评论 | 民主并非美国独有
The U.S. Capitol building is seen past the Washington Monument as the sun sets, December 26, 2020. /Getty
Editor's note: Danny Haiphong is an independent journalist and researcher in the United States. He is a contributing editor to the Black Agenda Report, co-editor of Friends of Socialist China and founding member of the No Cold War international campaign. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.
编者按：丹尼·海防是一位美国独立记者和学者。他是《黑人议程报告》的特约编辑、《社会主义中国之友》的联合编辑、“拒绝冷战”全球倡议的发起人之一。本文仅代表作者观点，不代表CGTN的观点。
U.S. President Joe Biden will hold the "Summit for Democracy" beginning on December 9. According to the U.S. Department of State, the summit will "provide a platform for leaders to make both individual and collective commitments to defend democracy and human rights at home and abroad." President Biden has asserted that the summit is one step in a long-term process of "democratic renewal."
美国总统拜登将于12月9日召开所谓“民主峰会”。据美国国务院称，该峰会将“给各国领导人提供一个为捍卫国内外的民主和人权做出个人和集体承诺的平台”。。拜登称，该峰会是“民主复兴”长期进程的一步。
The summit, far from an example of "renewal," reinforces the worldview that the United States possesses a monopoly on democracy. It begins from the vantage point that the United States is positioned to teach others about the perils of "authoritarianism." Democracy is rendered abstract; a lofty goal that is achievable only when the United States is the force leading the effort. Terms such as transparency, corruption, and human rights are used to draw a sharp contrast between U.S.-style democracy and other forms of governance that fail to conform to its standards.
该峰会绝非“复兴”的范例，而是为了强化美国垄断民主的世界观。美国自诩占据着民主高地，向其他国家大谈“专制主义”的危害。民主被抽象化了；它变成了一个崇高的目标，只有当美国是为民主奋斗的领导力量时才有可能实现。“透明度”、“腐败”、“人权”等词汇被用以鲜明对比美式民主和不符合美国标准的其他治理模式。
However, the United States is in no position to lecture the world about democracy. Democratic governance in the United States faces several crises of confidence. First, the United States' political system has been unable to adequately address the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic was politicized in the United States from the outset, with neither major party in Washington being able to take responsibility in charting a truly national response to the public health crisis. Such political turmoil has led to more than 785,000 U.S.-based deaths from COVID-19 and counting.
然而，美国没有资格就民主问题对其他国家说三道四。美国自己的民主治理就面临着信任危机。首先，美国的政体无法有力应对新冠疫情。新冠在美国从一开始就被政治化，两党都拒绝担责，没有为这场公共卫生危机制定有效的国家应对方案。这样的政治混乱已导致超过78.5万美国人死于新冠肺炎，而且死亡人数还在上升。
The politicization of COVID-19 has only exacerbated a deeper crisis in U.S. "democracy." A growing number of people in the United States have lost trust in the political process. According to Pew Research Center, a mere 20 percent of people in the United States trust the federal government to "do the right thing" most or all of the time. Media institutions in the United States are also suffering from declining trust. Although the United States champions "free speech" as a key pillar of democracy, less than half of U.S. population trusts traditional media such as the New York Times or CNN.
美国“民主”本已深陷危机当中，而新冠病毒的政治化加剧了危机。在美国，越来越多的人对政治进程失去了信心。根据皮尤研究中心的数据，美国仅有20%的人认为联邦政府在几乎所有时间会“做正确的事”。美国的媒体机构的信任度也在下降。尽管美国倡导将“言论自由”作为民主的关键支柱，但只有不到一半的美国人信任传统媒体，如《纽约时报》或美国有线电视新闻网。
Houston Fire Department EMS medics transport a COVID-19 positive patient to a hospital in Houston, Texas, August 20, 2021. /Getty
The distrust in U.S. media and political institutions reflects a major limitation of U.S. democracy. U.S. democracy emphasizes abstract values over concrete improvements to society. U.S. institutions and leaders frequently boast of the inherent superiority of their democracy but rarely articulate how democratic values apply to the problems confronting the people. People in crisis seek out, and often times demand, change. During the global economic crisis of 2008, millions of U.S. workers placed their hopes in the incoming Barack Obama administration to provide redress for spikes in unemployment and home foreclosure. Instead, financial institutions on Wall Street were given large bailouts that helped them continue the same speculative practices that led to the economic crisis in the first place.
美国民众对媒体和政治机构的不信任显现出美国民主的局限性。美式民主强调的是抽象的价值观，而不是对社会的具体改善。美国的机构和领导人经常吹嘘其民主固有的优越性，却很少阐明民主价值观如何适用于民众所面临的问题。处于危机中的人们寻求并且常常强烈要求变革。在2008年的全球经济危机中，数百万美国工人寄希望于即将上台的奥巴马政府，希望其能为失业率和房屋止赎的激增提供帮助。然而，结果正相反，华尔街的金融机构得到了新政府的大量资助，延续当初导致经济危机的投机行为。
The U.S. tendency to render democracy abstract is no accident. All systems of governance possess a definite social character no matter how much this fact is avoided by mainstream U.S. institutions. U.S. democracy is not a democracy of the whole people. It is more accurately characterized as a democracy of the wealthy, by the wealthy, and for the wealthy. This fundamental contradiction requires the widespread dissemination of American exceptionalism – the ideology which presumes that the U.S. system of governance is superior to all others regardless of its historic and current problems.
美国将民主抽象化的趋势并非偶然。所有的治理体系都具有明确的社会特征，美国主流机构无论如何也回避不了这一事实。美国的民主不是所有人的民主。更准确地说，它是富人的民主，由富人实施，为富人服务。这一根本矛盾让“美国例外论”广泛传播。“美国例外论”无视美国历史上和当前的问题，只是自认为美国的治理体系优于其他国家。
American exceptionalism effectively reinforces the U.S.'s hegemonic ambitions. China and other countries targeted by U.S. hostilities are labeled "authoritarian" in an attempt to verify the so-called exceptional character of U.S. democracy. The contrast serves two purposes. U.S. elites escape accountability by projecting the shortcomings of their own system onto other nations. Furthermore, the depiction of China and other countries as "bad" or "evil" allows the U.S. foreign policy establishment to exploit racial animus in service of increased military aggression.
“美国例外论”强化了美国的霸权主义野心。中国和其他被美国敌对情绪所针对的国家被贴上了“专制主义”的标签，以试图证明美国民主所谓的特殊性。这种对比有两个目的。一是美国的精英们可以通过把自己制度的缺陷投射到其他国家来逃避责任。二是只要将中国和其他国家描述为“坏的”或“邪恶的”，美国外交政策机构就能够利用种族敌意更嚣张地军事侵略别国。
U.S. "democracy" has lost significant prestige over the past several decades. The world looks upon the U.S. persecution of Julian Assange, the U.S.-led expansion of destructive wars, and the massive racial and economic inequality afflicting U.S. society as deeply incongruent with the needs of humanity in this moment of global crisis. Democracy is not a one-size fits all model. China, and indeed all nations, has the right to pursue its own political and economic models of democracy free from external interference. The Biden administration's "Summit on Democracy" is unlikely to address these issues and is just another opportunity for the U.S. to dress up its dangerous "America First" approach to politics in the garb of democracy.
过去几十年，美式“民主”已极大丧失威信。全世界都认为，美国对阿桑奇的迫害、对扩大破坏性战争的蓄意引导以及大规模种族歧视和经济不平等，与人类在全球危机时刻的需要极不协调。民主模式不是一刀切。中国和所有其他国家都有权在不受外界干涉的情况下，追求自己的政治和经济民主模式。拜登政府的“民主峰会”不大可能讨论这些问题，它只是美国为其危险的“美国优先”政治方式披上民主外衣的又一个机会。