Chapter 24 Three, a thousand thoughts

How the president is elected is only one of the problems of the administrator; the problem of being in charge is only one of the many problems of the constitutional convention.As we said earlier, the difficulty lies in the need to both authorize and limit the administration.Moreover, it seems to me that the constitutional representatives were far more apprehensive about the abuse of power than they were interested in empowering them. The first thing to guard against is Congress, because Congress holds the legislative power. On June 16, Wilson said that despotism came to earth and took a different form.Sometimes it is manifested as administrative autocracy, sometimes as military autocracy, and sometimes as parliamentary autocracy.Both theory and practice have proved that if the legislative authority is not restricted, citizens' freedoms and rights will be completely lost, and the country will not have long-term stability; and to restrict the parliament, it is not enough to rely solely on the morality and conscience of the members.The only way is to separate it from the inside and divide it into independent institutions with their own strengths.This is exactly the opposite of the anti-administration department.To control the legislative branch, Wilson said, you have to break up the legislative branch; to control the executive branch, you have to unite it.Because one person will be more responsible than three, the three will compete with each other until one dominates the other two.During the Roman Triumvirate, first Caesar came out, and then Augustus came out, which is proof.

Indeed, one of the defenses against Congress is to divide the powers of Congress into a bicameral system, with the Senate checking the House of Representatives. On June 12, Randolph said that the democratic arrogance of the state assemblies proved the need for a strong and firm Senate.The purpose of this second house is to control the democratic first house. On June 26, Madison also said that the people of a country, at a stable moment, what they want most is the guarantee of their own happiness.Their first thought was the possibility of treachery of the trust placed in them by those who were entrusted with the pursuit of the public happiness.An obvious prudence against this danger, is to separate their trusts, and entrust them to different institutions, composed of different persons, and let them supervise and check each other.This is why the government must be composed of three powers, and the parliament must implement a bicameral system.As for the purpose of establishing the Senate, there are two: one is to protect the people from the oppression of the governor, and the other is to protect the people from the temptation of fleeting ideas.The temptation of such thoughts is sometimes hard to resist.For the people, like the House of Representatives, are as prone to error by frivolity and impulsiveness.This requires building a fence, that is, selecting a limited number of enlightened citizens who are firm in their positions, able to raise dissent from time to time, to deal with radical and manic congressmen, and to protect the minority who may be oppressed by the majority.We need a minority like this to do justice, to keep the scales in balance.This is what the Second Court was created for.As such, it should be a firm, intelligent and impartial institution.

The Senate that Madison envisioned was actually the House of Elites. Mr. Yin Xuan, the translator of the book "Debate: Minutes of the United States Constitutional Convention", even believed that Madison was tailoring clothes for the Senate according to his figure.But even if the senators are all Madison, isn't there a mistake?Of course I will.Madison made mistakes of her own.Moreover, once the elites make mistakes, they are more terrifying than ordinary people, because they always think that the truth is in their own hands.Likewise, elites form cliques and use their power for personal gain.Moreover, because they have high IQs, are educated, are more cunning in their methods of corruption, and more sophisticated in their conspiracies, the House of Elites or the Senate must also be guarded against, and it is even more necessary to guard against them.

The way to prevent it is to implement a rotation system. On June 25, Randolph proposed to add "withdrawal by fixed percentage" after the senator's term of office.Williamson then proposed that the senator's popularity be six years (the original plan was seven years), which would facilitate rotation. On the 26th, Gorham proposed that the term of the senator be 6 years, and that every 2 years, 1/3 of the members will leave office.Voting results: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina were in favor, and New York, New Jersey, South Carolina, and Georgia were opposed. The meeting passed Gorham's proposal, which was later included in the the Federal Constitution.Therefore, the Bundesrat has to re-elect 1/3 of its members every two years.

This is not over, the Constitutional Convention also discussed the compensation and part-time issues of members.Franklin was not advocating salaries, although his June 2 speech was about executive salaries.Franklin said that the most attractive things in the world are two things: power and money.If a position is dignified and honorable, powerful and profitable, it is enough to attract people from all over the world.These will be bold, unscrupulous, self-interested people.However, our commander-in-chief (he refers to Washington) does not even need a minimum annual salary, but with a patriotic heart, he led the law enforcement for 8 years.Shall we never find such patriots again in the United States of America?Franklin said, gentlemen, it is not my purpose to save this annual salary.Preventing the passing of time is what worries me.Even if no one seconded or was not accepted, I am satisfied because I have done my duty.

Franklin's motion led to no debate.Because everyone knows in their hearts that this is not going to work.Why are the president and congressmen required to work voluntarily?How many people went to the Constitutional Convention on debt like Madison?Moreover, this plan also has problems.One is that only the rich can participate in politics, and ordinary people will have nothing to do with politics.The second is that politics will become an amateur activity, which cannot guarantee the quality of work and cannot attract talents.After the establishment of the federal government, almost everyone believed that the federal financial problem should be solved, none other than Hamilton.However, after six years as the Minister of Finance, Hamilton resigned to become a lawyer because he thought the minister's salary was too low.It’s not enough if the salary is low, let alone no salary?

It seems that the salary must be paid, the question is who will pay it.Ellsworth advocated that each state should issue it, because the living standards of each state are different, and it is impossible to formulate a uniform standard.Williamson agreed, Gorham, Randolph, Rufus King, Wilson, Madison, Hamilton opposed, because it would make federal MPs dependent on the state governments.Hamilton said that the one who pays is always the boss, and the guy who takes someone else's money becomes the guy.Federal MPs are not employees of the state governments, and their salaries cannot be paid by the state councils.Later (August 14), Maryland's representative, Carlell, spoke even harsher words.He said that if the salaries of members of the Federal Parliament are paid by the states, and they can hold positions in the governments of the states, then well, the state assemblies can say to them: Be obedient!If you are disobedient, you will be starved.Obedient, pay salary.In the end, except for South Carolina, the remaining 10 states all agreed that the salaries of federal congressmen should be paid by the federal government.Finally, the Federal Constitution stipulates that MPs receive remuneration for their services, guaranteed by legislation and paid by the treasury.So does the president.As for judges, they are tenure-track, and their salaries only increase during their term of office.

This is a major reform.Since then, politics is no longer a hobby of some individuals, but a profession; the president, congressmen, and judges are no longer "fanciers" who go to the sea for fun, but employees of the state.They take the salary of the country, they must serve the people, otherwise they are dereliction of duty.It can be seen that paying salaries can actually prevent corruption. Members of Parliament have received their salaries, so of course they cannot work part-time.Gorham had opposed the rule, which in fact has its problems.For example, important figures like Randolph and Franklin could not serve as representatives of the Federal Assembly because they served as administrators of their own state, so that the Constitutional Convention had to be held in Philadelphia instead of the Confederate Assembly in New York. On June 22, the meeting voted on this to decide whether to cancel the rule of not being able to work part-time.The four states of Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Georgia are in favor, the four states of Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina are against, and the three states of New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware are in favor of and against.

In fact, it is really difficult to solve this problem.Butler said such caution is necessary to guard against people who are scheming for office.Many people creep into Parliament just to get jobs for themselves and their kindred and friends; it rots the government from the root.Rutledge also said that part-time MPs are the root of corruption, and the door must be shut tightly! But the objection is also justified.Such restrictions, Rufus King said, would scare capable people and give administrators an excuse for cronyism.Because all capable people have become members of parliament, and members of parliament can no longer be officials, administrators can be randomly selected from the remaining mediocre talents.Wilson also said that this is not conducive to encouraging talents, and it will cause fatal consequences in war.For example, Washington cannot be the commander-in-chief because he is a congressman. What will happen?Hamilton said that it is not enough to rely on patriotic enthusiasm alone, and there must be interests in attracting talents.Relying solely on patriotic fervor is the root of many things in our past.

Madison said there are two sides to the question.Part-time MPs do lead to corruption.Especially within the parliament, there will be an unhealthy atmosphere of sealing officials and making wishes.But the problem is that there is another situation, that is, the best people serve in the parliament, and the incompetent people become high officials in the executive branch.Obviously, it is unrealistic to ask Members to never hold part-time jobs.Because it would make the ablest citizens not want to be MPs. It seems that constitutional representatives must both prevent corruption and select talents, so there is a dilemma.And that's why, Sherman says, it's best to be attractive enough to make people want public office without making it a temptation.

On August 14, there was another discussion.Mr Pinckney said it was demeaning to MPs not to hold other positions.Since being elected as members of parliament shows that they have prestige among the people, why can't they serve as officials?Not to mention politically uneconomical.For then the deputies would cease to be magnets for first-rate talent; and, in his view, at least the Senate should become a ministerial school, a foster home for state activists. Mason sarcastically suggested that the no-job clause should be removed altogether in order to openly encourage corruption.Then invite those who are generous and willing to donate to the parliament, they will definitely be fair and just, cut the various duties evenly like dividing the cake, and reward each other.According to the current way of doing things in the United States, it can be inferred that the number of people who fail must be very small.Just add a little more benefit to those who are greedy for self-interest, and all those with high ambitions can be corrupted. Gerry said that he does not think that the prohibition of part-time jobs is demeaning to parliamentarians. Prestige is not a good thing, it is precisely the road to tyranny.Ministers and state activists were no big deal, and he didn't want to run a foster home for them.He lamented that if there was no prospect of office, the people would not be willing to be members of Parliament; if our best citizens were all greedy for profit, we might as well elect a dictator at once.Because it is easier to satisfy the greed of one person than to satisfy the greed of a large number of people. Randolph said that he has opposed and will continue to oppose part-time lawmakers, because it cannot open the door to establishing authority and soliciting corruption.The only thing worth considering is that the fact that members of parliament are not allowed to serve concurrently will affect the appointment of the most competent commander in time of war.So Butler and Pinckney suggested postponing the discussion, which was unanimously agreed.