The author has always suspected that some Chinese who settled in the West to the politics of the country's country always felt that some Chinese seemed to over -beautify Western politics, such as emphasizing the low salary and dedication of politicians.The tendency, even in turn, does not understand why Westerners themselves have never trusted the government, and believe that the government is always inclined to corruption and abuse of privileges.
In the author's opinion, some Chinese who settle in the West have a good sense of the West, which may be derived from the continuous contrast and psychological projection with Chinese politics on the one hand.Morality is expected, and the latter is used to whether to measure officials with "sacrifice" and "dedication", and pin hopes on a morality.
In this process, some people may also be creating a "new utopian".The excessive praise similar to "conversion enthusiasts" still has a distance between the Chinese perception and the actual feelings of the real locals.
According to the principles of the basic concept of democratic politics, keeping vigilance in people who control power, always believe that those who have power may be corrupted and the actual and inefficient reality of work is not only in line with the basic awareness of human nature, but also in line with the power meeting.As a result, corruption, so the theory of supervision and checks and balances must be conducted.As for the motivation of people engaged in public services, it is secondary to pursue personal interests, fame, or sincerity to serve the people.
After graduating from the school, I really integrate into the real life of the United States, buy a house for employment, and support their family for 17 years.Living continuously in the same small city for a long time, first of all: the management of a typical small mainland cities in the United States is basically in a state that does not feel the government's existence.In fact, the author never knows who the mayor is, nor does it know if there is a "county guard", but life is never affected.My husband and wife work, and local colleagues and friends in life. No one has always talked about who the current mayor is in this 17 years, and basically no one cares about this issue.
The reason for the reason should be because under the system with the middle -class folk autonomy as the core, the average person only needs to pay taxes (federal, state, municipalities, and real estate tax).The government has any relationship.There are only two floors of the office building of the municipal government, and the staff are very kind. The daily responsible things include notifying the garbage clearance company to transport large home garbage, replace the government -issued trash cans, provides land survey satellite pictures, land argument archives, etc.Essence
In a small number of exchanges played by the author and the government, a hare died on the grassland of the front yard.Satellite pictures.However, the real survey and determination of the territory border still requires companies that hire professional and paid. If they have to enter the lawsuit, there will be law firms for consultation, but they have little to do with the government themselves.
Once, because there was a grass that belonged to the ditch area, because of the negligence of a moment and did not pay attention to cutting, it was unexpectedly receiving a warning letter from the government, asking for cutting within the specified time, otherwise a fine will be fined.At this time, not only did the market have invisible hands, but the government also had two invisible eyes.If homeowners need to expand their housing and increase the actual use area, they must also be approved by the government.After the housing area expands, the real estate tax will rise, and government employees will travel around to supervise whether there are illegal buildings.
From the perspective of the above actual experience, the work of local governments largely involves taxation, public environment and public hygiene.
In some affairs that are not directly related to families and individuals, the US local municipal government is mainly responsible for the maintenance and expansion of roads and bridges, maintaining the operation of police systems and schools, and the application and distribution of social welfare.The local public library belongs to public units, but when facing funding problems, it is generally directly raised donations from readers.On one occasion, the library raised funds to readers in order to install the air -conditioning, and also issued a routine fundraising letter to the readers every year.That is to say, the library does not always wait for the "superiors" to increase funding, but actively support themselves.If according to the general approach of China, a local library for public welfare units, in addition to relying on funding, can also rely on book certificates and partially operate certain profit projects to increase income; but in the United States, because the library services are all free, publicly raised publicly publicly, and publicly raised publicly.Volunteer donations have become a feasible and common income increase plan.
The author believes that the local government of the United States has little authority and the management of the management is not much. Many small cities have only tens of thousands of people. In most cases, in addition to providing basic services, they are in a state of almost no existence.In addition to receiving wages and reliefs, or business by themselves, Americans generally need to be small traders.When such a need, open a weekend farmer market can be met.In such farmers' markets, some people who sell vegetables and even computer engineers are purely hobbies instead of relying on this.This may be very different from China's national conditions.Even during the crown disease epidemic, the administrative banning order signed by the governor was really active, and the county and city level did not intervene in the form of government.
Avoid unnecessary utopia imagination
However, the social conditions and systems of the United States are not the same as those who work for the government are all "saints".On the one hand, everyone has different interests, and those who are determined to politics may start from the grassroots level. On the other hand, the benefits of the US government employees are quite considerable., Instead of just book salary, so it is not a sale for government work.Of course, all this is logical, because people are profitable and avoiding harm, whether they can see high salary, invisible high benefits, or goodwill connections. They are various forms of capital.It is also a necessary incentive mechanism that includes any institutions including government agencies to attract talents.
U.S. local government officials also have corruption, but they are often manifested in doing private affairs with public money.There was a scandal that government officials reimbursed private decoration expenses in the local area. It was essentially a "reporting ledger" behavior. Later, it was chased by members of the city council and the media.This example also shows that the weaknesses of human nature are common, and they can only overcome transparency and supervision.
U.S. law stipulates that even researchers engaged in social surveys cannot pay more than $ 20 for the respondent, that is, to eliminate the efforts to transport benefits in the form of cash.However, because it is easier to avoid relevant laws and taxes before spending money before reimbursement, the corruption in the United States often occurs in the form of a report. In this regard, supervision can only continue.
The author also hopes that while actively participating in politics and discussions, the author also objectively treats the real logic of local politics in the country's country, and removes some unnecessary Utopia imagination and excessive moral exaggeration.necessity.
The author is an associate professor at the Department of History of the Academy of Academy in the United States
