Learning Compassion and Humanity from Confucius
From the Writer’s Almanac:
Today we celebrate the birthday of the teacher, philosopher, and political theorist popularly known as Confucius, born near what is now Qufu, in Shandong Province, China, in 551 BCE…… He felt obligated to bring back an emphasis on humility, compassion, and tradition, to encourage people to exercise self-discipline, and to always act on the principle of “ren,” or “loving others.” “What you do not wish for yourself,” he wrote, “do not do to others.”
If we were to identify the single worst aspect of our world today, at least in the U.S., it would probably be the great chasm that exists between Confucius’ framing of the “Golden Rule” and what our government is crafting for the people it leads and the effects it has all all people around the world.
I suppose one could conduct a survey to determine the percentage of the population that wishes for himself:
• To have our environment systematically destroyed via policies based on the denial of basic science, in order to protect corporate polluters
• To be denied healthcare when faced with disease, so as to enable tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans
• To be bombed and starved, like the citizens of Yemen via the U.S.-backed, genocide being perpetrated by Saudi Arabia
And so on.
Yet such a survey isn’t really necessary, is it?
Craig,
I like your altruistic posts, no matter how Utopian or unrealistic.
Wars, especially civil wars, will always be brutal, expecting soldiers to behave like police is futile, confusing and unproductive. Unlike police, soldiers have to be trained not just to defend themselves, but aggressively kill enemy combatants.
The growth of air power, and the integration of economies as essential to the war effort has always been part of military strategy. General Sherman’s “March to the Sea” was calculated to frighten Georgia’s civilian population into abandoning the Confederate cause.
In the General’s own words he intended to “make old and young, rich and poor, feel the hard hand of war.”
The Air Bombing campaigns of WW2 eliminated any pretense of protection for civilians and non-combatants.
Sherman was right, the more ferocious the war is conducted, the quicker it ends and rebuilding can begin.
“Peacekeeping” efforts often only prolong and increase the national agony, resulting in a state of permanent unrest and hostility. Sometimes even a bad resolution is better than no resolution.
It would appear you haven’t grasped the implications of the President’s tax proposals. If implemented properly, the plan has the potential to revolutionize the US economy and make the US one of the most competitive economies in the world.
There are so many benefits for the US the problem is can it pass through Congress without being altered until it becomes in effective.
Not only does the tax plan revitalize the economy, increase government revenue, but it removes incentive for tax avoidance. Corporations like Apple, Google etc, can repatriate funds and profits back into the US economy creating employment and investment.
You should be pleased by the new provision for a super tax on the very wealthy, which is not designed as a punitive measure but to encourage investment and boost government revenue.
Both Republicans and Democrats should support this bold and innovative program to modernize and revitalize the US economy. Timely opportunities like this don’t occur often, America must seize the opportunity to forget petty party politics and outdated ideas,get behind this visionary initiative, before the moment is lost and the US continues to slide into shabby decay.
Without a strong and expanding economy, clean tech has no chance of being adopted. Corporate America needs to become competitive and profitable again if American’s are to be able to invest in innovation.
Borrowing money from China to buy cheap Chinese solar panels and pretending that this is helping the environment or providing long term US employment, is economic and environmental suicide.
The principles enunciated by Confucius are very noble, and very civilizing, but useless when it comes to defending your family against the likes of Genghis Khan.
The US is like a Stag who remains blissfully ignorant of the coming storm and infiltration by wolves both within, and without.