The Wall Street Journal-20080205-Beautiful Country- Bitten by the Election Bug- Online edition

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Beautiful Country: Bitten by the Election Bug; Online edition

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The Wall Street Journal Online

Note to readers: The Chinese version of this column is available here.

I can't vote in this country and I've been apolitical my entire adult life, but I have to admit that I've been bitten by American election fever.

Many Americans are excited about the 2008 presidential race. A new president could take this country in a new direction. People are expecting changes and are filled with hope and uneasiness. That mood is quite contagious.

I've been through a couple of election campaigns before, including the New York gubernatorial battle in 2002 and the last presidential election in 2004. But for the former, I was a harried journalism student at Columbia worried more about getting my assignments in on time than really paying attention to the election. For the latter, it seemed clear to me America would end up with the same president it had elected in 2000, and I didn't pay much attention to the issues.

In fact, what I do remember about the 2004 election seems somewhat silly and trivial: John Kerry carrying a gun late in the campaign, for one, and Lynn Cheney saying Mr. Kerry was "not a good man" after he brought up her daughter's homosexuality in a debate, though the daughter was openly gay. What did these have to do with running the world's oldest democracy?

This year, however, I started looking at participatory democracy in a new light. Despite this country's faults, every four years, there's a peaceful revolution, with normal people picking their own leader. And what's even better is that the choice isn't irreversible. If the President doesn't perform, you can vote him out the next time around. And after eight years, because of term limits, you don't have to do anything.

I know this may seem decidedly unremarkable to Americans, but when you've grown up in a country where the government orders you to be part of a political process where you don't really get to choose who or what you want, it's a big change. Like many Chinese under 40, the system I grew up in turned me off from even the word, "politics."

I went to college in 1989. After the events of that summer, pretty much any talk about politics on campus died down. With politics off- limits, my friends and I were more interested in pop music, dating, getting good scores and good jobs.

That's not to say there were no politics in my life. In fact, I voted for the first time in China while in college in the early 1990s. I had no choice.

One morning, without any advance notice, the university told us not to go to class. Instead, we were instructed to vote for representatives of the district People's Congress. I remember standing on line for hours to cast my vote, though none of the people around me knew why we were there or for whom. But we knew it was an official order from the university, and we'd better obey.

Having no idea of who the candidates were or even what they looked like, my friends and I picked the candidate with a name that was fit for a kung-fu master in the films we watched. I suspected that was how many other students made their choices. He got elected.

Ultimately, it didn't really matter much to us one way or the other. We'd learned to distance ourselves from politics in a most-political environment. We all grew up attending year-round political study meetings and mass rallies celebrating International Worker's Day on May 1, National Day on Oct. 1 and other events that were organized by our schools, work units or the local government. Attendance was mandatory.

So when I arrived in this country, I was happy nobody could force me to go to political events or write empty political-study essays.

The 2008 American presidential election has gotten me excited because there's a strong sense among the voters that this country is facing some challenges: A troubled economy, a failing health-care system and a war dragging on in Iraq. Americans are vigorously looking for the person who offers the best solutions and who is most capable of leading. They're expecting something new.

Unlike in 2004, when political stunts and jousting about gayness got headlines, this time around, candidates from both parties are talking about real solutions to real issues. George W. Bush is leaving the White House, so whoever gets elected will be rolling out new policies, and that's very interesting to me.

Though I have no skin in this game, I find myself debating which candidate I like best and how the person would change this country over the next four years.

I can imagine many Chinese will get excited for the same reason. Though we don't get to elect our own leaders directly, who isn't interested in healthcare, income disparity and the squeeze on the middle class?

One thing that's happening in China along with the economic growth is the divergence of interest groups. Under Mao, we all belonged to one class: the proletariat. Now, China has more billionaires than any other country but the United States, and more millionaires than France. China's middle class is paying for their first cars, apartments and overseas trips. Meanwhile, hundreds of millions of Chinese, mainly farmers, migrant workers and low-income city residents are struggling to stave off poverty. If they had the freedom to do so, it's not hard to see them forming parties like the Democrats and the Republicans.

I wonder how Chinese would respond to each candidate if they could vote in this American election. And if this poll were held in China, which candidate would win?