Chapter 32 Politicians, Zheng Ye.Zi Shuai is righteous, who dares to be unrighteous

Ji Kangzi asked Confucius about politics.Confucius said to him: "Politics are upright. If you are a commander in chief, who dares to be unrighteous?" —— "The Analects of Confucius Yan Yuan" On March 21, 2003, the State Council held its first plenary meeting. Premier Wen Jiabao delivered an important speech on the topic of "fulfilling our duties, working hard, and doing our best for the work of the new government".When talking about the construction of political style, Premier Wen said: "To fully perform the responsibilities of the government and do a good job in the next five years, we must further change the style of work, strictly discipline, and form a good political style. .Zi Shuai is upright, who dares to be unrighteous?' Politics is to be upright. A good style of work is very important."

The passage quoted by Premier Wen comes from "The Analects of Confucius Yan Yuan".Ji Kangzi asked Confucius about politics, and Confucius used the original meaning of etymology to interpret political affairs, thinking that "politics" means "righteousness".And "Zi Shuai is right, who dares to be wrong?" as a supplementary explanation.Ji Kangzi was the Minister of State of Lu. Confucius answered Ji Kangzi's question with the original meaning of the word "politics", and warned him that he should first be "right" when he was in politics, and set an example for the politicians. Who would dare to be wrong?

The ancients had many discussions about the meaning of "politics".The "Shuowen Jiezi" written in the eleventh year of Emperor Yongyuan of the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 100) explained "politics" directly following Confucius' saying, that is, "politics is Zhengye"."Shiming", which was written a little later than "Shuowen Jiezi", also adopted this theory, but there was a further addition: "Zheng, Zhengye, and what comes down is Zhengye". "Shuowen Jiezi" and "Shiming" use the method of sound training when explaining the origin of names.The so-called sound training is to explain the meaning of words with the same or similar sound.Sound training has been used in pre-Qin classics, and Confucius' interpretation of "politics" undoubtedly belongs to this.

Generally speaking, in the Chinese cultural tradition, the ruler's way of "doing politics" is a code of conduct that the ruled must follow.Therefore, "government" means "returning injustice to rectification", which is the so-called "obtaining rectification from what follows". So what is "positive"?Guanzi gave us a detailed explanation: "Politics are upright. Righteousness is the destiny of all things. Therefore, the sage establishes the center to create righteousness, and clears uprightness to govern the country. Therefore, the upright person stops the mistakes. It is not enough to be caught. Excessiveness and inadequacy are not right. If it is not right, it will hurt the country. Courage and injustice will hurt soldiers, benevolence and law will hurt righteousness. Therefore, the defeat of an army is also born of injustice; the invasion of law Also, born of injustice. Therefore, those who speak with discernment and not do things, and those who do things with difficulties but not good. Therefore, words must be in the middle, and they must be strict in debating; actions must be thought of good, and they are not difficult."

The meaning of this passage is to say: politics means "righteousness".The so-called Zheng is used to correctly determine the destiny of all things.Therefore, sages always refine their virtues, determine the middle way to cultivate this "Zheng" character, and publicize this "Zheng" character to govern the country.Therefore, "positive" is used to prevent excessive and make up for it.Too much or too little is not "right".Not being "right" is equally harmful to the country.Bravery without righteousness harms the army, and benevolence without "righteousness" damages the law.The failure of the army is produced by injustice; the erosion of laws is produced by injustice.Those who speak eloquently do not act "righteously" and act with respect and fear but do not act kindly. Therefore, speech must be in line with "righteousness" and not be eloquent; actions must consider kindness and be respectful and fearless.The rule is to correct the square.Although a person has clever eyes and hands, it is not as good as a clumsy rule that can correct a square.Therefore, clever people can make rules, but they cannot abolish rules and make them square.A sage can formulate laws, but he cannot abolish laws and govern a country.Therefore, although you have clear wisdom and noble morality, to rule the country in violation of the law is tantamount to abolishing the rules and correcting the square.

The second part is the literary and political person, Zheng Ye.Zi Shuai is righteous, who dares to be unrighteous (2) This text comes from the chapter "Guanzi·Fafa", which talks about the promotion and implementation of the rule of law. The opening chapter clearly talks about the role of "law".Guanzi said: If laws and regulations are not implemented by "laws", there will be no routines in state affairs; if laws and regulations are not implemented by means of "laws", government orders will not be implemented.When the monarch issued an order but failed to implement it, it was because the decree did not become a mandatory law; when it became a mandatory law, it was unable to implement it because it was drafted carelessly; Because rewards and punishments are not yet faithful; faithfulness and failure to carry out is because the monarch does not lead by example.Therefore, it is said: the prohibition can control the Cambodian monarch himself, and the decree can be applied to the people.

It can be seen from the above that as a legalist, Guanzi's interpretation of "positive" focuses on the institutional level, and the leader "Shuai Yizheng" takes the lead in obeying and implementing legal norms. There is a big difference in effect. If we put aside the method of "sound training" and interpret the word "politics" in the way of "form training", will the meaning of "zheng" emphasized by Guanzi be more? The radical on the right side of the character "Zheng" is the character "攴" in traditional Chinese characters, which is pronounced as "pu" and originally means to beat gently.We can use this to think that if you want to be "right" for those who are "political", you also need to rely on external forces to beat them frequently.External forces can be legal norms or public supervision.If those who are "in charge of politics" can both feel that they have a "vital good style" and at the same time be "beaten lightly", then the goal of "being righteous" can be easily achieved.

In the second year after Premier Wen delivered this speech, that is, on August 14, 2004, Xinhuanet published an article "The Decline of Official Virtue: A Severe Challenge to the Ruling Party", criticizing some officials for "lack of official morality". , the corruption of official morality, and the loss of official morality have exceeded people's expectations and broken through the moral bottom line of the people."It can be said that the problem of individual officials being corrupt in politics has reached a very serious level. This sentence quoted by Premier Wen Jiabao still has far-reaching significance today.