Mainlanders love to poke fun at Taiwan politics as chaotic, corrupt, and living proof that full democracy is somehow incompatible with “Chinese culture.” (Of course when I suggest the corollary to their theory–that only Westerners and Japanese seem “culturally able” to handle free elections–they usually backtrack a little bit, but I digress.)
It’s worth remembering that in the United States, the birth of democracy was painful at best and not without its moments of chaos and legislative fisticuffs.
Compare these two images:
A 2005 scrap on the floor of the Taiwan Parliament between DPP and KMT supporters over the hot button issue of an independent National Communications Commission.———————————————-
Cartoon depicting Matthew Lyon, Republican from Vermont (fire tongs), going toe-to-toe with Federalist Roger Griswold from Connecticut (cane) in a pitched battle on the floor of the US Congress, 1798.———————————————-Taiwan has been a democracy for less than twenty years. I think it’s time we cut them some slack.