Chapter 033 Five Years

In June 2012, it had been nearly four years since Xiao Chen, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, secretary of the Secretariat of the Central Committee, vice president of the state, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, and president of the Central Party School, dished out the theory of declining credibility within the Central Party School. In the past four years, the domestic situation in China has been relatively stable, while the situation abroad has been turbulent.

With the gradual standardization of the real estate market, the strict regulation and control of real estate by the government and the decline of people's speculation on real estate purchases, the domestic property market has gradually stabilized. The stability of housing prices has also made most of the prices of most daily necessities of people's livelihood fall back to the normal range, and the people's living standards have been stable and improving, but relatively speaking, because the overall price level is still at a high position, the people have not felt that the living standards have improved significantly.

Although the economy is relatively stable, the actual strengthening of the credibility of the government has not played a big role, because the privileged class still exists, and even larger than in the past, making it more difficult for many people in China to accept the disadvantages brought about by the CPC's long-term rule, and social contradictions are prominent.

General Secretary Xue Yuanlan has the intention to alleviate the contradictions, but his term of office is about to end, and there are already some heroes who "have the intention to kill thieves and have no power to return to heaven".

Xiao Chen is also more concerned about this situation, and once quoted Zheng Lao's words to General Secretary Xue Yuanlan and said: "If there is a problem in Huaxia, it is still within the **." Chairman Máo said that "governing the country is to govern officials, and if officials govern the country, the world will be clear." In order to win back the real trust of the masses, we must start from ourselves.

General Secretary Xue Yuanlan agreed with this point of view, but it was too late in time, so he could only say to Xiao Chen: "I am relatively good at developing the private economy and strengthening the national defense force, but on the issue of governing officials, I still have to look at you." Governing officials is a big deal, and it is to deal with the problems of our party, digging up their own tumors, the key is to start accurately, but the action must be careful, you can't do it brutally, you can't fight an unprepared battle, I don't have much time in this position, I may not be able to help much, just pave the way for you in the last period. ”

Xiao Chen could only nod silently at this.

Xiao Chen is very sensitive to the decline of political credibility, and any political force in any era or country in history, once its credibility declines and cannot be reversed, it will inevitably lead to extinction, even if it is as powerful as the CPSU within the party. Therefore, Xiao Chen has done a lot of thinking about recovering the credibility of the party and the government, and has organized experts to conduct research at the grassroots level several times at the Central Party School, which will be studied as a major topic after returning.

Credibility refers to "the power that makes the public trust." "No trust, no standing" is a basic requirement for citizens, and it is also a basic requirement for state organs. Public trust is the cornerstone of social integrity and the foundation of the market economy. The credibility of state organs is not only related to economic and social development, but also to social harmony and stability. Once the government loses public trust, everyone in society will be in danger and afraid of each other, it will be difficult for government decrees to be carried out, the cost of social management will rise sharply, and the management efficiency will be greatly reduced.

In the formulation of modern public policy, honesty is the basis for ensuring the authenticity and integrity of decision-making information, and the truth and integrity of information is the lifeline of determining whether decision-making is scientific, therefore, "honesty" is the best choice of public policy. An honest politician is a politician who has the courage to be responsible, and only then can a politician with a sense of modern administrative ethics be recognized by the public. Any administrative act that is dishonest to the public is self-destructive.

However, the current political fǔ, especially the local political fǔ, honesty is already yesterday. Once something happens, first cover it up, lie if you can't cover it up, and use it if you can't lie if you can't tell it, in this case, how can the credibility not decline!

In Xiao Chen's view, there are four main points to solve this problem:

First, it is necessary to speed up the construction of a limited, honest, and transparent service-oriented government, thoroughly get rid of the misunderstanding of "all-round and unlimited government," and boldly hand over to social intermediary organizations or the masses themselves to do things that cannot and cannot be managed well. Second, we should speed up the construction of e-government and enhance the transparency of government work. Improve administrative efficiency, reduce administrative costs, and improve administrative quality. Third, it is necessary to vigorously promote the openness of administrative affairs to the public, so that it will become a basic system for administrative organs at all levels to administer and run through the entire process of the operation of administrative power. Fourth, it is necessary to innovate administrative management methods, pay more attention to the role of administrative planning, administrative guidance, and administrative contracts in government management, and actively create various conditions for social organizations, enterprises, and citizens to participate more extensively in the management of public affairs.

However, this is only the reform of the political system, and there is a more crucial and basic point, that is, the building of the legal system.

No country can completely eliminate it, but a good political system can minimize it. In addition, there is another point that the public is more concerned about: whether the law is truly fair and just. If a person does something bad, but the government is unable or unwilling to punish him, no matter what the person's identity is, it will inevitably lead to a great dissatisfaction among the people, and according to the words of Chairman Máo, in this case, "whether it is the Kuomintang or **, the common people must be Li Zicheng".

Xiao Chen recently watched a recent survey by the research team of the Central Party School, which showed that in 2021, the satisfaction of Chinese people with their quality of life decreased significantly, and their confidence in improving their quality of life in the short term also dropped significantly. At the same time, respondents generally feel helpless about the social environment.

According to the 2010 China Residents' Quality of Life Index Survey Report recently completed by Zero Research Consulting Group, about 25% of respondents consider themselves poorer than those around them. The survey report pointed out that the main reasons for the decline in residents' quality of life are the continuous rise in prices, high housing prices, and no improvement in income levels.

It is worth noting that the reason for their poverty is generally believed to be that the society is "not strong", and that the social system and social atmosphere are the cause of their poverty. Among them, more than 50% of the respondents who considered themselves poor cited "lack of connections" as the main reason. A significant number of respondents also believe that "today's society is a society in which the poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer." This view was held by 48.2 per cent in urban areas and 35.7 per cent in rural areas. The survey found that respondents who believed that "poverty is a social rather than a personal cause" were more prevalent among urban dwellers and young people. For example, only 6.1 per cent of people in urban areas believe that their poverty is due to "the lack of effort on the part of the family".

In addition, education, medical care, and pension are also the reasons why respondents are poor.

According to the research report of the city hall, citing the analysis of the Zero Research Consulting Group, if people tend to blame the cause of negative events on external factors beyond their control, on the one hand, they can reduce their psychological guilt, and on the other hand, they will form a sense of helplessness, which will lead to an increase in social risks.

Hu Jianxue, a professor of economics at the Central Party School, believes that China is currently rich and the people are poor, and the state tax revenue is growing at a rate of about 20 percent per year, resulting in a continuous decline in the wealth of the people. On the other hand, the contradiction between the government and the people is very likely to lead to group affairs. The people may use a small matter to vent their dissatisfaction with the government.

"The decline in people's satisfaction does lead to social risks," he said. In the end, it developed into the dissatisfaction of the common people with the public morality and other aspects of the government. Or rather, it developed into cynicism, moral degeneration of the whole society. Eventually, it will dismantle the basis of the ruler's rule. ”

Wang Jianfei, a professor who led the research team, believes that the unfair distribution of social wealth and the polarization between the rich and the poor make the people have opinions on the society, but they have no channel to express themselves, which aggravates the people's sense of helplessness. "They have a lot of opinions about society, but they don't have a good outlet for these opinions within the system. When some of them tried to express their demands or tried to defend their rights, they were suppressed by the government under the pretext of stability. ”

Wang Jianfei pointed out that the suppression of the government has caused the people to accumulate more dissatisfaction with society psychologically, and the accumulated grievances have deepened. For this part of the population, it is impossible for them to be satisfied with society.

Wang Jianfei believes that the decline in public satisfaction is related to the way the authorities govern. Officials use the power in their hands to compete with the people for profit, resulting in a decline in the people's credibility in politics.

The media recently reported that Chinese President Xue Yuanlan visited a residential community in Beijing before the party's founding day to inspect people's livelihood and find out whether the people are satisfied with their lives under the pressure of high prices. A resident who lives in a two-bedroom low-rent apartment in the community told Xue Yuanlan that the monthly rent for their 55-square-meter unit is 99 yuan. Hong Kong media reported that some netizens "Ren Ròu" searched and found that the monthly rent of the community was 2,000 yuan, and the rent of 99 yuan was impossible. As a result, it has sparked discussions about local officials cheating and cheating on the general secretary. Some netizens also said that Beijing has regulations on subsidizing low-rent housing, and the minimum monthly rental subsidy for low-rent families in 8 urban areas in Beijing is 750 yuan, and the maximum subsidy limit is 1,800 yuan. Therefore, some netizens assume that if you want to enjoy the monthly rent of 99 yuan, the monthly rent of this low-rent house should be 1899 yuan, and the rental subsidy for this household should be 1800 yuan. Unexpectedly, this led to another controversy: why did General Secretary Xue go to investigate, and it was the company that got the highest subsidy to stand up?

The sense of distrust of the government is as good as Si!

The founding day of the party is approaching, and the general election in October is approaching...... What Xiao Chen is facing is such a Chinese ...... where the government and the people do not trust each other