"Book I. 5 The Master said, “In guiding a state of a thousand chariots, approach your duties with reverence and be trustworthy in what you say; avoid excesses in expenditure and love your fellow men; employ the labor of the common people only in the right seasons.” "
Although the quote above might seem like nothing more than simple morals, it actually holds quite an interesting concept for government: simplicity. It's no secret, our government is as ornate, elaborate and complex as it gets. Just this year we repeated the horror of the Bill Clinton days as we contemplated another government shutdown, in which we would lose all non-essential government branches, and then over the summer we all crossed our fingers in hopes of resolving the debt ceiling crisis, and muttered under our breaths when the credit rating of the United States dropped from AAA to AA+ in August. Simply put, our government is a mess, and Confucius can tell us why. In his quote he says:
"Avoid excess in expenditure... ."Clearly, this is something that our government has overlooked. This quote puts forth many concepts that would be directly useful to our government and politicians.
1. "Approach your duties with reverence..."
It would be a lie if I were to say that the government does not do its job. Our government does its job every day, and we see the results of that every day. But it would not be a stretch to say that perhaps our government could use a little more reverence. Politics has become nothing more than match between who can hold out the longest. Our government could use a new approach, one that emphasizes modesty and agreeing on a solution, even if it's not the one you wanted the most. Respect and dignity, all implied with reverence, are both things that our government could use today to help solve out nations extensive problems.
2. "...be trustworthy in what you say..."
It is as if our government has become one big conspiracy theory to the media. Focusing on more forward and trustworthy administration tactics could help our struggling nation return to a booming economy, instead of the mud slinging and media frenzy that have become the main source of information for the public.
3. "...Employ the labor of common people only in the right seasons."
Our modern world is one that is broke and war-torn. Maybe if we though more about the common people we were sending to the front lines every day, we would be more reluctant to jump into war and think more about what could be done to resolve the problem. Instead, we focus on building the better weapons and forcing other countries to back down. That's not to say that we don't need wars to battle threats like terrorism and the mistreatment of people around the world, but perhaps more discretion in war could be a good thing.
Finally, the concept I started this post on, excess spending. It is perhaps our biggest problem, and one that needs fixing. If we were to listen to Confucius and spend what we needed in government and politics, the world would be a better place. There would be less poverty and social class division, and the common man would be able to succeed in politics, as opposed to only the wealthy and powerful.
If our government were to examine and try to implement these concepts, the world in which we live would change greatly. It's not that our government isn't trying, it's that too many of the odds are against us, and it's not hard to see why in the fast paced and modern society in which we live. So maybe the best thing to do would be go back to a different time and take a lesson from Confucius.
No comments:
Post a Comment