Thursday, April 29, 2010

Well Armed

The chief foundations of all states, new as well as old or composite, are good laws and good arms; and as there cannot be good laws where the state is not well armed, it follows that where they are well armed they have good laws.
~ Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince ~
As we have explored through the Tao Te Ching, Hua Hu Ching and Wen Tzu, Lao Tzu would not agree with this supposition at all. In fact, he would most likely present the opposite view!

From the Taoist perspective, the leaders of the ideal government will model the type of behavior they wish to see of the people and -- because these behaviors will be just, fair and humble -- the people will follow suit. To suggest that a government needs a strong police presence to enforce laws only suggests that the laws of the land are lacking in fairness, justice and humility.

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