Extra 11: Imperial Political System - Shrinking Emperor and Retiring Council
Yun finished his lunch and put the remaining garbage into the trash can. Daming also implemented a garbage classification system. If there are too many wrong garbage thrown in the trash can, the sanitation fees of all nearby residents will be charged next month. Yun now only has
The remaining official salary was not large, it was only equivalent to 70% of the average salary in the Ming Dynasty, so he had to save some money.
After throwing away the garbage, Yun poured another glass of water and then started reading the book "The Evolution of the Imperial Political System after the Second Social Revolution".
"After the second social revolution, the political system of Ming Dynasty changed a lot compared with before. Although the system has changed before and after the first social revolution due to the capitalists being in power, except for the establishment of parliament, on the surface,
It seems that the changes are not big; but after the empire was restored to order, not only did it change the rules of political operation, but various government departments also made major adjustments."
"The first thing to be re-enacted was the imperial constitution. During the period when the capitalists were in power, the capitalists established a constitution in order to legally determine their power. After the empire regained order, major adjustments were made to the constitution. It clearly stipulated that the empire
As a constitutional monarchy, the emperor has great power in name. He is the supreme commander of the three armed forces and has the power to veto parliamentary resolutions, amend laws and dissolve parliament. However, in actual implementation, once the emperor exercises these powers, it will be a major political accident. So far, there has been no such incident.
There are precedents for the emperor to veto parliamentary resolutions, amend laws and dissolve parliament. It can be basically considered that these powers do not actually exist."
"After the constitution was finalized, the first things to be changed were the Parliament and the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Through this social revolution, everyone thoroughly understood that departments like the Metropolitan Procuratorate were useless in the new era, and abolished them; replaced the Metropolitan Procuratorate
The functional one is the parliament. Because of lingering fears about the second social revolution, in order to let the voices of the bottom reach the top as much as possible and suppress the exploitation of capitalists, the imperial center formulated a new "Parliamentary Election Law."
"First of all, the property restrictions on electors and electees are abolished. As long as they are men over twenty years old and have no criminal record, they can become electors and electees."
"The second is the change in the structure of the parliament. After on-site inspection of the parliamentary systems in Hanzhou and Virginia, Cao Kedi believes that the number of voters represented by each member cannot be too many. If there are too many, it will be difficult for this member to represent
Public opinion. It is best for each member to represent no more than 20,000 voters, which means that the number of people he represents should not exceed 60,000. However, there cannot be too many levels. Once there are levels, some people will be wearing watches.
In order to achieve a balance, after repeated discussions, it was finally decided to set up parliaments at the national, provincial, prefecture and some counties, which are divided into three levels. The superior of the county assembly where the assembly is set up is the provincial assembly, not the prefectural assembly. The prefectural and county assembly is based on the ratio of 60,000 per 60,000 people.
The ratio of one member to one member shall be established, but the number of members shall be guaranteed to be less than 200. If the number exceeds 200, the county assembly shall be established or the county shall be split.”
"The election of members follows the principles of fairness, justice and openness. The electees must give public speeches and express their opinions; voting is anonymous. Any behavior that leaks the contents of voters' ballots will be sentenced to treason, and the maximum penalty is the death penalty; prohibition
Any government official can participate in the election; the electee must have a household registration in the constituency and permanently reside in the constituency, etc.”
"The prefectural and county councils have the power to review the government's annual report, review the government's financial budget, impeach government officials, elect provincial council members, and review the establishment of tax categories. With the expansion and consolidation of the power of the council, it is gradually able to compete with the prefectural and county governments. However, this
This is not entirely a good thing. For those counties that have established councils, since the county councils are under the jurisdiction of the provincial council, everyone in the county feels that they are under the direct control of the province. They use the council as a shield to refuse to obey the orders of the government, which causes a lot of headaches for the government.
."
"The power of provincial councils is similar to that of county councils; at the level of the national parliament, it is different. The country must formulate various laws to stipulate how the country operates. If the power to formulate laws is completely given to the Congress, the power of the government will be reduced.
Too many. Although the leaders of rebuilding the country are worried about social chaos happening again, they do not want their power to be too restricted. After repeated discussions, it was finally decided that the parliament has the power to veto and amend legal provisions, but it must reach 60%.
Only when more than 80% of the members oppose it can the proposal be revised, and more than 80% of the members can veto it."
"Even so, King Sujing Zhu Zhongxu was still very worried. He was worried that the government would be controlled by the Congress, that the Parliament would be controlled by the mob, and that their descendants would die without a burial place. For this reason, after long consideration, the originally envisioned parliament was
It was changed to the lower house of parliament, and the upper house of parliament was added, with nobles serving as members of the upper house. As for how to become members of the upper house, at first the idea of Suppression King Zhu Zhongxu was appointed by several of them, but it was opposed by the majority of meritorious ministers, and finally decided to become a member of the upper house.
Before the next election of members of the House of Lords, the majority of the nobles will discuss it together."
"But this method is still not stable, and the uncles are also worried that one vote of the princes and dukes is worth a hundred votes, which will still allow the power of the middle-class nobles to be usurped. After decades of stumbling implementation of this system, the empire has already
After establishing a complete education system across the country, some small nobles suddenly found that it was very fair to judge whether they were suitable to become members of the House of Lords by whether they could be admitted to university, or at least the fairest way they could find. Later, the now customary selection process was formed.
System: Only aristocratic children who have been admitted to university can participate. Since there are no more monks than porridge, the election of members of the House of Lords becomes very simple."
"Later, this trend of using college students as members of parliament spread from the House of Lords to the House of Commons. Because everyone believes that the college entrance examination is the fairest examination, and it is also the fairest way to judge the level based on the results of the college entrance examination, so the members of the House of Commons gradually also
University graduates."
"In the beginning, only the National Assembly established an upper house, but the provincial and county assemblies gradually established an upper house. Members of the upper house of provincial and county assemblies are not required to be college students, because there are not so many aristocratic college students willing to be prefectural and county councilors. Of course, many aristocratic college students will
The prefectural and county assemblies serve as a springboard. In fact, the same goes for the Lower House, and civilian college students who take the electoral route also use the prefectural and prefectural assemblies as a springboard.”
"Unlike the provincial and county councils, the upper house of the National Assembly has real power. It is the highest judicial body in the country and has the power to reject the bills of the lower house. The upper house of the provincial and county councils is basically a benefit for the nobles and has almost no power.
However, although the upper house of Congress has great power, it rarely exercises it."
