Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

As the head of Susong New District, Liu Lishun has been thinking about how to establish a new district council.

This parliament must be more perfect than the Zhuolu District Council. It must also exclude the influence of clans, religions, social groups and other forces, and must not allow the parliament to become a game for the wealthy.

Therefore, after seeing the employee association formed by Zhang Pu, he decided to incorporate this association into the parliament, connect it with the parliament's special committee, and replace the status of the gentry with the association.

He said to Zhang Pu:

"In addition to the Etiquette Committee, the Ethics Committee, the Oversight Committee, and the Finance Committee, Congress now also has the Agriculture Committee, the Industry Committee, and the Commerce Committee."

"As you can tell from the names of these three committees, they are specifically responsible for agricultural, industrial and commercial affairs, including assisting in the election of councillors from the corresponding industries and formulating sound methods."

"I split the tenant farmers' association and the self-employed business owners' association from the hired workers' association, intending to connect these three associations with the three major agricultural, industrial and commercial committees to share some of the affairs."

"In the future, the three associations will be responsible for some of the preliminary work for the election of members of the poor and permanent property class, especially the nomination and examination of candidates and the selection of moral models."

According to the current election rules for members of parliament, ordinary citizens only have the right to vote, but not the right to be elected. Only those who have obtained the status of public officials or above can be elected as members of parliament.

This requirement is very simple for scholars and wealthy people.

As long as a scholar passed the examination to become a scholar, he would obtain a status equivalent to that of a public official.

Those who have wealth and a lot of money and grain can obtain the status of a public official by donating one thousand taels of silver or one thousand shi of grain.

Therefore, they strongly supported the establishment of parliament, believing that the emperor was delegating power to them.

The poor, on the other hand, simply do not have that much money and it is difficult for them to pass the imperial examinations, so it is difficult for them to get the right to be elected and they are not qualified to be members of parliament.

In response to this situation, the court had previously formulated a method of selecting filial and hard-working people from poor families and granting them the status of public officials.

Some time ago, we went a step further and expanded filial piety, hard work in the fields, filial piety and integrity to become moral models.

Anyone who is rated as a moral model will be granted the status of a public official and be eligible to run for parliament.

Zhang Pu boasted that he was a white-robed minister, so he was naturally very concerned about the court's policies. He understood what Liu Lishun said and agreed with him:
"Teacher, your concern is very true. Instead of letting the disobedient gentry and social groups nominate candidates, it is better to incorporate the association into the parliament and let them select moral models and determine the candidates for parliament."

"The Hired Workers' Association is run by teachers, and students can sleep soundly."

Once again, it was decided to hand over the leadership of the Employees Association to Liu Lishun, and Zhang Pu turned to say:
"Students have another suggestion regarding the parliamentary election."

"Some time ago, the court proposed to severely punish those who committed depraved crimes during the crackdown period and exile them by drawing lots."

"I think this method can be used in parliamentary elections."

Liu Lishun knew about the additional punishment imposed on depraved crimes.

But he didn't figure out how to use drawing lots for the election of members of parliament.

He was quite interested for a moment and said to Zhang Pu:

"Does the lottery election involve directly drawing lots from the candidates to select the members of parliament?"

“Will the public agree to electing members of parliament in this way?”

"If they don't agree, the parliament won't be able to continue."

The role of parliament is to represent public opinion and is an important part of the emperor and his subjects governing the world together.

If the parliament cannot represent public opinion, it will not be able to play any role at all. This is also what Liu Lishun is most concerned about.

Zhang Pu smiled and said:

“Elections with one person, one vote may seem to represent public opinion, but they can easily be controlled by those in power.”

"I don't know if you have read it, but my teacher, Xu Xueshi, published an article in the Internal Reference some time ago, introducing the election method in the West."

"One of the views is that drawing lots makes it easier to achieve democracy, while voting makes it easier to lead to oligarchy."

“So the students thought that if the parliament wanted to truly reflect public opinion, it had to use drawing lots.”

This article introducing the Western electoral system was naturally written by Xu Guangqi at the behest of Zhu Youjian. Xu Guangqi learned a lot of knowledge from the missionaries and wrote it in the article.

After seeing the Ming emperor's interest in these, the Nestorian Church in the capital also stepped up the translation of Western political science knowledge, translating books such as Plato's Republic and Aristotle's Politics into Chinese. They even introduced the election method of the Pope and the College of Cardinals, hoping that the chief archbishop and cardinals of the Nestorian Church could be elected by themselves.

This matter spread like wildfire in Nestorian Churches everywhere. As a disciple of Xu Guangqi, Zhang Pu naturally knew about it.

However, as an authentic Confucian scholar, Liu Lishun did not care much about this.

After hearing Zhang Pu's words, I vaguely remembered that there was such an article. I opened the internal reference I received some time ago and pointed to the article and said:
"Is this the one? It seems to make some sense."

"Elections by lottery are indeed fairer than voting."

"The key is to set a lottery method that cannot be manipulated behind the scenes."

The fairness of the lottery is widely recognized. During the Wanli period, Sun Piyang promoted the lottery in the Ministry of Personnel. The election was held in a hurry and the candidates were allowed to draw their own names, eliminating the need for the powerful to ask for favors. People at the time praised it as selfless, and it has been used until now. The current emperor's voluntary selection of officials based on merit has not completely replaced the lottery.

Liu Lishun is fully aware of the pros and cons of the lottery method. What he worries about most is that someone will manipulate it behind the scenes and cover up the good lottery method with a lot of shady dealings.

In addition, the biggest drawback of the lottery method is that it cannot identify the candidates for office, but it is not a big deal for the legislators.

Because legislators do not need to govern the place, they only need to supervise and provide advice.

This kind of position has low requirements and most people can be qualified for it, so it is suitable to use the drawing of lots method.

So Liu Lishun said:
"Tell me what you think, how can lottery be used to elect members of parliament?"

Zhang Pu had thought about this matter a long time ago, and immediately replied:

"Students believe that elections for members of parliament should not be one person one vote, nor should they be based on who gets the most votes, as that would easily lead to oligarchy."

“All candidates should be listed and voters should decide whether they agree with him as a member of parliament.”

“If the approval rating of a candidate exceeds 80%, then the MPs will be selected by lot from among them.”

"If the number is insufficient, we will elect candidates with approval ratings of only 70% or 60%. Those with approval ratings below 50% will not be selected."

"In this way, the elected members will be recognized by at least half of the voters and will naturally be able to reflect public opinion in parliament."

This method has obvious scientific characteristics, which is to speak with data.

Liu Lishun was a little surprised at first, then he shook his head and said:
"It's really too troublesome to draw lots like this."

“What should we do if the person with the highest approval rating cannot be selected, or if the approval rating of a candidate in a constituency is less than 50%?”

“If something happens, the public will think that the election method for members of parliament is unfair and will not recognize the parliament.”

"There were a lot of problems during the voting in Zhuolu District, and there were even riots in some places."

The details of the election in Zhuolu District were explained to Zhang Pu, who realized the difficulty of elections. If the most recognized person could not become a member of parliament, the public would naturally think that there was something fishy going on and would not approve of the election.

Zhang Pu had never actually done any election work, and after hearing what Liu Lishun said,
"Then we won't draw lots for everything." "We can stipulate that half of a constituency is elected by vote, and the other half is drawn by lot."

“For example, if there are ten seats in a constituency, five of the most recognized candidates will be selected to become councillors directly.”

"The other members will be ranked according to their approval rating and will draw lots using twice the number of numbers."

"In this way, the election of half of the members of parliament will be uncontrolled, and the parliament will not be completely controlled by the oligarchs."

This method is a little better than before. But the concession is a bit big. After thinking about it, Liu Lishun said:
"Fifty percent is still a bit too much. These people are enough to control the parliament."

"Why not reduce it to 30%, and draw the remaining 70% from the triple difference."

"Your suggestion is good. The council of Susong New District can try out the lottery election method."

We plan to try out the election by drawing lots in the Susong New District.

However, the specific election method obviously needs to be improved.

Zhang Pu also thought about this and continued:
"Students read in the newspaper that the worker representatives of the Tongzhou Arsenal were selected by lot from the union committee members."

“The union members who are randomly selected take turns serving as representatives and participating in factory management.”

“I think the same should be done for the MPs who are selected by lot. After serving one term, they should not participate in the drawing of lots for the next term, so that more recognized candidates can have the opportunity to become MPs.”

Liu Lishun had no idea about this method and had never even heard of it.

That is to say, Zhang Pu had always been concerned about the workers' association and had contact with the members of the association. It was only through his correspondence with them that he learned that the Tongzhou Arsenal adopted this method to allow workers to participate in management.

Now, the employees' association is planning to implement this method in the factories in Susong New District so that they can join the enterprise management and gain more power.

Zhang Pu hoped that this approach would gain Liu Lishun's approval and allow the Workers' Association to flourish under his rule.

Liu Lishun was born in poverty and was inclined towards the common people, otherwise Zhu Youjian would not have sent him to the Susong New District.

After hearing Zhang Pu's explanation of this method, he immediately thought it was feasible and praised:
“Drawing lots to select worker representatives and take turns to serve is a really good idea.”

"Even members of parliament can do this, and set the term of office of the members elected by lot to one year."

"Select two more as alternates to complete the three-year term."

"If a member of parliament is unable to take office due to some reasons, an alternate member can take over."

“This way, more candidates can participate in the drawing of lots and better represent public opinion.”

Imagine using this method to elect more representatives of public opinion.

However, after hearing this, Zhang Pu poured cold water on it and said:

"The one-year term for members drawn by lot is too short and will make them unable to compete with elected members."

"Moreover, too much change in the parliament is not conducive to stability. It will be very troublesome when convening a meeting."

“The students thought that instead of letting candidates take turns to serve as councillors, it would be better to let councillors who are qualified to serve as standing councillors take turns to serve as standing councillors.”

"Compared to ordinary councillors, standing councillors are more important and they are the only ones who usually attend the meetings."

This statement made Liu Lishun nod his head, knowing that this was indeed the situation in Zhuolu District.

Compared with the Congress, the number of members of local councils is smaller, but it can still reach two or three hundred.

It was a very tedious task to gather all these two or three hundred people in the auditorium for a meeting. Especially for those members who needed to work, they simply did not have the time.

Therefore, the Zhuolu District Council now holds more standing committee meetings, and only standing committee members will attend the meetings.

The parliament is actually controlled by the Standing Committee, and ordinary members of parliament have little status at all.

Zhang Pu's suggestion to elect standing members by drawing lots was a very insightful suggestion.

And he also said:

“Not only standing councillors, but also members of higher councils can be elected by drawing lots.”

“District councillors are directly elected by voters, while members of the provincial and prefectural councils are elected from among the district councillors.”

"If we follow the voting method, it will become a game for the powerful, just like the oligarchy in the West."

"But if we use lottery, no one can control the results."

“It can be directly stipulated that the next level of councillors will be selected from the councillors who are ranked at the top in terms of approval and are willing to go to the provincial and provincial capitals.”

"The next term cannot be held and can only be selected from other people."

As soon as this statement was made, Liu Lishun's eyes immediately widened.

Because he was keenly aware that this was the formation of a higher-level parliament.

It was very attractive to him who was staying at the pilot area of ​​the district council.

If successful, the formation of Congress will take a big step forward and will not just be limited to preparation.

In an excited mood, Liu Lishun said with some nostalgia:

"In the first year of Chongzhen, Mr. Liu Zongzhou proposed to re-establish rituals and music and establish a national assembly."

"The Emperor said at the time that it would take ten years to establish a parliament in Northern Zhili and twenty years to establish a National Assembly."

"At the time, we all thought it was too slow and that we could build Congress in three to five years."

“It was not until two years into the pilot in Zhuolu District that we discovered that it was not easy to set up a district council, let alone a parliament.”

Recalling this incident, Liu Lishun said to Zhang Pu with great satisfaction:
"The council of Susong New District is another pilot project."

"If the lottery election you proposed can be successful, then the establishment of the Suzhou Prefecture Parliament and the Nanzhili Parliament will be a natural thing to do."

"The formation of the National People's Congress can also be greatly advanced!"

This was the most gratifying thing for Liu Lishun, because before this, due to his experience in planning and building the Zhuolu District Council, he was not optimistic about setting up a parliament in the whole country, and he thought it might not be possible to build it even in 20 years.

Now that I have heard of Zhang Pu's election method of drawing lots, I realize that after the establishment of the district and county councils, the prefectural and provincial councils can be set up quickly. Even the National Assembly is not a hassle, as lots can be drawn directly from the provincial councils.

It can be said that in Liu Lishun's view, the election method by drawing lots is a smooth road that can suddenly speed up the pace of forming the National Assembly.

Therefore, he discussed the election method by drawing lots with Zhang Pu more eagerly, intending to pilot it in the Susong New District.

Together with Zhang Pu, he wrote a memorial to present this method to the emperor, hoping to gain the support of the court and facilitate the implementation of the lottery election method. (End of this chapter)