Ideal Citizen- Mao Zedong And Totalitarianism

Ideal Citizen Author Name Institution Affiliation Mao Zedong is the person who brought great revolutions in China. Starting from 1949, when he founded the People's Republic of China, to his death in 1976, Mao Zedong led the country in a different way and line with the concepts or idea of totalitarianism (Tsin, 2007). As a controversial figure, Mao Zedong tried to keep citizens from using their rights and from raising their voices. Supporters often credit him for driving imperialism out of the country, modernizing China and transforming it into a superpower. However, the facts are entirely different. Mao Zedong did not provide women with the right to speak of their minds. In addition, the education and healthcare sectors were paid a little attention to. In the meantime, he contributed to decreased life expectancy as the population grew from 440 million to over 800 million under his leadership. Mao Zedong’s regime is often condemned for destructing cultural and religious sites and artifacts and for bringing about mass repression. It was also responsible for a significant number of deaths due to prison labor, mass executions, and starvations. This makes us understand that the state and the leader should not impede citizens from exercising their rights. It is because sometimes it becomes essential for the public to speak of their minds so that the government can understand what types of strategies should be implemented and how to ensure peace, harmony, and security within the state. The military strategies, political policies, and theories of Mao Zedong are collectively called Maoism. Most of them seemed to be out of context to the citizens, but they were never allowed to exercise their rights in the best possible ways. An ideal citizen is responsible for completing duties in order to make democratic government work well (2018). They are sometimes expected to do certain civic jobs, such as ...