Dear Friends,
It seems to me, hierarchy itself, leads to most if not all our economic, societal and governmental problems we face. Isn’t it ironic then, that there is no greater proponent for hierarchy, than hierarchy itself. Ask any executive, if the company, government or lodge, could operate without them… and he or she could list a million decisions, that amount to reasons, why they are invaluable. The hierarchical system itself has structural flaws, flaws that most of us don’t recognize, because we have become used to them. Like someone who lives in a garbage dump sooner or later becomes immune to the smell. We have lived within the hierarchical system all our lives, and so imagining another way, is only possible to the most open minded. There is another way.
Among other issues with hierarchy, Psychopaths and sociopaths excel in them. The people that rise to the top of a hierarchy are people who are bloodthirsty, stay cool under fire, scheming, charming and charismatic. All the traits of a sociopath or psychopath. We have to admit that at one time or another, psychopaths have been in charge of our corporations, governments and even the local fraternal lodge. Hierarchy is custom made for abuse. It can work for the benefit of the people, when it is “Right”, but “Right” is almost always one change away from tyranny. In fact, psychopathy became a quality of the aristocracy as it aged. Maybe because they inbred, perhaps because aristocracy selects for psychopathy, but probably since psychopaths started aristocracy in the first place. The dross floats to the top.
Under all hierarchies, great and small, decisions are made at too high a level for them to be effective. This is because hierarchies raise all decisions to the least accountable level. Partly because the lower levels, where they could be made in a timely manner by people with skin in the game, would be punished if a decision was wrong, but at a higher level, the people making the decisions are unaccountable. Even the decision on a local level, to allow open burning, is raised to the most unaccountable level. The low level decision makers, the fire chief, who would be held accountable if their decision were wrong, are only too happy to pass the responsibility, and the buck. This structural problem with hierarchy makes it fundamentally inefficient.
Perhaps if we applied the market place mindset to societal, governmental and economic decisions, the distributed knowledge, acumen and wisdom would lead to better decisions. Another factor that would push actors to make better decisions is that it is in, their/our own, self interests. The closer to laissez faire an economy the more distributed the decisions. Rather than, an apparatchik deciding how many bras to make this year, thousands of managers decide how many bras they think they will sell, and order accordingly. The decision is made by many people, with better knowledge, and skin in the game… instead of an unaccountable ignorant bureaucrat relying on supply statistics from last year. Put another way, lower the decision to the individual… and hold him or her accountable.
We can continue to be ruled by psychopaths, and watch as the world turns to chaos, with every faction eventually giving in to the corruption and exploitation of emotion, fighting for dominance in the hierarchical model… or embrace individualist entropy, and the result can be harmony, prosperity and innovation. Those who mistakenly believe that the socialist system could ever lead to less hierarchy are sadly mistaken. Socialism is predicated on a hierarchy, moreover, progressivism postulates one that is staffed by university trained professional bureaucrats. An oligarchical hierarchy of the indoctrinated. As the free market balances government, individualism balances hierarchy’s potential for harm. Individualists are chaotic good aligned… seeking good outside of hierarchy, harmony from entropy.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
