Explanation 1:
Lu Aigong asked, "How can we convince the people of the government?" The teacher replied: "If the government's administrative actions are correct and valuable, and meaningless measures are abandoned, the people will fully believe the government's decrees;" If the government takes improper measures and abandons the correct spirit of principle, the people will not be convinced of the government. "
Explanation 2:
Lu Aigong asked, "How can we convince the people of the government?" The former teacher replied: "Choose honest and selfless people, belittle evil and dishonest people, and the people will abide by government decrees;" People will not be convinced of the government if they choose evil to promote good and belittle integrity and selflessness. "
Discussion: "obedience" is not only the meaning of obedience; Should be convincing; As a descendant of the Duke of Zhou, Lu Aigong, who was born in a cultural center city with the privilege of cultural etiquette, is second only to Luoyang, the capital of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, and has a little knowledge of etiquette. What he wants to ask is not only how to make the people obey the monarch, but also how to convince the people completely.
The ancient meaning of "ju" includes the meaning of holding, launching and acting, as well as the meaning of choice. For example, in the Han Dynasty, there was a talent selection system to promote filial piety and honesty, and the central government selected cadres at all levels from those recommended by the grassroots who were recognized as filial piety, honesty and talent.
"Straight" has a complete, correct and valuable meaning.
"Wrong" means giving up, giving up, and it is also related to "measures", which means implementation.
"Zhu" here means "as for" and is a pronoun, so it means "to" and "to".
"Waste" means bending, as opposed to completeness and correctness.
As a social organization, government can be divided into broad sense and narrow sense. Government in a broad sense means that all state institutions, including all legislative, judicial and administrative institutions, can be regarded as equivalent to the state; The narrow sense of government only includes the administrative organs of the state. Government behavior refers to the activities that the government organizes, manages and controls political, economic, cultural and social affairs through government agencies and their staff in accordance with the Constitution and laws, and is the application and implementation of state power. The characteristics of government: mandatory and public, that is, sociality.
The significance of government behavior includes material, spiritual, economic, cultural and political connotations. But its most basic point is to have credibility. China people are the kindest people in the world. As long as they don't break their last rice bowl and take their last bite of food, they will endure all oppression and insults. Human rights concepts such as equality and freedom just landed in China in the19th century.
In the past 2600 years, government behavior was usually reflected by the behavior of officials. For example, during the Warring States Period, when Ximen Bao governed Yexian County (now Linzhang County, Hebei Province), local witches colluded with officials, and under the guise of offering sacrifices to the river god, they defrauded the people of money and covered them up. Ximen Qing outsmarted thieves and raped officials, and won the hearts of the people. He also mobilized the people to dig twelve large canals to divert the water from the Zhanghe River to the fields to irrigate crops. Since then, there has been a bumper harvest on both sides of the Zhanghe River. When he used administrative means to levy canals for the people, people didn't understand Simon's behavior and thought it was a waste of people's money. Ximen Bao said, although people think that I made the people work hard today, they will remember what I did today in a hundred years, totally for the people! Sure enough, in the Han Dynasty, when officials were repairing roads, they planned to rebuild the Grand Canal dug by Ximen Bao. The people resolutely disagree. Everyone generously said, "This is a canal developed by Simon Gong for us. We can't change! " Ximen Bao personally presided over the construction of twelve roads, which made the leafy fields "fertile" and the grain yield per mu increased more than eight times than before the canal was built. The development of water conservancy accelerated the economic development, and Wei became rich and strong. The irrigation efficiency of this project continued until the Tang Dynasty to Germany (AD 756? 58 years), more than a thousand years. "Historical Records" praised him: "So Simon's decree is an imperial decree, which is well known all over the world and left a legacy for future generations. It can be said that he is not a wise doctor! " After the death of Ximen Bao, the people of Yedi built Doctor Ximen Bao Temple and Wuchi, who was in charge of water conservancy. Song, Ming and Qing also erected monuments for him. Until now, there is still a canal in Linzhang, Hebei Province, called Siemens Canal. It is also a monument, which records the achievements of this good official more than 2400 years ago, as well as the people's reverence and feelings for him.
The same Simon Gong also played once to offer a seal to abandon an official. He was honest and conscientious in managing Ye County, but Wei Wenhou's "assessment" score was "poor" and Wei Wenhou angrily "accepted his seal". Ximen Bao asked to stay on probation for one year. The next year, he changed course and searched for the people's fat and paste. As a result, his political achievements are "excellent". Ximen Bao took out the seal and returned it, saying, "Last year, I took charge of Ye County for you, and you want to dismiss me;" This year, I gave you an' excellent' for your' left and right'. I quit! "
Ximen Bao's seal can only explain the corruption and darkness of officialdom. He works wholeheartedly and is "very simple". Of course, he didn't give Wei Wenhou's "Left and Right" a "red envelope" or a banquet. He didn't even let them eat and get more cards. As a result, his grades were excellent and he was evaluated as "poor". In the second year, he "understood the rules" and learned to be "smart", that is to say, he stuffed a lot into the pockets of superior leaders and supervisors, but after the inspection team came down, it was even more "acclimatized" and everyone was happy from bottom to top, so it didn't matter how practical ability, work level and business performance were. The key is whether you can "clap", "hold" and "hit". These three tricks can control the "left and right" of superiors and those of superiors.
This story is reminiscent of the current anti-corruption campaign. Anti-corruption has been going on for so long, and so many shocking cases have been cracked. Why can't we warn future generations? "Eating and drinking" and "bribery" have been repeatedly banned, and even intensified in some places. From the overt to the covert, from gifts to tickets, and even on the black market, there have been clearly marked bribes, such as buying names, jobs, treatment and officials ... The problem lies in the imperfection of the system and the inefficiency of the legal system. And the moral quality of every official.
Before19th century, China was a society ruled by men, and the fate of all people in the world depended on one's virtue. It is emphasized that the monarch and the bureaucratic class govern the country by virtue, and the actual behavior of a few nobles leads to whether the government's behavior is beneficial or harmful to the people. Mao Zedong said that after the political line is determined, cadres are the decisive factor; He also said that there are two main tasks for leaders, one is to give ideas and the other is to select cadres. The key problem of politics is the problem of officials, and Confucius understood the relevant truth 2500 years ago.
Officials, officials, ministers and doctors in the Spring and Autumn Period were basically hereditary officials. Confucius opposed the official system based on blood, and he despised many rulers at that time. Zigong asked today's politicians, and Confucius said, "Hey! There are not enough people fighting! " The capacity of the bucket is ten liters, and the capacity of the bucket is five liters. The fighter is a narrow-minded person. What counts, what doesn't count, seems insignificant and not worth mentioning.
Confucius put forward the recommendation system for officials, which is of progressive significance. If we use honest people and abandon evil people, the people will be convinced. Speaking of this, there is an ancient poem that explains the impossibility of moral judgment: Duke Zhou is afraid of gossip, and Wang Mang is humble to corporal. If you die that year, who knows the truth of your life?
People's morality is often inconsistent with his performance, but people full of moral justice may be villains; The complexity of human morality is far beyond the grasp of human intelligence; The murderer may be a dutiful son at the same time, and the thief may have saved the drowning child; People's morality may change with time, status and wealth, so there is no guarantee that a person's current moral judgment will be effective for a long time. A person who used to be clean will be corrupt and have a bad record after becoming an official.
Therefore, the system of taking people by virtue in ancient China has some truth, but there is no reasonable legal system to restrain the behavior of the power class, which also determines that the society ruled by man in feudal times will inevitably be replaced by the society ruled by law.
Moral quality is cultivated by study and cultivation, and people are influenced by various social factors, such as money, power, status and fame. , can make a person completely different. For example, Sima Guang, in his History as a Mirror, declared that the elite should be modest and open-minded. Unexpectedly, as soon as he came to power, he insisted on destroying Wang Anshi's reform achievements, which brought great trauma to the country. However, Wang Anshi and Su Dongpo in the same dynasty, whether in opposition or in opposition, did not change their usual style of doing things, but were political losers. Their grand plan of benefiting the people and strengthening the country was ruthlessly destroyed by conservative forces before it was properly put into use.
Modern advanced countries do not believe in the morality of the power class unilaterally, but realize the mutual restriction of power through the legal system to prevent undesirable elements in human nature. Anyone with power may abuse public power; A sound legal system can limit the abuse of power. Through the mutual restraint of power and democratic deliberation, the judiciary can suppress mistakes and the people will be convinced; Let mistakes suppress justice, and people will be miserable. "
"Righteousness and strictness" in government behavior is an important part of China's traditional political thought, and it is also the ideal of ordinary people for thousands of years. It's just that in the past, ordinary people pinned their hopes on "honest officials" or "wise kings". Thousands of years of history and reality have proved that this is just an unrealistic hope. Today's China people hope that once politicians are found to be unfair, reasonable system reform and improvement of the legal system can be replaced by peaceful means. For politicians, it is still the correct way to govern today to always let justice suppress mistakes. This should be achieved through political system reform.
History has proved that in the 2,600 years of advocating the rule of man and virtue, China's political appointees are not necessarily meritocratic, but sages may abuse their power. Many times, all the slogans of the ruling class's benevolence, righteousness and morality are just a clever expression, while greed and violence remain the same, and people's livelihood remains the same, which makes the good people in China disappointed with the government. Therefore, the concept of democracy and legal system was finally extradited from Europe to China at the beginning of19th century.
Some people say that politics is just cajoling and cheating. As far as history and reality are concerned, the theory of moral nobility advertised by the government is not as practical as practical and reasonable administrative measures. Therefore, no matter what the moral quality of politicians is, whether the behavior of officials and the administrative measures of the government are reasonable and fair is the real key to the long-term stability of the country and society. Therefore, we adopt two explanations in parallel, but put the most common one in the second place.