(Clearwisdom.net)
(Continued from Part 2: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2008/12/6/102791.html
Part 1: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2008/12/5/102766.html)
6. Does the CCP Truly Care about the "Livelihood of the People?"
When the general public is angry, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is still afraid, fearing that its authority over the country may be jeopardized. The CCP will then issue a "policy" concerning the people's livelihood to calm people down, but its real intention is still to maintain its rule. As a matter of fact, the ideology of the Communist Party (atheism plus the philosophy of violence) renders it indifferent to people's lives, concerned only for its own life. Therefore, no matter how quickly the economy grows, the money spent on people's livelihood is very limited. The CCP does not really care whether or not its citizens can adequately sustain themselves.
All the policies to ensure the "livelihood of the People" require financial support. Although those funds would certainly be embezzled level by level, one major difficulty facing these policies is the lack of funds appropriated by the government. Moreover, even the limited amount of money would be misused or pocketed by officials at different levels of the local governments. The implementation of these policies is truly worrisome.
According to statistics published by The Economist in 2006, China spent only 2.1 percent of its GDP on education, whereas India spent 4.1 percent and Brazil 4.3 percent. Given that education affects a country's future so fundamentally, why can't the government appropriate 10 percent of its GDP to education and why is it so difficult for this most important project to get money? The reason is very simple. The officials in charge of appropriating public monies do not think that education is the most critical issues, and they have too many other places to put the money.
China ranks among the lowest in the world in terms of its expenditures on projects to enhance the basic welfare of its people, yet it is number one when it comes to money spent on luxury and discretionary items. According to statistics collected in 2004, Chinese government officials spent 370 billion yuan on dining out, 398.6 billion yuan on transportation, 240 billion yuan on overseas travel and sightseeing, and 200 billion yuan on gambling. These four items alone total 1.2086 trillion yuan. But the fiscal income for that year was just 2.639647 trillion yuan. Over the years, government officials have become even greedier and have spent more and more on personal consumption at the public's expense. The administrative cost of the Chinese government (including the above mentioned four items) was a mere 4 percent of the total fiscal income in 1974, yet it had climbed to 24 percent by 2006, topping any other country in the whole world. China's administrative cost in 2006 was about 10 times that of Japan's.
Those in charge of public finances can afford to buy a house, seek medical care, and pay school tuitions. These officials have a vested interest in the current political system. Why would they make changes to the system and jeopardize their own benefits? An official used to riding in an Audi wouldn't be willing to change to a domestic car. The only possibility is that he may want to switch to a BMW instead. Government employees in Shanghai are purportedly given housing subsidies and those in Beijing enjoy public transportation subsidies. Such obviously unfair policies are easily implemented, yet it is close to impossible to appropriate some portion of public monies to build schools in rural areas. Those who have the power to appropriate funds are exactly those that will get to enjoy the benefits of those appropriations. Without a monitoring system, it is no wonder government policies tend to benefit the policymakers.
People overseas often can't understand why contractors in China delay paying their workers when they make so much money from big luxury projects yet pay so little to their employees who come from the countryside. People outside of China also cannot make sense of the fact that Chinese residents in certain areas are often forced to relocate in order to make way for so-called new development plans to build luxury apartments and office buildings. These residents are so unfairly under-compensated that some of them set themselves on fire or jump into the river as a protest. Think about the fact that the China's GNP has been increasing at a rate over 30 percent every year, yet so little is spent on improving people's welfare. It is no wonder people resort to such extreme behavior.
7. How the "Bad Policies" Are Protected
"Good policies" lack the guarantee from the government to be implemented, yet "bad policies" have a powerful system to back them up. The right and left hands cooperate very well. This is no surprise given the villainous nature of the Communist Party. For instance, to implement the persecution of Falun Gong, the Party perpetrated slanderous propaganda from top to bottom, involving its judicial, legislative, and law enforcement systems. The military, police, secret service, diplomats, schools, employers, and street committees were all ordered to assist in the persecution. Whoever does not participate wholeheartedly in this despicable effort will be punished and their families implicated.
The Communist regime has committed numerous social injustices. The most typical example is prohibiting lawyers from defending victims, including Falun Gong practitioners, parents who lost their children during the Wenchuan earthquake, and families whose children were harmed by the toxic infant formula. Attorneys with a conscience that are willing to stand up for the victims are pressured by the regime to drop their cases or face expulsion from their law firms or compromise their personal safety. Over 100 lawyers expressed willingness to provide free legal advice to parents whose children were harmed by the toxic baby formula, but the regime pressured them not to accept any of these cases. Gao Zhisheng, a renowned lawyer who defended Falun Gong practitioners, has experienced long-term harassment from the regime, as have his wife and children. Detained numerous times, his current whereabouts remain unknown.
This is to say that the Communist regime only goes through the motions when it comes to doing good things for its people, yet is diligent and hardworking when it comes to doing bad things. The Communist system has fundamentally deviated from the main purpose of a government, which is to serve its people. It is truly an evil system.
8. Be Brave to Protect Your Rights
In Western society, it is a given to fight for one's legal and human rights. Even in ancient China, an average person who was wronged would have been brave enough to stop the sedan of an official (sometimes even the emperor) asking for redress over an injustice. In contrast, Chinese people nowadays, whose backs have been bent by the CCP, do not dare to talk about "protecting their own rights." They will use all kinds of excuses to justify their inaction, such as "fighting for one's rights is the same as getting involved in politics," "it's just like eggs hitting a stone," or "the Party will gradually change for the better on its own." When faced with such immoral leaders, no one dares to stand up for his or her own rights. When faced with leaders that appear to be in favor of helping the people, they say it's not necessary to fight for their rights now that they have good leaders. Many people not only dare not protect their own rights, they will even mock or hit those who do stand up for their rights.
At this point in history, we Chinese people must stand up and let go of our fear of the Communist Party. Life is short and we have no reason to sacrifice future generations. When we give up fighting for our rights, we are leaving the tribulation for our offspring. Fighting for our own rights is fighting for the rights of future generations. No matter how much money we leave to our heirs, it will never be worth more than leaving them their rights of freedom and dignity.
No one is ever alone in the fight for legal and human rights. Since July 1999, Falun Gong practitioners have been peacefully clarifying the facts and opposing the persecution by the CCP. Their actions have enabled more and more people to learn the truth and join them on their journey. The Communist regime bans lawyers from defending Falun Gong practitioners, yet we see more and more lawyers, including Gao Zhisheng, Li Heping, Li Xiongbing, Teng Biao, and Guo Feixiong, standing up for practitioners.
It appears that these lawyers are protecting practitioners' rights. However, if a lawyer cannot represent a victim, how can he still be called a lawyer? In fighting for the victims they are fighting for themselves. These lawyers, when they are fighting for Falun Gong practitioners, are also fighting for the basic right to do what a lawyer is supposed to do.
It is not that the people are afraid of the Communist Party, this is an era when the Party fears the people.
9. Where Is the Way Out?
The way out is through one's mouth. One simply needs to speak up.
When someone claims that the Party's policies concerning the "livelihood of the People" are good and feels grateful to the Party, you can tell him that, although the CCP appears to be enacting so-called "good policies," it is at the same time suppressing freedom of speech and belief and not allowing people to stand up for their rights. With its control over the media and legal system, the Party prevents those "good polices" from ever being implemented.
When someone claims how he is moved by certain pro-people leaders and is thus filled with hope for the Party, you can tell him never to generalize his love for certain leaders to the whole Party. Under the system of the Communist Party, history tells us over and over again that individual Party leaders can never make a big difference and that the spirit of the Communist Party is committed to suppressing human nature. As long as the Party remains in power, no matter how much in favor of helping the common people certain leaders are, they cannot effect any significant change.
When someone repeats the regime's lies about Falun Gong, you can tell him to stand up for practitioners' rights to speak and their freedom of belief, even if he does not agree with the teachings of Falun Gong. You can tell him that he will eventually harm himself if he allows the destruction of things he does not agree with. You can tell him that the corruption of Chinese society stems from the collapse of morality and loss of honesty and trust. Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is of critical importance to restoring the morality of the Chinese nation.
When someone tries to make excuses for the CCP, you can tell him that the people are not interested in having the Party do anything, but rather they want the Party not to do things that harm people. Returning people's freedoms it not a matter of votes or money--it only requires that the Party stop doing evil. Even ancient Chinese emperors allowed freedom of speech and belief, why can't the Communist Party?
When someone hands a copy of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party to you, do not think that person is involved in politics. It is the mission of every Chinese person to help each other see through the evil nature, origin, and history of the Communist Party. Under the rule of the Party, it is no use talking about getting rid of corruption and rebuilding trust and morality. Disintegrating the Communist Party is fundamental to the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
When someone urges you to withdraw from the Party and its subordinate organizations, do not hesitate. Tell yourself to quit. Trust yourself. The society will not turn upside down because of your withdrawal from these organizations. People will see that one more soul has just freed itself from the Communist Party.
I hope this article will help the readers demystify the claim that the "central government's policies are always good," and courageously join everyone in quitting the Party and its subordinate organizations.
Views expressed in this article represent the author's own opinions or understandings. All content published on this website are copyrighted by Minghui.org. Minghui will produce compilations of its online content regularly and on special occasions.
Category: Perspectives
