Why Government? Thinking on America and China

Musing on the U.S. midterm elections and governance after thirty-six hours of being riveted by the shocking results. Serving the welfare of the people is a longstanding, treasured political ideal (even if often more aspirational) in both China and America.

• In 1727, the Yongzheng Emperor of China’s Qing Dynasty hung the following poem in the Main Audience Hall at his imperial garden residence outside Beijing: “Taking Heaven’s heart as my own heart, I care about my people all the time; Taking people’s happiness as my own happiness, I should always be kind and cheerful.“

  
  

• In 1776, just shy of five dozen American patriots (revolutionaries?) wrote in the Declaration of Independence that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

  
  

• In 1863, American President Abraham Lincoln ended his Gettysburg Address by rededicating that “this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

  
  

• In 2009, American President Barack Obama delivered his Inaugural Address stating that “The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.”

  
  

• In a 2018 speech, Chinese President Xi Jinping, noted that those in power must “always put the people in the most prominent place in their hearts, always serve the people wholeheartedly, and always work hard for the people’s interests and happiness.”

  
  

• In his New Year’s address for 2026, President Xi again reiterated that “no issue of the people is too small; we care for every leaf and tend every branch in the garden of people’s well-being....When the happy hum of daily life fills every home, the big family of our nation will go from strength to strength.“

Theory. The American Declaration of Independence makes regular “consent of the governed” a fundamental part of our power dynamic. In China, by contrast, rulers govern subject to retaining the Mandate of Heaven (fulfilled by being virtuous, benevolent, and attentive to those governed in the Confucian tradition).

In both societies, the people must be on board, though the mechanics are different. In America, bottoms-up accountability is achieved through repeated elections by individuals of leaders to get and maintain power. China operates from the top down with leaders being accountable to comport their actions with virtue and morality in leading the people in order to keep hereditary power.

Reality. Americans voted vociferously for change this week because the citizenry is upset about high costs, self-dealing, tariffs, war, inequality, and a fear that the soul of the country is slipping away. As such, the dominant party was decisively turned out of power (for now).

In the face of their own great challenges in China (some similar, some not), the government there is incentivized to try and address their own domestic ordeals in order to maintain stability and keep the people from pressing its Mandate of Heaven.

In a time of great global uncertainty, America may now have a chance to begin a course correction, while the Chinese government will continue the struggle to navigate its own tortuous path.