After peaceful transition of ruling party from KMT to DPP, people can feel the polarization in society is getting worse. Most often, any dispute can quickly turns into the issue of Taiwanese vs. Chinese. The consequence of this disharmony hampered almost all progress in Taiwan. Taiwan can become strong again only if people can "Re-invent Taiwan" and work hand-in-hand for the prosperous and harmonious society.
這是「人」與「權力」關係在「政治」行為上的最大矛盾。對此,政治學家胡克(Sidney Hook)提出了因應之道,他認為如果「民主政治」是人類的選擇,則一個有效的「民主」政體,必須具備二項正面要件:一,對「領袖」抱持「理智上的不信任」(an intelligent distrust of its leadership),並以近乎「偏執的懷疑」及「不盲從」(a skepticism stubborn but not blind)面對所有渴求權力擴張的要求;其次,所有公民皆應以「嚴肅而帶有批判性」(critical method)的立場,關注社會生活中的每個過程。
至於何以是「民主政治」?有不少人從「民主政治」實踐過程中所出現的貪腐與效率低落等現象,質疑「民主政治」是否適宜作為人類最佳的政治選擇;然而,從人類現存的政治體制中,迄今為止卻難以找出比「民主政治」「雖不滿意但可接受」的其他選擇。政治學大師道爾(Dahl, Robert Alan)在他那本言簡意賅的《論民主》(On Democracy)一書中,列舉了十大要點解釋「為什麼我們需要民主」:避免暴政、保障基本人權、普遍自由、自決、道德自律、人性培養、保護個人基本利益、政治平等、追求和平、追求繁榮。
值得注意的是,當「政治」進入「全球化」時代之後,也顯現出一種「人性化」的趨勢特質,即:「政治」,不只是「權力」的關係,也應是一種「良善治理(善治)」( good governance)的模式,這也是「政治」論述中的最高境界。所謂「善治」,指的是國家在進行「政治」決策的過程中,對於「權力」的運用,應以整體人民利益及社會福祉作全方位的考量,它包括八個主要特性:參與性(participatory)、共識性(consensus oriented)、負責性(accountable)、透明性(transparent)、回應性(responsive)、效應性(effective and efficient)、衡平性(equitable and inclusive)與守法性(the rule of law)等。
The United States Supreme Court has declined to review the San Francisco Peace Treaty leaving stand a lower court ruling that Taiwan's longstanding unresolved nationhood is the responsibility of the President as a political issue.
The Supreme Court gave no explanation for its refusal to review an appeal in the case of Roger C.S. Lin, et al vs. United States. The case, brought by Taiwan residents, sought use of U.S. passports for the 23 million island residents until an internationally supervised referendum allowed the people of Taiwan to determine their own form of government.
Earlier this year the District of ColumbiaU. S. Court of Appeals ruled that although Taiwan has been in "political purgatory" for six decades because of a deliberate "strategic ambiguity" imposed on the island at the end of World War II by the United States the responsibility belonged to the executive branch of government because the courts lack war powers.
Taiwan, commonly called Formosa at the close of World War II, was a Japanese colony since 1895 and the islanders looked with hope to the United States for self-determination after the surrender of the Japanese. Instead, the 7th Fleet of the U.S. Navy landed Republic of China troops on the island in October of 1945 as an interim occupation force. Then followed the infamous 228 massacre, a terror campaign, and four decades of harsh martial law by the Chinese.
The Chinese civil war between the Communists and the Kuomintang or Nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek raged during World War II and for four years after. The Cold War began as soon as World War II ended and Taiwan was caught in the middle as the United States recognized the exiled Kuomintang government located in Taipei as the legitimate government of mainland China.
The outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 further cemented the Republic of China hold over Taiwan as the United States battled the Communists in Korea. Chiang-Kai-shek's secret police apparatus became working partners with America's Central Intelligence Agency and self-determination for the people of Taiwan was ignored.
When Japan formally dropped all claims to Taiwan at the San Francisco Peace Treaty with the United States in 1952 the future status of the island was left undetermined because of the ongoing Korean conflict. President Harry Truman declared Taiwan's status must await resolution until there was peace in the Pacific.
In the struggle between "Red China" and "Free China", the concept of "One China" emerged and independence for Taiwan was regarded as sedition and treasonous. Now, sixty-four years after America landed the Chinese on Taiwan, the People's Republic of China regards Taiwan as a renegade province and militarily threatens the island.
Roger Lin, a Taiwan politician and legal scholar, filed suit to end the "political purgatory" and achieve the promise of the San Francisco Peace Treaty. The response of both the Bush and Obama administrations has been to ignore the legal challenge and instead assert the issue of Taiwan's status is purely political and not the business of the courts.
Charles Camp, attorney for the Taiwanese plaintiffs, minces no words in describing the Supreme Court's refusal to examine the San Francisco Peace Treaty's mandate.
"It is unbelievable to me that the Supreme Court would let stand a decision that for the first time in our jurisprudence puts the political question doctrine ahead of the obligation of the Courts to read and interpret treaties and to determine the existence of Constitutional rights."
"The Supreme Court's failure to grant cert is a dramatic u-turn by our Court system that I believe will haunt our country and the world unless and until this grave injustice is corrected, given that Constitutional rights and rights granted under treaties can no longer be enforced through our court system whenever the shadow of a political question exists."
Taiwan's unresolved international status leaves the island populace threatened by China, ruled by a government in-exile imposed on the island by the United States, and unable to be represented in the United Nations and the World Health Organization.
The Supreme Court's refusal to accept the Lin case leaves intact the ruling of the District of Columbia U.S. Court of Appeals where Circuit Judge Janice Rogers Brown wrote that Taiwan's "political purgatory" has infected the daily life of the stateless people of Taiwan and urged President Barack Obama to act "expeditiously" to resolve the matter.
President Obama has thus far been silent on Taiwan's status and has avoided Taiwan on his international travels.