Chapter 845: Chatting About Deng ta guo

Zhu Sheng then told me about some history of Deng ta guo,

as well as their founding affairs and their North-South War.

"When Deng ta guo was founded, it was founded on dual principles. One is a democratic state, must listen to the voters;

the other is a federal state,

giving each state a certain degree of autonomy. These two principles run in parallel.

Back then, the Feicheng 76ers signed the Declaration of Independence and designed all the country's institutions,

and this institutional design was very far-sighted.

That is the Electoral College system, namely each state's voters first elect the state's presidential electors, whose number equals the number of that state's congressmen,

Each state has at least three. With fifty states plus one special district, a total of 538 presidential electors are elected,

The electors then form the Electoral College, conducting election activities in each respective state.

As long as half of the 538 electoral votes, i. e., 270 votes, are obtained, the electors can elect the president.

How do congressmen come about? Senators are two per state regardless of population.

Representatives are allocated according to each state's population proportion. Some states with small populations still get at least one representative.

Thus, whether a state has many or few people, it ends up with at least three electoral votes.

Their election is winner-takes-all of electoral votes,

the candidate who wins a simple majority of the state's popular vote gains all that state's electoral votes.

So in Deng ta guo, no one dares to ignore any voter's ballot in hand.

One must first win a simple majority of the state's popular vote before winning the winner-takes-all electoral votes.

This should be roughly a popular vote, caring for the majority of voters while also caring for states' rights.

For example, recent Xiaobushi, his popular vote was lower by several hundred thousand than his opponent, but he won the electoral vote and could become president.

A state's electoral votes winner-takes-all only needs to be higher than the opponent by one vote.

If we simply followed popular opinion, we would directly compare votes, and believe many would not be able to become president.

Actually, the president of Deng ta guo has little power.

When they founded the country, they deliberately limited presidential power to prevent tyranny.

The president has no legislative power, no judicial power, and no financial power.

Everything is in the hands of congress.

He also cannot control the governors of various places, because each state's governor is locally elected, chosen by the state's voters, not appointed by the president.

Governors can defy the president.

I, as a governor, am not appointed by you; why should I listen to you? I am elected by the voters.

Often one can see governors clashing with the president.

The president's power remains only in foreign affairs and national defense, plus the appointment of government officials and policy formulation, etc.

This is a good aspect of their system,

the bad aspect is that some people now exploit this system to seek benefits for their own families.

In fact, voters do not know what this president is like; they only learn through public opinion propaganda.

Whoever controls public opinion controls the initiative.

As long as one's proxy becomes president, within these four years he will formulate some policies beneficial to his own family.

"Now a presidential dynasty and a congressional dynasty have already formed." Zhu Sheng said, taking a puff of his cigarette.

Today I first heard Zhu Sheng introduce Deng ta guo,

because in the past I merely glanced at this country superficially.

My understanding was not deep.

I said to Zhu Sheng: "Zhu Sheng, how do you know this country so well?"

"Hehe, Jianqiang, I have a bad premonition that soon we will have some conflicts with this country.

"Knowing that we are already the world's second, while they have been the world's first for many years,

"their main guard is against the second.

"Any country that is the world's second, they let it go on.

"They do not want anyone to replace their position.

"So I like to understand this country.

"Their system,

"only by understanding clearly can we know ourselves and know the enemy, thus not fear the opponent." Zhu Sheng sighed.

"Zhu Sheng, will there really be conflicts in the future?" I asked Zhu Sheng.

Zhu Sheng raised his head,

gazing into the distance,

"I just feel,

Jianqiang, sometimes I also cannot explain it clearly.

In any case, countries also compete with each other.

The world is like this,

no one can easily change it.

Deng ta guo is an immigrant nation, which is their advantage,

namely that excellent talents from all over the world go there to conduct various technological innovations,

leading the world's technological trend.

Similarly, if they do not stick to their immigration policy, they will head toward another extreme.

They will also, like our previous dynasty, close the country off, and then their base will be shaken.

An immigrant nation is a country without foundations; how the various ethnicities blend,

is easy to manage in the face of interests,

without profit-driven motivation, it will collapse immediately.

The rivalry between the two parties will make their internal strife grow larger.

Some things will happen ten years later, fifty years later; perhaps we will no longer be alive,

but Deng ta guo will certainly fall. That is the destiny of history.

First, let's talk about their base,

Deng ta guo possesses the best land in the world, and its agriculture is the most efficient globally.

There, they farm one year and rest the next, yet the yield per mu is not low.

Just look at the map and you'll see that from east to west it's a flat plain of prime land; whatever they plant grows.

It is ideal for mechanized farming.

As for us, we have many people and little land, and cannot let the soil lie fallow; we can only use high‑yield seeds and fertilizer.

We have far too many people to feed. Moreover, our plains are too small—only a portion in the central east; the rest is all high mountains and hills.

Their east and west coasts also have a great number of high‑quality seaports,

while our ports are at river mouths, which are shallow and prone to silt blockage.

Their ports are all in bays. They neither silt up nor freeze. Truly a uniquely blessed advantage from heaven.

Their forest coverage is extremely high, many times higher than ours.

Their mineral resources are also abundant; they lack nothing.

Their oil remains untapped, and its reserves rank among the top three worldwide, with the oil quality being excellent.

Their iron, gold, and silver mines are among the best in the world.

Our iron ore is poor.

Their water resources are also abundant; the capacity of the Great Lakes is many times that of our freshwater.

"God favors Deng ta guo far too much," Zhu Sheng sighed.

"Zhu Sheng, their advantage is so obvious; in any future conflict with Deng ta guo, we have no advantage at all.

In terms of personnel, they gather the world's finest talent,

Their technology and culture are likewise far ahead.

In natural resources, God bestows such abundant favor upon them.

"What should we do?" I said, then took out a cigarette and handed it to Zhu Sheng.

Zhu Sheng took it,

"Jianqiang, let's go, we'll talk as we walk.

It's been a long time we've walked like this in the countryside.

Look, this town has changed a lot.

Many families have built houses.

And there are many cars, too.

What does this show? It shows that we have been developing,

continuously moving forward.

As long as we keep striving, we fear nothing.

The greatest fear is a nation lying flat,

If they stop trying, there will be no hope.

Look, they've paved asphalt roads here,

Could anyone have imagined that in the past?

We have only truly developed for how many years.

In fact, our people possess a virtue that other peoples lack: the ability to endure hardship.

Our love for the land exceeds that of other peoples by many times.