A group called the Alliance of Democracies puts out an annual report called the Democracy Perceptions Index. AoD was founded by former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Corporations with billions of dollars worth of pro-genocide Pentagon contracts like Microsoft and Palantir fund the AoD. It was even sanctioned by the Chinese government in 2021 for spreading lies about them.
Sounds like the type of organization that was hoping their research would not show China is winning at democracy. Oops.
Here is what they found:
The Chinese people view democracy as more important than the Americans, Brits, or French do. They are significantly more likely to view their country as being more democratic. They overwhelmingly view their country as having equal rights before the law while the Americans, the Brits, and the French largely do not.
But perhaps most importantly: Barely more than 40% of Americans think their government serves the people. Over 90% of Chinese people believe their government does serve them.
This is not just China winning at perceptions of democracy. It’s a blowout. It’s embarrassing. This is Rafael Nadal beating Roger Federer 6–1, 6–3, 6–0 in the French Open final. This is Mike Tyson TKO’ing Marvis Frazier 30 seconds into the fight. This is a third sports analogy I only partially understand.
This is the type of info that, if you buy into all the US propaganda, surprises you. “How could China — the autocratic, undemocratic, land of villainy, be more democratic than the great, free and justice-for-all land of America??” But if you actually understand some level of reality, these numbers don’t shock.
The US system has been completely bought out by the rich. They own the media, the courts, the government, the police, and even the guys who paint the bicycle lanes. The candidate who spends the most on an election wins about 95% of the time in the House of Reps and over 80% of the time in the Senate. But here’s the more damning point that no one ever mentions. The two major parties are actually one pro-war, capitalist, oligarchic party. And once you realize that, you see that the candidate who spends the most money actually wins 100% of the time.
No one outside of the approved capitalist class ever
steps one foot
inside
the federal
government.
A large Princeton study found that, when looking at policy, the US is clearly and without a doubt an oligarchy. It’s not a democracy. There is no meaningful democracy left in the United States. So of course the US government doesn’t represent the people.
Here’s a brief list of things, just recently, Americans did not vote for and largely don’t support:
- Trump’s tariff world war
- The genocide in Gaza that the US funds, arms, and advises
- The genocide in Lebanon that the US funds, arms, and advises
- The disastrous war on Iran
- Massive tax cuts for corporations which allow 88 of the largest companies in the US to pay $0 in taxes
- The for-profit healthcare system that bankrupts countless Americans
- The kidnapping of the president of Venezuela
- The siege on Cuba designed to make them starve
- Global economic wars that have killed 38 million innocent people since 1970
- The proxy war in Ukraine, stage-managed by the US
- The dirty war in Syria, stage-managed by the US
- The gutting of the already deteriorating Environmental Protection Agency
- Trillions of dollars dumped into the Pentagon while they’ve never managed to pass an audit and can’t account for 63% of their assets
No one should be shocked that Americans don’t believe the government represents us. They don’t. Not even slightly. Not ever. Not in any way.
When the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, “all men are created equal” applied to roughly 10% of the population — white, land-owning, adult men. They were the only ones who had a vote. They were the only ones allowed to shape the society. The United States government, from day one, represented a tiny fraction of the population. That clearly has never changed.
So of course China is beating us in democracy.