Taiwan Church News
3334 Edition
Jan 18 – 24, 2016
Editorial
May The Winners Walk Humbly With God
The 2016 election of the President and the legislators has successfully come to an end. A blue sky is changed to the green field. Democratic Progressive Party(DPP) gains a landslide victory both in presidential campaign and parliamentary seats, while KMT was thoroughly beat down as a small opposition party. Comparing KMT’s defeat in 2000, though losing her presidential campaign yet still controlled a majority seats in congress, KMT has to confront more challenges since 2016.
In fact, KMT’s failure in the 2016 campaign could not be more apparently predicted than kinds of opinion polls performed before the election. Trying hard, though, with her negative campaigns as she was versed at, ex. rumoring, slandering and libeling, KMT finally lost this battle in her own hands. Of course, her internal power conflict and ideological paradox are also parts of her catastrophic defeat. But such fracturing of KMT is absolutely not a development that the so-called “Forever Premier” of KMT – Sun Yet-san – would love to see.
In his preface of The Psychological Construction, Sun Yat-sen pointed out the logic of public affairs: “The country is assembled by persons. Each person is an instrument of his psyche. So, the public affairs is the psychological phenomenon of a group of persons.” (In other words, a country is built up by the people; the behavior of each person is controlled by his thought; so, the properity or decline of a country depends on the thoughts or values of her own people.) In the same way, it is futile for KMT to count on a culture of negative campaign which is built upon an unhealthy mind. KMT would not stand up, if she continue to get stuck with her dark tricks in the election.
Indeed, it is absolutely a grand jubilation when the historical moment of party alternation arrives. But, as a ruling party overturned one night from her past role as an opposition player, DPP has to face the serious issue of power-sharing in a new era. This would bring genuine problems, if DPP’s power-sharing is not in a state of balance, quenching down the high expectation of her campaign team and loyal supporters. Therefore, the newly elected President, Vice-President and their core staffs have to confront this matter in a very careful way.
In addition, the ruling party has to change her mind set, once the campaign is won. The winner has to recognize her weakness and limit. She not only needs to be humble down by herself, but also has to count on the power of God, in order to well lead this country.
In his famous book, The Nature and Destiny of Man, Reinhold Niebuhr(1892 ~ 1971), an American theologian, classified the pride of power into two forms:”The first form of the pride of power is particularly characteristic of individuals and groups whose position in society is, or seems to be, secure.” “In Biblical prophecy this security is declared to be bogus and those who rest in it are warned against an impending doom”. “In other words history invariably shatters the illusions of those who overestimate the power of human life”.
“The second form of the pride of power is more obviously prompted by the sense of insecurity.” “It is the sin of those, who knowing themselves to be insecure, seek sufficient power to guarantee their security, inevitable of course at the expense of other life.” “Among those who are less obviously secure, either in terms of social recognition, or economic stability or even physical health, the temptation arises to overcome or to obscure insecurity by arrogating a greater degree of power to the self.”
To avoid the corruption of power, especially to fulfill the biblical teaching as “to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God”(Micah 6:8), we should pray for our newly elected President and legislators and ask God help them respect human rights, protect our country and work out well-beings for the people.
