Word: basic
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...sovereign democracy. Unlike other colonies, Hong Kong did not become independent. It became part of a nation-China-and was given not full but a "high degree" of autonomy, under the principle of "one country, two systems." The level of this autonomy is set out in the Basic Law, Hong Kong's constitution under China...
...Under the Basic Law, the central government in Beijing has the power to appoint as well as remove Hong Kong's Chief Executive. Furthermore, the Chief Executive has a duty under the Basic Law to be accountable not only to Hong Kong but to the central government. Democracy, therefore, is not for Hong Kong alone to determine...
...Participation by foreign nationals is an obvious one. Permanent residents (those residing in Hong Kong for seven years or more), regardless of their nationality, can elect members of the Election Committee and the Legislative Council, and are not required to pledge allegiance to either Hong Kong or China. The Basic Law also allows non-Chinese permanent residents to be members of both the Legislative Council and the Election Committee. Again, these arrangements are not carbon copies of democratic practices elsewhere. Together with the election methods, they form sensible, pragmatic and perhaps interim answers to Hong Kong's unique situation...
...works than about sin, although each has the requisite positions on abortion and gay marriage. Indeed, it was Huckabee who reminded me of Chesterton's lament. "I'm a 'grace' Christian," Huckabee told me over lunch recently, "not a 'law' Christian. The Second Commandment--do unto others--is the basic tenet of my faith. And so I believe that life begins at conception, but I don't believe it ends at birth. I believe we have a responsibility to feed the hungry, to provide a good education, a safe neighborhood, health care ... That's why I talk so much about...
Until now. Later this month Hofstadter will publish I Am a Strange Loop (Basic Books; 412 pages), in which he expands and builds on the groundwork he laid in his earlier work. But Hofstadter has been through a lot in the past 28 years, including the tragic death of his wife, and I Am a Strange Loop goes to far darker and more personal places than the playful book I read as a teenager...