Right after a U.S. election the results of which mean that the U.S. Congress will become more communist, an editorial in the Chinese Communist Party rag Global Times chirps that “The ‘myth’ of Western-style democracy is losing its appeal even in the West” (November 4, 2026).
Breitbart’s John Hayward is puzzled about the quotation marks around the word “myth,” since the denigration of voting and that kind of thing is obviously sincere. “The Chinese Communist paper did not explain why it decided to put its own cheap shot of ‘myth’ in scare quotes, as the word was not quoted from any other source, and the point of the editorial was that democracy is mythical because the citizens of the U.S. and other Western nations do not actually believe their votes bring them better government.”
I can explain. The editorial writer, who is only 97% fluent in English, may be thinking that the word “myth” should be treated with a little distance inasmuch as he does not mean to deploy it in the sense of a “myth” about Athena springing out of the brow of Zeus, the Trojan War, the labors of Heracles, the Monkey King, or what have you. Of course, not even an informal or slang word, let alone a word used in a standard secondary or extended meaning, should ever be placed in self-consciously distancing quotation marks when the word is simply being used to express a thought and is not being referred to qua word or with the purpose of indicting a thought or its form of expression.
Discontents
The Global Times scrivener commits worse sins, like lumping all dissatisfactions prevalent in democratic societies together as proof of growing discontent with democracy. We are told that people feel that they are not being adequately represented by their government! Shocker.
Except…this is not a new development and not too surprising since people at large often disagree as sharply as or more sharply than any legislative factions about what the government should do. The many contradictory views cannot be perfectly represented. For example, the government cannot dismantle all welfare programs while also keeping them all and making them even more bloated and intrusive.
Democracies are often plagued by communist or near-communist elements trying to end democracy and put themselves in permanent charge. The situation is worse in some countries than in others. Democracy and freedom are exploited by those who hope to destroy democracy and freedom.
Whatever the reasons, democracy turns out to be one big false hope and shattering disappointment after another, expounds the Global Times. How ridiculous, then, that “some Western politicians and media continue to use democracy as a political instrument for export, seeking to arbitrarily draw ideological dividing lines, form blocs and provoke ideological confrontation on the international stage.”
Bloc-forming. Sounds ominous and obstructive. “Provoking” ideological confrontation based on “arbitrary” ideological dividing lines…is that anything like acting to counter ideologically motivated aggression? Does the Chinese Communist Party know its own history?
To the model of troubled democracy we may contrast the totalitarian model of no democracy at all, under which for peacefully representing yourself in the streets you may go to jail for the crime of subversion.
Hayward: “One can only wonder what the Chinese population might do with a fraction of the freedom the Global Times found so useless and distasteful.”
Also see:
Breitbart: “China Gloats After U.S. Midterms: The World Is Tired of Democracy”
