The noblest purpose of politics is the pursuit of the āperfectā compromise which bitterly opposing factions can live with, if not heartily support. This is true for keeping the peace in any civilization. Put simply, the intimate social connection and mutual understanding common among our hunter-gather ancestors is not possible given civilizationsā hierarchical social system. Civilization requires gobetweens, and politicians serve that purposeā¦ ideally.
Modern times have seen an exponential increase in people seduced by desireās dead end promises. A good example of this is the ability to borrow now and pay later. Such putting of the cart before the horse is totally opposite to natureās way. Granted, our innate urge to get more than we are willing to give is normal animal nature. Our dilemma is that civilization makes the unbalanced pursuit of this possible.
A politicianās promises parallel this by offering us what we desire without requiring adequate payment. This is the Sirenās song of democracy. As chapter 29 cautions us, With desire choosing anything, of doing I see no satisfied end. Self-interests also blind politicians as each side faults their counterpartās flawed principles. How can such loyal officials supporting one side sincerely consider the other side?
Admittedly, political dysfunction is also a natural result of tribal instincts. Even if political leaders wanted to be more balanced and impartial, they couldnāt. A leader can go only so far in seeking the middle groundācompromiseābefore their followers lose faith and abandon them. Truth is, effective leaders actually follow the needs and fears of their followers. This is like a dog chasing its tail.
Intelligence deceives
The certainty of belief in anything is the primary cause of great falseness (a.k.a., hypocrisy). They go hand in hand. Human intelligence brings about naming; naming gives rise to beliefs; beliefs result in the disease chapter 71 describes quite literally as, Realizing I donāt know is better; not knowing this knowing is disease. Furthermore, this all begins with our disconnection from nature. As chapter 18 observesā¦
The second line, When intelligence increases,Ā there exists great falseness, exposes the hypocrisy endemic within any type of politics, including organized religion, for the affectation they actually are. Natureās āself-soā is otherwise, as chapter 25 suggests, And the way follows that which is natural and free from affectation. Civilizationās institutions, or rather we their creators, are unavoidably hypocritical. We base our institutions on ideals that promise us what we desire, not on reality. Then, at some point, fear always overrides our idealistic facades. Nonetheless, civilization requires such cultural devices to give large populations faith in the social order.
Using the way to fool people
Chapter 65 offers some insight into politics and religion. It begins with, Of ancients adept in the way, none ever use it to enlighten people, They will use it in order to fool them. Of course, fooling the people these days is a lot harder due in large part to the āinformation ageā. Having politicians fooling the people a lot less now may sound great on the surface. However, āwe the peopleā masses canāt handle realityās truth either, like the fact that every advantage comes with a cost. By the way, I assume our hunter-gatherer ancestors who lived intimately connected to nature would have intuitively known and accepted that. So naturally, fooling the people isnāt referring to them.
āFooling the people is actually vital when trying to unite a poorly connected society, which defines civilization overall (see The Tradeoff, p.549). Thus, there is a natural utility in political and religious leadersā ability to offer simplistic answers to irresolvable issues.
The simplest wrong answer works
History shows that no one truly knows what they are doing, or how the future will unfold. Humanity makes it up as it goes along. However, people fear uncertainty and crave answers, yet there is no true answer. If no answer suffices, the simplest wrong answer is the most palatable. Only when we share a common ground of expectationsā the simplest wrong answersā are we able to stumble along as amicably as possible. Now, thanks to the Internetāespecially to social mediaās āshockā hyperboleāmany people gulp down āalternative factsā, which weaken a societyās dominant mainstream political and religious storylines.
Isnāt life a learning process?
Will humanity ever accept the simple fact that we always end up paying for every advantage. Acknowledging this would help us achieve some degree of lasting political stability. One possibility for this lies in the steadily increasing median age of the human population.
If nothing else, life is a learning process. People, as of yet, simply donāt live long enough to learn how to accept nature on her terms. We begin as infants, naively relying on our parents to provide us what we need with no strings attached. In adulthood, we seem to retain that naĆÆve expectation in many subtle ways. Politicians use this ignorance to fool the people. This canāt change until people discover that realizing I donāt know is better, and accept their limits as chapter 32 warns, Man handles the realization to stop. Knowing to stop [he/she] can be without danger. Only through a long life of living and loss does this become increasingly possible. I donāt imagine this will happen until the human raceās median age approaches 100 years old. Ah, we must be patient! Until then, we at least need to get on the same page story-wise, as divorced from reality as that may be. Yet, is even that possible now?
Economics is the fulcrum upon which politics balances
Civilizationsā borrow now and pay later approach to economics occurs nowhere in nature. Political stability hinges on how well a societyās economics aligns with natural law. Naively thinking we can escape the consequences of circumventing natural law shows the depth of our naivetĆ©. As chapter 16 reminds us, Not knowing the constant, rash actions lead to ominous results. Sure, if we knew when to stop, we could conceivably get away with some borrowing from the futureā¦ Indeed, if we knew when to stop, most of our self-inflicted difficulties would diminish. Again, as chapter 32 reminds us, Knowing to stop [he/she] can be without danger. Incapable of this, we get the politics we deserve and lose the treasures chapter 67 revealsā¦
I have three treasures of which I hold and protect:
The first I call kindness,
The second I call thrift,
The third I call not daring to act before all below heaven.
The fact is, our fiscal folly is natural. How could any species, given the chance, resist an opportunity to borrow from the future to pay for the pleasures of the present? In fact, we borrow now with vows of paying afterward in many ways other than financial. Examples include more exercise, better diet, broader education, and really the doing of anything that we feel we ought to do at some point. The Sirenās promise of short-term pleasure is irresistible. Thus, Buddhaās Fourth Noble Truth cautions, āThere is salvation for him whose self disappears before truth, whose will is bent upon what he ought to do, whose sole desire is the performance of his dutyā. Sorry Buddha, thatās just no fun!
Consensus is the mainstay of political stability
Given 2009ās Great Recession, I couldnāt understand how the political leadership could be pushing through health-care in the midst of a broken tax system, home foreclosures, huge job losses, and a massive national debt. Even worse, one side pushed through their sweeping health reform bill with no consensus from the other side. Such a āMy way or the highwayā approach on major issues paves the way to a broken system. In the turmoil, Iād hear the Democrats say the failure to reach a compromise was the Republicansā fault. Predictably, the Republicans said the same thing about the Democrats. Who is right?
All I can say is that the side that has the majority in both houses and the presidency holds all the cards and is the larger entity. The Taoist view is clear on who is more responsible for finding middle ground. As chapter 61 notes, For this reason, the larger, using the lower position, normally takes in the smaller. The arrogance that the larger commonly feels owing to the power it wields, makes using the lower position difficult and rare. Such magnanimity requires a saintly degree of political leadership.
The Health Care Reform Act is an example of broken politics: 219 Democrats voted for the House bill, while 176 Republicans and 39 Democrats opposed it. It squeaked by 220 to 215. In the Senate, it also just squeaked by with all 60 Democrats voting for it, versus no Republicans, as I recall. Such a complete lack of consensus isnāt healthy for a democracy. That is how autocracy governs.
Iāve always felt we should have publicly funded health-care like the rest of the world. Thus, I would support such reform whole-heartedly, but never if that meant pushing it down the throats of half the country. What I want personally pales in comparison to the critical need for compromise in a democracy.
Reality is inescapable
Facing the truth, or rather impartially considering the facts, doesnāt mean we must actually give up our heart, our feeling, our emotional biases. Nevertheless, that is how impartially facing the facts will intuitively feel! Any attempt to consider the other side feels treasonous, and so we turn away, make our skewed judgments, and dream on. Naturally, having emotional bias to steer thought never works for long.
Coming as close to an impartial balanced view as possible is my only long-term answer. The closer I come to that, the more constant my sense of well-being. You might say, no gain without painā¦ here it is the pain of self-disloyaltyā¦ a cognitive divorce from emotional biasā¦ a belief suicide.
Thought, and the belief it spawns, is the real culprit that knocks my life off balance.Ā Realizing I donāt know, as chapter 71 reminds, allows me to nip much imbalance in the bud. I simply challenge anything I feel I am favoring or believing to be true at each moment. Such preferences are my ācanary in the coal mineā. It is easy to know them, hear them, heed them, and rigorously seek out the other side. Easy, yet as chapter 70 cautions, Our words are very easy to know, very easy to do. Under heaven none can know, none can do. Okay, itās not so easy, yet what is my alternative?
Bottom line
Certainly, we are stuck with this unalterable reality on many levels. Fortunately, chapter 3 offers a way out of this predicament for each individual: Doing without doing, following without exception rules. Following what, you ask? For me that means following realityānatureāas it is, not as I want it to be. This is why I call the Taoist approach to life a āreligionā of last resort.