Democracy, freedom, human rights and so on, these words have no class nature, and different people, classes, interest groups or countries who use these words often stand in different positions and give them different or even diametrically opposite meanings. Therefore, in the field of political philosophy and democratic political theory, we should first not make the "Left" mistakes in the past, and criticize and reject all the words and expressions often used by western developed capitalist countries. But we can't completely relax our vigilance, copy it completely without any analysis, and fall into the western-led discourse system. The correct attitude should be to conduct in-depth research and dialectical analysis, find out its exact meaning, and then determine which ones can be directly used for reference, which ones need to be discriminated and reformed, and which ones need to be rejected and resisted. This is especially true for basic concepts such as democracy, freedom and human rights.
For a long time, the United States has been the largest economic, political, cultural, scientific, technological and military entity on our planet. In politics, economy, culture and many other aspects, some discourse systems are often invented, dominated and monopolized by the United States. We must have a clear understanding of this. Reviewing the origin and development of bourgeois theories of democracy, freedom and human rights is helpful for us to understand the theory of democracy, freedom and human rights of the international monopoly bourgeoisie led by the United States today, and also helps us to understand the so-called "universality of democracy".
The theory of democracy, freedom and human rights of the international monopoly bourgeoisie, led by the United States, is the inheritance and development of the bourgeois theory of freedom, equality and fraternity in the era of free capital. Freedom, equality and fraternity are the political slogans put forward by the French bourgeoisie during the18th century revolution. In essence, this is a reflection of the principle of free trade and equal exchange in capitalist commodity production in the political field. At that time, this slogan was of great significance for getting rid of the shackles of feudal kingship and theocracy and striving for political freedom, democracy and equality. It not only played a role in calling, inspiring and uniting the revolutionary masses to attack feudal rule during the French bourgeois revolution, but also had a wide influence in the world. However, this slogan also has great class limitations. While pointing out the progressive significance of anti-feudalism, Marx always pointed out the great deception of this slogan, pointing out that the essence of this slogan is that the bourgeoisie pursues its own interests, protects and expands its private property, and consolidates its political and economic system.
With its continuous development and expansion, the bourgeoisie of various countries began to invade and expand Zhang Zhilu. While expanding their territory, establishing colonies and expanding their interests, they are also expanding their political system and ideology. The bourgeois ideas of democracy, freedom, equality and fraternity, as well as the bourgeois political and economic system formulated from them, have also gone to the world.
The United States is a rising star of the above-mentioned aggression and expansion. The infiltration of political system and ideology is not only a special hobby of some American rulers, but also has its profound economic, political and cultural roots. Most Americans call themselves or are Christians. Eisenhower once said: "Acknowledging the existence of God is the first and most basic expression of the American spirit. Without God, there would be no American-style government and no American-style lifestyle. " The words "We believe in God" are also printed on the dollar currency circulating around the world. Therefore, except for the two short speeches of Washington's second inauguration, almost all the inaugural speeches of American presidents talked about God. Fundamentally and essentially, the so-called "God" is a servant who serves the fundamental economic interests of American bourgeois monopoly groups and the state and government, which is a remarkable feature of American national ideology. Another feature is that the upper classes in all walks of life in the United States are also convinced that the United States is the "new Jerusalem" and that Americans are "chosen by God" and "favored by heaven", undertaking the sacred mission entrusted by God and selling their values and political system to the whole world.
As early as the First World War, American President Wilson declared that democracy is an important guiding principle, because it represents a brand-new domestic order, which can certainly be promoted in the international order; The new liberal democracy will be one of the important exports of the United States, and it is necessary to ensure that democracy is unimpeded all over the world.
After World War II, CIA Director George Kennan and Secretary of State Dulles successively put forward the theory of "peaceful evolution", but the American authorities paid insufficient attention to it. After the failure of the Korean War and Vietnam War, which were dominated by "hard power", the United States further realized the importance of "soft power" such as democracy, freedom and human rights.
The change of American foreign strategy from worshipping "hard power" to paying attention to using "soft power" is forced. This turning point occurred during the Nixon administration. 1At the end of 968, Nixon was elected as the 37th president of the United States. At this time, the United States stationed/kloc-0,000,000 troops in 30 countries around the world and provided military or economic assistance to nearly/kloc-0,000 countries around the world. Coupled with the Vietnam War for nearly six years, the financial and economic situation has gradually declined, and the balance of payments has been in crisis, which has overwhelmed the United States. At the beginning of 1969, Nixon said in his inaugural speech: "After a period of confrontation, we are entering an era of negotiation", "The greatest honor that history can give us is the title of peacemaker" and "We invite those who may become our opponents to a peaceful competition". The grim situation forced the Nixon administration to take three measures of "peaceful competition", namely "peaceful contest". First, it decided to gradually normalize relations with New China; Second, gradually withdraw troops from Vietnam; The third is to end the Bretton Woods financial system and abandon the fixed exchange rate system. It can be said that these three measures of "peaceful contest" are the key measures for the United States to use "soft power" to save and revive its hegemonic position. In a sense, ending the Bretton Woods financial system and letting the dollar "freely" act as an international currency have played a vital role in the economic prosperity of the United States for decades.
Although Nixon resigned because of Watergate, his successor Ford inherited his ideological legacy. 1975 At the end of July, 35 countries (33 European countries plus the United States and Canada) held the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe in Helsinki, Finland, and adopted the CSCE Final Act, also known as the Helsinki Agreement. The agreement is the product of the relaxation and compromise between the United States and the Soviet Union, and the policy objectives of both countries have been realized in the agreement. The Helsinki agreement stipulates that the status quo of European borders formed after World War II cannot be destroyed, which means that the United States and Europe recognize the "hard power" of the Soviet Union, but at the same time, the United States and Europe also propose that the Soviet Union should "respect" the "soft power" of the West, that is, "human rights and basic freedoms, including freedom of thought, morality, religion or belief", and expand personnel exchanges between the East and the West camps. For the Soviet Union, this is essentially to legalize the United States' use of so-called "human rights" and other issues to interfere in the internal affairs of the Soviet Union and support and foster opposition forces within Soviet society. So far, western countries have used the terms stipulated in the agreement to support the Soviet Union's "dissidents" in many ways. This support includes material and money, "honor" and so-called "morality". In a sense, it can even be said that this has opened a key channel for the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the collapse of the future Soviet Union.
1977 after the Carter administration came to power, it clearly regarded human rights as the main goal of a country's foreign policy, and wantonly interfered in the internal affairs of other countries, especially socialist countries, in the name of so-called safeguarding human rights.
After the cold war, it became possible for the United States to dominate the world. In the transitional period from the Cold War to the post-Cold War, George H.W. Bush "innovated and developed" American foreign human rights theory. Bush said: "Promoting the development of a liberal and democratic political system is the most reliable guarantee for human rights and economic and social projects." 1989 65438+1On October 20th, Bush emphasized in his second inaugural speech: "We have more wishes than wallets, but we need wishes". How to solve this contradiction, Bush added: "If the United States is not committed to noble moral principles, then it will never be a complete United States. Today's American people have such a goal, that is, to make the country look kinder and the world look kinder. " Since then, the Bush administration has taken supporting democracy and encouraging market economy as its two foreign policy goals.
The drastic changes in Eastern Europe and the disintegration of the Soviet Union fully demonstrate the extreme importance of "soft power" such as democracy, freedom and human rights to the realization of the strategy of the United States.
The Clinton administration believes that the Carter administration's human rights policy is aimed at individuals, and after the end of the Cold War, human rights should be promoted from grassroots democracy. Based on this, the Clinton administration regards improving American security, developing American economy and promoting democracy abroad as the three major goals of national security, thus further clearly raising the promotion of democracy abroad to the height of national security strategy.
In order to meet the needs of the United States to promote power politics and hegemonism, the American government and scholars have greatly revised the definition of human rights after two sessions of government practice, and the view that "human rights are within the scope of sovereignty" has gradually given way to the proposition that "human rights are above sovereignty". Therefore, after the end of the Cold War, human rights are further regarded as an important tool for the United States to pursue its democratic strategy around the world.
It should be noted that after the end of the Cold War, a new round of larger-scale economic globalization swept the world. This makes democracy, freedom, human rights and neo-liberalism that serve competition, trade and financial freedom seem to have a broader so-called "universality". Therefore, the worship of "hard power" has been revived in the United States. As a result, the United States successively fought four major local wars in the Gulf, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq. The first three games went well, and the fourth started well. On June 20, 2002, George W. Bush just took office in his first term and was quite energetic. At the inauguration ceremony, he said: "The United States is backed by strong national strength and will go forward bravely"; If we don't lead the cause of peace, then peace will be leaderless. At this time, the United States tried to "let everyone share" and "democracy" through "hard power", and the result was broken.
The lesson of worshipping "hard power" made George W. Bush re-attach importance to "soft weapons" such as "democracy". In a sense, the holder of "soft weapons" is the former Soviet Jew Natan Sharansky, who was sentenced to nine years' imprisonment for helping Soviet Jews sneak into Israel. He was once a famous dissident. Sharansky wrote a book entitled "On Democracy: Conquering Tyranny and Terror with the Power of Freedom". The main ideas advocated in the book are: the world is divided into two categories, one is a "free society" and the other is a "fear society"; The former is a "force for peace" and the latter is a "source of war and terror". Democracy is a universal value. As long as there is a choice, people in any country will not choose to live under the rule of a dictator. "Fear of the country" and "authoritarian regime" cannot move towards democracy by their own changes. Western countries must link the ideals of western values with their foreign policies and economic assistance in order to achieve "victory." For the security of the free world, any necessary means should be taken to support democracy. It is said that Bush got the book at the end of his first term and read it eagerly. After reading it, he spoke highly of the ideas expounded in this book: "If you want to know my thoughts on foreign policy, you should read Sharansky's book. This guy is a hero. This is really a great book. " Sharansky was also invited to the White House as a guest, and George W. Bush also recommended this book to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, which made the book quickly popular in the White House and American political and military circles. This makes American politicians feel like a ship without a compass, and makes ignorant unilateralism gain "spiritual guidance" and "power after shock" at once.
After reading this book, Bush immediately revised his second inaugural address and State of the Union address. On June 20, 2005, in his 20-minute inaugural speech for the second term, Bush stuffed more than 40 words such as "democracy", "freedom idea", "democratic rights" and "free world". He said: "We have understood our weaknesses, and we are well aware of their roots." "Under the guidance of common sense and the teaching of history, we come to the conclusion that whether freedom can exist in our land depends more and more on the victory of freedom in other countries. The ardent expectation for peace can only come from the expansion of freedom in the world. " "In view of this, the policy of the United States is to seek and support democratic movements that have grown up in various countries and cultural backgrounds in the world and to seek and support the institutionalization of democracy. The ultimate goal is to end any totalitarian system in the world. " "Those participants in democratic changes facing repression, prison and exile should know that the United States knows your potential: you are the future leaders of free countries." The United States and other western countries mainly used democracy, freedom and human rights as weapons, and only spent $4.6 billion to "successfully transform" the practices of Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, which made the United States pay more attention to "soft power" such as democracy, freedom and human rights.
On August 7, 2008, before leaving for the Beijing Olympic Games, US President Bush said in Bangkok, Thailand, "I have told China leaders in a clear, frank and consistent way that we are highly concerned about religious freedom and human rights", "The United States believes that the people of China should enjoy basic freedom, which is the natural right of all mankind" and "I am optimistic about the future of China. Young people who grow up in an environment of free trade in goods will eventually demand the freedom to exchange ideas, especially on the unrestricted Internet. " "In the end, only China can decide what path it will take. The United States and its partners adopt a realistic attitude and prepare for various possibilities. "
The United States and other western countries are desperately promoting their ideas and concepts of democracy, freedom and human rights. In the final analysis, they still try to safeguard and expand their economic and political interests.
From the end of World War II to the early 1970s, the so-called golden age appeared in the western world. During this period, the average annual economic growth rate of developed countries as a whole was as high as 4.4%, and the average annual economic growth rate for the next 20 years (from the early 1970s to the early 1990s) was 2.2%. This has led to many optimistic ideas in the economic field, such as the settlement of the contradiction between labor and capital, the ironing or even disappearance of the capitalist economic cycle, and the automatic and unlimited economic growth. This forms a strange cycle. The country exports to earn American money, then buys American stocks and bonds and lends money to Americans for consumption. Americans spend money to support economic growth in the United States and other countries. Dollars continue to flow to the world, and the world sends dollars back to the US bond market and stock market. From 1948, the global international reserve was US$ 47.8 billion, which increased from 1970 before the disintegration of the Bretton Woods monetary system to US$ 93.2 billion, with an average annual growth rate of 3% in 22 years. From 197 1 at the beginning of the year to $6,489.2 billion at the end of 2007, it increased by about 70 times in 37 years, with an average annual growth of 12%. At the same time, the global GDF only increased by 16 times. In the past 10 years, the total printing amount of US dollar currency exceeded the total printing amount in the past 40 years, and the global official reserve increased by an astonishing two times. A bill with a face value of 100 dollars used to cost 3 cents to print, but now it costs 6 cents. The United States bought $65,438+000 overseas at a cost of 3 cents or 6 cents. Developing countries are unwilling to spend this $65,438+000, and often put it in the United States. Since 1994, the trade deficit of the United States has increased year by year, reaching more than 300 billion dollars in 1999, and the foreign trade deficit climbed to 883 billion dollars in 2006; 1980 The fiscal deficit in the United States was $76.2 billion, and the budget deficit in fiscal year 2009 from June 2008 10 will be as high as $482 billion. This is the fundamental secret that America has been able to eat the world with its mouth open for a long time. The American authorities always interpret this phenomenon as the superiority of the American democratic system in order to further safeguard the rule of its financial empire.
The economic globalization led by the United States and their advocacy of democracy, freedom, human rights and neo-liberalism have also caused the extreme disparity between the rich and the poor and the division of the country and the nation. At present, the per capita income of the richest countries in the world is more than 330 times higher than that of the poorest countries; The total foreign debt owed by the South to the North in the world has soared from $794 billion per year to over $3 trillion, more than quadrupling in just 10. According to the 2005 United Nations Human Development Report, the income of the richest 500 people in the world is higher than that of the poorest 4160,000 people. Weakening the third world countries through democracy, freedom, human rights and neo-liberalism is the most basic strategic means of western powers.
However, it is impossible for the United States to maintain the strategy of empty-handed (dollar) and white wolf (cheap goods) for a long time. In this way, the debt of the United States is increasing, the trade deficit is increasing, and the total demand of the world economy is getting lower and lower. The only possible result of this vicious circle is the Great Depression of the world economy. People often confuse the relationship between market economy and neo-liberalism, thinking that barrier-free market economy works in one country and should work internationally. However, the prerequisite for the success of a country's market economy is that one person, one vote in politics and one vote in economy can be restricted, so that the regional gap and the gap between the rich and the poor can be effectively adjusted, there are enough financial funds to build roads, bridges, ports and airports, internally coordinated economic, civil and criminal laws can be implemented, and fiscal and monetary policies can adjust the economic cycle. Without this premise, the market economy will lead to polarization, the prevalence of counterfeit money (bad money drives out good money), economic turmoil and disorder, making society unable to operate. In the absence of a world government elected by the people all over the world, and on the premise that multinational companies are not restricted by the people's power, dismantling the protection of their own economies, canceling the economic sovereignty of various countries, and letting the economic logic of the law of the jungle pass without obstacles can only lead to worldwide polarization and social unrest. Since September 2008, the financial and even economic crisis in the United States has spread all over the world.