When two of the world’s largest superpowers undergo political transitions at the same time, contrasts are inevitable. One of the best comparisons comes from the above cartoon, which contrasts the bombardment of information from the American press with the deafening silence from China’s new leadership. While many Americans are sick and tired of the relentless political campaign of television ads, newspaper editorials, and robocalls, and are relieved to have finally selected a winner, the average Chinese is left out of the decision-making process. With the 18th Party Congress starting tomorrow, many Chinese citizens find they can only weigh in on social issues through the highly-censored microblogging platform Sina Weibo. And many citizens are anxious to become even more active politically. In a recent poll by the Global Times, more than 70 percent of respondents said they believed that the government should further accept public supervision from the public and the media. The question for many Americans who are exhausted with the full-on political process is this – which would you prefer, too much information or too little?
