Chapter 4 a ridiculous night

Brother Lu: Hello! Nice to hear from you again so soon.Your letter mentioned a very real problem, that is, the U.S. Constitutional Convention designed such a "earth cash register" more than 200 years ago. How could it adapt to the huge changes in the past 200 years.In addition, you really want to know whether this mechanism, which is almost built behind closed doors, can really meet the challenges of reality. Indeed, when I read the U.S. Constitution, I often read between the lines the wilderness of the United States two hundred years ago, the muddy trails of the United States, and the discussion under such historical conditions.Existing versions such as "Twenty-two Sons" and "The Collection of Zhuzi". , the limitations of the American founders' prediction of future development and their various helplessness.

In fact, they only set a basic, but very smart idea and structure, and the Americans later made continuous improvements and perfections on the basis of their establishment. For example, the Supreme Court "judicial review" I mentioned in my last letter. As another example, the U.S. Constitution stipulates that the president and vice president serve four-year terms.It is therefore elected every four years.However, for the re-election of the president, or multiple re-election speeches, the relationship between "technique" and "Tao" is elucidated.For the relationship between truth, goodness, and beauty, the Constitution did not initially limit it.It may be considered that since elections are held every four years, re-election is also re-election. As long as the election is fair, there will be no major problems in re-election.If you do a good job, keep going.Therefore, in the history of the United States, there have been presidents who were elected three times, such as President Roosevelt.

Roosevelt was one of the more successful presidents in American history.He and the American people went through the very difficult Great Depression of the 1930s.The "fireside chat" he hosts on the radio every day also brings great spiritual support to the people in difficulty.During World War II, he was elected by the American people to lead us through the war years.He died during his presidency just before the end of the Great War. However, with the development of the times and the development of the United States itself, the administrative structure of the US government has expanded rapidly, and the financial, human, material and even military resources in the hands of the president have also increased invisibly.Americans don't feel safe again.Despite the benign example of President Roosevelt, they felt that there should also be limits on the re-election of presidents.Therefore, in the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution in 1951, it is stipulated that a person can only serve twice in the post of president (that is, once re-elected).This is another improvement of the American "cash register" mechanism.This amendment actually emphasizes the insistence on the basic starting point of "human beings are unreliable".

Americans consider it dangerous to keep a mortal man in such a center of power for years on end.Even if the president seems to be doing a great job, he has to be asked to come down.Even if the new president is relatively inexperienced and less capable than his predecessor, he should be replaced.Because criticizing the Neo-Confucians in the Song and Ming Dynasties for advocating "preserving the principles of nature and destroying human desires" is actually "killing with reason, for Americans, safety comes first. As long as the entire "cash register" mechanism to prevent autocracy and tyrants can be It works, everything else is secondary.

This constitutional amendment actually made amendments to the voter selection mechanism of "choosing the president once every four years".That is to say, when the majority of the people elect a person consecutively and make him the president for eight years, their right to re-elect a fixed object is suspended.They were forced to suspend a continuous enthusiasm, to calm down, and to make a new choice.To prevent the people from being intoxicated by some clever politician.And this phenomenon of infusing ecstasy soup is not uncommon in the history of various countries. This amendment took place in 1951 after World War II.Americans have just learned the power of German ecstasy soup.When visiting the Holocaust Museum in Washington, what shocked me the most was not the horrific concentration camps, but what shocked me and pondered for a long time was the overwhelming shouts of the German people and Hitler’s followers.The designers of the museum let this passionate and fanatical cry accompany the visitors from time to time, as if they were on the scene. "People are unreliable" has a new meaning.Not only the person in power at the pinnacle of power may be unreliable, but the "person" who supervises the group may also be unreliable.Therefore, it is necessary to continuously improve the entire supervision mechanism so that all unreliable factors are in a system of checks and balances. A vicious expansion of power and crazy behavior of groups can be suppressed, and the freedom of the most vulnerable individuals in the entire society can be achieved. Only then may it not be swallowed.

The development of history is indeed amazing.We just need to give a simple example.When the Framers determined in the Constitution that the President of the United States is the Commander-in-Chief of the Army (but the power to declare war is in the hands of Congress), it was not only because Washington, the first president they elected, was the Commander-in-Chief of the War of Independence, and he was unanimously recognized Neither political nor military ambitions.What’s more, the United States at that time did not actually have any military.” Therefore, although this power seemed terrifying, it could not be said to be absolutely uncontrollable. However, no matter how rich their imagination was, they certainly did not expect that today’s U.S. President , As the commander-in-chief of the army stipulated in the constitution, what kind of military power can he hold in his hands.

Just two hundred years later, the US president can control more than 3.5 million troops, and the military expenditure in his hands has exceeded 75 billion U.S. dollars.The original founding fathers of the United States would not have expected the birth of nuclear weapons.They would never have imagined that the president of the United States today would have something called a hydrogen bomb, and the destructive power of a single hydrogen bomb could exceed the sum of the destructive power of all the wars in the thousands of years before them. Therefore, although the President of the United States has been limited by the Constitution to the position of "administrative director", with the expansion of the administrative branch of the regime itself, even if he is a "administrative director", he is also a super.

I also have the same doubts as you. If they could predict the world two hundred years later at the original Constitutional Convention, would they still hand over this constitution and their blueprints with confidence?But also; nine orifices have a position, and the thesis of the official's judgment, regards the "heart" as various senses, we have indeed seen an unbelievable fact, more than two hundred years have passed, the world and the United States have already happened The constitutions of many countries have been revised and revised, even overthrown several times, but political turmoil cannot be avoided. At the same time, the United States, under this unchanging constitution, has steadily followed the According to the design of the government, the transition of power is carried out normally, and the balance of the three power branches is always maintained. The president who has the hydrogen bomb has not made trouble because of this. Hand it over to your opponents and move out of the White House, where you came from, and where you're going back.

Having said that, the attitude of the first "Founding Father" to the Constitution and power is still very important.Because he wears a special laurel crown on his head, people are often used to "seeing him differently".So how did Washington, the first president of the United States, take his historic first step in the history of the peaceful transfer of power in the United States?We have mentioned that he "disarmed and returned to the field" after the Revolutionary War, so how did he treat this power after he officially took over the power of the presidency? If Washington is indulging in power, he has the best double natural shield.The first is the merits of his "founding father", and the second is that the constitution at that time did not set limits on the term of the president.However, after being elected and served as the first and second presidents, Washington resolutely declined to be nominated again as a presidential candidate.He returned to his quiet manor once again, taking back only the chair he had held during his presidency.This chair is still in the simple former residence of Washington, and it has become very old after more than two hundred years.

For this move of Washington, the Americans did not give him any special praise. In this land, people regard such a move as very common.However, I can't help but think of the founding father's theory of many countries in the world.They believe that language and reality are in a heterogeneous and isomorphic relationship, and that language is a map of reality. They often have exhausted the people's "respect resources" and are still reluctant to part with the power in their hands. They still stick to their posts when they are old, which is amazing . Of course, this is not to say that the U.S. Constitution has not encountered specific challenges in the past two hundred years, and the more than forty presidents have all strictly abided by their duties.In American history, Nixon is probably the president who challenged the Constitution the most.We are all very familiar with President Nixon. He is almost one of the most familiar American presidents in China.Because of the historic establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States in the 1970s, he has a very special meaning for China.

Shortly thereafter, news came from across the ocean that everyone knew that he had stepped down because of the "Watergate Incident".At that time, like many Chinese people, I felt rather disapproving of the hard-working President Nixon losing his presidency for such a trivial matter.Even, there are still many Chinese people thinking in their hearts, did this guy drink the medicine given by his opponent in the secret power struggle?At that time in China, few people thought that his resignation had anything to do with the US Constitution. After arriving here, we found that the shock caused by the Nixon incident in the United States was far greater than we had imagined.Its significance goes far beyond a "watergate," too.If I wanted to tell you how the American Constitution was challenged by a branch of power, the Nixon story would probably fit best. Mao Zedong always called Nixon "an old friend of the Chinese people".After Nixon stepped down, when he met Nixon's daughter and son-in-law, he expressed to them a very Chinese style of sympathy, support, and even grievances for old friends. When Eisenhower was president, Nixon had been his vice president, so the two of them became family friends and their children married.So, there was Nixon's son-in-law who was also the son of former President Eisenhower.Although Nixon was his father-in-law, as a young American, he could not understand Mao Zedong's attitude of "holding injustice".So he tried to explain to Mao Zedong that Nixon's resignation was the result of the operation of the American political system.As soon as he opened his mouth, Mao Zedong, who was familiar with the "Three Kingdoms", stopped him with a sentence: "That's fake." Little Ike was speechless for a moment. This also shows how difficult it is for two cultures to understand and communicate with each other. Last year, the U.S. Postal Service issued President Nixon's commemorative stamps as usual.Presumably always to prevent silly tricks like a personality cult, the United States has such a rule that anyone who has served as president can only be issued a stamp commemorating him one year after his death.So, when I saw this postage stamp with Nixon's face on it, I couldn't help but sigh, how time flies.It has been two years since Nixon died.Indeed, the uproar has passed, and people here can sit peacefully by the fire and read books about the "Watergate Case" historical materials. Under the American political system, if you want to be a politician, what is the thing that consumes the most energy in your life?It's an election.Not to mention wanting to be the president, even if you want to be a local security police officer in a small town, you have to go through elections and elections again and again. Every election year, if you walk through urban residential areas or rural corners in the United States, you will find that there are brightly colored signs growing low on the grass along the roads of every household."So-and-so, Sheriff," "So-and-so, Senator," et cetera, were beautifully printed on it.Sometimes a photo is attached to it.This is their spontaneous promotion for the various candidates they support.If you look around, you'll find signs of presidential candidates mixed in, and you'll find a sign that looks similar, except it says "Clinton, 1996." The signs inserted by two adjacent families may be completely different, which shows that the candidates they support are different, and it also shows that their political attitudes may also be different.However, they can totally be good friends.None of them would care.My good friends Jamie and Daniela have always voted for the Democrats and the Republicans.For two hundred years, Americans have long been accustomed to such a peaceful way of political expression.At the same time, they have long been accustomed to peaceful coexistence with different cultural backgrounds, which must also include peaceful coexistence with different political attitudes. Facing such a silent and colorful meadow under the sun, no American politician would dare to ignore the civilians behind this sign.Maybe he's black, maybe he's gay, maybe she's a new Spanish-speaking immigrant who took the oath of citizenship yesterday, maybe he's a devout white Christian who's been here for five generations.The election of politicians in the United States is indeed more difficult than that in any other place in the world, because behind the sign is a group of scattered people who can express their opinions at will, with various ideas and huge ideas. Therefore, campaigning is very important. Even if you have great ambitions and the ability to turn things around, the first thing you do is to convince these people to naturally "grow" representatives on their grass. Come with one of your signs.Therefore, American politicians must all be orators. The "Public Speaking" course has become a very important course in American middle schools and universities. Nixon, like all American politicians.A lot of energy in his life was also spent on campaigning.It can be said that his political career started off quite smoothly.But in his campaign, there was no shortage of disastrous defeats.As I said earlier, he was once Eisenhower's vice president, and he was only forty years old when he took office.Eisenhower was a very popular president in the United States. He was re-elected once and served a full eight-year statutory term. Nixon was therefore "stained" as vice president for eight years.From this point of view, it is indeed a very smooth start.But why is it said that he, the vice president, is "stained"?This is determined by the American political system. The vice president is an easy role in the United States, with no real power.According to the U.S. Constitution, the Vice President is the Speaker of the U.S. Senate.But this stipulation only means to add a little connection between the two branches of legislation and administration, and by no means means that the administration can interfere with the legislation.Therefore, the Constitution also stipulates that the vice president does not have the right to vote in the Senate at ordinary times.Only when the vote is tied and everything is deadlocked can the vice president get a vote to break the deadlock.Moreover, if he does not cast this vote, the bill will be rejected in accordance with the regulations if the number of votes is tied, so if he wants to vote against it once, it does not matter whether he votes or not.His vote is only useful if he wants to vote for it.A vice president once laughed at himself and said that when I was asked to vote, I only had half the voting rights.Although there are always two senators per state according to the constitution, there are always even numbers, but there are still few stalemates, so the vice president rarely has the opportunity to exercise his one-half one-vote power on a piece of legislation . In the United States, everyone knows that the role of the vice president is only symbolic, and the activities he participates in are often only ceremonial.In the election campaign, the main event is all on the president's side, and the vice president is only a "baby child".However, after retiring after the expiration of his term, the treatment of the Vice President of the United States is also very good.If you don't have very big ambitions in politics, you can successfully complete the term of vice president, settle down in a good life as a retired vice president, write a memoir, or continue to participate in some activities.It is already a very ideal ending. However, as politicians, many vice presidents are not satisfied with such an honorary "retirement".They always feel that they are only one step away from the real power of the president.What's more, during the vice president's tenure, he doesn't have to take on any major responsibilities, but he has ample opportunities to express himself and greatly increase his popularity across the country.If everything goes "smoothly" during his term of office, he will always have a lot of advantages in all aspects if he takes a step forward and takes over the presidential election when the vice president's term of office expires. Therefore, during their term of office, many vice presidents secretly worked hard to prepare for the final sprint of their political careers, as if they were "probationary presidents".For example, the current vice president of Clinton, Gore, is a very powerful future presidential candidate.No one was surprised, therefore, that the ambitious Nixon began his climb to the top after eight years as deputy to an excellent "pioneer" Eisenhower. It's just that he didn't succeed in the election.He was defeated by the famous Kennedy.We can still see their election debates on TV now. At that time, they were really young.It was 1960, and Nixon was only forty-seven. Kennedy was even younger, forty-three.It should be said that there was not much difference in the number of votes at that time, and he was just a "near defeat".However, "nearly defeat" is also a failure. It should be said that Kennedy's "narrow victory" as a Democratic Party has historical inevitability.On the eve of the great changes in the United States in the 1960s, Kennedy's "enlightened" tendencies were well suited to a changing historical trend.However, the dominant trend in the United States at the time was still conservative, especially in the South.So, he very cleverly pulled a Johnson from the south as his vice president "caretaker".In this way, both the left and the right can accept it.Compared with Nixon, who has always been famous for his extreme right, he is slightly higher. Kennedy's election actually sent a herald message to the changes in the United States in the 1960s. In addition, I would like to use this to illustrate that in the United States, the president and vice president often have a balanced relationship like Kennedy and Johnson, while partners who show close relationships are rare. This failure dealt a very heavy blow to Nixon, who had been relatively smooth.He settled for the next best thing and started running again for governor of California.There is actually a mid-term election in the United States, which is between the two federal presidential elections.In the mid-term elections, the states must re-elect all members of the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senators in Congress in accordance with the Constitution.To ensure that the power center keeps changing people there.That's why, as I mentioned earlier, politicians are always running campaigns. States elect governors at different times, some in general election years, and some in midterm elections.The governor's term is also four years.California's gubernatorial change came just in time for the midterm elections, only two years after the presidential election, so Nixon threw himself into another race almost without stopping.However, in 1962, he again lost the election.Frustrated by the unfavorable press coverage of his campaign, his two defeats seem to have spelled the end of his political career.Not without frustration, he told reporters that this is all right, there will be no Nixon to kick you around. I think, if it were someone else, maybe I would retreat from now on and enjoy the good life of the retired vice president.However, Nixon was indeed a very resilient statesman.In the mid-1960s, he became active in politics again. In 1968, he once again mustered up the courage to run for president.This time, he actually "nearly won" with a narrow majority and finally realized his presidential dream. Although he won, his previous campaign experience made the word "campaign" always a sensitive point for him.Especially this time, not only did he narrowly win, but he also knew that his victory was caused by a series of accidental events. At that time, it was the climax of the Vietnam War and anti-war.The first accident was Kennedy's assassination.As a result, the second coincidence was that this very dedicated Johnson from the south served as president for five years.If Kennedy hadn't died, he might have saved Americans from the Vietnam War early and won the hearts of the Democrats.Johnson, who came from the conservative south, just went in the opposite direction. He seemed to understand the principle of "taking a step back and the world is wide". , It also made the Democratic Party lose the hearts of the people. Therefore, in the general election year of 1968, when the Democratic Party held a convention in Chicago, the anti-war protest parade and the police clashed seriously outside the venue.The venue was also in chaos due to the fierce dispute between the main war faction and the anti-war faction within the Democratic Party.The occurrence of these things made the Democratic Party "disgusted when talking about Chicago", and dared not go to Chicago for the past 30 years.Until this year, the Democratic Party convention finally returned to Chicago for the first time, regaining their lost confidence for 28 years.This is already a story. In this case, Nixon is still only a "narrow victory".Therefore, rather than saying that he is more confident after realizing his presidential dream, it is better to say that he has less confidence in his ability to "run for office".This was one of the original causes of the "Watergate Incident" four years later. During the four years after Nixon was elected, it should be said that whether he was a leader of the US government handling daily affairs or a politician, he was very outstanding.In particular, he handled America's "turn" on the Vietnam War with extreme care. This was a difficult maneuver full of pitfalls, but he still did it as well as possible.Admittedly, this required considerable political skill. At the same time, diplomatically, he appears very sophisticated.Of course, what we are most familiar with is that he opened the door to China.For Americans, there is a more important diplomatic confrontation, that is, during the stalemate stage of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, Nixon tenaciously moved forward step by step on the negotiating table, enabling a series of treaties that limit the upgrade of arms and reduce the risk of conflict between the two sides. signed.This made the American people, who have always been very afraid of world wars, see the dawn of reconciliation and peace between the two opposing world camps. In an eventful age, in very tense and busy days, Nixon spent his first four-year term as president.Looking back on his achievements in the past four years, he has reason to have confidence in his re-election campaign.However, he was frightened by his past campaign experience, and he still has no confidence. He always feels that the campaign situation is unpredictable and unpredictable. However, he is eager to get this re-election. He has gone through the most difficult first four years, and many things are only half done.What's more, the effect of some political achievements can only be fully manifested through time.Besides, as an ambitious politician, he has a seemingly vain, but really brilliant dream. If he can be re-elected, he will have the opportunity to preside over the bicentennial of the United States of America in 1976 as President of the United States. celebration. This election year was in 1972, but, since a year ago, the campaigns between the two sides have already begun in full swing.As the election campaign gradually unfolded, and as the election day approached, Nixon became more and more uneasy. He always felt that his staff did not fully understand the trend of his opponent, the Democratic Party. Accurately grasp some dynamics of the opponent so that he can prepare countermeasures in time and increase the "insurance factor".His desire has virtually become the pressure of some people around him.Therefore, someone will actively plan something, and this kind of "wrong" action from the beginning of "conception" will naturally become more outrageous as it progresses to the bottom. Thus, an extremely absurd night approached quietly. The famous "Watergate" was originally just the name of several ordinary office buildings.There are countless such office buildings in Washington, the capital of the United States.It is impossible for general institutions and organizations in the United States to have their own dedicated office buildings, but they can only rent a few offices in an ordinary complex building, or rent the next floor.When it's off-duty time, the door lock outside is adjusted to the state of only going out and not going in.That is to say, it can be opened from the inside, no matter how late you work overtime, you can go out.However, people who want to come in from the outside cannot open the door.Just such a door lock solves the night security problem of hundreds of different offices in a building.Some buildings have a guard on duty at night.In many other buildings, there are neither on duty at night nor burglar alarm systems. When we first came, we once worked in such a building, and because we worked very late, we became the last ones to go out in the whole building.We were amazed to see this brightly lit, empty building except our own.The building is full of goodies like advanced computers and it's amazing how the occupants of the offices are able to sleep at night.In fact, the security of a building depends not only on a door lock that cannot be entered, but mainly on good social security.Because everyone knows that if someone really wants to make a move, such a door lock is really easy to deal with. The "Watergate Building" is such an ordinary comprehensive office building.The headquarters of the Democratic Party of America rented offices on its sixth floor.I remember I mentioned to you in my letter last year that the political party organization in the United States is very loose. If a person agrees with a political party, he can declare himself "I belong to a certain party". Applying to join the party and approving joining the party say.If one day he "changes his mind", he will "automatically leave the party" without any formalities.It can definitely be called "gathering and scattering impermanence".This is true even for big parties like the "Republican" and "Democrats".Their headquarters is far less heavily guarded than we imagined.They also rent part of it in ordinary office buildings.Usually, it is similar to ordinary companies and law firms. However, who would have thought that this ordinary Watergate building would become "famous in history" forever after being rented by the Democratic Party. The building has a guard at night, but a few recruited stragglers have disabled the "smart lock" with a simple piece of duct tape.They slipped into the building, tapped two telephones at Democratic headquarters, and retreated without incident.They hope that this move can bring a lot of internal information about the Democratic Party's campaign period, which will help the Republican Nixon's campaign. If it is successfully pulled down, there will be no "Watergate Incident". The problem is that this is a group of non-professional rangers, and their work seems to be very "rough".In the following two months, one of the two bugs failed, and the other had quality problems. The noise was too loud to record. After barely tapping a lot of worthless calls, they had to admit defeat.If they can completely admit defeat, there will be no more "Watergate". Unfortunately, they had a very quick-witted, over-extended on-field caller who got carried away.This person will never give up easily.Under his command, the "Watergate Incident" finally happened inevitably among a lot of "accidents". That day was not a dark and windy month, and it seemed that something was going to happen.To be fair, it was a fairly clear and beautiful evening.Perhaps, one of the things that prompted them to do it again was that door lock that was so easy to deal with, it seemed that a small piece of duct tape would suffice.However, Xiao He was successful, and Xiao He was defeated. This time, it was precisely a small piece of tape that ruined them. This time, they can be said to be familiar with the road.It's the same old way, they come here during the day to sneak around, and take the opportunity to tape the lock on the side of the door so that they can open it from the outside after dark.The people working in the building really didn't pay attention to it. When they walked out of the building, they always thought that the gate behind them would be "smart" to reject people entering as usual.They all took the door with confidence one by one, and went home. The only exception was Frank, the guard on the night shift that day.This is a young black man, perhaps a professional relationship, who is more careful than others.Anyway, he found the door lock was taped up.He tore off the tape and called his supervisor as he was supposed to.He was instructed to check the other doors again. At the time, Frank wasn't nervous.Because there are so many people working in the building, and some people often work overtime, none of them have a key to the gate, and they all know that once the off-duty time is over, they will not be able to get in after they go out.So, Frank thought, maybe someone wanted to go out temporarily, and took such a temporary measure because he was afraid that he would not be able to get in.So, he didn't go to check right away.He went out to buy some food and planned to check it after eating. At this time, those guys were dispatched again.It was already midnight at this time, and they walked towards the already pasted door with confidence.It was a door leading from the underground garage into the stairwell. It was not until they reached out to open the door that they unexpectedly discovered that the door was locked.This time, they felt nervous. The door lock was affixed by their own hands, and now it is locked again, which means that the tape that was pasted on it has been discovered.There were many people in the building, and they were not sure whether it was the off-duty people who found out and tore it up, or the full-time security personnel who discovered the abnormal situation.If it was the latter, would he have called the police?They didn't dare to act rashly, and first asked the boss sitting in the opposite hotel for instructions. As I said before, the on-site conductor is completely eager to ask for credit and rewards, and he will never give up lightly.Desperately, he ordered entry into the building.The door was locked and they took their time to unlock it with a set of stunts.Fortunately, no one noticed during the unlocking process.Perhaps, they took too much effort to unlock the lock, and when they finally opened it, they instinctively wanted to stick it so as not to get in the way.In fact, they should know that the lock is "exitable but not accessible." Since they have already entered, this post is completely superfluous.It was a hit and miss. When Frank, the guard, remembered his boss' notice and checked the door lock again, he stood in front of the locked door lock and was stunned.He could hardly believe his eyes, the tape he had just torn off came back again!He had to immediately make a rational judgment between going out with ghosts and going out with thieves.It was already past one and a half in the morning, and he no longer dared to find any reason to comfort himself.He immediately reported the case to the police station while reporting to his boss. Besides, these guys who broke in, just like any stereotyped movie plot, they naturally didn't forget to send a lookout outside the gate.The guy felt he had the lightest job, and stayed there to enjoy the night view.He didn't pay attention to an ordinary car approaching gradually.Two young men dressed as hippies got out of the car.The lookout didn't expect that he had to inform the people inside. To say a cliché in storytelling, this is called "no coincidence makes a book".But these two "hippies" are plainclothes policemen.It turned out that after the police station received the report, it immediately notified the patrol police car on duty near the "Watergate Building", but the patrol police car happened to be low on gasoline and needed to refuel.The police officer on duty had no choice but to notify the nearest plainclothes policeman to check what happened.Such a mistake made the two "hippie policemen" escape the eyes of the watchers, so that they would not startle the snake. After reporting the situation to the guards, the two policemen first went to the office of the Federal Reserve Board on the eighth floor.Then the soldiers searched in two ways.At this time, the few who broke in were unloading the door of the Democratic Party's office upstairs just because they couldn't unlock it.When they entered the office, the plainclothes police followed the sound.They vaguely saw a black figure, raised their guns and shouted "Don't move", and saw a few hands raised behind the desk.There are no fights, there is no great action of any kind.A few fools were caught obediently. The watchman didn't know that something was wrong until he saw the lights in the building suddenly turned on and the police car drove up screaming.He couldn't get in touch with the people inside, so he could only flee back to the hotel room where they were based.The next step is the chaos in the stronghold. Although they clearly know that according to the US Constitution, even if the police already know about this stronghold, they still have to obtain a search warrant authorized by the court before they can come to search.It will take at least twelve hours for these procedures to be completed.However, the leader who always felt that he was entrusted with a heavy responsibility and carried himself away, was in a panic at this moment.Otherwise, they will at least destroy some important evidence. As a result, what they stayed in the hotel was not only clues, but also piles of criminal evidence.他们的出逃狼狈到什么地步，只需看看他们留下的东西就可以知道了。那里有联号的百元大钞，连同文件的文件箱，电话号码本（里面有白宫的电话号码），当然也少不了窃听器材。Etc., etc. 根据这些物证，调查人员立即就确定这个案子绝不是一般的橇窃案，这是一个与竞选有关的政治案件，而且它有可能与白宫有某种牵连。 这就是“水门事件”发生的整个过程。我在中国的时候，一直以为是尼克松出于竞选目的，指使手下的人闯入民主党总部搞窃听，责任难逃，才导致下台。但是，看了当事人的回忆录等史料，发现完全不是这么回事。 首先，当时的尼克松总统确实急于获取竞选对手的动向，可是，对于下面拿着鸡毛当令箭，究竟蠢事干到什么地步，他是不知情的。也就是说，迄此为止，仅限于“水门事件”本身，并不能说尼克松本人犯了哪一条规。只能说是有一些与白宫有关系的人在外面触犯了法律。 那么，在这种情况下，根据我们现在所看到的美国政治运作情况，这当然会给竞选中的总统带来麻烦，可是，决不至于就必然导致总统下台。“水门事件”是在大选几个月之前。事情出来以后，也立即成为竞选中的大丑闻上了报纸的头条，民主党自然也不失时机地全力对竞选对手的违规作业发动攻击。但是，事实上，这并没有影响尼克松在几个月后以绝对优势又一次连任总统。 Why is this?尼克松确实曾经在“水门事件”发生以后，做过这样的表态。他表示自己也是从报纸上才读到“水门事件”的，他当时认为报导十分荒唐，就把报纸扔在一边，没当回事。两天以后，他才知道有一些共和党竞选总部的人涉案。总之，他要人们相信，他对此并不知情，他也谴责这种做法。那么，他的优势获胜连任是不是说明，美国人民就很相信尼克松的这番话呢？甚至是不是说明他们对于尼克松本人就持绝对信任的态度呢？ 我想，答案是否定的。那么如何解释尼克松的连任呢？ 我想先谈谈究竟是什么在决定美国人的选举抉择。当然，影响美国人选总统的因素确实是非常复杂的，这使得每一次选举以前，候选人下面总有一大套班子在那里天天分析，其中不乏各种专家。竞选之前，在各种地方发表分析的学者也不计其数。美国是一个那么令人眼花缭乱的国家，一人一个主意，如果要投大家之所好，几乎是做不到的。但是，我的感觉，这里面也不是完全无规律可循。 美国人选总统，并不是在选一个完人，而是在选一个理念。也就是说，每个总统候选人对于美国和这个世界给出一种解释，给出一个方向，也给出走向这个方向的一些具体路径。与此同时，总统候选人的个人行为必须基本符合这样的理念。否则，他也就无法说服老百姓，他确实会带领大家向这样一个方向去走。这也就是美国总统通常在竞选时，都标榜自己有一个完美家庭的缘故。这并不意味着大家在选举完人，而是意味着家庭价值至今还是美国人所重视的理念的一部分。 这也就是当年的尼克松连任的“秘密”。他在前四年的任职期间，他的内外政策所代表的理念得到了大多数美国人的认同。尤其是他对于和平所作的努力。这里包括结束越战和缓解冷战。同时，国内也在逐步从六十年代的动荡中安定下来。 那么，当时的美国人究竟如何看待竞选中发生的“水门事件”呢？他们坚信其可靠的绝不是尼克松，他们是对美国的整个制度持有信心。在大的方向上，他们通过选举，选择了当时尼克松所提出理念。对于刚刚发生的竞选丑闻，他们并不是不在乎，而是把它交给这个制度去继续调查和处理。也许，一切如尼克松所说，这只是共和党内的个别激进分子，在竞选中自说自话采取的犯规违法行为。如果是这样，在法律面前他们是咎由自取。如果有更高一层的人员介入，这个制度的运作也会逐步寻根问底，使他们绳之以法。 也就是说，“水门事件”出来的时候，在美国并不是一件非常了不起的事情。大家也并不排除是个别激进分子所为的可能性。之所以大家相信有这种可能性，就是因为美国的这些政党，从我们的眼睛里看出去都可称“乌合之众”，他们对党员既不审查又不控制，个人的行为是由自己负责的。任何一个政党出一些行为出格的激进分子，都不是什么稀罕的事情。 但是，人们也在拭目以待，等待进一步的调查结果。这一类的事情一出来，整个设计好的机制就会自动进入调查程序。美国人知道总统有可能撒谎，问题是，他们并不怕他撒谎。 不知你是否意识到，“水门案件”有一点是至关重要的，那就是这一事件与白宫的关系。因为，尽管尼克松总统是共和党的人，然而，他已经是美国的总统。所谓的“白宫系统”，应该是美国的行政系统，而不是共和党的什么部门，更不是共和党的竞选机构。在今天的美国，尽管所有的总统都属于某一党派，但是，党政之间的界限是必须划得非常清楚的。竞选属于政党范围的事情，总统是无权利用国家行政机构的财力人力来搞竞选的，哪怕是合法的竞选活动都不可以，当然就更休谈什么非法的竞选活动了。 我在上面已经介绍了，“水门事件”本身尼克松总统可能并不知情，他也不是一个策划者。但是，这一事件到底是否和白宫有关系呢？究竟有多大的关系呢？这都牵涉到尼克松总统领导的行政系统是否违法的问题。当然，如果只是白宫的低级官员本身违法，总统虽然有责任，但是问题也并不是非常严重。你也许要问了，既然尼克松在“水门事件”中责任并不大，那么，他究竟栽在哪一个“坑”里呢？ 等着我的下一封信再介绍吧。 wish it is good! Linda