Deconstructing the American Democratic Discourse System and Its Discursive Power

After the end of the Cold War, and especially since the 21st century, with the collapse of the myth of neoliberal globalization and the outbreak of a worldwide financial crisis, the United States has lacked sufficient momentum for development, while non

冷战结束后，特别是21世纪以来，随着新自由主义全球化神话的破灭和遍及全球的金融危机的大爆发，美国发展后劲不足，而非西方国家，特别是新兴经济体展现出蓬勃的发展前景。为了阻滞非西方国家的发展、遏制其实力的增强，美国不惜使用包括政治、经济、文化、科技、军事等一切可以使用的手段对它们展开全方位的打压，其中，所谓的“民主、自由、平等”等价值观和意识形态进攻与渗透占有重要的地位。非西方国家官方、学术界和民间在对美国的民主等价值观和意识形态的反击中，容易自觉不自觉地落入美国构建的民主话语陷阱，过多运用美国确立的民主概念、民主标准、民主理论以及对民主的解释和评判范式，在美国精妙伪装的所谓“普世性”的美式民主框架里面打转转，没有能够及时地构建起本民族的民主话语体系，在对本国人民的民主实践提供指导时欠缺强有力的理论支撑。反击美式民主话语体系和话语权需要分析、解构和批判其虚假本质和伪善性，特别是美式民主的理论基础、内涵本质、建构路径以及建构的方法论等的欺骗性和反人民性实质。弄清楚美国凭借其在国际社会的主导地位垄断民主话语权和操作民主手法的真实目的，以美国的民主话语习惯、用美方听得懂的民主话语方式揭示其民主的假普世性、真欺骗人民的面目，把美式民主送到它在人类社会文明中应处的位置，是我们应该做的一项基本工作。

I. Western-centrism as the Theoretical Foundation for the Construction of the American-style Democratic Discourse System and Discursive Power

一、西方中心主义是美式民主话语体系和话语权建构的理论基础

Since modern times, with the continuous impetus of religious reform, the capitalist Enlightenment, and multiple rounds of the scientific and technological revolution, Western countries took the lead in entering industrial society, achieving significant progress in modernization. The bourgeoisie secured absolute ruling status, and the capitalist system was established in various countries. Correspondingly, the West also made major advances in thought, theory, and scholarship, establishing concepts, categories, viewpoints, theories, and methods that conform to Western characteristics and rules across various fields and disciplines. To a certain extent, this promoted the development of human social civilization and made relatively significant contributions to the progress of human society. Relying on its powerful comprehensive strength, including its economy and technology, the United States became the world's new hegemon, monopolizing the right to define, interpret, judge, and exercise discursive power over democracy and other ideological cultures. It enshrined American-style democracy as the sole orthodoxy, denying, smearing, and suppressing the efforts of people in non-Western countries to explore, innovate, and develop democratic content and forms suited to their own national cultural traditions and developmental characteristics, labeling them as "undemocratic" or "autocratic." The United States arrogantly regards its own democratic ideology, culture, and academic theories as superior, considering the democratic ideas and theories founded by non-Western nations as erroneous or backward. It deliberately constructs and promotes "Western-centrism" and "cultural superiority" in the ideological and cultural sphere, attempting to strike at and suppress the exploration, creation, and development of non-Western peoples in the realm of democracy and other ideological cultures.

近代以来，随着宗教改革、资本主义启蒙运动与多轮科技革命的持续推动，西方国家率先步入工业社会，现代化发展取得长足进步，资产阶级获得绝对统治地位，资本主义制度在各国确立起来。与此相适应的是，西方在思想、理论、学术等方面也取得重大发展，在各领域、各学科确立了符合西方特点和规则的概念、范畴、观点、理论、方法等，在一定程度上推动了人类社会文明的发展，为人类社会的进步作出了比较大的贡献。美国依靠自己强大的经济和科技等综合实力，成为世界新的霸主，垄断了民主等思想文化的定义权、解释权、评判权和话语权，定美式民主于一尊，否定、抹黑和打压非西方国家人民根据本民族文化传统和民族发展特点探索、创新和发展适合自身的民主内涵与民主形式，把它们诬蔑为“不民主、专制”等，美国傲慢地把自己的民主等思想文化和学术理论看作高人一等，认为非西方民族创立的民主思想、理论等是错误的或落后的，着意构建和推动思想文化领域的“西方中心论”和“文化优秀论”，试图在民主等思想文化领域打击和压制非西方民族的探索、创造和发展。

1. The Theory of Ethnic (Racial) Superiority

1.民族（种族）优秀论

The belief that the Western ethnic group (race) is the most superior in the world has a relatively long historical origin in the West, intensifying with the germination of the capitalist mode of production and the onset of the Enlightenment. Early Western thinkers even harbored doubts about whether non-Western peoples—such as those from Africa, Latin America, South Asia, the Middle East, and the Far East—could be considered civilized "human beings." They believed that "only 'the Christian man' (a familiar expression since Martin Luther) is truly a person," while "all foreigners outside the West are not 'people.'" The German philosopher Michael Landmann explicitly termed this phenomenon "ethnocentrism."

认为西方民族（种族）是世界上最优秀的民族（种族），这种认识在西方有比较长的历史渊源，随着资本主义生产方式萌芽和思想启蒙运动的开启而得到强化。早期的西方思想家甚至对非西方民族，比如非洲、拉美、南亚、中东、远东等的民族能不能称为文明的“人”尚存有疑问，他们认为，“只有‘基督教的人’（这是自马丁·路德以来仍为人熟知的一种表达）才真正是一个人”，而西方以外的“所有的异乡人都不是 ‘人’”，德国哲学家米夏埃尔·兰德曼把这种现象明确称作“民族中心主义”。

Entering the barbaric era of colonial plunder, the West achieved faster development under the strong impetus of machine-based large-scale industry, the continuous influx of wealth and resources from colonies, and the labor of enslaved foreigners. This also created material conditions and social demands for the development of its thought, theory, and scholarship. Consequently, Western ideological culture and various academic theories emerged one after another, presenting a scene of a hundred flowers blooming and brilliance. However, the development of Western ideological culture lacks the spirit of inclusiveness and learning from others' strengths to compensate for weaknesses. Relying on the powerful strength gained from its first-mover advantage in adopting modern production methods and its dominant position in international society, the West extols and propagates the theory of Western ethnic (racial) superiority and Western cultural superiority. These theories, imbued with racism, are centered on the West, constructing so-called "theoretical frameworks" and "research paradigms" such as "center-periphery," "West-East," "advanced-backward," and "hegemony-dependence." With an arrogant posture of looking down upon and belittling the ideological cultures of other ethnic groups (races), they construct their own ideological and cultural hegemony and discursive power over democracy and other matters by establishing concepts, defining categories, constructing theories, and formulating methods. They then use this to prove the superiority of the Western ethnic group (race), emphasizing that only they can create excellent culture. For example, the German historian Leopold von Ranke stated, "Some nations are completely incapable of culture... Human thought only arises historically in the great nations (referring to Western European countries)." Some Western scholars also claim that only Western nations can establish "a series of theories, ideas, and cultures with universal significance and universal value." Western thinkers, merely from the perspective that the West first created modern production methods and constructed modern ideological theories, attempt to prove that the Western ethnic group (race) is superior to others—this is clearly one-sided.

进入殖民掠夺的野蛮时代以来，西方在机器大工业的强力推动和殖民地源源不断的财富与资源以及被贩卖的异族奴隶劳动的加持下获得更快的发展，这也为其思想、理论、学术等的发展创造了物质条件和社会需求，于是，西方思想文化和各种学术理论纷纷登场，一时之间百花竞放、精彩纷呈。但是，西方的思想文化发展缺少对外来文化的兼容并包、取长补短的精神，它们凭借自身率先采用现代生产方式的先发优势造就的强大实力和在国际社会的主导地位，歌颂并宣扬西方民族（种族）优秀论和西方文化优越论，这些包含种族主义的理论以西方为中心，构建了所谓“中心-边缘”“西方-东方”“先进-落后”“霸权-依附”等“理论框架”和“研究范式”，以高高在上、藐视其他民族（种族）思想文化的傲慢姿态，通过确立概念、明确范畴、建构理论、制定方法等手法，建构自己的民主等思想文化霸权和话语权，再以此反证西方民族（种族）的优秀性，强调只有他们才能够创造优秀文化，比如，德国史学家兰克指出，“有些民族完全没有能力谈文化……人类思想只是在伟大的民族（指西欧各国）中历史地产生的”。也有西方学者声称，只有西方民族才能够创立“一系列具有普遍意义和普遍价值”的思想理论与文化。西方思想家仅从西方率先创造现代生产方式和建构现代思想理论的角度证明西方民族（种族）优秀于其他民族（种族），显然失之偏颇。

Western thinkers have also conducted in-depth research on traditional Chinese ideological culture, particularly on ideas and systems related to democracy and autocracy. They believe that China

西方思想家也曾深入研究中国传统思想文化，特别是民主与专制等思想与制度。他们认为，中国没有民主制度传统但有民主思想传统，中国的民主思想指的是人民主宰，与现代西方资本主义民主特指“票选管理者”和权力分立与制衡的制度安排等的含义不同。他们认为，中国传统的政治制度是专制，而专制政体的含义是“由单独一个人按照一己的意志与反复无常的性情领导一切”；专制政体的特点和统治方法是要求人民绝对服从，统治者和被统治者之间绝对没有妥协和讨价还价的余地，中国专制社会的“人就是一个生物服从另一个发出意志的生物罢了”；中国几千年的专制统治造成专制主义已经根深蒂固，这种专制制度和专制主义显然阻碍了近代中国的发展，但是中国人却不知道打碎它，因此，中国人不是一个聪明的民族。包括狄德罗、赫尔德等西方思想家也对中国等东方国家的民主与专制等思想文化与制度进行过分析与研究，他们最终得出一个明确的结论，即：西方是繁荣、发展、民主、进步、文明的社会，而中国等东方社会则相反，是愚昧、落后、野蛮、专制、没有前途的社会。可以看出，西方思想家从启蒙运动以来就从没有抛弃或者反思他们坚持的西方民族（种族）优秀论立场。

The United States perfectly inherits the theory of Western national (racial) superiority held by early Western thinkers. It not only raises high the racist banner of Western national (racial) superiority, proclaiming the excellence of Western nations (races), but also boasts of itself as the “chosen people,” claiming that its global dominance and leading position are “divine right of kings” (the so-called “city upon a hill”). It can and should stand above the international community, enjoying “American exceptionalism” within universal international rules and world order, thereby establishing legitimacy for U.S. global hegemony and the plundering of other countries. The so-called “global governance” promoted by the U.S. government is in essence the rule of the world by the Anglo-Saxon nation, which believes it should possess such power because it is the world’s most excellent nation (race).

美国完美地继承了西方早期思想家们的西方民族（种族）优秀论理论，它不但高举着西方民族（种族）优秀论的种族主义大旗，宣扬西方民族（种族）的优秀性，而且更是吹嘘自己是“天选之子”，在世界的统治和主导地位是“君权神授”（所谓的“山巅之城”），它可以而且应该凌驾于国际社会之上，在普遍的国际规则和世界秩序中享有“美国例外”权，为美国的世界霸权和对其他国家的掠夺确立合法性。美国政府推出的所谓“全球治理”实质是盎格鲁-撒克逊民族对世界的统治，它认为自己应该拥有这样的权力，因为它是世界上最优秀的民族（种族）。

2. The Theory of Democratic Superiority

2.民主优越论

Modern Western thinkers believed that the West enjoys advanced democratic values and other ideological cultures, while other peoples remain in a state of ignorance and backwardness. This idea of democratic superiority, subsequently “confirmed” by later thinkers such as Hegel and Wittfogel, and reinforced by modern thinkers like Giddens, Huntington, and Fukuyama, as well as the U.S. government, has become an “established conclusion” in the United States and a “universal value” in American society. However, the American sense of democratic superiority is very fragile. After the birth of Marxism and the establishment of the socialist system, a new type of democracy centered on the people’s collective ownership of the means of production and their management of state and social affairs has dealt a severe blow to American-style democracy. To defeat socialism, the United States launched the Cold War characterized by camp confrontation. In addition to large-scale political, economic, military, and technological containment and blockade, it actively engaged in the infiltration of democratic and other ideological cultures and values. Fabricating the lie of American-style democratic superiority became an important task for American politicians, thinkers, and theorists.

近代西方思想家认为西方享有先进的民主价值观等思想文化，而其他民族还处于愚昧和落后状态。这个民主优越性思想再经由其后的思想家黑格尔、魏特夫等的“确认”，以及吉登斯、亨廷顿和福山等现代思想家与美国政府的强化，在美国已经形成“定论”，成为美国社会的“普世价值”。但是，美国的民主优越感是很脆弱的，在马克思主义诞生和社会主义制度建立后，以人民共同占有生产资料和对国家社会管理为核心内涵的新型民主对美式民主造成极大的冲击。为了战胜社会主义，美国发动了以阵营对立为特点的冷战，除了展开大规模的政治、经济、军事、科技遏制与封锁外，还积极进行民主等思想文化和价值观的渗透，编造美式民主优越的谎言就成为美国政客和思想家、理论家的重要任务。

First, the form of democracy is dressed up. Historically, the bourgeoisie was very averse to the traditional content and form of democracy, believing that democracy would lead to mob rule, disrupt social order, and infringe upon bourgeois private property. Therefore, the original form of democracy needed to be changed. Through clever embellishment and disguise, “democracy” became “democratization and liberalization,” encompassing “freedom, equality, human rights, and the rule of law,” with its concrete manifestation being the electoral form of “one person, one vote.” Second, limits are placed on the practice of democracy. When exercising democratic rights, the people must protect and not infringe upon private property; “all are equal,” and citizens’ private property is inviolable. The purpose of capitalist democracy is “to tend toward monopolizing wealth and power in the hands of a few.” Third, the true core of democracy is hollowed out. The original meaning of democracy is the rule of the people, with the people managing all state affairs. Through the “theoretical innovation” and ideological transformation of bourgeois theorists and thinkers, capitalist democracy is equated with elections themselves: “elections are the essence of democracy.” Capitalist democracy is the so-called “people electing managers, who exercise state power to manage state affairs.” Finally, after transforming and perfecting democracy, the West, through academic exchanges and propaganda institutions, sanctifies and absolutizes it, especially by proclaiming that it can solve all economic and social problems and is the world’s best form of democracy. This gradually forms a so-called “universal political religion” among some people in many countries, including non-Western ones. Then, non-Western countries are taught to follow American liberal democratic ideas in carrying out social transformation and “reforming” their political systems.

首先是对民主的形式进行装扮。历史上，资产阶级对传统民主的内涵与形式是非常反感的，认为民主会导致暴民政治，搞乱社会秩序，侵犯资产阶级的私有财产。因此，需要改变民主本来的形态，于是，经过巧妙地粉饰与装扮，就有了“民主就是民主化、自由化”，它包含“自由、平等、人权、法治”等内容，具体表现就是“一人一票”的选举形式。其次是对民主的实践设限。人民在行使民主权利时要保护而不能侵犯私有财产，“人人平等”，公民的私有财产神圣不可侵犯，资本主义民主的目的是“趋向于使少数人垄断财富和权力”。再次是抽去民主的本真内核。民主的本意是人民的统治，由人民管理国家一切事务。经过资产阶级理论家、思想家的“理论创新”与思想转换，资本主义民主就被等同于选举本身，“选举是民主的本质”。资本主义民主就是所谓“人民选举管理者，由管理者行使国家权力对国家事务实行管理”。最后，西方在对民主进行改造和修饰完善之后，通过学术交流和宣传机构对它进行神圣化和绝对化的宣传，特别是宣扬它可以解决一切经济社会问题，是世界上最优秀的民主形式，在许多国家包括非西方国家的一部分人中逐渐形成所谓具有“普世性的政治宗教”，然后教导非西方国家要遵循美国的自由民主思想进行社会改造和政治制度“改革”。

With the end of the Cold War, while celebrating its “victory” over the socialist camp, the United States did not forget to use its discourse power in the global public opinion arena to vigorously promote its own democratic ideas, theories, and institutions. Huntington’s “clash of civilizations” and Fukuyama’s “end of history” both emphasize the superiority of values and ideologies centered on American-style democracy. For instance, Fukuyama claims that only the content and form of American-style democracy constitute the “universal” values and ideology of human society, the highest form of human civilization, the final form of governance, and the end of history. Joseph Nye emphasizes that the so-called “cultural soft power” with American-style democracy and freedom as its core connotation is an ever-burning lighthouse for human social values. The U.S. government and academia even use American liberal democracy as a blueprint to formulate so-called democratic “institutional indices” for examining and judging whether countries around the world conform to American-style democratic systems and rules, pointing fingers at and arbitrarily criticizing the democratic content and institutional arrangements of non-Western countries. The United States has also repeatedly used the banner of “democracy, freedom, and human rights taking precedence over sovereignty” to impose sanctions, blockades, embargoes, and even military aggression against non-Western countries. In recent years, the United States has attempted to create so-called “democratic values alliances,” “arc of democracy and freedom,” and “values diplomacy”—cliques and gangs based on American-style liberal democracy—to wage a “new Cold War” against so-called “non-democratic countries.” All these are arrogant performances reflecting the sense of American-style democratic superiority.

随着冷战的结束，美国在欢呼它“战胜”社会主义阵营的同时，不忘借助它在世界舆论场中的话语权极力宣扬自己的民主思想、理论和制度。亨廷顿的“文明冲突论”和福山的“历史终结论”均强调以美式民主为核心的价值观和意识形态的优越性，如福山声称，只有美式民主的内容和形式才是人类社会具有“普世性”的价值观和意识形态，是人类社会的最高文明形态，也是最后一种统治形式，是历史的终结。约瑟夫·奈强调以美式民主、自由等为核心内涵的所谓“文化软实力”是人类社会价值观永不熄灭的灯塔。美国政府和学术界甚至以美国自由民主为蓝本，制定考核审查世界各国是否符合美式民主制度和规则的所谓民主“制度指数”，对非西方国家的民主内容和制度安排指手画脚、横加指责。美国还多次打着所谓“民主、自由、人权高于主权”的旗号，对非西方国家进行制裁、封锁、禁运乃至军事侵略。近些年来，美国试图打造所谓“民主价值观同盟”“民主自由之弧”“价值观外交”等基于美式自由民主的团伙和帮派，对所谓的“非民主国家”开展“新冷战”。这些无一不是体现美式民主优越感的傲慢表演。

3. The Theory of Cultural Excellence

3.文化优秀说

The U.S. government and the ideological and theoretical circles define American culture as the world’s most excellent culture, believing it to be both a sharp arrow for defeating the socialist camp and winning the Cold War, and an important weapon for suppressing and attacking the democratic values and ideological cultures of non-Western countries. The United States believes that the current struggles in the world are still divided by cultural types. A nation with an excellent culture can not only defeat other nations in struggle but also reap the greatest economic and strategic benefits. With the development of capitalist modernization, the American ideological, cultural, and academic theoretical circles have also broken through old cultural frameworks and created new theoretical doctrines, especially by establishing new research objects, perspectives, contents, and methods in various disciplines, constructing new theoretical frameworks, research paradigms, academic norms, and value standards, in an attempt to lead and dominate the new development of world ideological, cultural, and academic theory.

美国政府和思想理论界把美国文化界定为世界最优秀的文化，认为它既是战胜社会主义阵营，获得冷战胜利的一支利箭，也是压制和打击非西方国家民主价值观和思想文化的重要武器。美国认为，现在世界上的斗争仍然是以文化类型划分的，拥有优秀文化的民族不但可以在和其他民族的斗争中战而胜之，而且可以攫取最大的经济和战略利益。随着资本主义现代化的发展，美国思想文化和学术理论界也纷纷突破旧的文化窠臼并创立新的理论学说，特别是在各个学科领域确定新的研究对象、研究视角、研究内容、研究方法，构建新的理论框架、研究范式、学术规范和价值标准，试图引领和主导世界思想文化和学术理论的新发展。

The United States emphasizes that its culture is the most excellent culture of human society, guiding and determining the direction of human civilization. Therefore, it vigorously disseminates and exports it to the world, striving to incorporate “backward countries” into the American cultural category and value system. The global expansion of neoliberalism has greatly strengthened the diffusion and penetration of American ideological culture worldwide and reinforced its discursive hegemony, giving it a first-mover advantage and dominant position in attacking the ideological cultures of “backward countries.” This severely suppresses, denigrates, and smears the national traditional cultures of these countries, forming a de facto “cultural imperialism,” helping the United States conquer and control the minds of these countries’ peoples, striving to destroy their national cultures and thus sever their cultural lineage, strengthening Western-centrism, and making the East dependent on the West.

美国强调它的文化是人类社会最优秀的文化，指引并决定人类文明的发展方向，因此极力向世界传播和输出，力图把“落后国家”纳入美国的文化范畴和价值体系。新自由主义在全球的扩张大大加强了美国思想文化在世界范围内的扩散与渗透力度并强化了其话语霸权，使其在对“落后国家”的思想文化的攻击中占据先发优势和主导地位，极大地压制、诋毁和抹黑这些国家的民族传统文化，形成事实上的“文化帝国主义”，帮助美国征服和控制这些国家人民的思想，力图摧毁其民族文化从而斩断他们的文化血脉，强化西方中心主义，使东方依附于西方。

II. Discursive Hegemonism as the Main Method of Constructing the American-Style Democratic Discourse System and Discourse Power

二、话语霸权主义是美式民主话语体系和话语权建构的主要手法

Establishing discursive hegemonism and constructing democratic discursive hegemony are the main methods and pathways for building the American-style democratic discourse system and discourse power. With the global expansion of neoliberalism, especially after the end of the Cold War, the United States, leveraging its world hegemony in economy, politics, military, and technology, has vigorously promoted and forcefully exported so-called “democracy, freedom, human rights” and other American values, as well as American lifestyles such as individualism, hedonism, and money worship. For a time, this sparked “trend-chasing” and “imitation shows” among some young people in non-Western countries, establishing “target groups” and a “social base” for the export of American-style democratic values, driving a “wedge” into the traditional cultures and democratic traditions of these countries, and paving the way for American-style “democratization” and “liberalization.”

确立话语霸权主义，建构民主话语霸权是美式民主话语体系和话语权建构的主要手法和途径。随着新自由主义全球扩张、特别是冷战结束后，借助自己在经济、政治、军事和科技等方面的世界霸权，美国极力宣扬和强势输出所谓的“民主、自由、人权”等美国价值观和个人主义、享乐主义、拜金主义等美式生活方式，一时间在非西方国家的部分年轻人中引起“跟风潮”和“模仿秀”，为美式民主价值观的输出确立了“目标人群”和“社会基础”，在这些国家的传统文化和民主传统中打下了“楔子”，为美式“民主化”和“自由化”开辟了道路。

The purpose of the United States in constructing democratic discursive hegemony is to suppress, denigrate, and smear the democratic values and other ideological cultures of non-Western countries, weaken and hollow out their true content and traditional and innovative forms of expression, completely marginalize them in the international discourse system, replace them entirely with American-style democratic content, forms, and values, and ultimately exterminate them, realizing the dream of American-style democracy being established as the sole authority or even unifying the world.

美国建构民主话语霸权的目的是压制、诋毁和抹黑非西方国家的民主价值观等思想文化，弱化和掏空其本真内涵与传统和创新的表现形式，将其在国际话语体系中彻底边缘化，用美式民主内涵、形式与价值观对其实现完全替代，最终将其灭绝，实现美式民主定于一尊乃至一统世界的梦想。

First, smearing and slandering the democratic culture and values of non-Western nations. Three main methods are used: One is open attacks on and slander of the democracy and values of non-Western countries. The United States dresses up its own democratic content and form as the sole “democratic criterion” for human society, and any country whose democratic culture and values differ from American-style democracy is attacked and slandered as “unfree and undemocratic,” “bad democracy,” “authoritarian state,” or “failed state.” The United States draws lines based on “democratic values” to establish a so-called “democratic camp,” attempting to use bloc superiority to force “non-democratic countries” to “change course,” revise and delete their own democratic content and forms of practice against the benchmark of American-defined democratic standards, ultimately eliminate their own national traditional democratic culture and values, and establish American-style democracy. The second is cultural infiltration and conquest by American-style democracy and values. The United States uses its monopolized international discourse power to carry out subtle cultural infiltration and conquest of democratic values in non-Western countries. This method has already achieved considerable success in the academic circles of some non-Western countries. The United States embeds its own defined democracy and other values into ideological, cultural, and academic theories, and uses opportunities for “cultural exchange” and “academic discussion” to infiltrate non-Western countries, causing their people to doubt their own national culture, forming historical nihilism, cultural nihilism, and national nihilism, ultimately destroying their national culture and values such as democracy. This method is the most covert and effective, with low cost and not easily arousing the vigilance of non-Western governments and peoples. This infiltration method has a relatively clear path: it is introduced through academic circles, then infiltrates the education sector to indoctrinate students, then brainwashes the entire population through media propaganda, gains the belief and support of the people, and ultimately achieves interference with, deconstruction of, and even substitution for the nation’s democracy, values, and other cultures. The third is acting as a “teacher” of democratic culture. On the one hand, it endlessly preaches that American-style democracy is a “universal value” and the “excellent culture” of human society; on the other hand, it puts on a stern face and threatens, with “failed state theory,” “axis of evil theory,” “rogue state theory,” “China threat theory,” “African colonization theory,” and so on, threatening and “teaching” non-Western countries that they should learn from and establish American-style democratic political systems, deceiving them into believing that this is the only way for them to solve many social problems and achieve national modernization.

第一，抹黑和诋毁非西方民族的民主文化与价值观。主要使用三种手法：一是公开攻击和抹黑非西方国家的民主与价值观。美国把自己的民主内容与形式打扮成人类社会唯一的“民主圭臬”，凡是与美式民主文化和价值观不相同的国家均被攻击和诋毁为“不自由不民主”“恶劣民主”“专制国家”“失败国家”。美国以“民主价值观”划线建立所谓“民主阵营”，试图以集团优势迫使“非民主国家”“改弦更张”，对标美国定义的民主标准修正和删改自己的民主内容与实践形式，最终消灭自己民族的传统民主文化和价值观，确立美式民主。二是美式民主和价值观等的文化渗透和文化征服。美国利用自己垄断的国际话语权对非西方国家进行潜移默化的民主价值观等文化渗透与征服。这种手法在部分非西方国家的学术界已经相当成功，美国把自己定义的民主等价值观镶嵌进思想文化和学术理论之中，借助“文化交流”和“学术讨论”的机会，对非西方国家进行渗透，使其人民群众对本国民族文化产生怀疑，形成历史虚无主义、文化虚无主义和民族虚无主义，最终摧毁其民族文化和民主等价值观。这种手法最隐蔽也最有效，成本低又不易引起非西方国家政府和人民的警觉。这种渗透方式有一个比较明确的路径，就是经由学术界译介，再渗透进教育部门对学生灌输，然后经由传播媒介的宣传对全国人民洗脑，得到人民群众的相信和支持，最终实现对本民族的民主与价值观等文化的干扰、解构乃至替代。三是充当民主文化的“教师爷”。一方面喋喋不休地说教，什么美式民主是“普世价值”，是人类社会的“优秀文化”；另一方面板起面孔威胁，什么“失败国家说”“邪恶轴心论”“无赖国家说”“中国威胁论”“非洲殖民论”等不一而足，威胁和“教导”非西方国家应该学习和建立美式民主政治制度，哄骗它们说这是它们解决诸多社会问题、实现国家现代化的唯一出路。

Second, attacking and suppressing the democratic systems and democratic practices explored by non-Western nations, mainly using peaceful and military methods. One is monopolizing the setting of democratic discourse topics, rule-making, and value judgment. Through academic “research” on the “backward,” “authoritarian,” and “non-democratic” characteristics of non-Western democratic systems, it points out that these systems hinder the modern development and “democratic transition” of these countries and will drag down their economic and social development. Therefore, non-Western countries should adopt and establish American-style democratic systems. To show the “loftiness” of American-style democratic theory, American scholars have established many dazzling so-called “theoretical frameworks” and “mathematical models,” and produced many dazzling so-called “evaluation systems” and “measurement indicators,” all aimed at proving the superiority of the American-style democratic system and the “backwardness” of non-Western democratic systems, inducing non-Western countries to achieve “political transformation,” “democratic system conversion,” and “development transition,” and accept the arrangement of the American-style democratic system. Huntington’s *The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century* and *Political Order in Changing Societies*, Gabriel Almond et al.’s *The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations*, and Arend Lijphart’s *Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in Thirty-Six Countries* are typical examples. The second is forcibly imposing American-style democratic systems and democratic practices by military force. The United States has never given up the intention of using military force to promote American-style democratic systems and democratic practices. For those countries that are less easily infiltrated and difficult to “correct,” it uses all means, including political, economic, and military, to forcibly export democratic systems, implementing political intervention, trade blockades, and economic sanctions against countries unwilling to establish Western democratic systems, up to military subversion, linking economic aid to American-style democratic political systems, forcing non-Western countries to undergo “democratic transition” and “political transformation.” The U.S. military aggression in the Middle East and its interference in Asian, African, and Latin American countries all contain the purpose of attempting to conduct so-called “democratic experiments” and establish so-called “democratic models” in these countries.

第二，打击和压制非西方民族探索的民主制度和民主实践，主要采用和平与武力两种手法。一是垄断民主话语议题设置、规则制定、价值评判。通过学术界“研究”非西方民主制度的“落后”“专制”“非民主”等特点，指出它阻碍这些国家的现代性发展和“民主化转型”，将拖累这些国家的经济社会发展。因此，非西方国家应该采用和建立美式民主制度。为了显示美式民主理论的“高大上”，美国学者建立了许许多多令人眼花缭乱的所谓“理论框架”和“数学模型”，搞出许许多多令人目不暇接的所谓“评估体系”和“测量指标”，目的就是为了证明美式民主制度的优越性和非西方民主制度的“落后性”，诱导非西方国家实现“政治转型”“民主转制”“发展转轨”，接受美式民主制度安排。亨廷顿的《第三波——20世纪后期民主化浪潮》《变革社会中的政治秩序》，加布里埃尔·阿尔蒙德等的《公民文化: 五个国家的政治态度和民主制度》以及阿伦·利普哈特的《民主的模式——36个国家的政府形式和政府绩效》等著作是典型代表。二是以武力强行推行美式民主制度和民主实践。美国从来没有放弃使用武力推行美式民主制度和民主实践的打算，对于那些不太容易渗透和难以“修正”的国家，则运用政治、经济、军事等一切手段强迫输出民主制度，对不愿意建立西方民主制度的国家实行政治干预、贸易封锁和经济制裁，直至军事颠覆，把经济援助与美式民主政治制度挂钩，逼迫非西方国家实行“民主转型”和“政治转轨”。美国在中东地区的军事侵略和对亚非拉国家的干涉，均包含有试图在这些国家进行所谓“民主试验”与建立所谓“民主样板”的目的。

Third, curbing and destroying the democratic development paths explored by non-Western nations. A country’s development path naturally includes the development path of national culture such as democratic values, which is one of the important national identifiers that significantly distinguishes it from the development paths of other countries. To achieve control over non-Western countries, the United States uses various means to try to interrupt or curb their democratic development paths. One is to confuse the connotations of “democratization” and “modernization” in discourse, replacing modernization development theory with American-style democratic theory. The United States has carefully fabricated the theoretical logic of American-style democracy: “democratization equals Westernization, Westernization equals modernization,” embedding the content and form of American-style democracy into modernization development theory, using American-style democratic discourse to substitute for the modernization development theories of non-Western countries, and instilling it into the academic circles, the general public, and government officials of these countries, falsely claiming that without taking the American-style democratization path, modernization cannot be achieved, and the traditional social form of economic and social backwardness cannot be escaped. The second is formulating democratic standards and democratic rules and exporting them to non-Western countries relying on international discourse power, attempting to change or “correct” their democratic development paths. The United States advertises itself as the “model of democracy” and the “free world,” claiming that American democratic competition and free elections are “universal values,” the “criterion” ensuring America’s modern development, that “democracy is everything,” “democracy is prosperity,” and the “destination of happiness” for all humanity, attracting and inducing the people of non-Western countries to admire and pursue the American-style democratic development path. To this end, the United States does not hesitate to launch “democratization movements” in non-Western countries, forming riots and uprisings such as the “Arab Spring,” “Rose Revolution,” “Tulip Revolution,” and “Chestnut Revolution,” [10]10 The “Rose Revolution” (Georgia, 2003), “Tulip Revolution” (Kyrgyzstan, 2005), and “Chestnut Revolution” (Ukraine, 2004–2005) were popular uprisings in post-Soviet states that installed pro-Western governments; the “Arab Spring” (2010–2012) was a wave of anti-government protests and civil wars across the Arab world. The author groups them as U.S.-backed “democratization movements.” whose core connotation is “wholesale American-style democratization,” subverting and destroying the national democratic development paths explored by these countries.

第三，遏制和摧毁非西方民族探索的民主发展道路。一个国家的发展道路当然包括民主价值观等民族文化发展道路，这是显著区别于其他国家发展道路的重要民族标识之一。为了实现对非西方国家的控制，美国使用各种手段力图中断或遏制非西方国家的民主发展道路。一是在话语上混淆“民主化”与“现代化”的内涵，用美式民主理论替代现代化发展理论。美国精心编制了美式民主理论逻辑：“民主化等同于西方化、西方化等同于现代化”，把美式民主内容与形式嵌入现代化发展理论之中，用美式民主话语偷换非西方国家现代化发展理论，并向这些国家的学术界、社会大众和政府官员灌输，谎称不走美式民主化道路就不可能实现现代化，就不能摆脱经济社会落后的传统社会形态。二是制定民主标准和民主规则并依仗国际话语权向非西方国家输出，试图改变或“修正”其民主发展道路。美国标榜自己是“民主典范”“自由世界”，美国的民主竞争、自由选举是“普世价值”，是保证美国现代发展的“圭臬”，“民主就是一切”“民主就是富足”，是全人类的“幸福归宿”，吸引和诱导非西方国家人民仰慕和追求美式民主发展道路。为此，美国不惜在非西方国家发动“民主化运动”，形成了诸如“阿拉伯之春”“玫瑰革命”“郁金香革命”“栗子花革命”等骚乱和暴动，其核心内涵是“全盘美式民主化”，颠覆和摧毁这些国家探索的本国民主发展道路。

III. Extreme Egoism Is the Main Purpose of Constructing the American-Style Democratic Discourse System and Discourse Power

三、极端利己主义是美式民主话语体系和话语权建构的主要目的

The purpose of the United States’ utmost efforts to establish a so-called “democratic camp alliance” and mobilize the alliance’s strength to painstakingly construct the American-style democratic discourse system and discourse power is not to sincerely help non-Western countries improve their own democratic systems and develop their own democratic cultures, but to use democratic discourse power to suppress, attack, and destroy their traditional democratic cultures and values, shake their confidence in national economic and cultural construction, and even subvert their state power, hinder their development toward modern society, and attempt to firmly nail non-Western countries to the status of “resource-supplying countries” or “commodity-producing countries,” forever serving the U.S. strategy of world hegemony and its economic, political, cultural, and other interests.

美国竭尽全力建立所谓“民主阵营联盟”，动员联盟的力量挖空心思建构美式民主话语体系与话语权的目的并非真心帮助非西方国家完善本国民主制度、发展本国民主文化，而是借助民主话语权压制、打击、摧毁其传统的民主文化与价值观，动摇其进行国家经济、文化等建设的信心，甚至颠覆其国家政权，阻碍其向现代社会发展，试图将非西方国家牢牢钉在“资源供给国”或“商品生产国”的地位，永远为美国称霸世界的战略和经济、政治、文化等利益服务。

First, seizing strategic interests. By monopolizing the discursive power of democracy, the United States positions itself on the moral high ground of democratic values, ideology, and culture vis-à-vis non-Western countries, acquiring the “rationality,” “legitimacy,” and “impartiality” to smear, vilify, and suppress them. It uses democratic values as a weapon and bargaining chip to subvert the regimes of non-Western countries, forcing them to make major strategic concessions. First, it stirs up “democratization” movements in non-Western countries. It defines American-style democracy as “universal values,” “democratic values,” and “democratic institutions,” while defining the democracies of non-Western countries as “undemocratic,” “anti-democratic,” and “rogue states,” and slandering their governments as “autocratic” and “dictatorial,” which should be overthrown and toppled. It vigorously promotes so-called “democratization” movements in these countries, attempting to subvert their regimes and disrupt their economic and social development. Second, it constructs neoliberal theories and rules with American-style democracy as an important component, portraying them as the basic norms of modern social development. It uses American development theories and “modernization practices” to demonstrate the superiority and “advanced nature” of American-style democracy, while simultaneously “demonstrating” the “backwardness” of non-Western countries’ democratic institutions and traditional cultures, inducing them to learn from and absorb American-style democratic ideas, connotations, and institutions when advancing their own national modernization, and to fully accept American-style democracy. Third, it grants itself the “legitimacy” to dominate the world. Because American-style democracy is excellent and advanced, the United States has the responsibility and obligation to save the people of countries under “backward” and “autocratic” or “dictatorial” governments, advocating that “freedom, democracy, equality, and human rights are above sovereignty,” and that the U.S. blockade, embargo, infiltration, and military strikes against these countries are “legitimate.” The United States uses its democratic discursive power to seize the moral high ground, using a system of democratic values to unify the world’s value systems, leaving non-Western countries with no voice and unable to defend themselves, placing them in an extremely disadvantageous strategic position. Ultimately, they can only cede strategic interests to the United States in exchange for temporary time and space for development.

第一，攫取战略利益。美国通过垄断民主话语权，使自己对非西方国家占据民主价值观与思想文化等道德制高点，拥有抹黑、诬蔑、打压它们的“合理性”“合法性”和“公正性”，以民主价值观作为颠覆非西方国家政权的武器和筹码，逼迫其对自己作出重大战略让步。一是在非西方国家掀起“民主化”运动。把美式民主定义为“普世价值”“民主价值”“民主制度”，把非西方国家的民主定义为“不民主”“反民主” “邪恶国家”等，把这些国家政府诬蔑为“专制”“独裁”，应该被打倒和推翻，在这些国家竭力推动所谓“民主化”运动，试图颠覆其政权和搞乱其经济社会发展。二是构建以美式民主为重要内容的新自由主义理论和规则，把它描绘成现代社会发展的基本准则。以美国的发展理论和“现代化实践”论证美式民主的优越性和“先进性”，同时“论证”非西方国家民主制度和传统文化的“落后性”，诱导它们在推进国家现代化发展时必须学习和吸收美式民主思想、内涵、制度，全盘接受美式民主。三是赋予自己称霸世界的“合法性”。由于美式民主是优秀的和先进的，因此，美国有责任和义务拯救那些处于落后状态和“专制”“独裁”政府统治的国家的人民，鼓吹“自由、民主、平等、人权高于主权”，美国对这些国家的封锁、禁运、渗透、军事打击是“合法的”。美国以民主话语权抢占道德制高点，以民主价值体系统一世界价值体系，使非西方国家无处发声、难以自辩，在战略上处于极端不利地位，最终只能对美国让渡战略利益以获得暂时发展的时间和空间。

Second, plundering economic interests. U.S. officialdom, intellectual circles, and academia believe that American-style democratic discourse can be converted into economic interests. They can fully utilize it to attack and suppress non-Western countries, linking their economic development with democracy, falsely claiming that “economic development in non-Western countries is anti-democratic,” “commodities restrict freedom,” and “commodity production suppresses human rights.” They smear, vilify, and even blockade, embargo, and sanction the economic development plans, goals, and policies of non-Western countries, attacking and suppressing their economic development processes and momentum, thereby seizing material wealth and economic interests for themselves. The main methods include: First, linking economic and trade exchanges and economic aid with non-Western countries to democracy, demanding that they implement neoliberalism, promote political “democratization,” market “liberalization,” and property “privatization” as political and economic reforms and social transformations, making alignment with the American “democratic, free” social system and adherence to the “golden rules” of neoliberalism a prerequisite and condition. Second, suppressing industries, sectors, and science and technology in non-Western countries that are developing well and may even surpass the United States, on the pretext that these industries and technology sectors are “undemocratic,” involve “forced labor,” or harm U.S. “national security.” The method of suppression is to organize and mobilize the “democratic camp” and coerce other relevant countries to jointly participate in prohibiting the supply of production equipment, parts or components, and related software, imposing trade embargoes, “economic decoupling,” and breaking “dependence on industrial chains,” engaging in trade protectionism and unilateralism, attempting to squeeze these non-Western countries and their related industries out of the world market.

第二，掠夺经济利益。美国官方和思想界、学术界相信，美式民主话语可以转变为经济利益，可以充分利用它攻击和压制非西方国家，把非西方国家的经济发展与民主挂钩，诬称非西方国家的“经济发展是反民主的”“商品限制了自由”“商品生产压制人权”等，对非西方国家的经济发展计划、目标和政策进行抹黑、诬蔑乃至封锁、禁运、制裁，打击和压制其经济发展进程和势头，为自己攫取物质财富和经济利益。主要手法有：一是同非西方国家进行经贸往来、对其进行经济援助时与民主挂钩，要求它们实行新自由主义，推行政治“民主化”、市场“自由化”和财产“私有化”等政治经济改革和社会改造，把向美国“民主、自由”社会制度看齐和遵循新自由主义的“金科玉律”作为前提和条件。二是对非西方国家发展良好，甚至有可能超越美国的产业、行业和科学技术等进行打压，借口是这些产业和科技行业等“不民主”“强迫劳动”、损害美国“国家安全”。打击的手法是组织和动员“民主阵营”以及胁迫其他相关国家共同参与禁止提供生产设备、零部件或配件以及相关软件、贸易禁运、“经济脱钩”和摆脱“产业链依赖”等，大搞贸易保护主义和单边主义，试图把这些非西方国家和相关产业等排挤出世界市场。

The United States, using so-called “democracy, freedom” and other values as conditions, vigorously exports neoliberalism to non-Western countries, making them “democratized, liberalized, marketized, and privatized,” thereby opening the door for American capital. American capital, with its strong strength and sophisticated modern capital operation techniques, effortlessly takes control and “purchases” the high-quality and “non-performing” assets of these countries. For economic industries and science and technology in non-Western countries that show signs of catching up with the United States, it uses the Western group and its first-mover advantages, employing all available means to suppress their development momentum, hinder their climb to higher levels, and attempt to nail them forever to the position of low-end industrial chains and commodity assembly and processing, serving the economic interests of the United States.

美国以所谓“民主、自由”等价值观为条件，极力向非西方国家输出新自由主义，使其“民主化、自由化、市场化和私有化”，从而对美国资本打开方便之门，美国资本携强大实力和娴熟的现代资本运作手法，毫不费力地实现掌控和“购买”这些国家的优良和“不良”资产。对于非西方国家有赶超美国势头的经济产业和科学技术，则以西方集团和先发优势，使用一切可用的手段，打压其发展势头，阻碍其向高水平攀登，试图将它们永远钉在低端产业链和商品组装与加工者的地位，为美国的经济利益服务。

Third, extracting political interests. The ruling elite of the American bourgeoisie is not satisfied with merely plundering the political interests of their own people. Therefore, suppressing the democratic and political systems of non-Western countries and forcing them to make political compromises and political concessions is a very natural action for the United States. By monopolizing the discursive power of democracy, the United States treats the connotations of American-style democratic values and political ideology as the core content and basic values of American politics, and enshrines them as the “political bible” for foreign political export. Internationally, the United States draws lines based on “democratic and non-democratic countries,” inciting camp confrontation and political antagonism, organizing a “democratic camp” and pressuring weaker countries to be dependent on them, attacking “non-democratic countries” with democratic values and smearing them on “freedom” and “human rights,” forcing them to follow and be dependent on the West, to recognize and accept the American “democratic system,” to establish American-style political ideology, political institutions, and political culture, and to become political vassals of the West.

第三，榨取政治利益。美国资产阶级统治精英并不满足于掠取本国人民的政治利益，因此，打压非西方国家的民主和政治制度，迫使其作出政治妥协和政治让利就是美国的一个很自然的行动。美国通过垄断民主话语权，把美式民主价值观和政治思想的内涵作为美国政治的核心内容和基本价值观，并且奉为对外政治输出的“政治圣经”。美国在国际上以“民主和非民主国家”划线，挑动阵营对立和政治对抗，组织“民主阵营”并施压弱小国家依附于它们，对“非民主国家”进行民主价值观等攻击以及“自由”和“人权”抹黑，强迫它们追随和依附于西方，承认和接受美国的“民主制度”，确立美式政治思想、政治制度和政治文化，在政治上成为西方的附庸。

The main method by which the United States extracts political interests is to use the discursive power of democracy and other concepts to politically deceive and defraud the people of the world. The method is not complicated: it involves fabricating, forging, falsifying, misappropriating, and editing information and so-called “evidence,” selectively hyping and blocking information, creating “information cocoons,” applying different standards to the same issue depending on the country. In the United States, it is “democracy, freedom, human rights”; in non-Western countries, it is “autocracy, dictatorship, suppression of human rights.” Strikes and protests by the American people are “riots” and “insurrections,” while riots and terrorist attacks in non-Western countries and regions are “opposition to autocracy” and “beautiful scenery.” Since the Cold War, the United States has stirred up wave after wave of so-called “democracy movements” and “revolutionary tides” in non-Western countries, conducting one “democratic experiment” and “political transformation” movement after another in these countries, trying to transform them with American-style democracy and political systems, in order to secure the greatest political interests for itself.

美国榨取政治利益的手法主要是利用民主等的话语权对世界人民进行政治欺骗和诈骗，手法并不复杂，就是编造、伪造、作假、移花接木和裁剪信息与所谓“证据”，对信息进行选择性炒作和屏蔽，制造“信息茧房”，对同类问题根据不同国家采用不同标准，在美国是“民主、自由、人权”，在非西方国家就是“专制、独裁、压制人权”，美国人民的罢工、游行等是“骚乱”和“暴动”，非西方国家和地区的暴乱和恐怖袭击是“反对专制”和“美丽的风景线”。冷战以来，美国在非西方国家已经掀起一轮又一轮所谓“民主运动”和“革命浪潮”，在这些国家进行一次又一次“民主试验”和“政治转型”运动，力图用美式民主和政治制度改造这些国家，为自己谋取最大的政治利益。

Fourth, devouring cultural interests. The United States has long recognized that the conquest of a nation or people lies not in occupation and slaughter, but in fundamentally interrupting, destroying, and eradicating its language, history, and culture, and it has put this recognition into practice, such as exterminating the culture of Indigenous Americans and promoting “democratic substitution” in non-Western countries. In modern society, the United States still believes that “international relations are fundamentally a social and cultural construction dependent on language.” [12]12 The original Chinese text cites this as a quotation, but the source is not specified in the provided material. Therefore, making the export of ideological culture centered on American-style democratic values and the construction of discursive power a key means of suppressing and attacking non-Western countries, seizing the cultural and moral high ground, constructing a cultural and moral discourse system and discursive power, and destroying and eradicating the traditional national cultures of non-Western countries to obtain cultural and derivative benefits has become an important tool for the United States. The United States primarily uses three methods to devour the cultural interests of non-Western countries: First, coercive means. It links the economic development of non-Western countries to American-style democracy and ideological culture, forcing them to accept American culture. Through political isolation, economic blockade, and even military aggression and occupation, it compels non-Western countries to conduct “democratic experiments” and build “democratic models,” forcibly imposing American-style democratic thought and political systems as American culture. Second, conspiratorial means, mainly engaging in peaceful evolution. [13]13 “Peaceful evolution” (和平演变) is a term used by the CPC to describe a strategy attributed to Western powers, particularly the United States, of subverting socialist states through non-military means such as cultural infiltration and ideological influence, rather than direct confrontation. It conceals American-style democratic values and other ideological culture within “academic exchanges,” “scientific research,” “people-to-people exchanges,” and mass media, promoting and disseminating them to the intellectual, academic, educational circles, and the masses of non-Western countries. Third, market means. Relying on advanced technology, the United States produces flashy film and television products, broadcasting and distributing them in non-Western countries through channels such as cinema, television, art, and the internet, attracting numerous young people whose values are not yet fully formed and whose discernment is weak. This not only influences the formation of values among young people in these countries but also plunders a large amount of cultural and economic benefits.

第四，鲸吞文化利益。美国早就认识到，对一个国家和民族的征服不在于占领和屠杀，而是从根本上中断、摧毁和灭绝其语言、历史和文化，而且把这种认识付诸实践，比如灭绝印第安人的文化和在非西方国家搞“民主替代”等。在现代社会，美国仍然认为“国际关系根本上是一种依赖语言的社会及文化建构” 。因此，把以美式民主价值观等为核心的思想文化输出和话语权建构作为对非西方国家压制和打击的重要手段，抢占文化和道德制高点，构建文化和道德话语体系与话语权，摧毁和灭绝非西方国家的民族传统文化，获取文化本身及其衍生利益就成为美国的一个重要手段。美国鲸吞非西方国家文化利益的手法主要有三种：一是强迫手段。把非西方国家的经济发展与美式民主和思想文化等挂钩，强迫它们接受美国文化。通过政治孤立、经济封锁直至军事侵略和占领等手段，逼迫非西方国家搞“民主试验”和建设“民主样板”，强行推行美式民主思想和政治制度等美式文化。二是阴谋手段，主要是搞和平演变。把美式民主价值观等思想文化隐藏在“学术交流”“科学研究”“人文交流”和大众传媒等之中，向非西方国家的思想界、学术界、教育界和人民群众推广与传播。三是市场手段。美国依仗先进技术制作一些炫酷的影视等产品，通过电影、电视、艺术、网络等途径，在非西方国家演播和发行，吸引众多价值观尚未完全形塑、分辨能力尚弱的青少年，既影响了这些国家青少年价值观的形成，也掠夺了大量文化经济利益。

Through the penetration of democratic values and other ideological culture and the construction of discursive power, the United States influences and controls the people of non-Western countries, achieving the conquest of their “spirit” and “soul,” dissolving and destroying their beliefs and faith in their own traditional national ideological culture and democratic values, sweeping away their national consciousness and national traditions, replacing their national culture with American culture, and realizing the long-cherished American construction of historical nihilism, national nihilism, and cultural nihilism in thought and consciousness in non-Western countries. Subsequently, the United States establishes its own ideological culture, democratic values, and other discourse systems and discursive power in these non-Western countries, achieving control over their ideological culture.

美国通过民主价值观等思想文化渗透和话语权的建构，影响和控制非西方国家民众，实现对他们的“精神”和“灵魂”的征服，消解和摧毁他们对本民族传统思想文化和民主价值观的信念和信仰，扫除他们的民族意识和民族传统，用美国文化置换其本民族文化，实现美国渴望已久的对非西方国家的历史虚无主义、民族虚无主义和文化虚无主义思想和意识的建构，继之，美国就在这些非西方国家确立自己的思想文化和民主价值观等话语体系和话语权，实现对这些国家的思想文化的控制。

IV. Concealing the Hypocrisy of Its Democracy Is the Essence of the Construction of the American-style Democratic Discourse System and Discursive Power

四、掩盖其民主的虚伪性是美式民主话语体系和话语权建构的实质

The United States spares no effort to piece together a so-called “democratic camp alliance,” using all means and methods to construct a democratic discourse system and discursive power. The purpose is to suppress the democratic thought and practice of other peoples, export and disseminate American-style democracy, and brainwash the people of the world. In essence, this is to conceal the deceptive and hypocritical nature of its so-called “democracy.”

美国竭力拼凑所谓“民主阵营联盟”，使用一切手段和方法构建民主话语体系和话语权，目的是打压其他民族的民主思想与实践，输出和传播美式民主，对世界人民洗脑，实质上是为了掩盖其所谓“民主”的欺骗性和虚伪性。

First, stealing the concept of democracy, changing the people governing the country into the people electing rulers to govern the country. Whether in the West or the East, democracy is a relatively ancient term, and its original meaning is roughly the same, all containing connotations such as “rule by the people,” “management by the people,” and “popular sovereignty.” To realize their own interests, the bourgeois rulers of the United States have tampered with the original meaning of democracy, emphasizing that democracy is a political method, “that is, the institutional arrangement for making political decisions, in which certain individuals acquire the power to make decisions by competing for the people’s votes.” [14]14 This is a paraphrase of Joseph Schumpeter’s definition of democracy in *Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy* (1942), where he describes it as an institutional arrangement for arriving at political decisions by individuals who acquire power through a competitive struggle for the people’s vote. Thus, democracy has been transformed into “the people electing rulers,” with “the people’s elected rulers governing the country.” “Rule by the people” has been replaced by “election by the people,” and “the people” have become “voters.” The people’s democratic rights are embodied in the electoral rights and electoral activities of “one person, one vote.” Countries that conduct such activities are “democratic countries,” while those that do not are “undemocratic,” “authoritarian” countries, or “rogue states.” [15]15 “Rogue states” (邪恶国家) is a term popularized by the U.S. government in the 1990s and 2000s to designate countries it accused of supporting terrorism, seeking weapons of mass destruction, or violating international norms, such as Iran, Iraq, and North Korea. At this point, the people’s governance of the country has been equated with the institutional arrangement of voting and elections, completing the transformation of the concept of democracy.

第一，偷换民主的概念，把人民治理国家变更成人民选举统治者治理国家。不管在西方还是东方，民主都是一个相对古老的词语，其本来的意思也大致相同，都包含有“人民统治”“人民管理”“人民主权”等含义。美国资产阶级统治者为了实现自己的利益，对民主的本来含义进行篡改，强调民主是一种政治方法，“就是那种为作出政治决定而实行的制度安排，在这种安排中，某些人通过竞取人民的选票而取得作决定的权力”。于是，民主就变成了“人民选举统治者”，由“民选统治者对国家实行统治”，“人民统治”被换成了“人民选举”，“人民” 变成了“选民”。人民的民主权利体现在“一人一票”的选举权利和选举活动中，搞这样活动的就是“民主国家”，不搞这样活动的就是“不民主”“专制”国家，或者 “邪恶国家”。到此为止，就把人民对国家的统治与投票选举的制度安排画上了等号，民主概念的转换完成。

Second, money democracy based on private capital. On the surface, America’s “democratic elections” allow anyone to run for office and anyone to vote. However, the costs of presidential and congressional election campaigns—including rallies, advertisements, travel, speeches, and even individual canvassing—often run into tens or hundreds of billions of dollars, which ordinary people can absolutely not afford. Therefore, America’s “democratic elections” are essentially money elections, a luxurious game controlled and manipulated by the wealthy, the powerful, and the media, an election show where “democracy becomes ‘electocracy’ and elections become ‘money elections.’” To obtain campaign funds, presidential and congressional candidates use various means to raise money, such as campaign donations, political lobbying, the “revolving door” between government and business, [16]16 The “revolving door” (旋转门) refers to the movement of individuals between roles as legislators, regulators, and the private sector (e.g., lobbying firms or corporations), often seen as a channel for influence and conflicts of interest in U.S. politics. and even interest transfers, dark money, and drug money, all of which brazenly enter the scene and are conveniently legalized. Undoubtedly, capital investment requires a calculation of the rate of return. After being elected, presidents and congressmen naturally repay their financial backers and seek profits for them, completing the “legitimate” exchange of interests.

第二，建立在私人资本基础之上的金钱民主。美国的“民主选举”表面上人人可以竞选，人人可以投票，但是总统和议员的竞选聚会、广告、旅行、演讲乃至个人拉票花费动辄以数十亿、上百亿美元计，绝不是普通民众可以承担的。因此，美国的“民主选举”实质上就是金钱选举，是被富人、权贵和媒体掌控和玩弄的一场豪华游戏，就是一场“民主变‘选主’、选举变‘钱举’”的选举秀。为了获得竞选经费，总统和议员候选人使用各种手段筹措资金，比如，竞选捐款、政治游说、政商“旋转门”以至于利益输送、黑金、毒品等均堂而皇之地登堂入室，乘机合法化。毫无疑问，资本的投入是要计算回报率的，总统和议员当选后自然要对金主投桃报李，为其牟利，“合法的”利益交换到此完成。

Third, formal democracy in name of “one person, one vote” but in reality “rule by a minority elite.” American voters can participate in voting, but they cannot participate in the formulation of policies and laws in various aspects of the country’s politics, economy, culture, and society. Government officials and members of Congress are mostly bourgeois tycoons or hereditary elites, who hold positions in government organs at all levels and in the legislative and judicial branches, formulating and executing laws, regulations, and national policies. “Checks and balances” are merely a “left hand versus right hand” game among the “ruling elite.” Voters only feel a sense of existence during the campaign and voting period; once the voting ends, voters are discarded and ignored. They have no participation in the formulation of major national policies or the specific process of governing the country. These powers are “exercised on their behalf” by the government officials and members of Congress they elected. They are merely “extras” or “props” summoned and dismissed at will in the “election game” of the ruling elite. For the people, American democracy is only formal democracy; in essence, it is the democracy of the ruling elite.

第三，名为“一人一票”实为“少数精英统治”的形式民主。美国的选民可以参加投票，但是不能参与国家政治、经济、文化、社会等各方面政策和法规的制定，政府官员和议会议员大多是资产阶级大富翁或者世家权贵充任，他们把持着各级政府机关和立法司法机关，制定法律、法规和国家政策并执行，“权力制衡”仅仅是“统治精英”之间的“左右手互搏”游戏。选民仅仅在竞选和投票期间才有存在感，投票结束选民即被弃之不用、视而不见，国家大政方针的制定和具体治国理政的过程没有他们的参与，这些权力都由他们投票选举的政府官员和议会议员“代替”他们行使了，他们只是统治精英“竞选游戏”中呼之即来挥之即去的“群众演员”或者“道具”。美国民主对于人民来说只是形式上的民主，实质上是统治精英的民主。

Fourth, “vetocracy” democracy where party interests are placed above national interests. American political parties represent different financial capitals, industries, sectors, and even regional bourgeoisies, with the mission of seeking benefits for the bourgeois interest groups they represent. Bourgeois interest groups manipulate political parties and members of Congress to support or veto “bills” involving the interests of their own groups. For example, the U.S. Republican Party resolutely vetoes the “healthcare bill” supported by the Democratic Party, while the Democratic Party vetoes the “border wall” bill supported by the Republican Party concerning the U.S.-Mexico border. Under the manipulation of bourgeois interest groups, the U.S. Congress and political parties have fallen into a “vetocracy” of “vetoing for the sake of vetoing.” Regardless of whether a bill is beneficial to the country, as long as it is inconsistent with the interests of their own group, they resolutely oppose it and resort to vetoing, even leading to a dead loop of vetoes and “vetoes of vetoes.” This results in fragmented, lengthy, and sluggish discussions and voting on bills in Congress, greatly reducing the efficiency of decision-making and bill passage, and increasing the cost of policy and law formulation. More seriously, some U.S. political parties and members of Congress have completely ceased to consider or pay attention to national interests. In Congress, they take “vetocracy” as the sole voting principle, obsessed with vetoing the other party’s bills. This is entirely a mentality and practice of “if you don’t let me get things done, I will never let you get things done either.” The political ecology within Congress is one where members quarrel every day and veto everything.

第四，党派利益凌驾于国家利益之上的“否决政治”民主。美国政党是不同金融资本、产业、行业甚至区域资产阶级的代表，使命是为其代表的资产阶级利益集团争取利益。资产阶级利益集团操控政党和议员对涉及自己集团利益的“议案”支持或者否决，比如，美国共和党坚决否决民主党支持的“医保法案”，民主党则否决了共和党支持的美国和墨西哥边境“修墙”法案等。在资产阶级利益集团的操控下，美国议会和政党陷入了“为否决而否决”的“否决政治”，不管一项议案对国家是否有益，只要和自己集团的利益不一致，则坚决反对并付诸否决，甚至带来否决和“否决的否决”的死循环，导致国会对议案的讨论和投票表决分散、冗长并拖沓，大大降低了决策和议案通过的效率，增加政策和法律制定的成本。更为严重的是，美国有的政党和议员已经完全不再考虑和关注国家利益，在国会中把“否决政治”作为唯一的投票原则，痴迷于投票否决对方政党的议案，完全是一种“你不让我办成事，我也坚决不让你办成事”的心态和做派，国会内的政治生态就是议员们天天吵架，事事否决。

Fifth, the privileged-interest democracy in which the special interests of the power clique are placed above the interests of the people. The American bourgeoisie, based on its ownership of the means of production, can be further divided into the industrial bourgeoisie, the financial bourgeoisie, the agricultural bourgeoisie, the military-industrial bourgeoisie, etc. Each type of bourgeoisie can be subdivided by scale into large, medium, and small bourgeoisies, and can also be subdivided by industry and sector into different types of bourgeoisie, such as oil magnates, steel magnates, coal magnates, media magnates, etc. These bourgeoisies and their representatives control and monopolize America’s political power, inheriting it across generations to form different bourgeois aristocracies and oligarchic families.

第五，权势集团特殊利益高于人民利益的特权利益民主。美国的资产阶级根据占有生产资料的不同又可以分为工业资产阶级、金融资产阶级、农业资产阶级、军工资产阶级等，每一类资产阶级根据规模又可以分为大、中、小资产阶级，还可以根据产业、行业细分为不同类型的资产阶级，如石油大王、钢铁大王、煤炭大王、传媒大王等，这些资产阶级及其代表者掌控和垄断美国的政治权力，世代继承形成不同的资产阶级权贵和门阀。

American bourgeois political parties are the spokespersons and “white gloves” [17]17 “White gloves” (白手套) is a Chinese term for intermediaries or frontmen who launder money or carry out illicit transactions on behalf of powerful figures, shielding the principals from legal exposure. of these aristocracies and oligarchic families. The aristocracies and oligarchic families are the “donors” and “market manipulators” of the various bourgeois political parties. Those pushed to the front stage to represent the parties in elections for “president” and “congressmen” are marionettes. They collude in corruption, manipulate matters by underhand means, and use every method to line their own pockets and satisfy their own interests, harming the interests of the people. The “ruling elites” of the aristocracies and oligarchic families, through bourgeois political parties, parliaments, and governments, “legally” plunder the interests and wealth of the nation and the people. When ruling the country, they do not consider or care about the interests and needs of the voters, even disdaining to do so. They proceed only from their own interests; as long as they take good care of their own interests, everything is fine. On the surface, the “one person, one vote” democratic election merely gives voters the illusion of “political rights” and “political equality.” It conceals the inequality of the people’s economic rights, social rights, cultural rights, and developmental rights. On the one hand, the bourgeois aristocracies and oligarchic families, through the political parties, congresses, and governments they control, formulate and implement laws and policies favorable to themselves, thereby “legally” obtaining interests and wealth. On the other hand, through discourses such as “democracy, freedom, equality, and the sanctity of private property,” they brainwash the masses, admonishing them that rights and wealth come from “diligence, equality, and accumulation,” making the masses accept reality, work hard, and believe that “the future will be better,” while discouraging any doubt or resistance to the existing system of capitalist society. In essence, this serves to safeguard the special interests of the bourgeois aristocracies and oligarchic families, demanding that the masses abandon their democratic right to fight for their own interests.

美国资产阶级政党是这些权贵和门阀的代言人和“白手套”，权贵和门阀是各个资产阶级政党的“捐款人”和“操盘手”，被推到前台代表政党选举“总统”和“议员”的人则是提线木偶。他们沆瀣一气、上下其手，使用一切手法中饱私囊满足自己的利益，损害人民的利益。权贵和门阀的“统治精英”通过资产阶级政党、议会和政府“合法地”掠夺国家和人民的利益与财富，他们在统治国家时不会甚至不屑于考虑和顾及选民们的利益与需求，他们只从自身利益出发，只要很好地照顾自己的利益就万事大吉了。表面上“一人一票”的民主选举，只是给予选民“政治权利”和“政治平等”的假象，它掩盖的是人民的经济权利、社会权利、文化权利、发展权利等的不平等。一方面，资产阶级权贵和门阀通过控制的政党、国会和政府，制定对自己有利的法律和政策并付诸实施，可以“合法地”获得利益和财富；另一方面，又通过“民主、自由、平等、私有财产神圣不可侵犯”等话语，对人民群众进行洗脑，告诫他们权利和财富来自“勤劳、平等、积累”，让人民群众接受现实，好好劳动，“未来更美好”，不要对资本主义社会的现存制度有怀疑和反抗，实质是维护资产阶级权贵和门阀的特殊利益，要人民群众放弃争取自己利益的民主权利。

V. The Methodology of Constructing the American-style Democratic Discourse System and Discourse Power

五、美式民主话语体系和话语权构建的方法论

The United States has a relatively complete and mature methodological path for constructing its democratic discourse system and discourse power. Under the manipulation of capital aristocracies and hereditary oligarchic families, bourgeois political parties, the government, and parliament provide full support and impetus, formulating “laws” and policies, ensuring ample financial backing, and inciting and guiding intellectual circles, academia, and mass media to fabricate academic concepts, “innovate” ideological theories, establish research paradigms, and set evaluation standards. Through rhetorical shifts and verbal embellishment and deception, they dress up American-style democracy in the garb of “perfection,” “universality,” and “sanctity,” constructing a discourse system and discourse power to export and disseminate worldwide, ensuring that American-style democracy is established as the sole orthodoxy.

美国建构民主话语体系和话语权有一个相对完善和成熟的方法论路径，在资本权贵和世家门阀的操纵下，资产阶级政党、政府和议会全力支持与推动，制定“法律”和政策，保证充足的金钱资助，鼓动和引导思想界、学术界和大众传媒编造学术概念、“创新”思想理论、确立研究范式、制定评价标准，通过话术转换和辞藻修饰与蒙蔽，装扮起美式民主“完美”“普世”与“神圣”的外衣，构筑话语体系与话语权，向全世界输出和传播，确保美式民主定于一尊。

First, the blurring of democratic ideals and the self-interested nature of democratic practice. Ever since the American bourgeois rulers and their ideologues recognized the impact and “harm” of traditional democratic connotations and practices on capitalism, they have racked their brains, exhausting every means to hollow out and blur the ancient democratic ideals of “popular sovereignty” and “rule by the people,” as well as the true essence of democracy. They abstract what was originally concrete and specific about democracy, inducing the masses to focus only on the external forms of democracy, ignoring or even forgetting the concrete practice of democracy, all in service of their own monopolistic interests.

第一，民主理想模糊化和民主实践利己化。自从美国资产阶级统治者及其思想家认识到传统的民主内涵与实践对资本主义的冲击和“危害”后，就挖空心思想尽一切办法不遗余力地掏空和模糊化“人民主宰”“人民统治”等人类古老的民主理想与民主的本真内涵，将原本具体而微的民主抽象化，诱导人民群众只注重和关注民主的外在形式，忽略乃至忘记民主的具体实践，为自己的垄断利益服务。

Conceptual abstraction. The United States engages in discursive packaging and “connotation switching” of American-style democracy, stripping away concrete connotations such as “popular sovereignty” and equating the concept of democracy with ideas and values of political civilization such as freedom, equality, human rights, and the rule of law, thereby hollowing out and abstracting the connotation of democracy. The United States portrays democratic ideals as the core connotation of American-style political civilization, blurring the boundary between democracy and civilization, claiming that democracy is democratization, and democratization is civilization. American civilization is American-style democracy, which politically means “equality for everyone” and that people have all rights to express political freedom. This induces people to focus only on “electoral procedural justice” and “fairness of the voting process,” without needing to consider or care about specific meanings such as “governance by the people,” democratic decision-making, democratic management, and democratic oversight.

概念抽象化。美国对美式民主进行话语包装和“内涵切换”，抽去“人民主权”等具体内涵，把民主概念等同于自由、平等、人权、法治等政治文明思想和价值理念，使民主内涵空洞化、抽象化。美国把民主理想描绘成美式政治文明的核心内涵，混淆民主与文明的边界，声称民主就是民主化，民主化就是文明化。美国文明就是美式民主，就是在政治上“人人平等”，人们有表达政治自由的一切权利，诱导人民只需要关注 “选举程序正义”和“投票过程公平”即可，而不需要考虑和关心“人民治理”、民主决策、民主管理、民主监督等具体意涵。

Vulgarization of values. The United States equates American-style democratic ideals and value pursuits with the democratic electoral process and the design of the electoral system, boasting about the “procedural justice” and “process fairness” of American-style democratic elections. It equates American-style democracy with “popular election,” meaning citizens’ free candidacy, voluntary voting, “one person, one vote,” equality for everyone, “natural rights,” and political freedom. The practice of American-style democracy is that officials and staff of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches elected by voters through “one person, one vote” exercise democratic rights on behalf of the people. The free right of voters is to complete the democratic vote, after which they hand over all national management and social governance to “popularly elected” state public servants, and the democratic “procedure” is thus completed.

价值庸俗化。美国把美式民主理想与价值追求等同于民主选举过程和竞选制度设计，吹嘘美式民主选举的“程序正义”和“过程公平”，把美式民主等同于“民选”，就是公民的自由竞选、自愿投票、“一人一票”、人人平等、“天赋人权”、政治自由等，美式民主的实践就是由选民“一人一票”选举出的行政、立法和司法机关官员和工作人员代替人民行使民主权利。选民的自由权利是完成民主投票，然后把一切国家管理与社会治理交给“民选”的国家公务人员，民主“程序”即告完成。

Sanctification of theory. The United States sanctifies and absolutizes American-style democratic theory. Using “theoretical frameworks,” “mathematical models,” “research paradigms,” and “empirical methods” created by American theorists and scholars, it “scientifically demonstrates” and “practically proves” the “superiority,” “correctness,” “universality,” and “rationality” of American-style democracy. It also uses American theological theories to anoint democracy with the “holy oil” of sanctity, continuously singing hymns of praise to American-style democracy, hoping it will ultimately “ascend to immortality,” become flawless, and become the sole democratic ideology and political civilization for human society.

理论神圣化。美国把美式民主理论神圣化、绝对化。以美国理论家和学者们创立的“理论框架”“数学模型”“研究范式”和“实证方法”来“科学论证”与“实践证明”美式民主的“优越性”“正确性”“普世性”和“合理性”，并用美国神学理论给民主涂抹上“圣油”的外衣，不断给美式民主颂唱神圣的赞歌，希冀它最终“羽化成仙”，完美无缺，成为人类社会唯一的民主思想与政治文明。

Illusion of the system. The United States turns the American-style democratic system into an illusion of a “universal” and “eternal” institutional model for human society, claiming it is the most advanced and flawless system in human history, and that the democratic system of human society will ultimately culminate in the American-style democratic system. The American-style democratic system includes the electoral system, the voting system, the representative system, the universal suffrage system, the political party system, the “separation of powers” system, and the checks and balances system. It represents the most advanced achievements of civilization in the development of human society and must inevitably become the institutional arrangement universally adopted and commonly observed by human society.

制度幻象化。美国把美式民主制度幻化为人类社会“普适的”和“永恒的”制度模式，声称它是人类社会迄今为止最先进、完美无缺的制度，人类社会的民主制度将终于美式民主制度。美式民主制度包括竞选制度、投票制度、选举制度、代议制度、普选制度、政党制度、“三权分立”制度、权力制衡制度等，代表了人类社会发展的最先进文明成果，必然成为人类社会普遍采用和共同遵守的制度安排。

Double standards. American political figures constantly utter the word “democracy,” but apply double standards in its use: “use it when it suits, discard it when it does not.” Their fundamental aim is not to help the world safeguard and develop democracy, but to base everything on their own strategic interests. If it aligns with their strategic interests, “even what is not democratic is considered democratic”; if it does not align with their strategic interests, “even what is democratic is considered undemocratic.” The United States has extensive strategic interests worldwide; wherever its tentacles of interest extend, the double standard of democracy extends there as well.

双重标准化。美国政要口头上时刻不离“民主”二字，但对民主的运用上却采取双重标准，“合则用、不合则弃”，根本不是为了帮助世界维护和发展民主，而是一切以自身的战略利益为根本，符合自己战略利益的，“不民主也是民主”，不符合自己战略利益的，“民主也是不民主”。美国在世界上拥有广泛的战略利益，其利益触角延伸到哪里，民主的双重标准就伸展到哪里。

Weaponization of practice. The United States uses American-style democratic values to construct discursive hegemony, judges the democratic practices and institutional arrangements of non-Western countries by the yardstick of American-style democracy, formulates its foreign democracy and cultural strategies and policies based on its own strategic interests, cultivates client states worldwide, and even forces non-Western countries to copy its own democratic model and political system through color revolutions, military aggression, and occupation. This has already caused so-called “democratic waves” and “political revolutions” in numerous countries and regions around the world, plunging them into turmoil and social chaos. This practice has become the unvarying rule for American-style democratic discursive hegemony to exert influence and interfere in non-Western countries, and is itself anti-democratic and anti-human.

实践武器化。美国以美式民主价值构建话语霸权，以美式民主尺度评判非西方国家的民主实践与制度安排，以自己的战略利益制定对外民主与文化战略和政策，在世界上培植附庸，甚至通过颜色革命、军事侵略和占领等方法迫使非西方国家照搬自己的民主模式和政治制度，已经在世界众多国家和地区造成所谓的“民主浪潮”与“政治革命”，导致这些国家和地区陷入动荡和社会混乱。这种做法已经成为美式民主话语霸权对非西方国家施加影响和干涉的不二法则，其本身是反民主和反人类的。

Second, the “democracy versus autocracy” binary mode of thinking. The U.S. government and its intellectual and academic circles sharply divide the world into two parts: “center-periphery,” “advanced-benighted,” “West-East,” and “subject-object,” regarding the West as developed, advanced, and civilized in political, economic, and cultural terms, while uniformly designating the non-West as backward, ignorant, and benighted. In line with this “theory,” the United States presents itself to the world as benevolent, humane, civilized, and morally elevated, claiming a responsibility and obligation to “help” non-Western countries and regions—but, of course, first to transform their “backward” ideological culture and political systems and values, such as democracy.

第二，“民主与专制”二元对立思维模式。美国政府与思想界学术界把世界截然划分为“中心-边缘”“先进-蒙昧”“西方-东方”“主体-客体”两个部分，视西方为发达、先进、文明的政治、经济、文化地区，把非西方统一认定为落后、愚昧、蒙昧的地区。与这个“理论”相适应，美国对世界展示了自己仁慈、人性、文明和道德高尚的面目，认定自己有责任和义务“帮助”非西方国家和地区，当然，首先要改造它们“落后”的思想文化和民主等政治制度与价值观。

The United States takes its own values, such as democracy, as a template and yardstick for evaluation. Anything inconsistent with American-style democracy is labeled “undemocratic,” “fake democracy,” or part of an “axis of evil,”[18]18 “Axis of evil” – a term used by U.S. President George W. Bush in his 2002 State of the Union address to designate states that allegedly sponsored terrorism and sought weapons of mass destruction, initially including Iran, Iraq, and North Korea. and its government must be sanctioned, subverted, and transformed. In modern and contemporary times, the United States has consistently applied a stark “black-or-white” attitude, imposing a so-called “democracy versus autocracy” binary division on the democratic cultures and systems of countries worldwide. By leveraging its academic discursive power and democratic discursive power, it absolutizes and sanctifies American-style democracy while denigrating, smearing, and suppressing non-Western democracies. It never considers that many nation-states have cultures and histories of civilization far older than that of the United States, let alone draws on or learns from the profound connotations and deep thought of democratic and other ideological cultures created by other peoples, in order to achieve cultural creation and innovation and jointly raise the level of civilization for all humanity. The U.S. “democracy-autocracy” binary mode of thinking and method is merely a means of using its first-mover advantage and discursive hegemony to maintain its own monopolistic position and interests in global politics, economics, and other spheres.

美国把自己的民主等价值观作为模板和评判标尺，凡是和美式民主不一致的均被定义为“不民主”“假民主”“邪恶轴心”等，其政府必须予以制裁、颠覆和改造。近现代以来，美国始终以“非黑即白”的截然态度，对世界各国的民主文化与制度进行所谓的“民主与专制”二元划分，以学术话语权和民主话语权把美式民主绝对化和神圣化，对非西方民主进行诋毁、抹黑和压制，从来不考虑世界上很多民族国家的文化和文明史远超美国，更不会考虑借鉴和学习其他民族创造的民主等思想文化的深刻内涵和深邃思想，以实现文化的创造与创新，共同提高全人类的文明水平。美国的“民主-专制”二元对立思维方式和方法仅仅是利用先发优势和话语霸权，维护自己在世界上的政治、经济等垄断地位和利益的手段而已。

Third, the “two faces” of democratic and other ideological and cultural values in global governance. The United States spares no effort in promoting the global expansion and governance of American-style democracy and other ideological cultures and values. However, in this campaign, the U.S. attitude and methods toward domestic and foreign affairs exhibit a clear duality.

第三，民主等思想文化价值观全球治理的“双人双面”。美国不遗余力地推动美式民主等思想文化和价值观的全球扩张和治理行动，但是，在这个行动中，美国对于国内和国外的态度和手法显示了明确的两面性。

Domestically, U.S. democratic governance places greater emphasis on “protection of private property rights.” Ever since bourgeois theorists proclaimed the slogan “private property is sacred and inviolable,” this principle—and its subsequent gradual extension to broader fields—has become one of the core contents of U.S. “democracy, freedom, equality, and the rule of law.” After U.S. bourgeois thinkers and theorists successfully shifted the initial ideal and connotation of “democracy” to the electoral form of “one person, one vote,” “protection of private property rights” was elevated to the highest and primary democratic right of the masses. The U.S. bourgeois government, along with its intellectual and theoretical circles and mass media, operates at full capacity to brainwash the masses, telling them that the most important democratic right they possess is “protection of private property rights,” that everyone must accept the “equal” and “legal” right to “protection of private property rights,” and that they should use the rule of law to protect their own “private property” interests. To protect private property and ruling-class interests, U.S. government officials and members of Congress will show no mercy toward the “voters” to whom they made extravagant promises during election campaigns. When Black Americans are killed by police kneeling on their necks[19]19 Reference to the 2020 murder of George Floyd, a Black American, by a white Minneapolis police officer who knelt on his neck for over nine minutes, sparking global protests against police brutality and racial injustice. or shot dead on the streets, no members of Congress are seen proposing democratic or human rights bills to protect Black lives. When over a million Americans died from COVID-19 infection, no democratic bills or policies to protect the people’s right to life were seen being proposed by Congress or the government. Yet once people’s protests, marches, or assemblies threaten the interests of the ruling class, relevant “protection of private property rights” bills are quickly passed by Congress and approved and enforced.

美国国内民主治理更强调“私有产权保护”。自从资产阶级理论家喊出“私有财产神圣不可侵犯”的口号后，这一原则以及随后逐渐衍生扩展到更广泛的领域后的内涵就成了美国“民主、自由、平等、法治”的核心内容之一。当美国资产阶级思想家和理论家成功地把“民主”的初始理想和内涵转移到“一人一票”的民主选举形式后，“私有产权保护”就上升为人民群众最高的和首要的民主权利。美国资产阶级政府以及思想理论界和大众传媒开足马力对人民群众洗脑，告诫他们所拥有的最重要的民主权利是“私有产权保护”，人人都要接受“私有产权保护”的“平等”和“合法”权利，以法治保护自己的“私有产权”利益。为了保护私有产权和统治利益，美国政府官员和议会议员们绝对不会对他们在竞选时曾对其许下天花乱坠承诺的“选民”手下留情。当美国黑人被白人警察“跪毙”和射杀在街头时，没有看见议员们提出黑人生命保护的民主和人权法案。当美国超过百万人死于新冠感染时，没有看见国会和政府提出保护人民生命权的民主议案或者政策。而一旦人民的游行示威或者集会行动威胁到统治阶级的利益时，相关的“私有产权保护”法案会很快获得国会通过并获得批准与执行。

In non-Western countries, the United States forcibly promotes the protection of rights such as democracy, freedom, and human rights. The United States harbors a paranoid fanaticism and worship of American-style democracy, eager to use it to unify the world and establish American-style democratic systems in non-Western countries. In conducting “democratic experiments” or setting up “democratic models” in non-Western countries, the United States focuses only on the external forms of democracy—such as “free elections,” “fair voting,” and “human rights protection”—forcing these countries to grant their people full “electoral freedom” and “human rights protection.” Using its powerful democratic discursive power, along with means of dissemination such as mass media and the internet, as well as political, economic, and military strength, the United States bombards non-Western countries with ideologies and values like “democracy, freedom, and human rights,” even resorting to political and economic sanctions and military intimidation, threatening and forcing them to abolish “autocratic systems” and ensure that the people enjoy full American-style rights such as “democracy, freedom, equality, and human rights.”

在非西方国家强制推行民主自由人权等权利保护。美国对美式民主拥有偏执狂般的狂热和崇拜，急于用它统一世界，在非西方国家建立美式民主制度。美国在非西方国家进行“民主试验”或者建立“民主样板”只注重“自由竞选”“公平投票”和“人权保护”等民主的外在形式，逼迫这些国家给予人民充分的“选举自由”和“人权保护”。美国利用自己强大的民主话语权以及大众媒体和互联网等传播手段与政治、经济、军事等实力，对非西方国家进行“民主、自由、人权”等意识形态和价值观的狂轰滥炸，甚至进行政治经济制裁和军事威慑，威胁和强迫它们废除“专制制度”保证人民享有充分的美式“民主、自由、平等、人权”等权利。

The United States uses means such as democracy, freedom, and human rights to tear apart public opinion and class strata in non-Western countries, creating antagonism among the people. It seizes the opportunity to cultivate pro-American individuals, political parties, and classes, fostering traitors and a “comprador” stratum to serve as “white gloves”[20]20 “White gloves” – a term used in Chinese political discourse to refer to intermediaries or front persons who act on behalf of powerful interests, often in the context of corruption or capital control, to conceal the true beneficiaries. and spokespersons for U.S. capital to control and monopolize the economic lifelines of these countries. Ultimately, it achieves control and enslavement of non-Western countries, turning them into U.S. dependencies, thereby facilitating the plunder and appropriation of the interests of non-Western countries and their peoples.

美国利用民主自由人权等手段撕裂非西方国家的民意和阶级阶层，制造人民对立，乘机培植亲美人士、政党和阶级，培养卖国者和“买办”阶层，充当美国资本控制和垄断本国经济命脉的“白手套”和代言人，最终实现对非西方国家的控制和奴役，使其成为美国的附庸，以利于美国对非西方国家和人民利益的掠夺与侵吞。

Fourth, innovating academic discourse to conceal American-style democratic values and ideology. In modern and contemporary times, U.S. social science research has made considerable progress. Academic and theoretical circles have shown a strong interest in actively learning from and borrowing research methods and academic achievements from other disciplines, including the natural sciences—such as empirical research, quantitative analysis, statistical methods, and the construction of mathematical models—thereby innovating and creating some “standardized and scientific” “research paradigms” and “analytical methods.” Consequently, research methods and analytical paradigms such as postmodernism, post-positivism, deconstructionism, critical theory, and post-structuralism have emerged one after another. At the same time, various disciplines within the social sciences have exhibited a significant trend of cross-fertilization and mutual penetration, giving rise to a number of new interdisciplinary and marginal disciplines. By means of these emerging “research paradigms” and “theoretical frameworks,” U.S. scholars have constructed a large number of new academic concepts, theories, and disciplines, creating such theories and doctrines as the “clash of civilizations,”[21]21 “Clash of civilizations” – a theory proposed by political scientist Samuel Huntington in 1993, arguing that post-Cold War conflicts would be primarily cultural and religious rather than ideological or economic. democratic peace theory, the “end of history,”[22]22 “End of history” – a concept from Francis Fukuyama’s 1992 book, claiming that the spread of liberal democracy and free-market capitalism represents the endpoint of humanity’s sociocultural evolution. the Thucydides trap,[23]23 Thucydides trap – a term popularized by political scientist Graham Allison, referring to the likelihood of conflict when a rising power challenges an established one, drawing on the ancient Greek historian Thucydides’ account of the Peloponnesian War. hegemonic stability theory, the middle-income trap, as well as the sanctity of private property, the rational economic actor, and neoliberal globalization. These theories and doctrines have permeated almost all humanities and social science disciplines—including economics, political science, sociology, management, history, law, literature, education, and psychology—promoting the generation of more innovative theoretical results and research methods within these disciplines. Once produced, these theories and research methods, propelled by U.S. formidable power, have been widely disseminated in non-Western countries, becoming hot topics for study and research in their intellectual, academic, and even educational circles.

第四，创新学术话语隐藏美式民主价值观与意识形态。近现代以来，美国社会科学研究取得长足进展，学术理论界在学术研究上展现出积极学习借鉴其他学科甚至自然科学的研究方法和学术成果的浓厚兴趣，如实证研究、定量分析、数量统计和建构数学模型等，创新和创造出一些“规范和科学”的“研究范式”和“分析方法”，于是，诸如后现代主义、后实证主义、解构主义、批判主义、后结构主义等研究方法和分析范式纷纷出场，同时，社会科学的各个学科间也表现出极大的交叉融合和相互渗透态势，产生一批新兴的交叉学科和边缘学科。美国学者借助这些新兴的“研究范式”和“理论框架”构建大批新的学术概念、理论和学科，创造了诸如“文明冲突论”、民主和平论、“历史终结论”、修昔底德陷阱、霸权稳定论、中等收入陷阱以及私有财产神圣不可侵犯、理性经济人、新自由主义全球化等新的理论与学说，这些理论与学说渗透进经济学、政治学、社会学、管理学、历史学、法学、文学以及教育学、心理学等几乎所有的人文社会学科，推动这些学科产生更多创新性理论成果和研究方法。这些理论学说与研究方法一经产生，即在美国强大实力的推动下在广大非西方国家广泛传播，成为它们思想界、学术界乃至教育界学习和研究的热点。

The theories and doctrines created by U.S. academic and theoretical circles possess a certain degree of innovation and applicability, enabling empirical research and quantitative analysis, and thus advancing the progress and development of global social science. However, the United States also seizes this opportunity to firmly control academic discursive power, disciplinary discursive power, and theoretical innovation discursive power. “Power produces knowledge… power and knowledge directly imply one another.”[24]24 Paraphrase of Michel Foucault’s argument in *Discipline and Punish* (1975) that power and knowledge are mutually constitutive and inseparable. By means of its academic discursive hegemony, the United States transforms and “upgrades” values and ideologies such as democracy, creating “legal,” “just,” and “equal” forms of democratic elections, thereby constructing a democratic discursive hegemony. The United States submerges and conceals its own democratic values and ideological culture within these discursive powers, infiltrating and peddling them to non-Western countries. Some scholars in non-Western countries, when studying and researching Western academic theories and ideological culture, are influenced by the relative backwardness of their own countries and the presupposition that Western countries are developed and “advanced,” and thus tend to adopt a wholesale “take-what-you-need” approach. Consciously or unconsciously, they become promoters of the infiltration and brainwashing of their own people by American-style democratic values and ideology, directly and indirectly aiding the construction of the American-style democratic discursive hegemony.

美国学术理论界创立的理论与学说有一定的创新性和应用性，可以进行实证研究和定量分析，推动人类社会科学的进步和发展。但是，美国也借此机会牢牢把控学术话语权、学科话语权、理论创新话语权，“权力制造知识……权力和知识是直接相互连带的”，美国借助学术话语霸权对民主等价值观和意识形态进行改造和“升级”，创造“合法”“正义”“平等”的民主选举形式，构建起民主话语霸权。美国把自己的民主价值观和思想文化意识形态淹没和隐藏在这些话语权力之中，向非西方国家渗透和兜售。非西方国家有些学者在学习和研究西方的学术理论与思想文化时，由于受到自己国家相对落后以及预设西方国家发达和“先进”的前提的影响，容易采取全盘接受的“拿来主义”态度，自觉不自觉地充当了美式民主价值观和意识形态对自己国家人民渗透和洗脑的推手，直接和间接地帮助了美式民主话语霸权的建构。

The United States vigorously constructs a hegemonic discourse on democracy and uses this hegemonic discourse on democracy as a tool to smear, slander, and suppress the traditional democratic thought, culture, and democratic systems of non-Western countries, seeking to destroy and eliminate them as quickly as possible. It attempts to establish American-style democratic values and ideological thought and culture as the sole standard, using them to unify the thinking of the world’s people and construct an exclusive world order and rules based solely on American-style democratic values and ideology. Some people in non-Western countries, while learning from and introducing the modern production methods of the United States, also learn, absorb, and introduce American thought, culture, academic theories, and even values. Guided and induced by the American presupposition of its own cultural superiority, they easily fall into the “discursive traps” of American-style democratic and other ideological cultures, accepting American learning indiscriminately and in its entirety. Under the advantage of American discursive power, non-Western countries strive to defend their own democratic values and traditional thought and culture, engaging in a struggle and contest with the United States over democratic discursive power. To do so, they need to deconstruct the core content of the American-style democratic discursive power construction, including its theoretical basis, purpose, methods, pathways, and essence, analyze the hypocrisy, falsity, and deceptiveness of its democratic connotations and hegemonic discourse on democracy, identify its defects and shortcomings, and carry out targeted exposure and struggle. They must construct a national democratic connotation and institutional system that suits their own national conditions and actual development, is innovative for the times, and is national in character.

美国极力建构民主话语霸权，并以民主话语霸权为工具抹黑、诋毁和打压非西方国家传统的民主思想文化和民主制度，意欲摧毁和消灭它们而后快，试图定美式民主价值观和思想文化意识形态于一尊，用它统一世界人民的思想，构建排他性的美式民主价值观和意识形态唯一的世界秩序和规则。非西方国家有些人在学习、引进美国现代生产方式的同时，也学习、吸收、引进了美国的思想文化、学术理论乃至价值观，在美国预设自己文化先进性的引导和诱导下，很容易落入美式民主等思想文化的“话语陷阱”，对美国的学习不加鉴别、照单全收。在美国话语权的优势下，非西方国家努力维护自己的民主价值观与传统思想文化，同美国展开民主话语权的较量与斗争，需要解构美式民主话语权建构的理论依据、目的、手法、路径与实质等核心内容，分析其民主内涵与民主话语霸权的虚伪性、虚假性与欺骗性，找准它的缺陷与弊端，有针对性地进行揭露和斗争，构建适合自身国情和发展实际的、具有时代性创新性的民族民主内涵和制度体系。

(Author’s bio: Lu Yizhi, Professor at the School of Marxism, Henan University of Technology)

（作者简介：陆轶之，河南工业大学马克思主义学院教授）

Online editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心