"Those soil collectors, whether know their duties? The battle to cover the people is not just to serve the people. " By asking enlightening questions, Liu Zongyuan warned local officials to remember their duties: being an official is to be a public servant of the people, not a master of the people.
During his two years in Lingling County, Xue Cunyi was honest and conscientious in serving the people, despite the corruption of bureaucracy and the graft of officials of all sizes in the middle Tang Dynasty. The article praised him: "Go out early and return late, work hard and work hard." Diligence and prudence. Then he said: "The parties are fair, the givers are equal, and the old and the weak have no intention of bullying. It is also worthwhile to take it directly, and it is also scary! " The litigants can get justice, and the burden of paying taxes is fair. Old people and children have no deceit and no enmity outside. Xue Cunyi has no salary for nothing and is in awe of his parents.
Such a good official will take office again. As a good friend of his fellow villagers, Liu Zongyuan explicitly told Xue Cunyi and secretly warned other local officials. He said bluntly, "whoever eats dirt gives his services to the officials, so that he can get even with me." Today, it is directly lazy, all over the world. Why not just ignore it and steal it? " Officials' salaries are supported by farmers taking out one-tenth of their income. If they take money from the people, they will work for them.
Liu Zongyuan had a rough life. Although he was determined to "make many countries no longer serve him", he was repeatedly demoted for participating in the innovation movement of Wang and others. Surprisingly, Tang Xianzong succeeded to the throne and granted amnesty to the whole world. He even declared to Liu Zongyuan and other "eight Sima" that "forgiveness is not limited." Liu Zongyuan's dream of returning to the north was shattered. In this case, he still cares about the country and the people, and puts forward the people-oriented concept of "serving the officials for the people".
In feudal times, rulers always put the common people at the bottom of society. Not to mention corrupt officials, even "benevolent and honest officials" are mostly condescending, giving benefits to the people and giving gifts to the people. I always hope that people will regard them as "masters of the sky". It is in such a climate that master and servant are reversed that Liu Zongyuan unequivocally put forward "serving the officials for the people" and let the people return to the dominant position. This is in direct opposition to the rulers' traditional ideas of "nurturing the people" and "herdsman".
From today's perspective, all civil servants are paid by the state, and the state's money is paid by taxpayers. This clearly stipulates that public servants are public servants of ordinary people. To put it bluntly, ordinary people are masters and "officials" are public servants.
Liu Zongyuan's view of "serving the officials for the people" is consistent with our party's consistent proposition. During the Yan 'an period, the Party solemnly put forward the slogan of "serving the people" and formed a tradition. "Serving the people" is like a mirror, reflecting the image of leading cadres at all levels in various historical periods. "Serving the people" is a magic weapon to win people's support and love.
Due to historical and practical reasons, the phenomenon of "master-servant inversion" pointed out by Liu Zongyuan exists in quite a few places to varying degrees. They subverted the principle of "officials for the people" and implemented "people are officials". Among some cadres, "serving the people" has become a slogan, which is insincere and unintentional.
Make the past serve the present. We might as well take "giving words" as a mirror: see if we have put the position of officials and people right? Is it like Xue Cunyi's "going out early and returning late, working hard", or like Liu Zongyuan's "eating people and drinking people for his own sake", or even extortion? Every party member cadre who wants to maintain the "advanced nature" permanently, it is not without warning and enlightenment to read this ancient prose full of worries!