Saturday, January 23, 2010

Wen Tzu - Verse 132, Part II

from Verse One Hundred Thirty-Two
Therefore the basis of active government lies in giving people security. The basis of giving people security lies in providing for their needs. The basis of providing for their needs lies in not taking away their time. The basis of not taking away their time lies in minimizing projects. The basis of minimizing projects lies in moderating consumption. The basis of moderating consumption lies in getting rid of extravagance.
~ Wen-tzu: Understanding the Mysteries ~
A few readers have accused me of using Taoist texts to "promote leftism." Of course, I don't see it that way. In fact, if one reads the above passage, it sounds a lot like the present day perspective of many people who belong to the Green Party!

One of the chief mantras of Greens is that the members of our society need to reduce consumption. We promote the novel idea of taking care of the needs of the people. We urge fellow citizens to buy local, reduce energy use (too many miles driven, too many miles flown) and to lead scaled-down, simpler lifestyles.

The people who support capitalism and market-based strategies send the opposite message. They promote consumption. Their mantra is "Buy! Buy! Buy!" They encourage people to crave extravagance and to look down on meeting the needs of the members of the community.

So, because my political philosophy dovetails nicely with Taoist philosophy, what am I misappropriating? If someone would care to explain how market-based strategies are congruent with the Taoist call for simplicity and emptiness, I'd love to hear it.

This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.

7 comments:

  1. Taoism is what it is. That it encourages lifestyle choices which happen to more often than not align one with the "left" end of the political spectrum, then practicing Taoists probably do tend to lean a bit in that direction.

    To those who subscribe to philosophies which promote consumption and pointless enrichment, Taoism probably doesn't hold any appeal. After all, I've never met any Taoist megalomaniacs. Maybe those who favor the "right" just need to work a bit harder at finding ways to corrupt Taoist wisdom to fit their own selfish purposes; it's what they've done with every other spiritual/philosophical path in the the known world. Quite successfully too.

    Sounds like another case of what my wife calls "Republican butt hurt."

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  2. The Green Party, and other socialist parties with green polices, seem(s) to specialize in taking away people's time and resources.
    It requires people to do things they would not normally do, in ways they would not normally do them.
    Taken to extremes, as in the UK, it is causing jails to fill up with people who fail to put trash in the correct bins, on the correct day, in the correct manner.
    To leave a slight gap in the the lid to bin relationship results in a hefty fine.
    To dispose of slightly more trash than allowed, is to have the trash left where it lies forever, also accompanied by a hefty fine.

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  3. Oh yes, those bad Green and Socialist Parties force people to put trash in appropriate trash containers. Of course, as Crow has clearly shown (NOT!), if left to their own devices, most people would simply open their front doors and throw the trash in the street or in their neighbor's yards.

    What is this world coming to when people aren't allowed to trash it at their will? Great argument, Crow!!

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  4. Are you autistic too?
    Try holding a mirror up to the screen to read it the right way around.

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  5. @Crow
    You wrote, It requires people to do things they would not normally do, in ways they would not normally do them. Then you complained that those bad leftists make people put trash in the proper place.

    So, the inference here is that people wouldn't normally put the trash in the right place in the right way. Which is the same point I attributed to you in my response.

    Do you ever read your comments before hitting the publish button?

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