Dear Friends,
It seems to me, at the founding of the US, the ideology was Confucian, Shanrang. By that, I mean to say that the founders thought that laws are a poor way to regulate people, so they should be as few as possible. Meanwhile, self-control is a far better way for people to order a society. Such a system, while efficient, doesn’t serve those who would rule. Legalism serves their interests far better. Clearly, those who seek office seek power and with the intent to use that power. So the type of person who seeks to rule will exploit the reins of power and manipulate the culture, institutions, and legal system towards legalism and away from Confucianism. I would further say that there are many other examples of “Confucian” societies. Rome, Sparta, and the “Sage Emperors” until Yu upended the system.
Confucianism is based on moral acting and self-control. This is exactly the philosophy of Christianity. Moral self-control leads to the best life. If people were perfectly moral, there would be no need of laws, and if people were perfectly immoral, no amount of laws will constrain them. Therefore, the optimum way to organize a society is by morality, not law. Shanrang is the idea of a merit based society that self-regulates by moral action instead of draconian laws. One advantage among many of this system as opposed to legalism is that correction is distributed, not concentrated. This makes for a high trust culture. Such a culture is always prosperous, safe, and desirable. These qualities feed back to the others and magnify them. Migration proves that people prefer high trust societies as well.
The United States used to be a high trust society and culture. After the Constitutional Convention, Franklin was asked what kind of nation they had created. To which he replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” He and the other founders had institutionalized “Shanrang” that led to a high trust culture. Sadly, the elite are never trustworthy, so all high trust societies lose trust of the elite first, then self-discipline is replaced by legalism. Letters from and to representatives, senators, and their constituents used to be free both ways. That privilege was so abused by the elite that it was taken from everyone in a fit of outrage. Then once the corruption had been memory holed, the elite gave free postage back to themselves, but denied it to those who hadn’t abused it. It turns out the powerful can’t be trusted.
Those who seek office by definition seek power. In a republic with limited government, the power they desire is out of reach. This is because of the limited nature of such governmental power. So once they have power of any sort, they set themselves to corrupting the system. Their corruption requires more laws and less morality. Then the people follow their example and become corrupt… driving a need for even more laws. This cycle continues until Shanrang is replaced with full legalism. This is the system we have today. Some argue that Legalism is the ideal system. Shang Yan,g the Legalist, was convinced to commit suicide in jail just as the Emperor of Qin was about to adopt it. This episode shows the lack of wisdom of the legalists, as well as the outcome of that philosophy… despotism.
A return to Shanrang would require a collapse of the entire legalist system. This initial stage, collapse, is desired by those who would erase the last of the Confucian moralist system of the Enlightenment and US Founding Fathers… with a pure global legalist system. People who are guilty of the things in the Epstein files are not going to provide a wise, good, or virtuous example to follow. The answer is a return to Shanrang. Eschew collapse and instead, inculcate an ethical mindset in the youth, ridicule and mock the unethical into shame, and demand corruption be rooted out of government. Then limit government back to Constitutional limits. Let’s write off the entire progressive experiment and go back to what pragmatically works… limited government, ethical people, and merit.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
