Whoever takes the empire and wishes to do anything to it I see will have no respite.
The empire is a sacred vessel and nothing should be done to it.
Whoever does anything to it will ruin it;
whoever lays hold of it will lose it.

Hence some things lead and some follow;
Some breathe gently and some breathe hard;
Some are strong and some are weak;
Some destroy and some are destroyed.

Therefore the sage avoids excess, extravagance, and arrogance

                                              –-Tao Te Ching, Chapter 29



After reading Frederick Smith’s brilliant and cogent post* yesterday concerning Big Corporate and the Republican Party (and to some extent the Democrats as well), some things began to crystalize  for me. I have been aware for some time about the power of money in government, and the ways in which it corrupts even the best-intentioned people, and corrupts even more those who are less well-intentioned. Smith’s ideas make transparent the motives for conservatives in government (and those on OS who defend them) and raises some important spiritual issues.

I had several opportunities this week to read posts that I found disheartening, to say the least. And not to put too fine a point on it, some were just flat out stupefyingly ignorant.

One of them concerned a bill that the Massachusetts legislature is considering. The proposed bill outlines what would happen in an emergency pandemic. The writer of this post suggested that somehow, if there was an emergency pandemic situation and the state health department and the police were called in to evacuate or to search homes, that would be tantamount to having a police state.

First of all, it is clear that the writer does not know what a pandemic is. I can assure him that if such a situation existed, he’d be begging for someone to evacuate and search homes. This is the normal procedure in any outbreak situation.

But the larger issue is this: sometimes there are greater needs than his own, or any individual’s. Sometimes, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

Another writer talked about his self-sufficiency. I marvel at his ability to live that kind of life, and wish that we all could live in such a way. But he then asked why he should have to pay for the needs of others, since he derives no benefit from it.

Sometimes the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

There is another poster here who rarely writes anything, but often shows up to comment on the writings of others. He is, at best, a pseudo-intellectual who only sneers at earnest intelligent ideas, and has an inflated sense of self-importance. But his selfish comments on the posts of others I admire sound like trying to make a symphony with a cat and a chain saw. For all of his linguistically-perfect babbling, he has no idea that sometimes the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

The last of these writers prides himself on boot-strap individualism. He is a profane Obama-basher, as are the others, and suggests that if people would just get off their lazy asses and work they’d have health insurance. He also confidently states that the US government has no policies which contribute to the destruction of the environment, and goes on all holier-than-thou about how the Republicans are the real Americans and that they are the only ones who love America. When pressed about the needs of the many, he responds with comments about the needs of the few.

Every year, 18,000 to 20,00 people die because they do not have and cannot get adequate health coverage. They have no bootstraps to pull themselves up by.

Every year, thousands of people die in Southern Appalachia and in other places because the government does indeed have policies that result in the rape of our environment.

Whoever takes the empire and wishes to do anything to it I see will have no respite.
The empire is a sacred vessel and nothing should be done to it.
Whoever does anything to it will ruin it;
whoever lays hold of it will lose it.

Our America was founded on principles of liberalism. Revolutions are always liberal; they are the most radical of solutions to the ruling status quo. They are always examples of the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few.

Police state? Only by corporate worship do we get love for America? Stupefying ignorance which passes for intellect? Blaming those in need for their own problems?

Forty million have no health insurance. Another two hundred million favor healthcare reform with a public option. These are the many.

Sometimes, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.


http://open.salon.com/blog/smith_frederick/2009/09/05/lawyer_musician_poet_writer_enemy_of_the_pecuniary_man