So then, if the cloistered halls of monarchy and the god-king were too inwards and too backwards, what then for a republic, and what then for the Chinese Republic?

	A republic, for all its grand and noble ideals is a system that in this time has swiftly become backwards as the kingdom and the imperial court is. The brutish free-market ideology of the contemporary republic may leave the power more finely distributed among the people, no longer locking it in one institution but in several. It however might be said, that in the absence of the correct institution the natural course of power entails that it goes to the next best option. And finding no rising petty bourgeoisie or fully developed mature bourgeoisie in China from which to rule the Republic in China found its powers resting in military men, these military men ruled as if kings throughout China, and the ancient cycle of kingship was continued with intense warrior rule.

	It is at this point that differentiation must be made between the Chinese barbarian Republic, and the Republic of the established west. And it is here that it should be noted that the focus is on the two as separate entities. One as a historical differentiation and the other as an ideological comparison.

	It was in the Chinese Republic that when it came to the distribution of power, the fruits of Sun Yat-Sen spoiled on the tree as the wolves circled. In combat with imperial reaction the best power was put on the shoulders of the generals. And when the institutions were drawn up it was here the power of the generals became concentrated in a Byzantine manner. Though while the people could vote for representation in the government, the show of democracy was only theater as no real voice was ever given to the people to protect the bourgeoisie interest active in a Republic. For without commitment to liberty the ideologues of the Republic further concentrated power in a smaller caste of individuals, by limiting their gender, the income, and the property of the voter to produce a voting set of the population which was small, but pitted against the military might of the Warlords was a mere ant before an elephant.

	The unfortunate betrayal to the people then was not just the generals, but the limiting of power and the inclusion of the material wealth variable into the system. For in any given system when wealth is a factor it is the individual with the greatest wealth with the greatest opportunity to cause disruption. To further disruption, the variable of arms was overlooked and power through raw military force could be exercised. The inclusion of raw uncontrolled military force turns any system into civil war and armed strife, and is thus the warlord period.

	By comparison, the republic of the western world is a much more peaceful affair. Though as locked in its own silent Byzantine troubles. The variable of money in the flow of power still exists. But as opposed to the barbarous republic in China, the relative calm of a western Republic amounts to a feeling of solidarity and ownership with the government which encourages law-abiding action. For in contrast against the monarchy and the imperial court where the gods are law, in the Republic the law is the people. For it is within the confines of the Republic promises of peace and of great individuals can be found, as was written by Thomas Paine: “The greatest characters the world have known have arisen on the democratic floor. Aristocracy has not been able to keep a proportionate pace with democracy.”

	And this is well and good, and it is perhaps the most preferable to monarchy or warlord rule. As it is, a well functioning republic, a democracy should be the most stable form of government that exists in our time. It is in the promises of popular rule that ancient China's tiānmìng promises: for just rule from any man, so long as he and his heirs rule rightly and just.

	But it is in a republic and a democracy that the errors written into ancient propaganda are fixed and that tiānmìng is corrected and improved upon. And that it becomes less divine rule, but popular rule. A rule by the people from the people, refreshed or approved regularly to continue based on the real input of real people, and not eunuchs and courtiers, fighting along with magistrates to uphold the suffocating hierarchial systems of artificial man, that only suffocate the freedom and spontenaity of man. Or which alienates man from his own world. For: “The Republic is the organization by which, all opinions and all activities remaining free, the People, by the very divergence of opinions and of wills, thinks and acts as a single man.”

	The republic, in its purest form is the most harmonious means of government. So why then criticize it? Because the western inability to update it weakens it. For in its time of creation the Republic was crafted as a tool by the Bourgeoisie to protect their power and to call themselves free men. But free only from kings, so they may explore the free market and make themselves wealthier. Because it is through wealth that man obtains power in the Bourgeoisie Republic. And it is when this power reaches a disproportion to the people or among each other that the naked errors of the unkempt republic becomes known, as the case in the United State of America, where the raw self-interest of the accumilation of surplus wealth by the men in power or in their backgrounds prevented any appropriate work, and in the indirect character of the republic as in China only stunted the dialectical process of true political work and instead translates it only into a nondialectical process of the buying of votes and favor; as in the Chinese Republic.

	And while for over a century and a half, with only a single upset has the United States' Republican model persisted, it was the natural effect of accumilating capital in a system defined by the concentrated private property of a small class of men in proportion to the whole of its society that the solidarity of the Republic faltered and was driven to political stagnation through 1936 and 1937. And it is with the nature of well organized armed forces that the deadlock was broken with military force by the US Army and Bourgeoisie Democracy fell about the feet of America as a four year political civil war waged, and become the competing forces of capital in that nation could not rest their differences, for doing do would be laying down their competitive edge to one another.

	And while the people might have hope for the government of the United States, assured in the rightful place they shared in the government, the functional structure of the government, the existence of private property which could be accumilated created within it a feudal class none to different than a feudal society in an ancient empire or an ancient kingdom. But none so far developed as of this time that it becomes like that of the barbarous warlords of China's recent memory.

	But the unchecked – whether of the self or from the outside or from the State itself – growth of political powert through economy can only lead to one inevitable outcome: which is that of the warlord republic, where the purchasing is power is great, and military counter-action is expected from the internalized factions.

	We are striking a theme in these structures: that the gross neglect of power is in the accumilation of capital. We now start to realize the Marxian critique of capital and of the Bourgeoisie in the political society. That the private ownership of material economy or even manufactured economy or the distributive service economy entails a concentration of pure power in the hands of an organization and allows the disproportionate use of that power to the organization or the individual's scale or place in the political structure. And that the people – the proletariat esspecially – exist alienated not just from their own labor and products of that labor, but from the political process which they are involved in by birth or immigration.

[right]On Power and Politics
Hou Tsai Tang
December 9th, 1954[/right]

[h1]China[/h1]
[h2]Beijing[/h2]
[h3]Zhongnanhai[/h3]

	A shuffle of papers, and clearing of throats. At the head of the room the speaker took a polite bow, not cutting it low for the general informality of the situation. Or in that at meeting there today were twenty men, all who knew each other, and no specific need to posture for self image. Only for that much demands a display of humble respect to one another.

	Seated at a table, the men sat collectively in conference in the Zhongnanhai, the ancient and former imperial palace of the old dynasties. In the intervening years it had changed its function and purpose, with additions made and repair conducted. During the Republican era, an entire new gate was build along the south wall on Chang'an avenue by Yuan Shikai, the Xinhuamen gate. Following the close of the Revolution and the securing of Beijing there had been discussion among the government to utilize the Forbidden City itself as the seat of executive – Politburo – power. But as the discussion went on its nature changed as the Forbidden City was transformed from a government palace, to a museum and public space, a memorial of the Revolution. And following the construction of the still relatively new Congressional Hall the needs of any large space to hold all of government waned. And so for official duties and theoretically official residence, the Zhongnanhai became the White House of China again, as it had during the Republican era.

	“I must admit, comrade Ming Xin has me convinced. I'm not on the fence as much as I was. I will sign off on a second phase of the Five Year Plan.” said Guo Jing-Sheng announced, tapping out a cigarette into a black porcelain dish on his side. Serving as not just a member of the Politburo but as the minister of national transportation he oversaw the operations of the trains, roads, ferries, canals, and even the limited air traffic in China. A wide pot bellied man with a cherry round, and cherry-red face he looked almost out of place with his tycoon hair and tiny glasses resting on his squat pressed nose. He was the third to sit in his position, the others having rotated out in party shuffling. But he, like the rest of the room turned to Hou for consideration on the piece of legislation that would soon be making its way to the Congress.

	Sitting at the head of the table Hou leaned back and considered what he had heard. “I have heard talk that a governor has been probing the halls of Congress looking for considerations for his province following incidents of injury in ruins of factories.” he began, “Would it be perhaps too much to allocate the considerations for new construction to be moved towards the refurbishing of the untouched old, or even the removal of these structures?”

	“It might be.” Ming Xin said, a feathery light framed man of minimal importance in the party. Outside of the members of Hou Tsai Tang's advisory board he was a man put into the seat by insistence of the Party, whose members had petitioned through the Congress for his election to Politburo from a regional assembly. If it were not for his relative youth in a party going whose members were going into their middle age he would not stand out. It may not have hardly been considered, and the Executive Committee may have passed a motion to remove him if he had not shown to be bright and well educated through his own energy.

	“Refurbishing these plants may be more trouble than they worth. I am not aware of many that may be a danger, but the records and evaluations of them lead me to believe that they may not be at all worth it. It would be far too much to use for little gain in the end.”

	“Might they simply be gutted and reused?” another man asked. A sour looking man in a western suit. His face was spotted with old sun spots and his close cut black hair was beginning to turn gray. Zhu Mang, the minister of industry. “Assuming all other factors, it may not be too much to think that scrap material can be removed and anything at threat of deterioration is reinforced. We may turn it over to the local commune assembly for their own use then. To Hell with us doing anything with it then. But if we're simply being asked to make something safe so no dim-wit kid or wayward goat herd doesn't get his feet cut and jaws locked up then we don't need to put anything we have no use for back into work.”

	Ming Xin was rounding the table to sit back down as he considered, “That I suppose is true.”

	“It sounds like we're done on that matter.” Hou Tsai Tang announced, “On the agreed upon points I sanction this for Congress's approval.”

	“Hold on.” a tired, bearded old man, his heavily wrinkled, furrowed face burned dark by the sun began, “If I can say one thing then it's that the direction we're headed with these feels vague.”

	“I'm under the assumption that Congress will fill it in, Hue Yu.” Hou Tsai Tang told the Minister of Agriculture, “Did you have anything in mind?”

	“No.” Hue Yu said. There was murmuring approval.

	Hou reached out to the papers on the desk and looked down at their agenda, the last option for this session of Politburo. “Our last matter is the war plans concerning Russia, and by extension the instability in Vietnam. Feng Hui, you approached and wrote to me about how we're to even consider this in the framework of our policy.”

	A sinewy looking man with a dour expression in his wide mouth rose in his seat. Scratching at his chest he looked out among the seated and began to walk around it. “To propose Harmony in Asia.” he began, “Was a bold and genial move on our part. However, in the past few years I feel that we have been weak on our incentive to promote Harmony in Asia. By that, I am referring to the activity of the People's Republic of Thailand, who we have decided to tacitly support, if at the end of a long stick. Longer now following their invasion into Cambodia and subsequent occupation of the Cambodian nation. And while the government of Thailand has thrown over itself a cloud of uncertainty the former French colony of Vietnam has thrown itself into disarray. Which is to not speak of Russia, which we have had deemed is a purely European problem for the past few years.” he scratched under his chin where a light gray stubble was starting to poke through.

	“I do not want to say that Harmony has been unwise, and that Harmony is not worth its merit. I merely wish to express my concerns over our weak enforcement of continental Harmony. Where European geopolitics may have kept the region at peace, assigning Asia's peoples into colonies which they held as extension of their own Empires, and that Europe's gradual abandonment of Asia has left a vacuum of security in the region. However, while we declared ourselves to fill this vacuum to hold the peace, indifferent to their national politic based on the gracious wisdom of Hou.” he paused to look up, smile, and bow deeply to Hou to punctuate his compliment in a brief display of drama. “We have lacked the willingness to pay real attention, or the actual use of arms. After all, words can only go so far without the backing of guns. And when the power of words is not strong enough to clear an obstacle then so do guns and bombs and the blood of martyrs need to be applied.

	“What I feel needs to be cleared up, and put into real legislation and actual outward policy is binding self-given necessity for the nation to define our Harmony policy, to give it a framework, both diplomatic and military. Where do we define Asia? Do we include Russia into the title of Asia? Is Russia a European exception, a nation that exists in both Asia and Europe through occupying both in its homeland territories? Shall we for once designate onto the army the power and the equipment to enforce Chinese will against the belligerent states of Asia before the likes of Japan take the lead? Or India? It is not a realistic assessment to simply ignore what is going on in China's own backyard, comrade. That which happens in Vietnam may undercut the Revolution at home! Action in Russia outside our outlined policy may undermine the validity of Chinese policy! What do the leaders of the world think of China when we declare Asia to be under the defense of China, but we attack Europe?

	“I am not opposed personally to any invasion of Russia. Nor, if the intelligence proves necessary an intervention in Vietnam. But I can not, as a political figure, using political policy actually defend either when one has been so weak, and the other is not within the prescribed definition. When institutions exist that operate within ill-defined, or outside ill-defined boundaries and codes of conduct: that is when we have disharmony, that is when we stray from our way.” He closed his statement as he came back to his chair, and resting a chair leaned on it.

	“Thank you, minister.” Tsai Tang thanked him. He was the Minister of Foreign Missions, tasked with managing the scant foreign portfolio of China and scant assignments abroad.

	The room was contemplatively silent for awhile. The members of Politburo leaning back in their seats. Zhu Mang put his fingers up to his chin and held them there, tapping his index against the corner of his lips.

	Cutting the emptiness Hou leaned in. “I and Feng Hui have been exchanging word on this.” he started, “After word of Zhang Shu's exploration to bring Congress into war we have been discussing the merits and means by which the entire architecture of the plan might be scuttled, or even explicit permission might be given. After long consideration on the topic we have concluded that without speaking on it we may go to war, but he's afraid that our image as a nation may be spoiled without an adjustment of definitions, and I agree on this matter. But, if Politburo does not want war in Russia, we can double down on the definition of Russia not being in Asia, and we can expressly tell Congress of this and it may so heavily discourage making China an aggressor and a belligerent state in someone else's affairs that the motion will be defeated before it takes the floor. But on the Russian front we have to have a decision now. The motion will move into debate shortly and an early tally of representatives suggests they will move on it.

	“This ties into Vietnam as well. The Qíngbào Jú is as I understand it preparing a memo on intervening in Vietnam on behalf of the Vietnamese expatriates in the south with Nguyen Sinh Cung at the command. Now granted, comrade Nguyen as I have heard it has no granted explicit consent to yet lead anything, it is the primary contingency being contemplated by the Bureau while they make some identifications on new parties in Vietnam. But as Zhang Shu is took acting on his Russian movement on behalf of a Dymtro Radek the assumption I am taking as Grand Secretary is that a defeat of his move on the ground of technicalities that deny what has been set as state policy may fall into the realm of Solidarity, and we go through the entire battle the second time; if we chose to deny him war.

	“I encourage Politburo to consider this policy as beyond a matter of technicality and morality as Feng Hui wishes, but also to broadness and scope. Should China play a more proactive role in encouraging and assisting Revolution, or shall it declare itself as following a road to independent revolution, as keeping it within the local state parties.”

	“This puts it into a whole new context.” said Zhu Mang, “If I were to have it my way I would be for support of international revolution. Simply keeping ourselves from being outmaneuvered by the global right is not to maintain independence in Asia, but for the construction of an international solidarity through the liberation of the proletariat.”

	“China may have the means for a hundred years war against whichever enemy she chooses.” started Feng Hui from his chair, “But to propose we may go to war against the entire world in permanent revolution is stretching it further than it has any right to be stretched. A man on a rack can not be stretched out like a bolt of silk, and like the man the nation will break if it attempts to stretch itself across the world.”

	“Such is war's own art.” a uniformed officer said at the table, a representative playing stand in for Lou Shan Yuang who had to be absent. He was fully empowered to speak for him, “We may be able to stand against Japan, but it would be threatening the war making abilities of the nation and its own safety if we were to make an attempt at war.”

	“Then perhaps someone might have told that to Napoleon!” exclaimed Zhu Mang, “Or Alexander.”

	“One of a million products of different times. As far as my powers can take me then I would not rely on us having a Napoleon among us to lead brilliant global campaign. It would be far more secure to tread careful, and perhaps someday a global coalition will be built to take on the world in final Revolution.”

	Not final, but the next, Hou wanted to tell him. But kept silent as he sat silently watching the proceedings unfold.

	“I think we need to stick to present policy. Tell Congress that we will not tolerate war in Russia.” the elderly Hue Yu insisted at one point.

	“If Congress were now to send their motion to your desk, how would you vote?” another member of Politburo asked.

	“It depends on how many voted yes.” Hou replied to him.

	“I am beginning to feel that at the end, the best course of action is to maintain the status quo. But to not look as if we have not been cowards, action is now being considered because we have advocates of involvement.” Ming Xin said, “This also I feel has a strong advantage in moving into any theater by way of us having a clear set of leaders, and men to make a government to form the revolutionary vanguard. Before an interim-government to transfer a state from war to peace can be placed at the end of a campaign, we might very well have as a result of the war a full interim government with ministries and functions and constitution before the fighting begins and a smoother transition from war to peace can be had without having to actively seek out one or create one from the army.”

	Late in the day this proposal was given consideration, and then its majority of consent. It was written down, and filed to be delivered to Congress's next session for examination.