How to evaluate Mencius' idea of "emphasizing righteousness over profit"?

Mengzi was an eloquent and eloquent speaker, who traveled to and from the Jixi Academy and lobbied the kings and lords, even with dozens of cars and hundreds of followers, making him a formidable and renowned figure. After the Han Dynasty, he was honored as the "Sage of Asia", second only to Confucius, and was an important figure in Confucianism who carried on the past and opened up the future, influencing China for thousands of years. After the end of the "unprecedented" transcendental movement that "completely cut off from tradition", Confucianism has a tendency of revival, and today, when the market economy has just started and the situation of forgetting righteousness for the sake of profit happens from time to time, the concept of righteousness and profitability in Confucianism is particularly emphasized, but the discussion on this issue has not yet been satisfactory. However, the discussion on this issue has not been satisfactory. The author is not shallow, only on the righteousness of Mengzi's thought to try to explore, in order to square the square family.

I. Interpretation of the Categories of "Righteousness" and "Benefit"

Mencius frequently used the term "benevolence and righteousness" in conjunction with "righteousness". "before the crown of" benevolence "," righteousness "is a subordinate category; and often" benevolence, righteousness, courtesy and wisdom "together," "righteousness "Righteousness" is one of a series of categories, and is also listed as the second; sometimes also used "propriety and righteousness", "propriety" followed by "righteousness", "righteousness" is still a category. "Righteousness" is still a subordinate category. Therefore, "righteousness" cannot be understood in isolation, but should be examined in connection with other related categories, especially "benevolence" when talking about "righteousness". Usually, it is customary to speak of "righteousness" only when it is symmetrical with "profit". In fact, benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom, loyalty, faith, filial piety, brotherhood and so on, are symmetrical with the profit, in this point they are originally one and the same.

Both benevolence and righteousness belong to the category of family relations, benevolence maintains the relationship between father and son, and righteousness maintains the relationship between brothers and children. For example: "A child does not know how to love its relatives, and when it grows up, it does not respect its brother. Kissing one's relatives is also benevolence; honoring one's elders is also righteousness" (Yang Bojun: The Translation and Annotation of Mencius, Volume XIII; the Chinese numbers after the following quotations are the number of volumes of the book). There is a father before there is a son, and then there are brothers, so it can be seen that benevolence precedes righteousness; benevolence requires love for one's relatives, and righteousness requires respect for one's brother; the former emphasizes the heart, and the latter emphasizes the attitude. In this way, benevolence and righteousness have the same connotation as filial piety and brotherhood, and Mengzi's words must be referred to Yao and Shun, "The way of Yao and Shun is just filial piety and brotherhood" (xii). Not only filial piety and brotherhood, but also some other important categories are often the same: "The reality of benevolence is to serve one's parents; the reality of righteousness is to follow one's brother; the reality of wisdom is to know that the two are not to be removed; the reality of etiquette is to be able to regulate the two; and the reality of music is to be able to enjoy the two, and the music is to be born" (VII). Logically, since "no one does not know how to love his relatives", he must serve his relatives; "no one does not respect his brother", he must obey his brother. Thus, "benevolence and righteousness" is transformed from the subjective "love and respect" for one's father and brother to the objective behavior of "serving and obeying", which is the essence of benevolence and righteousness, from which the rest of wisdom, propriety, and music emerge and serve with their respective functions. The other things are all generated by it and serve it with their respective functions.

Although benevolence belongs to the category of human relations, Mencius' human relations are not limited to this, he also has the so-called "Five Lunas", that is, "Father and son have kinship, rulers and ministers have righteousness, husband and wife have differentiation, young and old have order, and friends have faith" (V). Among them, father and son, husband and wife, and children and elders are all internal human relationships within the family, which have been criticized a lot in recent times, with the exception of "friends have faith". It should be noted, however, that the letter between friends relies entirely on the moral personality of both parties to maintain mutual trust, and that "a friend is also a friend of his virtue, and cannot be held hostage" (x). As a result of disregard for the interests, and the lack of necessary external conditions to ensure that there has been no shortage of friends, but also no shortage of treacherous friends; good time to go to the fire, bad time and turn against the enemy; or sacrifice the rights of the self, or violation of the rights of the other side; and even pulling the party, as the same kind of sacred, and regarded the different as thieves. All this is not a manifestation of faith in the law, and it is impossible to form a new type of social relationship that maintains human trust and realizes the equal rights of human beings by contract. It is fine to use it as an individual interpersonal relationship, but it is wrong to use it as a method of governing a country. As for the remaining relationship between ruler and minister, Mencius fantasized it as a brotherly relationship of brotherly love and affection, which was also maintained by righteousness. Of course, Mencius did not absolutize the relationship between the ruler and the ministers and demanded that the ministers obey the ruler unconditionally, but he objected to the idea that "there is no righteousness in the service of the ruler, and there is no etiquette in the way of advancement and retreat" (vii). In this way, in the case of the monarch's supreme power and the lack of constraints, there is bound to be "the king told the minister to die, the minister had to die," the end of the minister can only be obedient to the orders, flattering and flattering.

Grasping the main contradiction is a major tradition in China, and all kinds of human relationships cannot be equated. Mencius said, "Inside is the father and son, outside is the ruler and the minister, the human of the great Lun also." (d) the former is the basis of the latter, the latter is the former guarantee, the two Lun mutual use, indispensable, and these two relationships have their own focus, the father and the king is the main aspect of the contradiction, the son and the minister is in a subordinate position, the two sides can not be equal, and even more can not be inverted, or else, "no king, no father, is the beast is carried out" (six). Therefore, the core of benevolence and righteousness is to maintain the father's right and the ruler's right, in order to establish a family ruled by the father and a country ruled by the ruler, which is far from the rule of law.

As can be seen from the above, ren and yi, as two of the most important categories in the series of categories of Mencius, have their own specific meanings; ren is an indication of the relationship between the father and the son, while yi denotes both the brotherhood and the relationship between the ruler and the subject. However, this understanding of Mencius' benevolence and righteousness is still too narrow.

Mencius firmly believed in the goodness of human nature, and he explained this through the fear and grief that people occasionally feel when they see a child go into a well, saying: "Without compassion, a person is not human; without shame and evil, a person is not human; without resignation, a person is not human; without right and wrong, a person is not human. The heart of compassion is the end of benevolence; the heart of shame and evil is the end of righteousness; the heart of resignation is the end of propriety; the heart of right and wrong is the end of wisdom." (3) It can be seen that benevolence is a manifestation of compassion, which governs people to actively engage in behaviors that benefit others; righteousness stems from the heart of shame and evil, which governs people to actively refrain from engaging in behaviors that harm others; propriety is based on the heart of resignation and yielding, and if you fight for personal fame and fortune, you will not only be impolite, but also unkind and unrighteous; and wisdom is used to distinguish between right and wrong, and to know what should be done and what should not be done. What should be done is done, and what should not be done is not done, that is, benevolence and righteousness; on the contrary, that is, unkindness and unrighteousness. In this way, benevolence and righteousness has a theoretical basis of human nature, more extensive and universal than the aforementioned specific humane, and become a norm that no one can be separated from.

In general, the following four points can be summarized: 1, although benevolence and righteousness are subjective, but benevolence in favor of subjective motives, righteousness in favor of objective behavior, that is, "benevolence, the human heart; righteousness, the human road" (XI). To act according to benevolence is righteousness, and to act against benevolence is unrighteousness. Benevolence is the soul of righteousness, righteousness is the manifestation of benevolence. 2, benevolence and righteousness are subjective, and must be transformed into objective behavior, but benevolence is mainly to be a certain behavior, righteousness is mainly to be a certain behavior. Such as "the benevolent with its love and its not love, not benevolent with its not love and its love" (xiv); "people can not be shameless, no shame, no shame, no shame," therefore, "no for its not for, no desire for its not desire "(xiii), which is exactly the requirement of righteousness. 3, whether subjective or objective, benevolence and righteousness are not abstract, but the object of benevolence is mainly the personal rights of others, the object of righteousness is mainly the economic rights of others. Such as: "people can be filled with no desire to harm people's hearts, and benevolence can not be used; people can be filled with no hole in the wall of the heart, and righteousness can not be used" (xiv). Another example: "kill a not guilty, not benevolent; not their own and take, not righteousness" (xiii). 4, no matter how much difference between benevolence and righteousness, must love people and benefit people, and not harm people damage. The two are mutually exclusive, and it is difficult to separate them.

Relative to "righteousness", "profit" is easier to understand, but not simplistic. Any profit is meaningless without a living person. Therefore, life is the first and foremost element of profit. Life cannot be maintained without certain material conditions, so economy is the core of li. At the same time, Mencius attaches great importance to the right to education, believing that education is the sign of human civilization and the key to the difference between man and beast. Throughout the Mencius, profit can be roughly divided into the above three aspects: the profit of life, the profit of economy, and the profit of spirit. The subject of profit is even more complex, such as the profit of the ruler and the people, the profit of the group, the profit of me and others, the profit of honor and inferiority, and so on. How complex the society, the main body of the benefit of how complex, and the benefit of the people of the most important, the monarch is the key to deal with a variety of interests.

Second, the relationship between righteousness and profitability analysis

The more general the words, the easier it is to make a variety of interpretations, and even completely different interpretations, and therefore the more difficult to grasp its exact meaning. The Confucian concept of "righteousness over profit" is often referred to in the academic world as a generalization.

The opening of Mencius is a dialog with King Hui of Liang: "Why does the king say profit? It is only benevolence and righteousness." He thought that if the king, the great doctor, the common people all have a "benefit" word in mind, and try to "benefit my country", "benefit my family", "benefit my body "will be" up and down the levy profits and the country is in danger ". Volume XII of the same book also says: "For a person's minister to serve his king, for a person's son to serve his father, for a person's brother to serve his brother, it is the king and his minister, father and son, brothers, and eventually go to benevolence and righteousness, and to serve each other with benefits, but not die, there is no one." On the other hand, "If a person who is an official has benevolence and righteousness to serve his king, if a person who is a son has benevolence and righteousness to serve his father, and if a person who is a disciple has benevolence and righteousness to serve his brother, then it is the ruler and the subject, father and son, and brother who go to benevolence and righteousness, and who have benevolence and righteousness to meet each other, yet there is no one who does not become a king. Why say profit". At first glance, these words of Mencius seem to advocate righteousness without profit, but in fact, it is not. In his answer to King Hui of Liang "how to benefit my country" also said this sentence: "Gou after righteousness and profit first, do not take away not tired of". The implication is that Mencius is advocating the first righteousness and then profit, not not to profit.

Righteousness before profit seems to take profit as the end, and righteousness is only a means to realize profit, which is also not right. Mencius said: "by benevolence and righteousness, not to do benevolence and righteousness" (8), that is, can only act according to benevolence and righteousness, can not use benevolence and righteousness as a tool for my use. He also said, "Shun, the nature of it; Tang Wu, the body of it; the five hegemons, the falsehood of it" (xiii). Shun's practice of benevolence and righteousness is due to his nature, which is based on nature; Tangwu is second to him, and they are physically practicing it through their personal efforts; and the five hegemons are completely opposite in nature, as they are pretending benevolence and righteousness as a means of seeking to dominate the world for their own personal gain. It can be seen that subjectively there should not be the slightest interest in the heart, benevolence and righteousness is both the initial motive and the ultimate purpose, and is the only one. It is not a matter of emphasizing righteousness over profit, but of having righteousness without profit.

Although Mencius opposed to profit as a prey, but at the same time advocated that people of benevolence and righteousness should get profit, righteousness and profit are not opposites, but unity, only to profit from righteousness. For example, he regarded benevolence, righteousness, loyalty and faith as the "heavenly title" and the status of power as the "human title", praised the ancients for "repairing their heavenly title and the human title from it", and praised the people of the time for "repairing their heavenly title and the human title from it". He praised the ancients for "repairing their heavenly titles and the titles of men follow them" and mercilessly exposed and criticized the false benevolence and righteousness of people at that time, who "repaired their heavenly titles in order to ask for the titles of men; and abandoned the heavenly titles after obtaining the titles of men. In his view, benevolence and righteousness for the sake of profit is not true benevolence and righteousness, nor should one gain profit. On the contrary, a truly benevolent person who does not seek profit reacts to gain profit, and even gaining the whole world is not excessive at all, "If he is on his way, then Shun receives Yao's world, and does not think that he is Thai" (vi). At the same time, benevolence and righteousness not only have the meaning of deserving profit, but also the meaning of protecting profit: "If it is not its righteousness, or its way, a mediator will not be used with others, and a mediator will not be taken from others" (ix). That is to say, if one is not in the way of benevolence and righteousness, not only will one not take a single cent of profit, one will not allow a single cent of profit to be taken.

Since benevolence and righteousness is the only motive and purpose, it is naturally the highest rule of behavior. "To do one injustice, to kill one innocent, and to gain the whole world, all are not to be done" (III). To do one injustice and to kill one innocent is a small evil; the world is a great benefit. No matter how small the evil, no matter how great the benefit, it cannot be obtained by doing evil. There is no greater desire in man than life, and no greater evil than death, but righteousness is more important than life and death. Mencius said, "Life is what I desire, and righteousness is what I desire. I can't have both. I will give up my life for righteousness. Life is also what I desire, and what I desire is even more than life, so I do not seek to obtain it; death is also what I hate, and what I hate is even more than the dead, so I suffer from what is not open to me" (xi). Because of unrighteousness, I would rather not live, and for righteousness, I would rather die. Whether one lives or dies, one must obey righteousness, which is the highest manifestation of the value of life.

To sum up, Mencius's relationship between righteousness and profit has four main aspects: in the order of implementation, the first righteousness and then profit; in the subjective cultivation, only righteousness and no profit; in the relationship between subjective and objective, to profit from righteousness; in the relationship between norms and behaviors, to unify profit with righteousness.

However, there is still a major flaw in describing Mencius's idea of righteousness and profitability in this way alone; who exactly did Mencius ask to practice his above ideas? There is no reason to put this question aside and talk about righteousness and profit in the abstract.

Third, the subject of the practice of the idea of righteousness and profit

The scholarly opinion is that Confucianism emphasizes righteousness over profit, which refers to both the mentality and character of the common people, and also refers to the ruler's disregard for the rights of the common people in favor of virtue and duty. It should be said that this is in line with both historical reality and, to some extent, the reality affected by historical traditions, but not in line with the true thinking of Mencius, although Mencius's thinking has a responsibility that cannot be shirked. It cannot be equated between history or reality and the thoughts of the thinkers, and as to how Mencius relates to history or reality, it should be discussed separately.

Mencius is a book of morality, but because Mencius advocated the rule of the state by virtue, it is also a book of politics, strictly speaking, a book of "rule of man" or "rule of virtue". In the book, there are words about "winning the world", "leveling the world", "ruling the world" and "being the king of the world", and so on. can be found everywhere. Mencius himself also said that in his time, there was no one else but him who wanted to pacify and rule the world. There were two main groups of people to whom Mencius spoke: first, the political dignitaries, especially the monarchs of various countries; and first, his disciples, such as Wan Zhang and Gong Sun Chou, who belonged to the intellectual class. There are also a number of his confessions. He talked with the monarchs to get them to accept his propositions; his confessions or discussions with his disciples also basically belonged to the cultivation of the body, the unification of the family, the governance of the country, and the pacification of the world. Mencius was a man of antiquity, and he was always talking about how the ancients were. These ancients were mainly Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, Wen, Wu, Zhou Gong, and Confucius, all of whom were models for rulers and scholarly men. There are also many other titles in the Mencius, such as "gentleman", "wise man", "lord", and "great man", which refer to people who have both morals and knowledge, and thus should have ruled, but failed to do so. Thus, in general, the practicing subjects of Mencius' thought are those in power. He said, "If a ruler is benevolent, there is no one who is not benevolent; if a ruler is righteous, there is no one who is not righteous; if a ruler is upright, there is no one who is not upright. A righteous ruler and the country is settled" (vii), the most important first of all is that the person who holds the highest power should be benevolent and righteous. He also repeatedly pointed out: "The righteousness of the man, the road; rites, the door. Only the gentleman can be by the road, in and out of the door also" (10); "Dwelling in the evil? Benevolence is also; the road is evil? Righteousness is also. Benevolence and righteousness are the things of a great man" (xiii). Benevolence and righteousness are "the things of a great man", and "only a gentleman" can do them. The subject matter is very clear, but it is not a requirement for all people, and cannot be generalized. There are countless discussions on this in the Mencius, and some of them, even if they do not specify the subject matter, are not difficult to find answers to as long as they are integrated with the original text and fully grasped.

This can also be confirmed from another aspect. Mencius said: "the reason why people are different from the beasts a few Xi, the common people to go, the gentleman to survive"; "the gentleman so different from the people, in order to save the heart also" (eight). Here a clear distinction is made between the gentleman and the common people. The common people cannot even guarantee their minimum right to live, so how can they understand the great truths that only a gentleman can understand? "To act and not to be noted, to practice and not to be observed, to live by and not to know the way of the way, are also many" (xiii). Obviously, Mencius's propositions are not primarily for the people to hear or to ask them to do. Even if the benevolence of father and son, the righteousness of brothers, and the distinction between husband and wife should be practiced diligently for any father, son, brother, or husband and wife, the people cannot do it, and the responsibility lies not with the people, but with the people, but with their rulers. For example, King Xuan of Qi was fond of the sound of bells and drums and the music of hunting, and Mencius said, "The king was so fond of it that the people could not see their fathers and sons, and their brothers and wives were separated", so how could they enjoy the happiness of their families, and how could they be benevolent and righteous (2)? At that time, when Zou and Lu were at war, thirty-three of Zou's officers died, but none of the people died. The Duke of Zou Mu was in a dilemma, whether to kill or not to kill? If he killed them, he would not be held accountable; if he did not kill them, they would watch their officers die without saving them. Mencius said: "The people of the king's old and weak turn to the gully, the strong scattered and the four directions", "but the king's granary is solid, the government treasury is full, the secretary is not to report, it is the upper slow and cruelty to the lower also" (2). The people in power are not benevolent and unrighteous, deserve to die, death is retribution, the people have no crime?

It can be seen that Mencius does emphasize righteousness and light profit, but not a generalized emphasis on righteousness and light profit, but to require rulers to emphasize righteousness and light profit. Light profit is light of their profit, as for the people's profit is not only can not be light and heavy, only this is called righteousness.

In the view of Mencius, to compete with the people for profit, the loss of the people to fertilize their own, just brutality in the world, can not be counted as "get the world", not worthy of being a ruler; only light of their own profit, heavy people's profit, in order to "get the world", worthy of being the parents of the people. He said: "get the world has the way, get its people, the world carry on; get its people have the way, get their hearts, get the people carry on; get their hearts have the way, the desire and gather, the evil do not give them also" (7). Get the world in the people, get the people in the heart, get the heart in the profit, profit plays a decisive role here. Mencius was firmly opposed to the idea that the ruler is strong and the people are weak, and that the ruler is rich and the people are poor. He believed that, in addition to the people of the world, the king has no interest, the king's interest is in the people's interest, the people's interest is the king's interest, "the king is like good goods, and the people with the same, in the king of what"? The only duty of the king is to be happy with the world and to worry about the world" (2).

A ruler who acts in accordance with benevolence and righteousness, and who emphasizes the people's interests over his own, is not only a fundamental way to win the hearts of the people and the world, but also a reliable guarantee of benevolence and righteousness for the people. Mencius said: "The only person who has no constant production but has a constant heart is the scholar. If the people, there is no constant production, because there is no constant heart. If there is no perseverance, the release of the evil, nothing to carry on. And caught in the crime, and then thus the penalty, is also reckless people. ...... Therefore, the Ming ruler system of the people's production, must make up enough to serve parents, down enough to animal wife, happy years of life satiety, the bad years from death. Then drive and the good, so the people from the also light." (1) Without constant production, it is difficult for the people to make a living, and to do nothing in order to survive is tantamount to committing a crime through the people. On the contrary, with constant production, solve the problem of livelihood, the people of the good is easy. Not only is it easy, but it is also natural. If food is as plentiful as water and fire, "and the people are not unkind" (xiii)? Mencius expresses this principle to the ruler: for the people, it is profit that determines righteousness, profit before righteousness, and righteousness from profit, and profit naturally leads to righteousness. This is not to emphasize righteousness over profit, but to emphasize profit over righteousness, rather than material determines the spirit, the economic base determines the flavor of the superstructure.

Fourth, conclusion

Meng Zi's idea of righteousness and profitability has its indelible value at that time or now and even in the future. 1, Meng Zi advocated that the ruler, especially those who hold the highest power, must have a good moral cultivation, go to their own selfishness, seek the people's interests, and do public justice. This was largely an ideal in ancient times, and largely a fact in modern democracies and countries governed by the rule of law, and the development of society in the future should not be contrary to this original intention. Ancient, contemporary, and future are interconnected, otherwise history would lose its continuity, and there would be no development and progress. 2. Meng Zi, with his theory of righteousness and profitability as the basis, severely criticized the unrighteousness of those in power and the practice of patenting, which demonstrated the courage that a thinker should have. This spirit is necessary at all times, as it was in ancient times, as it is in modern times, and as it will be in the future, as long as power does not die out and human weaknesses remain unchanged. Criticism is a kind of supervision of power, and power always needs supervision. If even the voice of criticism stops, we can only let the power run rampant.3. On the one hand, Mencius criticized the power, on the other hand, he sympathized with the weak, and ran for the grassroots people to call for help, defending the dignity of human conscience. The meaning of conscience is also eternal. Once the loss of conscience, will be strong bully weak, the crowd violence oligarchy, like killing each other, worse than beasts. 4, the time of the Warring States period, the world is in chaos, the people are suffering, Mengzi bosom benevolence, shoulder the responsibility of moral righteousness, the oral transmission of the rule of peace, do not go along with the common people into the stream, do not fear of the strong power attached to the officials and dignitaries, do not submit to the people as concubines and women charm the husband's face, do not take the character of the moral right to deal with: "live in the world of the wide living, set up the world of the right position, walk the world of the road. The world's wide residence, the world's right position, the world's road. If you have the will, you can be with the people; if you don't have the will, you can do it alone. The rich and powerful cannot be lustful, the poor and lowly cannot be moved, and the mighty and powerful cannot be subjugated" (VI). Such an independent personality, although ancient and immortal. As Li Dazhao said, "Those who can really learn Confucius and Mencius, those who can really follow the words of Confucius and Mencius, but learn from them, follow their spirit of self-respect, to conduct themselves to establish themselves, learning from politics and their own enough." (Li Dazhao's Collected Works, vol. 1, p. 161)

Therefore, the practice of comprehensively denying Mencius is both childish and absurd. But we must see the other side of the issue, his idea of righteousness and profitability, whether in the past, present or future, on its own has no way out, and even counterproductive.

Mencius one-sidedly emphasized the goodness of man, too much faith in the power of benevolence and righteousness. In fact, people not only have the good side of self-sacrifice for others, but also have the evil side of detrimental people, the role of benevolence and righteousness is very limited, especially for those who hold the power of public ****.

As Mencius insisted on the ruler's benevolence and righteousness, the ruler can pretend to be benevolent and righteous to sell his treachery, thus making hypocrisy prevalent, moral degeneration, and the real benevolence and righteousness of the people, not only can't "reach the good of the whole world", and even the "poor is the good of his own body" also do not, and even death. The first is that the first is the first to be able to do so, and the second is the first to be able to do so, and the third is the first to be able to do so, and the third is the first to be able to do so.

Even if Mencius's ideas were accepted by the rulers and put into practice, he would not be able to realize the independence of the individual. Mencius advocated that the subject should serve the ruler, the son should be filial to the father, the brother should obey the brother, the wife should obey the husband, the son should be filial at home, the obedient citizen should be outside, and the loyal subject should be in the court. The family and the state were connected, the father and the ruler were one, and the rule of man prevailed. And these relationships and rely on benevolence and morality to maintain, the result is as Dai Zhen said: "honored to reason to blame the lowly, the elders to reason to blame the young, the noble to reason to blame the lowly, although the loss, so-called obedience; the lowly, the young, the lowly to reason to fight, although the gain, so-called adversity....... on the reason to blame the next, and the crime in the next, everyone does not win the index. People die in the law, there are still compassionate people, die of reason, who pity?" ("Mengzi word meaning sparse evidence - reason") This again is not what Mengzi expected, but the same is the inevitable logic of his thought practice.

How to overcome the serious shortcomings of Mencius's thought of righteousness and profitability, make up for its major flaws, so that its beneficial things play a positive role rather than the opposite? It can be said that the ongoing cause of reform and opening up provides a good opportunity to solve this problem. On this occasion, it is necessary to study and learn from the advanced culture of the West. Materially, the market economy should be developed unswervingly. Only in a sound and healthy market economic order can people not only avoid making ill-gotten gains through crooked ways, but also fully mobilize all people's enthusiasm and creativity, raise people's awareness of their rights, and realize their rights; at the same time, it is also the cornerstone of democratic politics. Spiritually, the belief in individual independence should be established. Only independence can get rid of dependence; only by getting rid of dependence can one be autonomous, free and equal, and be truly human. Ideologically, to defend the dignity of the Constitution, to ensure the freedom of thought and expression, the realization of public opinion on the effective supervision of power, so as to make the past by individual aspirants risk to do things today, everyone *** with the same care *** with the usual things to do. Politically, we should vigorously improve the effective implementation of the electoral system (which is a prerequisite for democracy), replace the life-long succession system with the term of office system (which is an effective way to prevent corruption and safeguard the rights of citizens), and replace the high degree of centralization of power with the system of division of power and supervision system (which is the key to the realization of the rule of law, and the establishment of the authority of the law). In this way, it is possible for the public to objectively elect a person of benevolence and righteousness, so that the person of benevolence and righteousness to rule, it is possible to make the evil person shall not be in power, even if he is in power, he shall not be evil, and even if he is evil, he shall be subjected to the due sanction of the law.

There is no need to be superstitious about the ancients, who could not have formulated a panacea for all diseases for his distant future; there is no need to be harsh on the ancients, who lived in the ancient times and were naturally subjected to the limitations of the ancient times. Inherit the excellent ideas of the ancients, remove the obstacles set by the ancients, to create new spiritual wealth, is the task of the present generation.