The generation born or raised after the lifting of martial law in 1987 was the first to experience democratization and enjoy the initial fruits of Taiwan’s freedom. Many of the generation following those who witnessed martial law lifted are now high-school and college students. The political background in which they grew up was the second eight-year governance of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Taiwan’s democracy has issues that need to be addressed in each generation, but the social environment of this latest voting-age generation is freer and more open. If they take universal values such as democracy, freedom and human rights for granted, then they are testing Taiwan’s democratic resilience and putting these staples at risk.
Politics has become increasingly vulgar, populist and beholden to celebrity worship, and the eyeballs come before the brain. The more often Internet celebrities and politicians grab the attention of people on social media, the more they get to shape this generation’s political ideas and attitudes.
Thus, slogans such as “blue and green are equally bad” and even “taking down the DPP” have become dumbed-down slogans used to criticize politics, making withdrawal of Taiwan’s democratic assets easy, and such dumbing-down is not going to stop until democracy is bankrupted.
If young people, including teenagers are the “democratic trust fund babies” following Taiwan’s democratization, then what we ought to worry about is whether Taiwan’s democracy would be a case of “shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations” after next month’s presidential and legislative elections.
Faced with the crisis of democracy being gutted or bankrupt, the elections, like a national shareholders’ meeting, would determine how Taiwan’s democracy could sustainably operate.
There is still more than a month left until the elections, and we still have a chance to explain to the younger generation how to invest in Taiwan’s democracy.
Just as there are risks in financial investment and management, in the market of democracy, what kind of candidates and political parties you invest in and whether your voting judgement is correct determines whether the democracy you live in continues to thrive independently or be subordinated and dominated.
Yang Tsung-li is a political staff member.
Translated by Lin Lee-kai
The gutting of Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) by US President Donald Trump’s administration poses a serious threat to the global voice of freedom, particularly for those living under authoritarian regimes such as China. The US — hailed as the model of liberal democracy — has the moral responsibility to uphold the values it champions. In undermining these institutions, the US risks diminishing its “soft power,” a pivotal pillar of its global influence. VOA Tibetan and RFA Tibetan played an enormous role in promoting the strong image of the US in and outside Tibet. On VOA Tibetan,
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), the leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), caused a national outrage and drew diplomatic condemnation on Tuesday after he arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office dressed in a Nazi uniform. Sung performed a Nazi salute and carried a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf as he arrived to be questioned over allegations of signature forgery in the recall petition. The KMT’s response to the incident has shown a striking lack of contrition and decency. Rather than apologizing and distancing itself from Sung’s actions,
US President Trump weighed into the state of America’s semiconductor manufacturing when he declared, “They [Taiwan] stole it from us. They took it from us, and I don’t blame them. I give them credit.” At a prior White House event President Trump hosted TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), head of the world’s largest and most advanced chip manufacturer, to announce a commitment to invest US$100 billion in America. The president then shifted his previously critical rhetoric on Taiwan and put off tariffs on its chips. Now we learn that the Trump Administration is conducting a “trade investigation” on semiconductors which
By now, most of Taiwan has heard Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) threats to initiate a vote of no confidence against the Cabinet. His rationale is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government’s investigation into alleged signature forgery in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recall campaign constitutes “political persecution.” I sincerely hope he goes through with it. The opposition currently holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, so the initiation of a no-confidence motion and its passage should be entirely within reach. If Chiang truly believes that the government is overreaching, abusing its power and targeting political opponents — then