Lao-Tzu Vs. Modern American Society Lao-Tzu’s work, “Tao-Te Ching”, is a philosophical guide to the ideal life and the role government plays. Furthermore, it shows how to live a life of contentment without material possessions. He wrote this as a solution, of sorts, to what was fundamentally wrong with his society. Even though the “Tao” was written thousands of years ago, it is still relevant in modern society; the problems we experience are not unlike his, but on a larger scale. Modern American Society goes completely against Lao-Tzu’s ideology. Specifically, Americans give up too much of their power by allowing the government to make decisions for them, many people become reliant on government subsidies, and they also let materialism …show more content…
This is due to societies unfounded respect for their leaders. Lao-Tzu states, “If you over esteem great men, people become powerless” (206). This is exactly what Americans have done in placing a great deal of emphasis on their government. As a result, they have been stripped of their power to make many decisions for themselves. Instead, a very small percentage of people make the rules and regulations for the entire country. Even though the people elect the officials into office, once they are in office it is up to them to decide what is best for their constituents. As a result, what is optimum for the people is not always chosen, and politicians end up regulating society to death. American politics has become less advocating for the people, and more of a quest for power. Lao-Tzu proclaims, “The ordinary man keeps reaching for power; thus he never has enough” (210). According to John Garvey in his article “The illusion of Control,” “Winning the next election—gaining power or hanging on to it—is all that matters to too many of our elected leaders” (6). Power hungry politicians would not be an issue if people followed the teachings of
Lao-Tzu's political philosophy falls into more of an individualistic and carefree branch of politics, in which the way of governing is by not forcing issues. He believes that the ruler should not act powerful, and because of this, he will be respected. Lao-Tzu also believes that the best leader is one that is loved, not feared. Instead of holding power and forcing rules, Lao-Tzu wishes to teach simplicity, patience, and compassions. He views the latter as "the greatest treasures" and if one has the three qualities, one will be a better person.
In my opinion, it is not completely appropriate to compare our government with the one that Lao-tzu suggests. When comparing two things together, the factors that affect the issue must stay equal. To illustrate, the fact that Lao-tzu wrote this book hundreds of years ago and his audience was people in his time, disobey the comparison between his ideas and ours. In addition, he was partly practicing a religion –Taoism which was popular at the time. However, his book is not only about a religion, but about moral behavior and a guide in which how to wisely rule as well. As a result, it would be reasonable to discuss what he would like about us and what ...
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” (BAM, 2010, p.20) These words were first written down over 2,400 years ago by a Chinese general named Sun Tzu in his famous military strategy treatise known today as The Art of War. These words, in fact the entire book, are just as valid today as they were during Sun Tzu’s lifetime. He was one of the first truly visionary and ethical military leaders in the world. Despite the fact that there is not much known about Sun Tzu today other than his writings, in this essay, I intend to extract his essence from his treatise to prove he was a visionary leader. I will then continue to prove he was also an ethical leader. Finally, I will finish by detailing how his seminal work has inspired me to self-reflect on how I can be a better visionary and ethical leader in the 21st Century Air Force. So, what exactly is a ‘visionary’ leader?
Although they share some similarities in ideology, these parallels are greatly overshadowed by the concepts in which Lao-Tzu and Machiavelli diverge. Their primary distinction lies within their view of human nature and it’s role in governing. Lao-Tzu maintains that if we promote a system of governing to the least possible extent, then human nature should manifest a favorable temperance and dictate the direction of society. In fact, Lao-Tzu asserts numerous attempts to illustrate his point that if leaders, “Stop Trying to control” (§ 57, 35), then there is no desire (§ 37, 24), he dwells in reality (§ 38, 29), and “the world will govern itself.” (§ 57, 35) Although this is an extremely optimistic and beneficial ideal, the main problem with Lao-Tzu’s entire philosophy is exactly that, it can only be viewed as a philosophy. Because it appears under the section entitled “Government,” I...
Jonathan Spence tells his readers of how Mao Zedong was a remarkable man to say the very least. He grew up a poor farm boy from a small rural town in Shaoshan, China. Mao was originally fated to be a farmer just as his father was. It was by chance that his young wife passed away and he was permitted to continue his education which he valued so greatly. Mao matured in a China that was undergoing a threat from foreign businesses and an unruly class of young people who wanted modernization. Throughout his school years and beyond Mao watched as the nation he lived in continued to change with the immense number of youth who began to westernize. Yet in classes he learned classical Chinese literature, poems, and history. Mao also attained a thorough knowledge of the modern and Western world. This great struggle between modern and classical Chinese is what can be attributed to most of the unrest in China during this time period. His education, determination and infectious personalit...
Buddhism is a religion from the East that has spread to many different countries all over the world. It has spread to the West, and has had a great influence and impact, especially in America. However, the Buddhism that is practiced in the United States is not exactly the same as the one that is practiced in Asian countries. If Buddhism differs between the different traditions of the Asian countries themselves, it is obvious that it will differ greatly in America as well. However, even though there are obvious differences, it is important to maintain the core values and fundamental principles the same. This research explores how the three different types of Buddhist practitioners have adopted Buddhism in America, and it describes some differences
The Asian American history is the history of the ethnic and racial groups in the United States who are of Asian descent. Spickard (2007) shows that the "'Asian American' was an idea created in the 1960s to bring together the Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino Americans for a strategic and political purposes.
The Art of War is a treatise written in Ancient China that discusses the most and least effective military strategies for successful warfare according to Sun Tzu, a military general whose existence is still debated to this day. While not every military commander in the history of warfare has read it, the strategies provided can be used as a way to assess said commanders and the effectiveness of their campaigns. In Sun Tzu 's own words, “The general that hearkens to my counsel and acts upon it, will conquer: let such a one be retained in command! The general that hearkens not to my counsel nor acts upon it, will suffer defeat:--let such a one be dismissed!”1 This paper will discuss various iconic battles throughout history and how closely the leading commanders of each army followed the advice of Sun Tzu. Despite the fact that Sun Tzu lived hundreds of years before many of these battles took place, the
The public falls into three main traps about politicians. The first main trap that the public falls into is “The Leader-and-Follower Trap.” The public wants politicians to be leaders, but when they do not lead the way citizens want, they are disliked. Expecting politicians to lead the way they believe the country should go and also follow what citizens want is unfair to them, (Medvic p. 9). Another trap that the public falls into is the “The Principled-and-Pragmatic Trap.” The public wants politicians to stand up for their beliefs, but to also negotiate to solve issues...
The United States is governed by a democracy. According to Dictoinary.com, democracy is “government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system” (Dictoinary.com). This means that instead of having a supreme ruler, the citizens of a country have the right to vote for and choose their elected officials who will ultimately make the decisions for them. The benefit of a democracy is that depending on the public’s opinion, they can influence the government to run the way they want. This form of government provided the public with a great amount of freedom, yet is can potentially slow down the efficiency of governmental decisions. In order for a democracy to function well, public opinions must be somewhat similar to avoid gridlock. A democracy is good for public freedom, but must possess certain characteristics to provide effective results.
According to Thomas Hobbes, the reason this is the case is because people are selfish and evil and that they protect their interests really well by using certain tactics to make sure other people devastate their needs and wants. Also, without a leader, these people would be very chaotic and attack one another of many things when there isn’t any government in charge.
...ering the recent changes in China’s politics. Many are wondering what the future holds for Chinese politics and the idea of a democracy with Confucian characteristics is something many have been looking at since Confucianism holds an important place in Chinese traditions. We have witnessed on many occasions the failure of trying to implement a democratic system in a country that either wasn’t “ready” for democracy or a country where the political culture wasn’t compatible with the democracy models we are used to. This idea is very relevant when you talk about China since it’s easy to see how democracy might not fit right with the Chinese political culture. In such a case, the best solution would be a democracy with Confucian characteristics. So we can see here how the relationship between Confucianism and democracy is something worth reflecting on in current times.
A growing problem in America is its politics. Throughout history, with the formation of political parties the nation has become more divided, and has resulted in many gridlocks. How can a nation be successful when it is not even in accordance with each other? It can’t, hence, the reason why America is slowly losing its power and is starting to crumble. Recently, there was a gridlock on how the government should spend the nation’s budget. While the government shutdown was in session, many people could not work and did not get paid. Yet, Congress still got paid even though, they weren’t working. The injustices that lie in politics relate to an aristocracy. Less people trust the government because of all the disagreements and deceptions they are fed by politicians. Candidates running for political office positions always feed its citizens lies, and never accomplish the promises they make. This leads cynicism and a lower voter turnout. With less people going to vote, the wealthy and corrupt are taking the office positions and making the nation benefit themselves, rather than its citizens. If America’s own citizens don’t even trust the government, how do they expect...
In the last section, I get to know that individualism is the symbol of freedom and liberty, but it will also cause lots of problem like the abuse of guns and drugs. Collectivism is criticized as taking away the freedom and forbidden a lots human rights, but still, according to Zha et al. (2010), “historically, the collectivism of China, on the other hand, may influence its citizens to become highly skilled, qualified citizens who place societal needs above personal ones” (p. 363). Americans are better at creative area, but Chinese people have advantages on mathematics. Everything can be controversial, so does individualism and collectivism.
From the beginning of time people practiced an idea of political culture; the “setting of attitudes and practices held by people that help shape their political behavior including moral judgments and ideas that makes for a good society” (Sparknotes). American political culture is based on the basic ideas of political culture, in that American political culture “subscribes to general ideas including liberty, equality, democracy, individualism, unity, and diversity; although not all Americans share the same values, a vast majority abide by this idea” (Sparknotes). Our founding fathers based the U.S Constitution on the idea of political culture in trying to make good for society, the founding fathers wanted to develop a system that tailored to