Verse Fifty-Eight
'If you govern with a generous hand -
then your people will be good people.
But if your system is too constricting
then your people will outwit you . . .'
Good fortune, we say, can come from disaster:
And the reverse is true as well.
Who knows where all this will lead?
Honesty can flip into deceit in a moment,
People trying to be good can fall into the dark
And it can take them years to get out of it.
So the sage is like a razor, but he doesn't cut
He is straight as a die, but not pointedly so -
He is bright, but not blindingly so . . .
~ Man-Ho Kwok, Martin Palmer & Jay Ramsey translation ~
America is a litigious society. Almost every act, law, code, statute, regulation, ordinance, bylaw and administrative decision can be challenged in a court of law. In fact, we Americans have a penchant for doing just that!! We're constantly try to find strategies to circumvent any kind of limitation on our cherished "personal rights".
However, while everyday folks challenge a few things here and there, it's the big companies who clog the judiciary system. The moment a law or rule is passed -- heck, they probably get to work on it sooner than that -- lawyers and lobbyists immediately get to work on finding loopholes to exploit for the company's benefit.
This never-ending dance generates a snowball effect. Knowing that the rich and powerful will immediately devise methods to try to game the system, our legislators try to insulate every sort of possible loophole with a plethora of words, sentence, phrases and citations times ten. Straightforward ideas quickly become convoluted nightmares. It often gets to the point where NO ONE, including the very people who drew up the legislation, know what it means or what impacts it will generate.
Of course, that's the positive view of this landscape. The negative view -- one I often share -- is that our legislators purposely insert loopholes into the text of the legislation itself as sort of a wink wink accommodation to the people who fund the lion's share of their campaigns. It's a mechanism for the legislator to look "tough on crime," while leaving the bank vault door wide open.
Lao Tzu reminds us repeatedly that the more complicated a system of government is, the more clever the people will become. Though the early Taoists lived thousands of years ago, this provides a very apt description of the present day United States.
The problem we find ourselves in now is that we're in too deep of a hole to dig ourselves out. If a Taoist was elected president in 2012, I don't think she or he would be able to reverse the direction we're headed. If the new Taoist president declared that we were going to return to a simpler and more direct form of government, companies and individuals would flood the court system with legal challenges and the whole thing would get just as bogged down as it is now.
This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.
However, while everyday folks challenge a few things here and there, it's the big companies who clog the judiciary system. The moment a law or rule is passed -- heck, they probably get to work on it sooner than that -- lawyers and lobbyists immediately get to work on finding loopholes to exploit for the company's benefit.
This never-ending dance generates a snowball effect. Knowing that the rich and powerful will immediately devise methods to try to game the system, our legislators try to insulate every sort of possible loophole with a plethora of words, sentence, phrases and citations times ten. Straightforward ideas quickly become convoluted nightmares. It often gets to the point where NO ONE, including the very people who drew up the legislation, know what it means or what impacts it will generate.
Of course, that's the positive view of this landscape. The negative view -- one I often share -- is that our legislators purposely insert loopholes into the text of the legislation itself as sort of a wink wink accommodation to the people who fund the lion's share of their campaigns. It's a mechanism for the legislator to look "tough on crime," while leaving the bank vault door wide open.
Lao Tzu reminds us repeatedly that the more complicated a system of government is, the more clever the people will become. Though the early Taoists lived thousands of years ago, this provides a very apt description of the present day United States.
The problem we find ourselves in now is that we're in too deep of a hole to dig ourselves out. If a Taoist was elected president in 2012, I don't think she or he would be able to reverse the direction we're headed. If the new Taoist president declared that we were going to return to a simpler and more direct form of government, companies and individuals would flood the court system with legal challenges and the whole thing would get just as bogged down as it is now.
This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.
unfortunately, you're right. :/
ReplyDeleteWhy couldn't you tell me I was wrong? Just this once. Pretty please. :D
ReplyDelete