2006年12月26日

港產中央指令式政治

港產中央指令式政治

財技高手暨中央政策組非全職顧問劉夢熊登全版廣告,力數梁家傑的四宗罪,指若由反對派當上特首,香港則會成為一個獨立的政治實體。有保守派會如此認真對待梁家傑參選,對泛民來說,實在是最好不過的抬舉。

可惜,劉君雖自稱代表商界主流意見,但是只見他參選資訊科技界選委,落得鍛羽而回的下場,又只得他孤身吶喊批家傑;似乎真正的主流精英早已認定,這場小圈子選舉,台前台後都各自各精彩,台下廣大的觀眾,就連評頭品足的份兒。擠不進那八百人的門檻,那怕嗓門子再粗,也只得像劉君般在場外喧嚷,要是精英們肯將噪音聽在耳?,那是恩典。

劉君既是這場小圈子選舉遊戲的輸家,何不放開成見,擁抱自由開放平等的普選?在普選的遊戲規則下,劉君至少可以透過投票在表達自己的意願,不用花錢刊登廣告博取注意,又或者劉君要身體力行愛黨愛國的精神,自組一個凡是派,跟反對派分庭抗禮,也無不可。除非劉君深知,他所持的一套政治理念太多犯爻漏洞,或者他對自己的說服力全無信心,否則他根本不用害怕普選,更不用抗拒梁家傑參加小圈子選舉。

說到底,無論是這位忽然高調的劉夢熊,抑或是其他堅決拒絕香港可以即時落實普選的官方代表,這群自詡為特區精英的最大心理障礙,是他們根本不信任廣大市民的理性選舉;說白一點,在精英心目中,賤民刁民選出來的就是爛泥扶不上壁。劉君那句「與最基本的特首條件相差十萬八千里的反對派政客」,點出了這種思維的癥結。

既然精英不信任群眾會理性選擇,那就只好搞出一套沒有競爭先有結局的遊戲規則。在經濟範疇,這種玩意叫做中央指令式經濟;在政治範疇,這種概念太過前衛,學界暫時未有為這種政制訂下一個專有名詞,姑且讓我們稱之為「中央指令式政治」吧!

中央指令式經濟的盲點,在於天真地以為高高在上的精英,憑著過人的情操和智慧,可以為千千萬萬賤民的生計作出決定。可是到決定有誤的時候,精英又放不下個人尊嚴承認錯誤,甚至連那?出了錯也不知,以致資源的錯配和浪費,而且因中央指令式經濟滋生的官僚權力不斷擴張,令中央指令式經濟成為了一個不斷往下沉的循環。

中央指令式政治跟中央指令式經濟,不但心態上同出一轍,就是發展軌跡也非常相似。遠的不說了,從八萬五開始,董建華就已經不是理想的特首人選,要不是計劃政治的遊戲規則,精英又為何會一錯再錯,讓他在02年讓他連任?最終就算要換人試試,也是那種要先知道結果的欽點遊戲,提名選舉只不過是儀式,就像有競爭的社會主義一樣,是自欺欺人的玩意。

對精英來說,競爭代表了不可知的結果,而中央指令式的經濟和政治雖意味著失去尊嚴尊重,但在兩者之間,作為既得利益者的也只會選擇後者。像劉夢熊之流,連權力圈的門檻都未跨過,就赤裸裸跑出來支持中央指令,是妄想有朝能承高等精英賞識,一登龍門內做其次等精英。在此,我們也唯有祝他好運,不用在小圈子外,乾等待權力的滋潤。

李兆富

2006年12月25日

In Hoc Anno Domini

In Hoc Anno Domini

When Saul of Tarsus set out on his journey to Damascus the whole of the known world lay in bondage. There was one state, and it was Rome. There was one master for it all, and he was Tiberius Caesar.

Everywhere there was civil order, for the arm of the Roman law was long. Everywhere there was stability, in government and in society, for the centurions saw that it was so.

But everywhere there was something else, too. There was oppression -- for those who were not the friends of Tiberius Caesar. There was the tax gatherer to take the grain from the fields and the flax from the spindle to feed the legions or to fill the hungry treasury from which divine Caesar gave largess to the people. There was the impressor to find recruits for the circuses. There were executioners to quiet those whom the Emperor proscribed. What was a man for but to serve Caesar?

There was the persecution of men who dared think differently, who heard strange voices or read strange manuscripts. There was enslavement of men whose tribes came not from Rome, disdain for those who did not have the familiar visage. And most of all, there was everywhere a contempt for human life. What, to the strong, was one man more or less in a crowded world?

Then, of a sudden, there was a light in the world, and a man from Galilee saying, Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's.

And the voice from Galilee, which would defy Caesar, offered a new Kingdom in which each man could walk upright and bow to none but his God. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. And he sent this gospel of the Kingdom of Man into the uttermost ends of the earth.

So the light came into the world and the men who lived in darkness were afraid, and they tried to lower a curtain so that man would still believe salvation lay with the leaders.

But it came to pass for a while in divers places that the truth did set man free, although the men of darkness were offended and they tried to put out the light. The voice said, Haste ye. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness come upon you, for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.

Along the road to Damascus the light shone brightly. But afterward Paul of Tarsus, too, was sore afraid. He feared that other Caesars, other prophets, might one day persuade men that man was nothing save a servant unto them, that men might yield up their birthright from God for pottage and walk no more in freedom.

Then might it come to pass that darkness would settle again over the lands and there would be a burning of books and men would think only of what they should eat and what they should wear, and would give heed only to new Caesars and to false prophets. Then might it come to pass that men would not look upward to see even a winter's star in the East, and once more, there would be no light at all in the darkness.

And so Paul, the apostle of the Son of Man, spoke to his brethren, the Galatians, the words he would have us remember afterward in each of the years of his Lord:

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

This editorial was written in 1949 by the late Vermont Royster and has been published on the Wall Street Journal annually since.

人家一篇社論可以用幾十年,真正稱得上是傳世文章。