民主，最危险的宗教
第三部分-选择政府领导人
By Larry Romanoff, October 29, 2022
拉里·罗曼诺夫著，2022年10月29日
译者：珍珠
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.
美利坚合众国最伟大的一点是，它确实是一片拥有无限政治机会的土地，在这个国家里，一个没有教育、培训或经验的人，一个既缺乏智力又缺乏能力的人，一个性格极其腐败的人，都可以升任美国总统。很多人都这么做了，而且不只是在美国。
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，民选政府官员不需要任何资格证书就可以胜任自己的职位。在这篇文章中，我与一位7-11岁的人力资源主管进行了一次交谈，他告诉我，在填补一个商店经理的职位时，他们寻找的是多年成功的零售营销经验，而且在所有申请人中，他们都非常喜欢本科学历。但要成为西方民主国家的总统或总理，没有任何先决条件。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控诉，即使是7-11的管理者也必须具备某种性质的最低资格，但美国总统、加拿大总理或任何其他西方民主国家都不需要这样的资格。
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.
在一个多党选举制度（“民主”制度）中，任何人都可以在治理国家上“试一试”。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、家园（或生命），但他什么也没失去。在生活的其他任何地方都不可能有这么大的权力和承担这么大的责任，而对无能或糟糕的判断力几乎没有什么后果。当然，这里有一些西方人似乎无法也不愿面对的严重问题。作为聪明人，我们怎么可能告诉自己这是所有系统中最好的呢？单是在这个基础上，它不可能是最好的；所有迹象都表明，这很可能是最糟糕的情况。
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反常现象，这种态度表明，学校、医院、企业甚至慈善机构在某种程度上都是“真实”的东西，有着真实的目的，如果管理不善，可能会产生严重后果，但政府以某种反常的方式不是真实的，而是一个参与没有要求、严重管理不善没有后果的游戏。政府——对整个国家的战略管理——被视为某种团队运动，缺乏经验和无能不是获得职位的决定性因素。你不觉得这幅画有问题吗？有些事情确实出了反常的问题；“政府”已经被“政治”所取代。
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.
让我们试着明确一点：管理一个国家，为一个拥有数千万或数亿人口的国家决定和实施一个战略方向，是一项重大任务，责任重大。成为这样一个管理团队的领导者绝不是什么事。一个国家的总理或总统负责所有公民的福祉、经济、外交政策及其与所有其他国家的关系、军事和相关决策。此人的决定可能会导致数百万人死亡，可能会改善或破坏世界和平与安全。责任是艰巨的，我相信我们都会同意，这不是一个适合孩子的地方，不适合无知、缺乏经验和未经训练的人。
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这一致命缺陷，我们可以把它与另一种模式进行比较。尽管预计会有大量人指责我是中国政府的傀儡，但让我们看看中国的做法。我们最终会回到西方模式。
Selecting China’s Government Leaders
中国领导人的选举
A Bit of Background
一些背景
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.
许多西方人或多或少都知道中国的高考，这是中国一年一度的大学入学考试，每年有大约1亿名考生参加。 这场考试相当困难，甚至可以说是残酷的，考试内容包括了许多科目，考试总共持续3天。考试要求学生具有渊博的知识、深刻的理解能力、极高的智商，这些考试要求学生的学习基础扎实，偏科的学生几乎不可能取得好成绩。在高考冲取得好成绩的学生，在中国15亿人中只占1%。那些在高考中获得高分的学生们，不仅能够进入中国数一数二的大学，而且也能够在毕业后获得高薪工作和美好的生活。越是远离金字塔尖的学生，前景越是渺茫。
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.
很少有西方人意识到，中国同样也有一套律师资格证考试系统，每个中国律师要想在中国从事法律工作，就必须通过这门考试。对于这些人来说，“困难”、“残酷”、“绝望”已经远远不能形容他们了。这些资格证考试不仅要求极高的智商，而且还要求将法律条文烂熟于心，要求对法律有深刻的理解，困难程度甚至让很多想要从事法律工作的人望而却步。在每年250000名法律考生中，只有大约2000人才能通过考试，取得法律从业执照，成为律师或其他法律职业。如果你亲眼见到任何一名中国律师，可以确定的是，你所见到的是15亿中国人中只占0.1%的顶级社会精英。
I mention these two items only to introduce a third – the Civil Service Examinations.
我举出这两个例子，仅仅是为了第三个例子做铺垫——中国公务员考试
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.
早在几个世纪以前，中国还是封建王朝时代，在那个时候，公务员考试就已经出现了，目的是选拔最优秀的人到政府机构任职。当时的公务员考试，持续时间72小时，需要考生具有从古到今渊博的知识才能通过。正如一本书的作者说说的那样：“那是一个非常公平的制度，因为参加考试的人不分高低贵贱。”几乎任何人，甚至来自贫穷城镇的没怎么读过书的人，都能去参加考试，如果那个寒门子弟考得不错，不仅他/她本人都会永久成为公务员，而且他/她的家庭也会鸡犬升天。中国现当下的这个公务员考试，是古代的科举制度的进化版本，如今，中国每年都有上百万大学毕业生参加这个考试。这个考试难度变态。在200万考生中，大约只有1万名考生能够通过考试。即便通过了考试，也并不意味着考生能够立刻获得公务员的工作，还得进入第二论面试环节。如果你亲眼见到任何一个成功进入中国中央政府的人，你可以确定，你见到的是一名不仅智商令人生畏，而且也受过优良教育，拥有渊博的文化知识，对中国的各种问题有广泛的了解，这种人在15亿中国人中只占0.01%。
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.
在中央政府公务员考试之前，考生还必须具备30到40年的地方政府工作经验。中央政府公务员中，只有1%的人有权力组建中共中央政治局人选，而在中央政治局中，只有几个人才有可能成为中国主席。那些通过中国公务员考试的人，将会成为中国各级政府的终身高级官员，但是即便如此，这些人中只有那些在工作中做出极为突出业绩的人，才能够获得晋升。
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.
我们无法回避一个问题，那就是中国人在智商测试中的分数，比西方高加索人不普遍高出10%的分数。但是，当我们用中国金字塔塔尖那一部分人，来跟西方高加索人对比的话，你很可能会意识到智商的差距会更加明显。而事实也确实如此。笔者本人写了如此多故事背景，想要表达的重点是，西方国家的“政客们”与中国的公务员们是存在巨大差距的。差距如此之大，以至于在他们之间进行比较，都很大程度上毫无意义。中国政府官员都是些什么人？都是些受过高等教育的和良好训练的前工程师、前经济学家、前社会学家、前科学家，博士一大把。当任何人走在中国顶级大学的校园里时，就能深切感受到，中国共产党正在吸引这个国家最优秀最开明的年轻人加入其中。
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.
有人会告诉你，在中国，家庭裙带关系可以为一些官员的子女提供政府工作，这一说法在三四线小县城等——地方一级的小职位上可能是正确的，尽管如此，除此之外的其它情况全都极其困难，在国家一级的政府部门更是不可能的。没有多少裙带关系的人可以进入决定中国命运的高级职位，这些职位是给有丰富经验和能力的人保留的。同样值得注意的是，那些有钱有影响力的家族，无法染指中国高级职位。在中国最高领导层当中，有25位政治局委员，其中只有7人有雄厚的财力背景。剩下的那些人，包括中国主席和总理，都来自没有特殊优势的背景，仅凭自身的功绩就走上了巅峰。在更大的中央委员中，那些有特权背景的人更为稀少。西方媒体对中国“太子党”的提及只是一种冒犯和无知的种族诽谤。
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.
这里还有另一个在西方从未讨论过的极其重要的区别。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认真证书的人，因为我们不能选出管理国家税务局或交通网络的笨蛋。这些人不顾政客们的影响而发挥作用。但由于中国只有一个“政党”，这个国家没有我们可以称之为“政客”的东西；事实上，所有中国政府官员都是我们所说的“公务员”。他们都只是各级管理人员。在西方，以加拿大为例，传说财政部或外交部的高级公务员通常鄙视民选政客，他们通常对部门的实际运作知之甚少，必须向公务员请教。在中国，情况恰恰相反，外交部长或财政部长是知识的最终宝库。这与我们在任何公司中看到的基本相同，在任何公司，财政部是最终权力机构，而不是“民选”高管，因为财政部是一个“边学习边赚钱”的地方，这就是我们在选举民主中看到的。
The World’s Number One University
世界第一大学
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”.
隐藏在北京的一所大学几乎可以肯定是世界上顶尖的大学，这一点在中国并不广为人知，在西方也根本不为人所知，它在理念和执行方面的素质让所有西方大学都相形见绌。这所大学有时被称为“中国最神秘的学校”，是中央党校，其学生和教职员工人数都比哈佛、剑桥或索邦等大学高出一个数量级。要说入学资格是极端的，在某种程度上是轻描淡写的。这不是一个像哈佛这样的地方，向捐赠基金捐赠500万美元，就能让你愚蠢的后代入学，他们将主要由兼职的所谓兼职“教授”授课。
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.
该大学最初成立于1933年，其目的是教育和培养那些通过公务员考试的人，并为他们的职业发展和管理世界上人口最多的国家的责任做好准备。它是国家未来领导人的训练场，校长通常是中国国家主席。到目前为止，这所大学已经培训了大约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水平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、绿树成荫的校园非常安静，与中国所有其他大学不同，这里没有自行车，而是学校大楼外的道路两旁都是黑色奥迪。大门一周七天、每天24小时都有武装警卫，这是在那里学习的人所必需的安全措施——省长和部长、中青年官员、他们的嘉宾，有时是国家的最高领导人。”
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、最聪明的，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相去甚远。这里的教授完全是全国最有能力的。客座讲师包括中国高级官员，在重要的辩论话题中，该校毫不犹豫地从任何国家引进了世界上最著名的专家，从经济学和国际金融到社会政策、外交政策、产业政策，甚至军事事务。此外，经常担任客座讲师的往往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，而且使他们有了更广阔的视野，更好地了解不同的文化、价值观和政治制度。
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摆在桌面上。没有被禁止的话题，甚至反动、革命或纯粹的古怪立场都会被讨论、分析和辩论到解决问题。例如，如果主题是国家医疗保健，将讨论、审查、辩论和解释各种规划、问题、解决方案和替代方案，并提供任何数量的知名专家作为参考材料。当这些课程完成后，所有学生都将达到MBA水平或对整个学科有更好的理解。这只是他们将要遇到的众多问题中的一个。
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，已经有了很高的教育水平，并且已经表现出了广泛的理解和非凡的智慧，这些额外的培训和教育层会在整个政府中产生令人印象深刻的整体知识和能力。西方不存在这样的制度。
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.
一般的过程是，最有前途的中青年官员每隔一段时间就会进入这所大学，每次最多一年，以扩大他们对与中国和政府有关的所有问题的知识和理解，然后通常会升职。中央党校的Stints将与地方、省和国家各级政府部门的轮换任务以及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，这些工作和经验作业与这所大学的课堂时间交替进行，学生们吸收他们在上一次作业中学到的知识，并为下一次任职做准备。
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.
个人可能会通过小型地方政府、企业财务部门轮换，担任当地医疗保健主管、省级教育主管，成为一个小城市的市长、另一个企业部门的主管、一个大城市的市长，一个省的省长，一个大型国有公司的高级执行官或首席执行官，等等，也许每次都会回到大学接受额外的教育和培训。这些人没有学会如何成为更好的“政治家”；他们正在学习如何“管理”一个国家的方方面面。
Evaluations
评价体系
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.
在每一个阶段，每一个政府或企业职位，都会根据一系列标准对现任者进行评估。那些继续发光发热的人将继续进步，成为更有远见和责任感的职位。那些看起来已经达到极限的人将被边缘化。他们不会被免职或解雇，但会得到与其能力相称的职位，超过这个级别他们就无法晋升。从这一切来看，中国拥有世界上唯一一个确保高层能力的政府体系。
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.
在中国的体制中，领导人和官员是由上级来评估的，而不是由不合格和不知情的“街头人”来评估的。以西方国家一个城市的市长为例。一届任期后，谁来评价这个人？普通公众，他们既没有接受过培训，也没有进行此类评估的经验。“公众”不了解这份工作或其要求，也没有事实作为明智评估的依据，这导致了一场本质上的人气竞赛，肤浅是决定因素。如果我要问你一个问题：一个城市的市长做什么，很少有人能做出一致的回应。说“他管理着这座城市”并不是一个答案。事实是，除了模糊的一般术语外，我们对市长的工作职能和责任知之甚少；没有细节。如果这个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，即选民，无法知道市长是好是坏、无能还是腐败，因为他们缺乏进行合理评估的工具和知识。
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.
在中国的体制中，（作为上述“教育过程”的一部分），市长的评价标准是他的前辈、在他出生之前担任过大小城市市长的人、对工作的方方面面都了解透彻、不会上当的人。这与在公司中一样，例如，我们评估区域销售经理的工作表现。谁进行此评估？推销员？工厂里的工人？不，他们没有知识或能力。这个人是由他的上级来评估的，他们非常了解他的工作，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.
省级政府领导人也面临同样的情况，他们的表现由上级评估，由在治理省份方面有丰富经验的人评估，他们再次非常了解这项工作，不能上当受骗。但这里还有很多东西是西方人永远不会想到的。一个已经通过入学考试的男人或女人，现在正处于这一辈子的精英统治过程中，可能会被任命为一个省的省长，但这并不是因为他之前的良好行为而获得的声望奖励。相反，这是一种考验。通常，这个新人在上任时会问一个问题：“我如何才能让这个省的GDP翻一番，从而提高所有居民的生活水平？”？而GDP翻了一番，他们做到了。
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.
这里我会给大家举一个现实生活中的例子，这个例子其实很常见。一位新上任的省长找到了该省最贫困的地方，并指派了一个庞大的研究团队来寻找进步的机会。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，他们立即开始寻找植物材料，建设基础设施，为农民开展必要的教育项目，并建立供应链和营销实践。五年内，该地区所有居民都拥有自己的新房，超过一半的人都在开宝马。这样的经济因素很重要，但只是应用的众多指标之一，而候选人的评估正是基于这样的因素。在这里获得成功后，他很可能会回到党校继续深造，并获得另一个任命。在经历了30到40年的这种情况后，随着能力的持续展示，此人可能有资格成为中国的全国代表大会成员。
A Comparison
比较
Contrast this with the Western system where politicians most often have no useful education and no relevant training or experience.
与之形成对比的是，西方的政治体制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.
加拿大新任总理史蒂芬·哈珀只有一个本科学位，他唯一的工作就是在一家公司的邮件收发室工作，当时他加入了一个被摧毁的政党的残余势力，成为了该党的领袖，最终以一种真正残酷的命运成为了总理，在无知中对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，看看你能找到什么），他的长期室友因经营一个庞大的儿童色情团伙而被判处十年监禁。在加拿大的阿尔伯塔省，最近的一位总理是一名高中辍学者，曾任电视新闻记者，他更出名的是一个令人讨厌的习惯性醉酒者，而不是智力或执政能力。他彻底摧毁了加拿大可以说是最好的医疗体系。美国总统乔治·布什以自吹自擂从未读过任何书而闻名，他几乎和罗纳德·里根一样缺乏智慧，而罗纳德·里根唯一的资历就是当过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.
这些人的履历都不足以成为7-11的经理，也没有人表现出智慧或执政能力的迹象，然而荒谬可笑的政治制度让他们得以成为国家和省份的首席执行官。
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.
对任何西方国家的政治人物的背景和资历进行考察，都会发现他们大多是一群有政治抱负的异类，明显缺乏救赎的品质，而且往往腐败透顶。据广泛报道，2008年房地产危机发生后两年内，美国国会议员的财富大幅增加，当时整整50%的中产阶级失去了一半的资产。
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.
在道德和可信度方面，西方政界人士的排名低于二手车推销员和蛇类并不令人意外。在最近的一次美国民意调查中，美国国会两院的政治人物被评为不如蟑螂和虱子那么受欢迎。所有西方政客当选后都会自由地放弃在当选前对人民所做的承诺，这是一个不言而喻的事实，在所有西方社会，政治上的两面性和狡猾都被视为常态。这是如此真实，以至于一位美国评论员最近评论说，“当然，所有的政客都需要撒谎，但克林顿夫妇这么做太容易了，以至于让人不安。”。这样的事情在中国是闻所未闻的。直接对人民撒谎是致命的，但在西方，政府领导人的不诚实是可以接受的，不会有怨言。
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，美国人都不可避免地宣称，作为衡量他们民主制度优越性的标准，“我们有权投票罢免我们不称职的政客”。他们无法想象这样的说法对一个来自另一个国家的聪明人来说有多么离奇和愚蠢。如果你想夸耀自己的政治制度优越，那就告诉我，你的国家根本不可能选出一个白痴。别告诉我你有权在事后把他赶出去。这是对失败的公开承认。
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.
还有一个因素需要考虑，那就是教育和培训。对那些行使决定权来塑造一个国家的西方政客来说，事实上根本没有政府教育或培训。这完全是一种“边学边赚”的制度，而在中国，没有极高的学历是不可能进入的，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.
这个体系在中国国内普遍得到了很好的理解，它与中国文化和传统很好地契合，符合中国人对儒家思想的理解，以及他们对社会秩序和和谐的渴望。西方世界对这一点的理解是模糊的，如果有的话，而且不可避免地会对中国及其政府形成错误的、往往是荒谬的结论。很少有西方人愿意学习中国政府形式的简单基础知识，而更愿意鹦鹉学舌地胡说中国是一个独裁国家，或者像一位作家最近所说的那样，是一个“极度专制的政权”。当然不是这样的事情；西方意识形态的盲目性和故意的无知程度简直令人震惊。
Epilogue
后记
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，想一想，如果你的国家能找出并汇集全美500名最聪明、最聪明、最不腐败、受教育程度最高、经验最丰富的人，然后让国会充满这群人，选出少数最优秀的领导人——总统和内阁成员——会是什么样的情况。再看看这个群体吧，他们不是被意识形态分开的，而是同一个团队的一部分，共同努力实现对美国和美国人最有利的目标。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:
现在再想想别的吧。许多政府官员、外交专家、智库参与者和许多学者都一致表示：
“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，只要发生重要的事情，都不会发生意外。当重大的事情发生时，你可以打赌它是这样计划的。
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，但在这段时间里，似乎从来没有任何人（显然中国人除外）意识到，把没有洗过澡的人和劣等的人赶下街头，不是好政府的理想方法。在那几个世纪里，我们有几十个失败的政府、各种各样的重大失误、崩溃的经济、反复的衰退和萧条、没完没了的战争等等，所有这些都是由数千名无能的政客领导的“人民政府”造成的。然而，在这些年里，在无数次选举中，似乎没有人意识到，认真的学历和能力证明可能是一种进步。
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，我很清楚，从全国挑选最优秀、最聪明的人，并对他们进行广泛的教育和培训，将培养出更高素质的政府官员，这一点对你们来说也同样显而易见。我们是否应该相信，在这几个世纪里，只有你和我意识到了这一点？
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——在伦敦城外活动的哈扎尔黑手党——煽动了一系列取代君主制的欧洲革命时，他们的主要动机之一就是建立一种国家政府形式，让犹太人不可能进一步被驱逐出这些国家。要做到这一点，就必须用一种完全可以在幕后控制的政府形式来取代君主，结果就是我们的多党权力斗争体系。他们从一开始就意识到，一个有政治抱负但缺乏智慧、无知、基本上无能的街头男人，要比这个国家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?
最后再想想，这个显而易见、致命的缺陷从未在（犹太人所有的）媒体上被提及过，也从未在我们的（犹太人出版的）历史或政治学文本中被讨论过，或在其他任何地方被讨论过，至少据我所知是这样的。相反，“民主”被提升为一种神圣的宗教，仅仅质疑它就构成了一种叛逆的亵渎，并且从出生起就作为反映全人类渴望的普世价值观每天都在不停地被宣传。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).
罗曼诺夫的作品他的文章被翻译成32种语言，发表在30多个国家的150多个外语新闻和政治网站上，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。他曾在上海复旦大学担任客座教授，向EMBA高级班讲授国际事务方面的案例研究。罗曼诺夫住在上海，目前正在撰写一系列十本书，这些书通常与中国和西方有关。他是辛西娅·麦金尼的新集《当中国打喷嚏的时候》的撰稿人之一。(沙.2-对付恶魔)
His full archive can be seen at:
他的完整档案可在以下网站查看：
https://www.bluemoonofshanghai.com/ and https://www.moonofshanghai.com/
He can be contacted at:
联系方式如下：
Copyright © Larry Romanoff, Blue Moon of Shanghai, Moon of Shanghai, 2023