培养了大约10万名政府领导人和高级官员。这所学校通常不对公众开放，但在过去的几十年里，这所大学为大约500名非官方学生提供了一些非常高级的研究生和博士课程，重点是哲学、经济学、法律、政治和历史。
“The 100-hectare leafy campus is extremely quiet and here, unlike all other universities in China, we see no bicycles but instead the roads outside school buildings are lined with black Audis. The gates are under armed guard 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the security necessary for those who study there – provincial governors and ministers, young and middle-aged officials, their guest speakers and sometimes the country’s top leaders.”
“这座占地100公顷的绿树成荫的校园非常安静，与中国其他所有大学不同，我们看不到自行车，而是看到校舍外的道路上排满了黑色的奥迪。大门每周七天、每天24小时都有武装警卫守卫，这是在那里学习的人——省长和部长、青年和中老年官员、他们的演讲嘉宾，有时还有国家最高领导人——所必需的安全保障。”
Not only are the admitted students the best and brightest of the top 0.01% who passed the Civil Service examinations, but the professors at this Central Party University are unique in the world, a far cry from the adjunct lecturers at most American universities. The professors here are exclusively the most competent in the nation. Guest lecturers include high-level Chinese officials and, in important topics of debate, the school has no hesitation in bringing in the world’s most renowned experts from any country on everything from economics and international finance to social policy, foreign policy, industrial policy and even military matters. Further, the frequent guest lecturers are often national leaders of other countries and other high-level foreign dignitaries, this to give Chinese officials not only a firm grounding in the knowledge and skills necessary to govern China, but also a wider horizon and better understanding of different cultures, values and political systems.
录取的学生不仅是通过公务员考试的前0.01%中最优秀和最聪明的人，而且这所中央党校的教授在世界上也是独一无二的，与大多数美国大学的兼职讲师大不相同。这里的教授都是全国最优秀的人才。客座讲师包括中国高级官员，在重要的辩论主题中，学校毫不犹豫地从世界各国邀请最著名的专家，从经济学、国际金融到社会政策、外交政策、产业政策甚至军事问题。此外，经常做客的讲师通常是其他国家的国家领导人和其他高级外国政要，这不仅使中国官员在治理中国所需的知识和技能方面有了坚实的基础，而且使他们对不同文化、价值观和政治制度有了更广阔的视野和更好的理解。
The cornerstone of the school’s educational policy is that everything is on the table. There are no forbidden topics, and even reactionary, revolutionary or just plain whacky positions are discussed, analysed and debated to resolution. If, for example, the topic is national health care, all manner of planning, problems, solutions, alternatives, will be discussed, examined, debated, explained, with any number of prominent experts available as reference material. When these sessions are completed, all students will have an MBA-level or better appreciation of the entire subject. And this is only one subject of many they will encounter.
学校教育政策的基石是，一切都可以讨论。没有禁止的话题，甚至反动、革命或只是简单的古怪立场都可以讨论、分析和辩论以得出结论。例如，如果主题是国家医疗保健，各种规划、问题、解决方案、替代方案都将被讨论、审查、辩论、解释，并可参考任何数量的著名专家。当这些会议结束时，所有学生都将对整个主题有一个MBA水平或更高的理解。而这只是他们将遇到的许多主题中的一个。
When you consider that these officials entered the government with an already high level of education, and with an already demonstrated broad level of understanding and exceptional intelligence, these additional layers of training and education cannot help but produce an impressive level of overall knowledge and ability throughout the government. Nothing like this system exists in the West.
当你考虑到这些官员进入政府时已经接受了高水平的教育，并且已经展示了广泛的理解和非凡的智慧，这些额外的培训和教育必然会产生在整个政府中令人印象深刻的整体知识和能力水平。西方没有这样的制度。
The general process is that at various intervals the most promising young and middle-aged officials attend this university for up to a year at a time, to expand their knowledge and understanding of all issues relating to China and government, usually followed by a promotion. Stints at the Central Party University will alternate with rotating assignments in all manner of government Departments at the local, provincial and national levels, as well as with assignments in various state-owned commercial enterprises, both domestic and foreign. In most cases, these work and experience assignments are alternated with classroom time at this university, the students assimilating what they have learned in their prior assignment and receiving preparation for their next posting.
一般流程是，最有前途的年轻和中青年官员在各个时间间隔内，一次最多一年，来这所大学学习，以扩大他们对所有与中国和政府有关问题的认识和理解，通常会得到晋升。在中央党校的学习将与在地方、省和国家各级政府部门的轮换任务交替进行，以及在国内外各种国有商业企业的任务交替进行。在大多数情况下，这些工作和经验任务与在这所大学的课堂时间交替进行，学生吸收他们在之前的任务中学到的知识，并为下一个职位做准备。
An individual might potentially rotate through a small local government, a corporate finance department, work as a local health care executive, a provincial education head, become the mayor of a small city, the head of another corporate department, the mayor of a larger city, the governor of a province, a senior executive or CEO of a major state corporation, and so on, perhaps each time returning to the university for additional education and training. These people are not learning how to be better “politicians”; they are learning how to “manage” all aspects of a country.
一个人可能会在当地的一个小政府、公司财务部门、当地卫生保健主管、省级教育主管、小城市市长、另一个公司部门的负责人、大城市的市长、省长、大型国有企业的高级管理人员或首席执行官等职位之间轮换，也许每次都会回到大学接受额外的教育和培训。这些人不是在学如何成为更好的“政治家”，而是在学如何“管理”一个国家的方方面面。
5.3. Evaluations
5.3. 评估
At each stage, with each government or corporate posting, the incumbents are evaluated on a vast array of criteria. Those who continue to shine will continue to progress to postings of increased vision and responsibility. Those who appear to have reached their limit will be sidelined. They won’t be removed or fired, but will be given postings commensurate with their abilities, above which level they cannot rise. From all this, China has the only government system in the world that ensures competence at the top.
在每个阶段，随着每个政府或公司职位的发布，现任者都会被评估一系列标准。那些继续闪耀的人将继续晋升到具有更高愿景和责任的职位。那些似乎已经达到极限的人将被边缘化。他们不会被免职或解雇，但会被给予与其能力相称的职位，而超过这个水平他们就无法再上升。从所有这些来看，中国是世界上唯一一个确保高层胜任能力的政府体系。
In China’s system, leaders and officials are evaluated by their superiors, not by the unqualified and uninformed ‘man in the street’. Consider the mayor of a city in a Western country. After one term in office, who evaluates this person? The general public, who have neither the training nor experience to perform such evaluations. The “public” do not understand the job or its requirements, and haven’t the facts on which to base an intelligent evaluation, resulting in what becomes essentially a popularity contest, superficialities being the deciding factors. If I were to put the question to you: what does the mayor of a city do, few could provide a coherent response. To say that “he runs the city”, is not an answer. The truth is that, except in vaguely general terms, we have little knowledge or information about a mayor’s job functions and responsibilities; no detail. If the city seems to be doing well, we cannot know if this is due to the mayor’s skill or to circumstances beyond his control. The inconvenient truth is that the local citizens, the voters, have no way to know if a mayor is good or bad, incompetent or corrupt, because they lack the tools and knowledge to perform a sensible evaluation.
在中国体制中，领导人和官员由上级评价，而不是由没有资格和知识的“普通群众”评价。以西方国家某市市长为例。任职一届后，谁来评价这个人？普通大众既没有受过培训也没有经验来做出这样的评价。“公众”不了解工作或其要求，也没有事实依据来做出明智的评价，导致本质上成为一场人气比赛，肤浅成为决定因素。如果我问你：市长做什么，很少有人能给出连贯的回答。说“他管理城市”不是答案。事实是，除了模糊的通用术语外，我们对市长的工作职能和责任知之甚少；没有细节。如果城市看起来做得很好，我们无法知道这是由于市长的技能还是由于他无法控制的情况。令人不安的事实是，当地公民、选民无法知道市长是好是坏、无能还是腐败，因为他们缺乏工具和知识来进行明智的评价。
In China’s system, (as part of the above ‘educational process’), a city mayor is evaluated by his seniors, men who were mayors of small and large cities before he was born, men who thoroughly understand every aspect of his job and who cannot be duped. It is the same as in a corporation, where for example we evaluate the job performance of a regional sales manager. Who performs this evaluation? The salesmen? The workers on the factory floor? No. They haven’t the knowledge or ability. The man is evaluated by his superiors who know his job intimately and who are able to accurately assess his performance and his potential for promotion.
在中国体制下，（作为上述“教育过程”的一部分），市长由他的上级评估，在他出生之前，这些上级是大小城市的市长，他们完全了解市长工作的方方面面，不会被欺骗。这就像在一家公司里，我们评估区域销售经理的工作表现。谁来评估？销售人员？工厂工人？不是。他们没有知识或能力。这个人由他的上级评估，他们熟悉他的工作，能够准确地评估他的表现和晋升潜力。
Provincial government leaders are in the same situation, where their performance is evaluated by their seniors, by men who have immense experience in governing provinces, who again understand the job intimately and cannot be duped. But there is much more here that never reaches Western minds. A man (or woman) who has passed the entrance exams and is now on this lifetime meritocratic process, may be appointed governor of a province, but this is not a reward of prestige for prior good behavior. Instead, it is a test. Typically, this new person will approach his appointment with one question: “How can I double the GDP of this province and thus raise the living standards of all the residents”? And double the GDP, they do.
省政府领导也面临同样的情况，他们的表现是由上级评价的，这些上级是治理省一级的资深人士，他们再次深入了解这项工作，不会被欺骗。但这里还有更多西方人从未接触过的东西。通过入学考试并且现在处于这一终身精英过程的人（或女人）可能会被任命为省长，但这并不是对先前良好行为的声望奖励。相反，这是一个考验。通常，这位新人会带着一个问题来接受任命：“我如何使这个省的GDP翻一番，从而提高所有居民的生活水平？”他们确实使GDP翻了一番。
I will give you here a real-life example that is actually quite common. A new governor sought out the most impoverished location in the province and assigned a huge study team to seek out opportunities for progress. His team discovered that the local climate and soil conditions were excellent for the growing of certain Chinese herbs, and they immediately went to work sourcing plant material, building infrastructure, and conducting the necessary educational programs for the farmers, as well as establishing supply chains and marketing practices. Within five years, all residents of the area owned their own new homes and more than half were driving BMWs. Such economic factors are important, but are only one of many measures applied, and it is on factors such as this, that candidates are evaluated. After his successful experience here, the man would likely return to the party university for further education that would lead to another appointment. After 30 to 40 years of this, and with continuing ability being demonstrated, the man might qualify for membership in China’s National Congress.
我在这里给大家举一个非常普遍的现实例子。一位新州长在全省范围内寻找最贫困的地区，并指派了一个庞大的研究团队寻找发展机会。他的团队发现当地的气候和土壤条件非常适合种植某些中草药，他们立即着手采购植物材料、建设基础设施、为农民开展必要的教育项目，以及建立供应链和营销实践。五年内，该地区的所有居民都拥有了自己的新家，超过一半的人驾驶宝马。这些经济因素很重要，但只是所采取的许多措施之一，候选人正是根据这些因素进行评估的。这位先生在这里取得成功经验后，可能会回到党校继续深造，从而获得另一份任命。经过30到40年的学习，并且能够不断展示自己的能力，这位先生可能有资格成为中国全国代表大会的成员。
5.4. A Comparison
5.4. 比较
Contrast this with the Western system where politicians most often have no useful education and no relevant training or experience.
这与西方制度形成鲜明对比，在西方制度下，政治家通常没有有用的教育，也没有相关的培训或经验。
One of Canada’s recent Prime Ministers, Stephen Harper, had only a minor undergraduate degree and his only job was working in a corporate mail room when he joined the rump of a ruined political party, became the party leader and, by a genuinely cruel fate, eventually became the Prime Minister, irreparably damaging Canada in his ignorance. His successor, Justin Trudeau, was a fired school teacher (do a search; see what you find) whose long-term room-mate was sentenced to ten years in prison for running an enormous child-pornography ring. In Canada’s province of Alberta, a recent Premier was a high-school dropout, a former television news reporter, renowned more for being an obnoxious habitual drunk than for intelligence or governing ability, and who totally destroyed what was arguably the best health care system in Canada. US President George Bush was renowned for boasting that he never read any books, being nearly as painfully unintelligent as Ronald Reagan whose only credential was having been a C-class movie actor.
加拿大最近的一位总理斯蒂芬·哈珀只有一份很小的本科学位，他加入了一个被毁的政党的残余部分，成为该党领袖，并因一个真正残酷的命运最终成为总理，在他的无知中给加拿大造成了不可挽回的损害。他的继任者贾斯汀·特鲁多是一名被解雇的学校教师（搜索一下，看看你发现了什么），他的长期室友因经营一个巨大的儿童色情集团而被判处十年监禁。在加拿大阿尔伯塔省，最近的一位总理是一名高中辍学生，一名前电视新闻记者，他以令人讨厌的习惯性酗酒而闻名，而不是以智力或执政能力而闻名，他完全摧毁了可以说是加拿大最好的医疗保健系统。美国总统乔治·布什以吹嘘自己从未读过任何书而闻名，他几乎和罗纳德·里根一样痛苦地愚蠢，罗纳德·里根唯一的证书就是当过C级电影演员。
None of these men had a CV sufficient to qualify as a manager of a 7-11 and none demonstrated signs of either intelligence or governing ability, yet a ludicrous and absurd political system permitted them to become the CEO of nations and provinces.
这些人都没有一份足以胜任7-11经理的简历，也没有表现出任何智慧或执政能力的迹象，然而，一个荒唐可笑的政治制度允许他们成为国家和省的首席执行官。
An examination of the backgrounds and credentials of politicians in any Western nation will reveal mostly a collection of politically-ambitious misfits strikingly lacking in redeeming qualities, and often corrupt to the core. It was widely reported that within two years after the 2008 housing crisis, when a full 50% of the middle class had lost half their assets, the members of the US Congress had dramatically increased their wealth.
对任何西方国家政客的背景和资历进行审查，都会发现他们大多是一群政治野心勃勃、与世格格不入的人，明显缺乏可取之处，而且往往腐败至极。据广泛报道，在2008年住房危机后的两年内，当50%的中产阶级失去了一半资产时，美国国会议员的财富急剧增加。
It is not a surprise that Western politicians are ranked lower than used-car salesmen and snakes in terms of both morality and trustworthiness. In one recent US public poll, the politicians of both houses of the entire US Congress were rated as less popular than cockroaches and lice. It is accepted as a truism that all Western politicians will, after being elected, freely abandon the commitments made to the people immediately prior to being elected, political duplicity and cunning accepted as normal in all Western societies. This is so true that one US commentator recently remarked that “Of course, all politicians need to lie, but the Clintons do it with such ease that it’s troubling”. Such a thing is unheard of in China. Outright lying to the people would be fatal but, in the West, dishonesty in government leaders is accepted without a murmur.
西方政客在道德和可信度方面排名低于二手车销售员和蛇，这并不奇怪。在最近的一次美国公众民意调查中，整个美国国会两院的政客被评为比蟑螂和虱子更不受欢迎。众所周知，所有西方政客在当选后都会自由地放弃在当选前对人民作出的承诺，政治上的两面派和狡猾在所有西方社会中都是正常的。这是如此真实，以至于一位美国评论员最近评论说：“当然，所有政客都需要撒谎，但克林顿夫妇如此轻松地做到这一点，令人不安”。这样的事情在中国是闻所未闻的。向人民公然撒谎是致命的，但在西方，政府领导人的不诚实行为被接受而没有杂音。
In any discussion about government systems, Americans inevitably stake the claim, as a measure of the superiority of their democratic system, that “We have the right to vote out our incompetent politicians”. They cannot imagine how bizarre and foolish such a claim sounds to an intelligent person from another country. If you want to boast about the superiority of your political system, then tell me it is impossible for your country to elect an idiot in the first place. Don’t tell me that you have the right to kick him out afterwards. That’s an open admission of failure.
在任何关于政府制度的讨论中，美国人不可避免地会声称，“我们有权投票选出无能的政客”，以此作为衡量其民主制度优越性的标准。他们无法想象，这种说法对来自另一个国家的聪明人来说是多么奇怪和愚蠢。如果你想吹嘘你的政治制度的优越性，那么告诉我，你的国家首先不可能选出一个白痴。不要告诉我你有权事后把他赶出去。这是公开承认失败。
There is another factor to consider, that of education and training. For Western politicians who exercise the decision power to shape a country, there is in fact no governing education or training available. It is all a kind of “earn while you learn” system, whereas in China entry is impossible without extreme credentials and, once in the system, the education and training are never-ending.
还有一个需要考虑的因素，那就是教育和培训。对于西方政客来说，他们行使决策权来塑造一个国家，实际上没有可供选择的执政教育和培训。这完全是一种“边学边赚”的制度，而在中国，没有极高的资历是不可能进入的，一旦进入这个制度，教育和培训就永远不会结束。
The system is generally well understood within China, and it meshes well with Chinese culture and tradition as well as conforming to the Chinese psyche in their Confucian overview and their desire for social order and (yes) harmony. The Western world understands this dimly, if at all, and inevitably forms incorrect and often absurd conclusions about China and its government. Few Westerners have bothered to learn even the simple basics about the form of China’s government, preferring instead to parrot foolish nonsense about China being a dictatorship or, as one writer recently stated, “a deeply tyrannical regime”. It is of course no such thing; the level of Western ideological blindness and willful ignorance being simply appalling.
中国对这一制度有普遍的认识，它与中国文化和传统紧密相连，符合中国人的儒家世界观和对社会秩序和（是的）和谐的渴望。西方世界即使有认识，也是模糊的，不可避免地对中国及其政府形成错误和荒谬的结论。很少有西方人愿意学习中国政府形式的简单基础知识，而是喜欢模仿关于中国是独裁政权的愚蠢废话，或者如一位作家最近所说，“一个极度暴虐的政权”。当然没有这样的事情；西方意识形态的盲目性和故意无知程度简直令人震惊。
5.5. Epilogue
5.5. 结语
If you are an American, consider for a moment how it would be if your country could identify and assemble the 500 most intelligent, wisest, the least corruptible, the most educated and experienced people in the nation, then fill Congress with this group, selecting the best few to be the leaders – the President and Cabinet members. Consider also this group not divided by ideologies but all part of the same team, working together to implement what was best for America and Americans. How would your country be different in five years?
如果你是美国人，请想一想，如果你们的国家能够识别并召集全国最聪明、最睿智、最不易腐败、受过最好教育、最有经验的人中的 500 人，然后用这些人填补国会，选择最好的几个人作为领导人——总统和内阁成员，那将会怎么样。再想一想，这群人不是按照意识形态划分的，而是同一个团队的一部分，共同努力实施对美国和美国人最好的事情。五年后，你的国家会有什么不同？
Now, consider something else. Numerous government officials, experts in foreign affairs, think-tank participants, and many academics, have been unanimous in stating in one manner or another:
现在，考虑一下其他事情。许多政府官员、外交事务专家、智库参与者以及许多学者都一致以某种方式表示：
“Whenever something important occurs in either domestic policies or in international affairs, there are no accidents. When something significant happens, you can bet it was planned that way.”
“无论是在国内政策还是在国际事务中，只要发生了重要的事情，就一定不是偶然的。当发生重大事件时，你可以打赌，这是有计划的。”
Multi-party electoral systems (democracies) have been with us for several hundred years, but it seems that during all that time, it has never occurred to anyone (except, apparently, the Chinese) that scraping the unwashed and inferior off the streets, was not the ideal method for good government. During those centuries, we have had scores of failed governments, enormous blunders of every description, collapsed economies, repeated recessions and depressions, interminable wars, and more, all caused by “government by the people” run by thousands of incompetent politicians. And yet through all those years and countless hundreds of elections, it seems to not have occurred to anyone that serious credentials of education and ability might be an improvement.
多党选举制度（民主制度）已经伴随我们几百年了，但似乎在所有这些时间里，从来没有人（除了中国人）想到过，从街上刮掉那些没洗过的劣质品并不是一个好政府的理想方法。 在那几个世纪里，我们有过几十个失败的政府，各种各样的巨大错误，崩溃的经济，反复的经济衰退和萧条，漫长的战争等等，所有这些都是由成千上万的无能政客所经营的“民治政府”造成的。 然而，在所有这些年和无数次选举中，似乎没有人想到过，教育背景和能力的认真认证可能会是一个进步。
Now, it is obvious to me that to select the best and brightest from the entire nation and to give them extensive education and training, would produce a higher caliber of government official, and it must be just as obvious to you. Are we to believe that during all those centuries, you and I are the only two people to have realised this?
现在，对我来说，很明显，从整个国家挑选最优秀、最聪明的人，并给予他们广泛的教育和培训，将产生更高素质的政府官员，这对你们来说也一定很明显。难道我们要相信，在所有这些世纪里，你和我都是唯一意识到这一点的人吗？
When the European Jewish bankers – the Khazar mafia operating out of the City of London, instigated the series of European revolutions that replaced the monarchs, one of their prime motivations was to construct a form of national government that would make impossible further expulsions of Jews from those countries. To accomplish this, it was necessary to replace the monarchs with a form of government that could be totally controlled from behind the scenes, and our multi-party power-struggle system was the result. It also occurred to them from the start that a politically-ambitious but impecunious, unintelligent, uninformed, and largely incapable man off the street would be much easier to buy, to control and to corrupt, than would have been the best and brightest in the land.
当欧洲犹太银行家——在伦敦城外经营的哈扎尔黑手党——煽动一系列欧洲革命，取代君主时，他们的主要动机之一是建立一种国家政府形式，使犹太人不可能从这些国家进一步被驱逐。为了实现这一目标，有必要用一种可以在幕后完全控制的政府形式取代君主，我们的多党权力斗争制度就是由此产生的。他们从一开始就想到，一个政治野心勃勃但贫穷、愚蠢、无知、而且基本上没有能力的人，比这片土地上最优秀和最聪明的人更容易被收买、控制和腐败。
Consider lastly that this blindingly-obvious and fatal defect has never been mentioned in the (Jewish-owned) media, never discussed in our (Jewish-published) history or political science texts, or anywhere else, at least not to my knowledge. Instead, “democracy” has been elevated to a religion so holy that the mere questioning of it constitutes a treasonous blasphemy, and has been incessantly promoted daily from birth as a universal value reflecting the yearnings of all mankind. Do you wonder why?
最后，想想这个显而易见且致命的缺陷从未在（犹太人拥有的）媒体上被提及，从未在我们的（犹太人出版的）历史或政治学文本或其他任何地方被讨论过，至少据我所知是这样。相反，“民主”被提升为一种神圣的宗教，以至于仅仅质疑它就构成了叛逆的亵渎，并且从出生那天起就不断地被宣传为一种反映全人类渴望的普遍价值。你想知道为什么吗？
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Mr. Romanoff’s writing has been translated into 32 languages and his articles posted on more than 150 foreign-language news and politics websites in more than 30 countries, as well as more than 100 English language platforms. Larry Romanoff is a retired management consultant and businessman. He has held senior executive positions in international consulting firms, and owned an international import-export business. He has been a visiting professor at Shanghai’s Fudan University, presenting case studies in international affairs to senior EMBA classes. Mr. Romanoff lives in Shanghai and is currently writing a series of ten books generally related to China and the West. He is one of the contributing authors to Cynthia McKinney’s new anthology ‘When China Sneezes’.(Chapt. 2 — Dealing with Demons).
罗曼诺夫先生的作品已被翻译成32种语言，他的文章发表在30多个国家的150多个外语新闻和政治网站以及100多个英语平台上。拉里·罗曼诺夫是一名退休的管理顾问和商人。他曾在国际咨询公司担任高级管理职位，并拥有国际进出口业务。他曾是上海复旦大学的客座教授，为高级EMBA课程提供国际事务案例研究。罗曼诺夫先生住在上海，目前正在写一系列十本书，通常与中国和西方有关。他是辛西娅·麦金尼的新文集《当中国打喷嚏》的撰稿人之一。(第2章——与恶魔打交道)。
His full archive can be seen at:
他的完整文章库可以在以下看到：
https://www.bluemoonofshanghai.com/ and https://www.moonofshanghai.com/
He can be contacted at:
他的联系方式：
2186604556@qq.com
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本文可能包含受版权保护的材料，其使用未经版权所有者特别授权。此内容根据合理使用原则提供，仅用于教育和信息目的。此内容没有商业用途。
Copyright © Larry Romanoff, Blue Moon of Shanghai, Moon of Shanghai, 2024
