Three cheers for Lin Wuei-chou

From The Taipei Times:

To highlight his disappointment with what he called the ongoing political confrontation within the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and its all-round degeneration, DPP Legislator Lin Wuei-chou (林為洲) yesterday quit the party, urging voters to quit political parties, become neutral and avoid getting caught up in the “partisan squabbles” provoked by politicians.

Lin, who joined the party in 2000, released a three-page statement yesterday announcing his decision to quit.

In the statement, Lin said he was loath to see both the pan-green and pan-blue camps take advantage of people’s passions to mobilize them to join large-scale parades and rallies that actually serve no concrete purpose whatsoever.

Partisan politics in Taiwan are notoriously, nay, hilariously bitter. What exactly is Mr. Lin Wuei-chou trying to escape from? Here are a couple of examples that I have blogged in the past, plus one new one from the very newest issue of the Taipei Times.


DPP Legislator Wang Shu-hui, left, attacks KMT Legislator Kuo Su-chun, right, after Kuo tore up a copy of Premier Frank Hsieh’s policy report that he was scheduled to deliver yesterday at the opening of a new sitting of the legislature.

Speaking at a separate event, TSU Chairman Shu Chin-chiang (蘇進強), however called the government a “liar” in front of DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) at an activity held by the Hand-in-Hand Taiwan Alliance that both men attended yesterday morning.

Shu’s remarks immediately made the atmosphere awkward.

[…]

Sitting beside Shu, Su looked embarrassed and did not respond to his criticisms.

The two men did not talk to each other and left the news conference separately.

And from today…

Friday, Mar 31, 2006,Page 4

Minister of Education Tu Cheng-sheng (杜正勝) yesterday told reporters that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Ching-hua (李慶華) had been acting like a three-year-old, one day after Lee called him “Dick Minister” and “Pert Minister,” referring to a shampoo brand, during a legislative committee meeting. The heated exchange of words arose over Lee’s discontent with a ministry-published high school sex education pamphlet which contained explicit sexual references. “If Lee had carefully read the pamphlet, he wouldn’t have noticed only the [explicit material]. Only three-year-old children would see nothing but [that material] in the pamphlet,” Tu said, adding that Lee was not a “well-educated person” and that him being a lawmaker could only waste the nation’s resources. When asked for comment, Lee said he had suggested Tu and his wife make public images of the two copulating in the pamphlet.

United States partisan politics may not have quite yet reached this level of clownishness, but it’s close enough so that I’m disgusted with the whole business. Therefore, I am swearing an oath-if any major partisan politician running in elections for which I am eligible resigns from their party and severs all financial and organizational ties with the party, I will vote for you. I don’t care which party it is that you are leaveing, I don’t care how you feel about the Iraq War, or Medicare, or abortion, or school lunches, or even if you’re a holocaust denyer or a convicted rapist. If you follow the brave lead of Lin Wuei-chou in Taiwan, and tell the Washington based political party establishment to go fuck itself, I, who am not, never have been, and never will be a registered member of any political party, will vote for you.

7 thoughts on “Three cheers for Lin Wuei-chou”

  1. Wow, one vote! I’m sure that will convince the principled politicians of wherever you reside to drop all partisan affiliation.

  2. Xactly, and this is a good example of what happens when the two major parties get together to oust 3rd parties from the political arena. Last year the DPP and KMT effectively outlawed 3rd parties and the outcome has been the same as the situation in the US–either you’re with us or against us and we’re gonna run you through with a long sword. In the US, my support of Ralph Nader in 2000 and 2004 won me nothing but enemies and derision because I “wanted the Republicans to win” cuz, “a vote for Nader is a vote for Bush” they said. That, I think, is pretty damn clownish.

  3. Not clownish, pretty much a fact, nostalgiaphile. Apparently for Naderites it was more important to score points against the Establishment than vote against Bush. Yes, I know we had two plutocrats from old political families facing each other. But Gore would not have given us a dictatorship. Voting for Nader did nothing to stop that.

    This kind of self-absorbed tirade does nothing for Taiwan — and any assault on the political system simply aids the KMT and China, who benefit from less democracy. What Taiwan needs is people who are positive, not negative, about politics and democracy, to step up and work for the good of the nation. Apparently this legislator isn’t, since his ego was validated by trashing the system. Good riddance, I say, but a sad leave-taking all the same.

    Michael

  4. Due to the wonder of our Byzantine electoral system, a vote for Nader was not necessarily a “vote for Bush.” I did vote for Nader in 2000, but in New Jersey, where Gore won by a landslide. In 2004, there were reports that the state race between Bush and Kerry was much closer, so I ended up voting for Kerry. Of course, there’s also the fact that Nader was nothing more than a protest vote, and I don’t actually think he actually would be suited to the job. Incidentally, given a choice between Gore and Kerry, Gore hands down.

  5. And that, MF, is what we call in political science the “responsible two-party voter.”

    Being a rightist myself I chuckle at both nostalgiphile’s idealism and Mike’s sentiments about dictatorship. But I’ll refrain from comment and instead quote someone smarter than myself on the subject:

    The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn’t work and then get elected and prove it. I’m a registered Republican and consider socialism a violation of the American principle that you shouldn’t stick your nose in other people’s business except to make a buck.

  6. I prefer Dave Barry’s take: “If your car broke down on the side of the road, the Democrat would stop to help you, but probably set your car on fire in the process. The Republican wouldn’t even bother because he was late for Ugly Pants Night at the country club.”

  7. We’re not far off from having a bunch of disgruntled fiscal conservative/libertarian Republicans and centrist Dems trying to create a new party here in the US. If anything it would start in California where the Republicans have abandoned us and the Dems are as left looney as they come. Of course it’ll happen once people realize President Bush is more liberal then he is conservative.

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