Translated from Chinese by Sherwin Lu (Incl. quotations from classics)

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following abstract provided by the author has said what this editor would like to say about his article –

Abstract

         While it has been a consensus in both Western and Eastern academic circles that constitutional government originated in modern England’s constitutional monarchy, this article proves that it had existed much earlier in ancient China, i.e., in the state of Qi in the Spring and Autumn period over 2600 years ago in the form of constitutional monarchy. What was different in Qi constitutionalism from the modern Western version was that the former was people-oriented, protecting not only individual human rights but also the interests of the state, i.e., shared interests of the whole population; that it restricts not only the monarch’s and the government’s power but also that of the capitalist class; and that it adopted the rule of law and virtue combined, incorporating the principle of selecting the morally worthy and intellectually capable for government positions. That was a most nearly perfect version of constitutionalism in human history, which made it possible for Qi to quickly become the No. 1 superpower, a leading force for one time among the Chinese states in their efforts to maintain peace in that chaotic era.

China’s Constitutional Revolution Two Millennia Ago (I-III): Introduction / Ancient Qi (齐) State

China’s Constitutional Revolution Two Millennia Ago (IV): Qi’s constitutional monarchy (1-7)

China’s Constitutional Revolution Two Millennia Ago (IV-8…-VI): Qi’s constitutional monarchy, etc.

China’s Constitutional Revolution Two Millennia Ago (VII-VIII5): Rule of law & morality combined

THE TEXT

VIII. Moral Guidance in Qi’s Constitutionalism: Imperatives for all people and government (Continued)

VIII-6. Family ethics and disciplining: Filial piety, brotherly love, loyalty and consideration for others; reward and punishment combined

         As family is the “cell”, or smallest constituent group unit of a society but, as the old Chinese saying goes, “Even good officials cannot settle family issues”, which means that the rule of law can hardly work in managing a family’s internal affairs, moral disciplining became the major approach for household management.

         What, then, were the measures taken to promote family ethical norms?

         First, set up family ethical value standards among the members and cultivate good customs and habits society-wide embodying these values: filial piety, brotherly love, loyalty and consideration for others.

         Second, commend publicly and promote to higher social positions those who were outstanding in holding to family ethical standards, so as to advance the rule of virtue by encouraging such positive role models and spreading their exemplary influence.

        Third, punish publicly those who violated family ethical standards.

        Duke Huan as head of the state attached great importance to the rule of virtue in family management and took up such matters personally:

        “After the first month of the lunar year began, the township heads started to report one by one on official business, while the Duke would inquire in person: ‘Are there people in your Xiang who often do good things, are fond of learning, intelligent and of a kindly disposition, filial to their parents and locally known for their kind-heartedness toward their fellow villagers? If there are any, you should report. Otherwise you are hindering virtuous and capable people from serving the public, which constitutes five criminal offenses.’

        “On hearing a reply, the Duke would continue to ask: ‘Are there people in your Xiang who fail to perform their filial duties to their parents and are unkind to their fellow villagers but arrogant, violent and dissipated, and do not obey government orders? If there are any, you should report. Otherwise you are shielding your subordinates, which also constitutes five criminal offenses.’

        “The township heads, on returning to their hometowns after reporting, would then work harder to promote virtue and send men of integrity to the royal court. The Duke would interview the latter in person to appoint them as officials. Towards the year end, he would have these new officials’ superiors to submit written reports on the latter’s performance and to recommend outstanding ones among them, saying ‘If anybody has rendered remarkable service in my government, has a good moral character and is compliant, we should put him on a waiting list for more important appointments in times of need, so as to urge and encourage other people to be as devoted to their duties as he is. As to people’s fault-finding gossips, we should not stop them from making such remarks, because they can help remedy our officials’ faults.’

        “Duke Huan also made extensive surveys among local folks for verification about the new officials’ performance and then summoned representative ones to meet and talk with these officials so as to observe their characters and get to know how they had achieved what they were commended for. If he found someone qualified, he would put him on a waiting list for proper appointment when needed. Or, if the Duke found someone who could readily answer questions about thorny issues confronting the state, he would then inquire the local folks about the candidate’s capabilities and, if the latter had not committed grave errors before, the Duke would promote him to be assistant to a top-ranking minister. Such a process for selecting officials through repeated surveys and investigations was called ‘three-step selection procedure’.

        “This would push the top ministers to go down to the Xiang level to help improve administration there; then Xiang administers be pushed to help Lian administrations under them to improve, then Lian administrators to help Li, Li chiefs to help Gui, and Gui chiefs to help the families under them to improve their management. Hence, whoever, even an ordinary person, does something good for others would be commended, while whoever did something evil be punished. When all this was accomplished, nobody in the townships would bypass their immediate superiors and none in the royal court go beyond their authority. Any man lacking moral integrity would find nobody to keep company with him, and any woman without virtue no man to marry her. A man who divorced his wife for the third time would be deported and a woman who got remarried for the third time be made to do hard labor. That was why all people would try to do good. Scholars would rather do good for the immediate community first than for the whole township, or rather manage one’s household well before doing good for the community. They did not dare to seek momentary ease but had yearly plans and, moreover, not only yearly plans but career planning for life as well.” (《管子》小匡第二十)

         By instituting such a state-wide system for promoting family ethics, a good set of moral customs was practiced throughout the society, where loving fathers, dutiful sons, and affectionate brothers and harmonious families made up a peaceful and stable state. The set of moral principles of filial piety, brotherly love, loyalty and consideration for others adopted by Guan Zhong for Qi was proved to be effective for the management of families with noticeable results, and later became an important part of Confucian moral theories.

VIII-7. Personal moral restraint: Self-disciplining               

         Just as the family is the “cell” of the society, the individual is the “cell” of the family. Therefore, personal moral cultivation is the most basic and important link in the rule of virtue.

         Under Guan Zhong’s administration, personal moral restraint was most importantly realized through the establishment of common moral principles for the society in general with each person’s status in human relations specified, and that of family ehtical principles. Besides, moral education was also an important means. A typical example was how Duke Huan was taught to cultivate his own self-disciplining conscientiousness. A monarch tended to think from a ruler’s standpoint of view and in an authoritative perspective and act accordingly. Duke Huan was no exception:

         “One day, Duke Huan asked Guan Zhong: ‘If I want to subdue the people, what should I do?’

         “Guan Zhong replied angrily: ‘This is not what a monarch should say. To subdue the people is not a difficult thing, but that is not the right way to manage a state. If you want to subdue the people, just have your law officials list all the severe ways of punishment and tell people that those who report crimes will be rewarded, and then keep on investigating and punishing by cruel tortures and killing. People will surely be suddued this way. However, subduing people is not the righ way to govern the world. If people are made to fear you, instead of being close to you, disasters would soon befall yourself, as people’s reluctancy to render help in times of need would pose great danger. Even if people may not blame you, your state would still be at risk.” (《管子》小问第五十一)

         Guan zhong adopted a confrontational stance in so relentlessly reprimanding the monarch and his superior face to face in order to build a kingly moral character in the Duke, while at some other times he also took a more subtle and inductive approach:

         “During an outing in March to enjoy the sight of spring scenry, Duke Huan asked the ministers around him, ‘What can be compared to the moral style of a gentleman?’

         “Xipeng replied, ‘It’s the millet, whose seed is hidden in a coat of mail that is enclosed in a round wall covered all over with prickles on the outside, yet it does not dare to boast itself as strong but humbly calls itself su (粟 or 小米, literally meaning “small rice” and suggesting “lesser” than rice - Trans.). Perhaps this can be compared to the moral style of a gentleman. ’

         “Then Guan Zhong gave a different answer: ‘It’s the grain seedlings. When they were young, they are as gentle as a child; When they reach their prime of life, they are as solemn as a scholar; When they become mature, they amiably bow their heads lower and lower towards their roots. How much they look like a gentleman!’ With their presence, there will be peace under heaven; without them, there will be danger. That is why they are called ‘he’ (禾–having the same pronuciation and are etymologically related with ‘和’, which means ‘peace’ – Trans.). So, this can be compared to the moral style of a gentleman.’

         “‘Well said,’ responded the Duke.” (Ibid.)

         Obviously, Guan Zhong was deliberately trying to inculcate the Duke with a great monarch’s moral image symbolized by a grain seedling. At other times when the Duke betrayed some unsound inclination, Guan Zhong would try to correct and persuade him. For instance:

         “Duke Huan, intending to make a trip to the east, asked Guan Zhong: ‘My trip this time will start from Fu in the east to Langya in the south, but Sima raised an objection saying that I should follow former kings’ example. What did he mean?’

         “Guan Zhong replied: ‘During a springtime outing, former kings would make investigations on problems in farming business. That was called ‘you’. During an Autumn outing, they would give out reliefs to people who did not have enough for a living. That was called ‘Xi’. Trips made by those who were accompanied by large entourages and indulged in eating and drinking at the expense of ordinary people were called ‘Wang’ (亡, meaning ‘ruin’ – Trans.). If they were so much indulged in such pleasures as to forget to go back, that kind of act was called ‘Huang’ (荒, meaning ‘negligence’ – Trans.).’ Former kings did ‘You’ and ‘Xi’ for other people, but never ‘Wang’ or ‘Huang’ for their own pleasure.

        “The Duke modestly responded in a thankful tone: ‘What good practice!’

       “Guan Zhong resumed: ‘What flies without wings is spoken language; what stays without roots is feeling; what is noble without a status is character. You might want to consolidate your feeling, be cautious in speaking and uphold your noble character. This is called the flourishing of the Dao.’

          “The Duke said again, humble and thankful: ‘I will follow your advice.’

          “Guan Zhong did not stop but continued                       talking: ‘Nothing else bears heavier responsibilities than the body; no other routes are riskier than people’s remarks; nothing drags longer other than years of endurance and expectation. It is only a man of character who can take heavy responsibilities through risky routes for long years.’

        “The Duke responded again thankfully and humbly: ‘Please give me all the tips for that.’

         “Guan Zhong went on: ‘Eating, drinking, working and resting are for preservation of the character; likes and dislikes, and the passions of pleasure, anger, sorrow and joy are varying expressions of the character; handling affairs with wisdom is the exhibition of power of the character. Therefore, a wise man makes a point of balancing his diet, properly timing his activities, regulating his passions, prohibiting indulgence in sensual pleasures, preventing himself from perverse behavior and unreasonable verbal expression, and keeping himself in a serene state of mind. This is what a wise man would do.’” (《管子》戒第二十六)

         Here Guan Zhong was teaching the Duke about cultivating one’s own character, maintaining a sincere attitude and nurturing virtues through self-introspection so as to run the state well and bring peace to the world. What was advocated here was later inherited and developed by Confucianists and became the typical mindset and tradition of Chinese scholars, that is, to cultivate one’s moral character, run the family well, and bring order to the state and peace to the world.

         Guan Zhong went on with his remarks:

         “Benevolence works from one’s inner heart, to be embodied in justice on the outside. Being benevolent, one would not exploit the world for personal wealth and, being just, not for his own fame; Being benevolent, one would not try to seize the throne from someone else for himself and, being just, not try to keep it at age seventy. Therefore, a wise man places moral perfection before accomplishment of feats, and prizes the supreme principle above material benefits. Being morally self-disciplined, one would not be tempted by physical interests. Therefore, he would not show signs of fear even if living in a thatched cottage, nor air of arrogance when governing all under heaven. Being such, then one can lead the world.” (Ibid.)

         “Being benevolent, one would not try to seize the throne from someone else for himself and, being just, not try to keep it at age seventy” -- these may well be regarded as two great ground-breaking initiatives in political history as evidenced by the following facts:

         Fact one: It was just because Duke Huan of Qi acquired strong moral power through personal character cultivation and self-disciplining under Guan Zhong’s guidance that Qi later became the No. One power and stood at the center in the Chinese world of that time but the Duke did not use the strong power of the state and his position as the leader of an alliance of states to usurp the throne of Zhou Emperor. On the contrary, in order to bring about overall peace in that turbulent Spring and Autumn period in China’s history, he led other dukes and princes in paying tribute to the emperor of Zhou. This was a great moral act of benevolence and justice, perhaps an act that was unprecedented and never repeated afterwards by anybody else.

         Fact two: Guan Zhong proposed that all monarchs abdicate from the throne and retire at age seventy -- again a proposal never heard of in a dynastic imperial society. Almost none of the monarchs of all dynasties in Chinese history ever gave up their throne until they died, either murdered by usurpers of the throne or of old age, with only one exception: Emperor Qianlong of Qing dynasty took the initiative to step down when he was already 85.

         The way Duke Huan practiced moral self-disciplining through personal character cultivation were also generally adopted by scholar-officials in old China, thus fostering the “elite gentleman” personality, a unique feature in Chinese cultural tradition, which was carried on and developed by the Confucian school of thought. All genuine Confucianist scholars belonged to the group of elite gentlemen.

         Meanwhile, the general public received personal moral education and training mainly through family education and vocational education for the four major occupations, so as to be able to conscientiously follow the ethical rules for general social behavior, for business and occupational performance and for familial relations and personal conducts.

         All the above shows that the state of Qi’s rule of virtue covered all strata, from the monarch to the officials and to the common people, and from the general public to the families and to all individuals, with a complete, well structured and practical social educational system, which was in harmony with human nature, fitted people’s statuses and occupations and was easy to implement. It was an effective way to implement benevolent governance under the rule of law.

       In a word, Qi’s constitutional government, which was oriented towards the people and centered on benevolent policies with the rule of virtue and of law facilitating and complementing each other, did not only have Qi harmoniously managed but also made it stand out as a good example for all other states. It was more nearly perfect than Western constitutionalism, which has paid little attention to the rule of virtue while laying one-sided stress on that of law.

IX. Qi Constitutionalism under Rule of Virtue and Law: A supreme example for human civilization

         Duo to Guan Zhong’s successes in implementing both a regulated market economy and a constitutional government based on the rule of virtue and law, Qi quickly became the No. One superpower in the Chinese world of that time with a prosperous population and powerul state strength. It played a leading role in bringing together all the vassal states for meeting nine times and bringing about an inter-state peace mechanism, so that peace was realized unprecedentedly during that time of wars. (There were 1200 wars in the 259 Spring and Autumn years according to a statistics based on The Spring and Autumn Annals (左传) only, or an average of 4.63 plus wars per year. Only 78 years, or 14.67% of the years in this period, saw no wars. The annual average of frequency of wars was 2.73 higher than that of the later Warring States period (476 -221 bc), or 2.43 times of that periord. – From Cho Yun Hsu, Ancient China in Transition: An Analysis of Social Mobility, 722-222 bc, Stanford University Press, 1965, pp. 56, 64, 67.) And the Duke of Huan enjoyed a high reputation among the vassals and peoples of all states:

         “Guan Zhong’s effort in enlightening Duke Huan on non-hegemonic statecraft was accomplished with great success. Hence, the Duke was looked up to by peoples of remote states as a parent and submitted to by those of nearby states like flowing water. The farther the distance, the more people respected and supported him. Why was that?  That was because people of other states felt indebted to him for what he did in civil administration and awed by his military power. Just because Qi was well prepared militarily, it could punish those immoral and unjust state rulers so as to maintain order under the unified rule of Zhou without challenges from any other vassals. Because Qi was successfully administered, there were no privately possessed armors or weapons any longer so that people in court dress could go to meetings across the river without fear or worry. Hence, the rulers of big powers felt abashed and those of small vassals submitted to Qi’s authority. The former served Duke Huan as a servant would a master while the latter looked up to him as a parent. Thus, the former were not arrogant while the latter not self-abased; the former not proud while the latter not awed. And then, those who had too much land were made to concede the extra to those who had too little; those who had too much wealth to concede the extra to those who had none. When aiding a state monarch, he made it a success; when relieving the ordinary people, he did it as mandated. Thus, when staying home he can make everything smooth and, when going out on a mission, achieve what is expected. Then he accomplished what King Wen and King Wu of Zhou had done and brought about harmony under heaven without waging wars.” (《管子》小匡二十)

         Confucius spoke extremely highly of Guan Zhong’s great achievements:

         “Duke Huan of Qi called vassal meetings for nine times to discuss war and peace and thus prevented war and realized peace without resorting to violence. This was Guan Zhong’s contribution. It was a great act of benevolence! Great act of benevolence!” (《论语》宪问)

         Sima Qian, the great impartial historian in Chinese history, wrote:

         “On becoming the prime minister for Qi, Guan Zhong took advantage of its special coastal conditions to promote commodity circulation, accumulate weath for the state and strengthen its defence while sharing the likes and dislikes with the common peple. Hence he said in his work: ‘When the granaries are full, people know the etiquette; When well fed and warmly dressed, people know what is honorable and what disgraceful; When the monarch’s enjoyment is properly restrained, his kin would stand close by his side; When, however, the virtues of propriety, righteousness, integrity and sense of shame are not well publicized, the state would perish. When decrees are issued like water flowing from its source, such decrees meet the wishes of the people.’ Therefore, his decrees were easy to understand and implement. What people aspired for, he gave; what people objected to, he abolished. In managing state affairs, Guan Zhong was good at turning misfortunes into blessings and failures into successes. He made a point of setting priorities and weighing advantages and disadvantages.”  (《史记》管宴列传第二)

          “After Guan Zhong died, Qi still carried on his policies and were oftentimes more powerful than other vassal states.” (Ibid.)

         At the times of King Xuan of Qi, it’s capital was a city with an inner wall and an outer wall totalling in combined length 40 Chinese li, a population of 0.35 million or over 70 thousand families, and breathtaking scenes of prosperity.  The famous diplomat of that time Su Qin (苏秦) once wrote about it:

         “The city of Linzi was rich and well-off. People were either playing with various kinds of musical instuments, or engaged in games of cock-fighting, or dog-racing, or chess, or foot ball. In the streets were streams of carriages and crowds of people jostling with one another. If they all pulled up the corners of they robes, they would weave a sea of draperies; If they all raised their sleeves, they would show an ocean of screens; if they all wipe off their sweat-drops, they would bring about a rain. All families were well-off and everybody high-spirited.” (《战国策》齐策一  苏秦为赵合从说齐宣王)

         To sum up, Guan Zhong’s model of regulated market economy and constitutional government based on rule of law and virtue combined, being practicable and feasible, and complete and thorough, was a great success. As far as this author can see, there has never existed a comparable case like this in China or elsewhere in the world, never before or at present. It was a most brilliant paragon of human economic and political civilization.

X. Presend-Day Significance of Qi’s Constitutionalism under Rule of Law and Virtue

         Qi’s constitutionalism based on rule of law and virtue combined has been one of the most valuable human legacies, with its exemplary significance to the political governance of all countries of today’s world.

X-1. To be oriented towards the people instead of towards bureaucracy or towards capital

         If all contemporary countries, whether politically socialist or consitutional with capitalist democracy, take as their political aim the orientation towards the people, instead of the pursuit for GDP, for the prosperity of a handful, or for hegemony, the human society would be much more humane.

         In a socialist state, measures should be taken to stop and prevent orientation towards the bureaucracy while in a capitalist one against orientation towards capital. And reform in a socialist state should be aimed at stopping and guarding against orientation towards either the bureaucracy or capital or both.

X-2. Stick to the principle for politics as “being just”

         This means to learn from the wisdom underlying Qi’s constitutionalism based on the political principle of “being just”, with equal emphasis on moral guidance and legal institutions as functioning in a mutually interacting and complementary way.

X-3. Two-way restriction on goverenment and capital power

         As modern constitutionalism was born of bourgeois revolutions, the restriction on power has been imposed on that of monarchs and governments only. Though theoretically it is supposed to protect human rights in general, in real practice it mainly protects the rights of the bourgeois class, or concretely speaking, its property rights and, as the working people, i.e., the proletariat, do not own any means of production, which is the most fundamental part of “property”, the protection of property rights means little to them.

         Qi’s constitutionalism was not born of a bourgeois revolution, but developed by outstanding statesmen who inherited the thoughts and practice about benevolent government from the three ancient Chinese dynasties of Xia, Shang and Zhou and applied them to the new historical conditions of their times and, therefore, transcended class limitations. Under the principles of people-orientation and people’s sovereignty, it restricted both the monarch’s and the government’s power and at the same time guaranteed the state’s power over land, resources, currency, regulation of the market and ownership and management of special core industries; it both protected capital’s right to doing business and at the same time restricted its power to prevent it from manipulating finance and market and enslaving other people. Thus, it avoided serious polarity between the rich and the poor, realized prosperity for all and made Qi a most powerful state in the Chinese world of that time.

X-4. From rule of law to good government under good law

         Constitutional government must stick to the rule of law, but rule of law does not necessarily lead to constitutional government. Take the state of Qin of that time for instance. It adopted the rule of law, which later, however, developed into tyranny. That is because law can be either good or bad, that is, humane or inhumane.

         Good laws can safeguard all people’s human rights, not like Western laws, which only safeguard the rights of “citizens”, not of all people, because slaves and women were excluded from “citizens” by such laws.

         In Chinese history, Qin became powerful and later unified China because it implemented the rule of law, but perished shortly. The tragic lesson to be learned from it is: The rule of law as practiced by Shang Yang, Han Fei and Li Si were not oriented towards the people but towards building up state power with the monarch still as the supreme ruler, not like Qi’s constitutional government. Its laws ignored human lives and human rights. Therefore, though the state could become powerful within a short time, it was inevitable for its power to degenerate into tyranny and to be overthrown by the people because of its violation of human rights.

         In contrast, the laws formulated and practiced under Qi constitutionalism were people-oriented and thus humane and good ones.

X-5. Select officials from the virtuous and capable as guarantee for constitutional government under rule of law and virtue

         Western constitutionalism presumes that no governments and no government officials are virtuous and, therefore, that it is necessary to lock up their power in the cage of a legal system. This is a creative idea and measure. But practice has proved that it would not really prevent a government and its officials from doing evil things. If we look through the history of Western constituional politics, we would be amazed to find that many evil things have been done under the name of a constituional government. The many incidents of racial discrimination related to the U.S. government in the past century were exactly serious abuses of human rights. The Bush administration, groundlessly accusing Iraq of storeing WMD, flagrantly waged war against it on the pretext of fighting terrerism, thus tearing apart a sovereign nation and causing hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties. Could this be called protection of human rights?

         Thanks to the government’s laissez-faire policy towards the power of capital, the financial capital on the Wall Street, in its relentless pursuit of profits, packaged various poisonous assets into supposedly high-value investment products, hence causing huge losses to investors from all countries and finally the 2008 financial crisis, whose shadow is still hanging over the world today. The government did not only fail to protect investors’ legitimate rights to prpoperty from being robbed of, but on the contrary has been protecting the robbers and legitimized their act of robbing.

         Obviously, one of the serious defects in Western consitutional government is the lack of moral resposibility on the part of its officials. Nobody would believe that the U.S. government and its officials could not see through the deceiful tricks played by the Wall Street. But as those tricks were seen as legal, none of the officials without a sense of moral obligation would care to deal with such legal but immoral acts.

         In contrast, Qi’s constitutional government did not only adhere to the restrictions on the power of the monarch, of the government and of capital but to moral principles as well; one of which was to select officials from among the virtuous and capable through the “three-step procedure”:

         Step One: Persons in charge of Xiang affairs recommend to the state those from each Xiang who were virtuous and capable and also knew martial arts;

         Step Two: The state government assign those people recommended by each Xiang to various departments to work on probation;

         Step Three: The department chiefs select from those on probation outstanding ones and recommend them to the monarch, and then the monarch examine each of the candidates and appoint qualified ones for official positions.

         This selection procedure broke through the hereditary tradition in government assignments and initiated a machenism for bringing about equal opportunities for every one, thus enabling large numbers of outstanding talents to gain experience through actual work and be promoted through fair competition and screening. Therefore, even before the legal system played its role, there had already been establshed a moral firewall, so to speak, in the qualifications of potential government officials in addition to basic administrative capability, so that the loopholes unavoidable in the law were closed beforehand, and that the officials would behave well, ready to do good and not stooping to evil doings. The securing of basic moral and professional qualifications in Qi’s officials was a guarantee in human resource management for the success of its constitutional government.

X-6.  Reasonable restriction on as well as forceful guarantee for government authority

         Some scholars allege that Western constitutional government is perfect. This view does not match reality. For instance, while the government is restricted in too many ways in using its authority supposedly to prevent its power expansion, the part of authority taken away from the government actually does not go back to the common people but falls into the hands of big capital interest groups. Therefore, so-called constitutional democracy often becomes one dominated by those interest groups; that is, government power is over-restricted by capital, so that the government, which supposedly represents the common interests of the public, is much handicapped and can hardly respond in a ready manner to critical social issues. This problem is especially serious in the United States, which has been the much touted “model” for Western constitutional democracy. Even Francis Fukuyama, who has alleged that history has come to an end with the final triumph of capitalism all over the world, could not but acknowledge this fact:

         “Fukuyama says: there is now an authority crisis but we are not ready to think over this problem in such terms. The Americans, when thinking about government, would want to restrain it, to set limits to the scope of its authority.” This can be traced back to the political culture when we founded our nation. The institutions of rule of law, of periodical democratic shift of power for the protection of human rights were meant to set up roadblocks against an overbearing government with an excessive concentration of power. Fukuyama points out: “But we have forgotten that the establishment of a government is also meant to have it play its role and make decisions.”

          Fukuyama thinks that, due to excessive restriction on the government, the American political system has become a deformed vetocracy: “I know how you think about it: ‘That won’t come true.’ But do you know how I think? ‘Therefore, ours will absolutely no longer remain a great nation, whoever is elected.’ So long as we are a vetocracy instead of a democracy, we cannot be a great nation. Our deformed political system – the congress has become a forum open to legitimate bribery – is actually preventing us from going forward.”

           Thus, Fukuyama also appeals for a reform of the U.S. political system: “To get out of our present paralized state, we do not only need powerful leadership but also a reform of our institutional rules.” (A back translation from《美国越来越不民主》, original by Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times website columist, May 20, 2012.)

         Looking back, we see that Qi’s constitutional political system, while restricting the power of the monarch and of the government, retained enough authority that was necessary for them to perform their duties. Hence, truly perfect consitutional government should stick to the golden mean of “politics as being just” and resort to political wisdom just as ancient China’s Qi state did.

(The original written on Oct. 12, 2013, and revised Nov. 18, 2013.)