<story><title>China bans consumption and trade of wild animals</title><url>https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/sci-tech/china-bans-human-consumption-and-trade-of-wild-animals-1.4824540</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Nitramp</author><text>&amp;gt; However, also in practice the faction in power gets to capriciously enforce what it wants selectively, usually to solidify standing.&lt;p&gt;aka as &amp;quot;the rule of law&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;From a continental European perspective, the US stance in rule of law seems a bit dubious as well, with the president pardoning his friends, or the enormous sentences afflicted to people once, but only once, they end up in bad public standing, or elected states attorneys incentivize to look hard on crime to their constituents.</text></item><item><author>mc32</author><text>This very important.  Both the PRC and USSR constitutions, on paper, arguably provide better freer basic law than that of the US but in practice it’s just words on paper.&lt;p&gt;However, also in practice the faction in power gets to capriciously enforce what it wants selectively, usually to solidify standing.  So mr Xi and mr Stalin (née Jughashvili) get to purge all want-to-be usurpers.</text></item><item><author>someperson</author><text>I can&amp;#x27;t see how this can be successfully enforced without a massive education campaign and actual enforcement by authorities, including moving the so-called &amp;quot;wet markets&amp;quot; (which are outdoor butchers that are very important to the food supply chain in many areas of China) into modern indoor facilities for improved food safety.&lt;p&gt;Older people in China (the so-called lost generation) are set in their ways: remember that in traditional Chinese medicine, the medicinal value of an animal is directly proportional to its rarity. This of course creates perverse incentives to kill the last living members of endangered animals already under threat from poachers.&lt;p&gt;China has plenty of laws including a constitution that defends practicing free speech and religion, but in reality laws mean nothing if there&amp;#x27;s no enforcement.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jack_h</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m not sure how your examples illustrate your point.&lt;p&gt;For instance the power to pardon is defined within the constitution with a singular exception added to it. It doesn&amp;#x27;t say a president can&amp;#x27;t pardon their friends. That might be socially unacceptable but it is a power delegated to the president nonetheless. If the constitution made no such mention of that power and the president was pardoning their friends - or indeed anyone at all - then that would be a good example of capricious use of power outside the rule of law.</text></comment>
<story><title>China bans consumption and trade of wild animals</title><url>https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/sci-tech/china-bans-human-consumption-and-trade-of-wild-animals-1.4824540</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Nitramp</author><text>&amp;gt; However, also in practice the faction in power gets to capriciously enforce what it wants selectively, usually to solidify standing.&lt;p&gt;aka as &amp;quot;the rule of law&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;From a continental European perspective, the US stance in rule of law seems a bit dubious as well, with the president pardoning his friends, or the enormous sentences afflicted to people once, but only once, they end up in bad public standing, or elected states attorneys incentivize to look hard on crime to their constituents.</text></item><item><author>mc32</author><text>This very important.  Both the PRC and USSR constitutions, on paper, arguably provide better freer basic law than that of the US but in practice it’s just words on paper.&lt;p&gt;However, also in practice the faction in power gets to capriciously enforce what it wants selectively, usually to solidify standing.  So mr Xi and mr Stalin (née Jughashvili) get to purge all want-to-be usurpers.</text></item><item><author>someperson</author><text>I can&amp;#x27;t see how this can be successfully enforced without a massive education campaign and actual enforcement by authorities, including moving the so-called &amp;quot;wet markets&amp;quot; (which are outdoor butchers that are very important to the food supply chain in many areas of China) into modern indoor facilities for improved food safety.&lt;p&gt;Older people in China (the so-called lost generation) are set in their ways: remember that in traditional Chinese medicine, the medicinal value of an animal is directly proportional to its rarity. This of course creates perverse incentives to kill the last living members of endangered animals already under threat from poachers.&lt;p&gt;China has plenty of laws including a constitution that defends practicing free speech and religion, but in reality laws mean nothing if there&amp;#x27;s no enforcement.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>the_watcher</author><text>While pardoning friends is certainly distasteful, that power is explicitly defined in the Constitution and is plenary. The only potential exception is a self-pardon.&lt;p&gt;There are plenty of examples of embarrassing pardons, but it&amp;#x27;s not a rule of law failing.</text></comment>