Chapter 6 Each has its own scenery

I haven't done research, and I don't know who was the first to translate the British "Whig Party" and "Tory Party" and the American "Republican Party" and "Democratic Party" into Chinese, but I can guess that this one The word "Party" must have taken a lot of consideration.Because at that time, we did not have this kind of "party" of foreigners.The use of the word "Dang" may be a transliteration method because there is no more suitable word to apply, or it may be that most Chinese who do not understand foreign languages ​​do not know what it is.The use of the word "Party" reluctantly planted the root of the century-old Chinese politicians' misunderstanding of Western politics.

The Chinese have always had "party" - "village party", "friend party", and "confessional party".When a group of people get together, they either agree with each other, or care about each other's interests. The formation of a party among the people is equivalent to the formation of brothers in Taoyuan, where Liu Guanzhang and Zhang Taoyuan drink chicken blood wine. The existence of such a "party" reflects the insecurity and lack of success of individuals in society, and it is only when they form a gang that they can do things well.This kind of "party" must be introverted, and there are thresholds for entry. It has to go through tests, go too far, and stab a knife. Once it enters, it is its own brother. statement.

This is how society works.Eastern and Western cultures also had their similarities. In the process of social evolution, individuals have encountered brutal competition.In order to survive more easily, Europe also has a similar record of "forming gangs". From industrial gangs to underworld organizations, the Freemasons that are almost all over the world are one of them.Freemasonry also spread to the United States, where it was once powerful.Not only was Washington, the first president of the United States, a member of the Freemasons, but the American War of Independence also received strong support from the Freemasons.

Precisely because they saw gangs and the dangers they might pose, the founding fathers of the United States were particularly vigilant on the issue of political parties.It is believed that once the trend of forming cliques starts, the harm will be incalculable.Therefore, at the beginning of the founding of the United States, there were no political parties.Thomas Jefferson said at the time that if I had to be with a party to get into heaven, I'd rather never get in.General George Washington disbanded the army as soon as the Revolutionary War ended.Veterans formed a Cincinnati Club, which elected Washington as honorary president.

In May 1787, Washington left for Philadelphia to hold the Constitutional Convention. He deliberately avoided club activities due to illness. The general did not want people to see that he had a close circle around him. James Madison, the father of the U.S. Constitution, believed that the reason why politics often corrupts human nature is related to the fact that people form cliques in politics.He believed that individual individuals have certain moral requirements.Independent individuals must be responsible for their own actions and claims, and are more likely to have a sense of morality.However, when some people form sects, they will artificially create illusory justice, cover up their personal selfishness under illusory justice, and provide each other with a guarantee of the legitimacy of their actions.Therefore, the moral standard of small sects is usually lower than personal morality.A single good person will indulge his selfishness in forming a gang, and even do bad things.

The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia created a precedent for the establishment of a federal republic in a vast and dispersed country.Conflicting interests were reconciled, and opposing viewpoints were compromised, laying down the first institutional cornerstone for the United States since then, which was called "the meeting of God's personal intervention" by later generations.The reason for its success must be one of them: the representatives present at the meeting do not form cliques, but individual politicians with independent will and thoughts are participating in the design of the system.The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia was a secret meeting, in order to prevent the outside world from knowing the differences in the conference, and to prevent forces from all over the world from influencing and manipulating the representatives.The meeting stipulated that the individual votes of the delegates should not be recorded, so that they could change their views without fear and were not bound by their previous views.At the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, the big states were at odds with the small states, the South was at odds with the North, and the ports were at odds with the interior, but these representatives did not form a faction with their own opinions.Viewpoints come and go, contradictions split and disintegrate, and the final compromise is reached.However, when the federal government election officially started a few years later, reality proved that it was impossible to participate in democratic political activities in an individual capacity, especially for a minority, you had to gather together to win the opportunity to express yourself.Thus began the formation of political parties in the United States.

Precisely because of rejection and reflection on the idea of ​​gangs, when political parties emerged in the United States more than 200 years ago, they already followed the concept of modern political parties.What kind of concept is that?In theory, American politics is a multi-party system, but in fact there are only two major parties that can come to power.According to Americans, if you vote for the Republican Party, you are a Republican, and if you plan to vote for the Democratic Party, you are a Democrat.In other words, for most people, as long as you vote, you are either a Democrat or a Republican, or a "partisan" of a small party.So, is such a "partisan" a "member" of the party?

I once asked this "China question" to an American friend, and I got a confused face - I didn't understand what it meant.They have no idea of ​​"organization" in the Eastern sense.There is no threshold wall between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, so the question of whether one is a "member of the party" is meaningless.In the general election, if you agree with its demands, agree with its policy of governing the country, and vote for the party, you are its "partisan" and do not need to apply for approval.If you change your views tomorrow and stop voting for this party, you are no longer a "partisan" of it.Changing your mind and going in and out are rights of course.

The political parties in the United States are the product of Congress and the product of constitutional government.A political party under this political system is a group of people with the same political views, in order to express their views more powerfully, and strive for their views to be recognized by the majority of people, so that they can be practiced through elections.At the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, Roger Sherman, who proposed the important compromise, said, "If you are a minority, try to speak a lot; if you are a majority, vote with one heart."It turned out that there was no mystery, that's all.

But even so, under the stimulation of competitive elections, the ills of people getting together will still be revealed naturally.The expansion of selfishness among political parties and the transformation of "speech a lot" that positively expounded views into negative attacks on opponents during the election campaign have all appeared from the very beginning of the activities of political parties in the United States.Two hundred years ago, the Republicans headed by Thomas Jefferson and the Federalists headed by John Adams not only had their differences surfaced, but also fought fiercely.Thomas Jefferson, who still hated political party battles in theory, not only gathered Republicans and stepped onto the political stage, but also made many private moves.He defeated Adams of the Federalists in the 1800 election and was elected president.In his inaugural speech, Jefferson issued an appeal: "We are all Republicans, and we are all Federalists." However, it still cannot change the historical fact that the presidential election that year turned into personal slander and became the most popular election in the United States. A most negative example.Founding sages are still not exempt from customs, and state-level elections are even more so, so that there is the famous satire of Mark Twain that we are all familiar with.

Although we have seen that theory and introspection cannot firmly prevent crossing the line in practice.However, different theoretical starting points and whether there is a sense of introspection lead to different results.If it is determined that the "Party" is an enlarged copy of the "Gang", then it can be regarded as normal to fight internally to eliminate traitors and seek unity, and to plan externally, make false statements, and use thirty-six tactics.Under the modern party political system, following the system of separation of powers and checks and balances stipulated in the Constitution, there are political and moral orientations, the value of pursuing individual free will, historical records to provide the public with reflection materials, and the public has the desire to make political discussions open and in-depth. habits, and so on, a country is capable of gradually overcoming the vices of human nature manifested in party politics. Political parties in the United States emerged after the establishment of the parliamentary system, not before. From the very beginning, they were parliamentary parties, not violent struggle parties.Two hundred years have passed.The United States has conducted more than 50 general elections, more than 50 mid-term elections, and countless local votes and referendums. Regardless of whether they can be achieved, they advocate open party politics and maintain a high degree of vigilance against gang formation. Shame on a negative campaign, shame on tricks and tricks.This is an important condition for the normal operation of the American democratic system. When Americans were in the middle of the general election in 2004, the campaign preparations of the "Democrats" and "Republicans" became the top news in newspapers every day.The situation for President Bush is much like that of President Clinton eight years ago, who despite all his obvious troubles was the uncontroversial candidate within his party.After Gore announced that he would not participate in the election, the Democratic Party has no leader.In the beginning, Americans even circulated such a joke: "Half the Democrats are candidates, but no one can remember any of the names." In other words, there is no heavyweight candidate.Therefore, when General Clark suddenly announced his candidacy, his brilliant resume in the military once lifted the spirits of the Democrats. However, compared to other candidates, General Clark has a very special situation. His party position seems to have changed several times.In the United States, individual voting tendencies are private. If you don't announce it yourself, there is no way to check it.By Clark's own admission, however, he had voted for at least two Republican presidents: Nixon and Reagan. Some people also said that he had elected President Bush Sr., the father of President Bush Jr., who was also the Republican President. Clark did not deny this either.Although he claimed that he later voted for Democrats Clinton and Al Gore.But since then, he has spoken in favor of some of President Bush's policies.At this time, he came out grandiosely and announced that he would run for the Democratic Party's presidential candidate, just showing the relaxed side of this kind of politics.Not a single Republican came out and called him a "traitor."Because the public believes that if someone from the Republican Party comes out to scold, it will not be Clark who loses points, but the Republican Party. Everyone has become accustomed to changing political views. It is not only a basic human right, but also an ordinary landscape in the United States. On the contrary, some Democrats have come out to raise doubts. The question is not whether he can change the party position, but whether he really changed.That is to say, it is suspected that Clark saw that the position of the Republican presidential candidate had been firmly occupied by Bush, so he lied about a change of view and used speculative means to try to gain a chance to run for the presidency in the Democratic Party where the overall situation is uncertain.In other words, if he really "abandoned this party and voted for another party" If this is the case, the Democratic and Republican parties, and the whole of the United States, all believe that this is a matter of course and nothing surprising. After some campaigning, the Democratic candidates set the overall picture.In this process, we can see that apart from the "positive campaign" in which they state their political opinions, there are also many "fighting" parts called "negative campaigns", which are to check each other and ask questions about each other's past .However, we must pay attention to propriety, guard against private attacks, and refrain from personal attacks.One side asks questions, and the other side publishes materials, which is quite methodical.This is also because in American political culture, negative campaigns with vicious attacks have been despised by the public.Therefore, when it comes to the category of "negative campaign", all parties are very cautious.So as not to "lift a rock and shoot yourself in the foot".The same is true in bipartisan races.For example, the Democratic Party found that when Bush was young, he had an absent record when he joined the Texas Air National Guard, and accused him of deserting.President Bush immediately ordered that all his military records be made public, stating that during that time, he was temporarily transferred to serve in Alabama.In such a process, the first thing to rule out is quarreling and scolding; the people are also very calm, and they have become accustomed to waiting for the facts to speak out. Over the past two hundred years, the American political arena has not become the world of politicians, and the American people remain vigilant against gang formation, which is an important reason.In such a political structure and an orderly campaign that has undergone long-term evolution, the mood of the people is also quite stable.The Republican Party and the Democratic Party are nothing more than a set of opinions to ordinary people, just like a set meal in a restaurant, from the Iraq war, international politics, to tax policy, economic policy; from health care reform, social welfare, to gun control , prohibition of drugs, as well as gay marriage, legal abortion and so on.Everyone has the values ​​that they are most concerned about, and everyone has the deepest concerns that involve their own interests.Some people are most concerned with war and international politics, while others are most concerned with religious morals and social ethos.Differences in political views among family and friends in the United States are very common.However, there is almost no phenomenon of excessive emotion and pan-politicization.Because political campaigns, as important as they are, are still only a limited bargaining chip for life change for Americans.As you all know, with the overall situation unchanged, everyone still has their own social responsibilities after elections.The weight of this responsibility is not lighter. It is not difficult to see that democratic politics with elections as its core is quite fragile and the risks are extremely high.Democratic elections recognize self-interest and the legitimacy of expressing and pursuing it.Political parties come and go based on votes.Ballots do not recognize high or low quality, only the quantity.Morality is hidden behind, no matter who, has become "one" - a vote.In this way, the electoral system itself must be a great temptation to opportunistic politicians, because it is also a stage for politicians to show themselves and a breeding ground for politicians.Under the electoral system, the question that no politician can avoid is: What are the principles that must be upheld?What are the minor details that can be discarded?What is your own philosophy in politics?What is a temporary strategic expedient measure, taking a step back and giving up a little is just to achieve long-term ideals. All politicians whose sole goal is the result of an election must form cliques and divide matters into internal and external affairs, because only in this way can they act in a unified manner.Only when the actions are unified can there be combat effectiveness, and it will be easy to manipulate public opinion and deceive public opinion.The difference between politicians and politicians is that politicians are guided by success or failure, rather than the idea of ​​public interest, public will, and the long-term stability of the country.Politicians, regardless of the good or evil of the process, only talk about the results of the means. Looking at it this way, the difference between our traditional Chinese folk "Party" and "Partisans" and the "Whigs" and "Tories" in Britain, and the "Democrats" and "Republicans" in the United States is even clearer. They are not Western politics. The so-called party in. "Party" and "party members" sound like a whizzing metal sound, which makes people think of gold and iron horses, turning clouds and rain, and passing on favors from generation to generation, and even "the one who beats the world sits in the world". On the other side of the ocean, the "party" was full of red and green flags and balloons, and the hustle and bustle of the election was very loud.Each has its own scenery!