I’m Sorry, So Sorry…

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Treasury Secretary-nominee Timothy Geithner on Wednesday said the government’s response to the financial crisis would be made in the coming weeks and he apologized for “careless mistakes” in underpaying taxes.

I read this, wondering to myself, how many crooks, after having been exposed, respond with “I still think that was the wisest thing I ever did”?  It is getting so crazy that I am not sure when to laugh and when to cry!

Does this mean that the folks we just put in charge of the Republic really think we are all really that stupid?  Not at all.  In fact, they know there are many intelligent, informed people out there.  People who truly try to understand the power of enlightened self interest and who behave accordingly.  But, the folks now in charge also know something else — that those of you who want a return to the USA described in the Declaration and the Constitution simply do not matter.

That’s right.  In the current scheme of things, you are beside the point.  For the simple reason that they can get and keep their power without you.  Simply stated, they control a base of stupid people sufficient for their purposes.  With all due apologies to Mr Lincoln, we now seem to have a state of  “government of the stupid, for the stupid, by the criminals”.

Well, you say, “but we are correct in our thinking, we actually do know the way to universal prosperity”.   I don’t disagree.  So, what I want you all to do is take a bit of time, think how to explain freedom, self government and laissez-faire economics in the very simplest terms.  Next, I want you to try that explanation out on your dog, cat, or, lacking that, on the nearest liberal.  If you are able to convert any or all of these to advocates of free people and free markets, then ignore anything else I have to say, get that dog/cat/liberal in tow, and go forth to educate the masses.

For the rest of you, consider this.  We are in the very worst of  “Catch 22″ situations.  To repair our governmental institutions would clearly require an educated, informed, involved majority.  To generate such a majority would clearly require that some of our governmental institutions, especially those involving taxation, regulation and, especially, education to be in a state of repair.

Ergo, to break out of the death spiral we seem to find ourselves in, would require:

• A miracle, or,
• A total, worldwide “meltdown” so severe that those who are left could start again with the proverbial “clean slate”.  But, even then, there is no guarantee that the preferred ones would, in fact, be the ones left for the restart.  And, if everything we consider valuable must be destroyed before it can be recovered, one might reasonably ask “what is the point?”.

Leaving us with nothing better than to wish for a miracle.  Now, let me be the first to say that, should our new President be the source of such a miracle, I will become his most vocal advocate.

However, and not to take anything away from a man who no doubt means well, I simply do not find miracles reliable enough to depend on in this (or any) situation.

So — what is left?

On a forum I once frequented, some of us longed for a “Galt’s Gulch”, as described in Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.  While such a thing is not literally possible, at least not as described in the novel, the overall idea has a great deal of merit.

With each election with national consequences, it becomes ever more clear that the very deep rifts in our political landscape grow ever deeper and wider.  So, I ask in all sincerity, why not exploit this trend?  The TAO has long taught us that it is much more effective to go with the flow of a stream and use our energy to steer our craft, than it is to try to change the course of the stream itself – especially to try to make it flow the opposite direction.

What does this mean in practical terms?  Simply this.  There is a significant portion of the USA that claims to want a country of free individuals, engaging in free enterprise, with a very minimal governing influence.  Just as there is an even more significant portion that seems to want an all encompassing “nanny state” that makes all their decisions, sees to their every need, and does not require much, if anything, in the way of effort or responsibility.  There may well be other portions that prefer some middle or other road.

My solution?  Let every group have what it wants by dividing the country into several autonomous regions, each free to choose the type of governmental/economic/social system it prefers.  For sure, this would cause some dislocations since many would find themselves in a region that does not conform to their preferences.  No problem.  Leave them free to either:

• Willingly abide by the decisions of the majority in that region, or,
• Remove themselves to a different region, more suited to their tastes.

After all, we are a very mobile people.

Such freedom of choice and movement should remain open to any and all for a predetermined period after the division.  However, after this period of choice has expired, each region should then be free to establish its own processes and rules for immigration.  I suggest this last restriction in the absolute belief that those who choose poorly would soon want to flee to the protection of others who chose more wisely.

Sorry but when one chooses a system, one must choose ALL of that system.  After all, would not any and every system be great if we could only choose its best attributes and be immune to its failings?

Is this not a form of the very thinking that has gotten the USA to the state of collapse?

Mao Zedong advocated a state of  perpetual revolution.  While that seems a bit too chaotic to be practical, I do take his point.  Government, being human, has organic properties, just like all things human.  One thing we know about organic things; at the instant they become alive, they inevitably start that journey to decrepitude and death.  However much we humans wish that our science will change it, for the foreseeable future, it remains a fact.

I conclude from this reasoning that all forms of government, no matter how well intended or how brilliantly constructed, are prone to systemic corruption.  Based on the known history of governments, including our own, about the best one might reasonably expect from a good governmental system is 100 to 150 years.  (Unfortunately, the bad ones often last much longer.)

If I am correct in my thinking, and I truly think I am, this means that no matter how perfect the plan for a government (and I think ours got darn close), it will, nevertheless, become corrupt in time, indeed, will become destructive to the very ends it was instituted to preserve and promote.

If we go back and study the Founding Documents, we will find that many of the Founders themselves not only knew this, they predicted, with amazing foresight, precisely how the whole thing would eventually come unraveled.  One (Jefferson) even went so far as to suggest we be prepared to replace it.  Obviously, we failed to heed the warnings.

This leads me to the part of an idea that still needs to be refined and “fleshed-out”.  Why can’t we design a system of government whose parts have an intentional, pre-determined “shelf life”?  That is, a government whose very workings cause it to go away (or be replaced) in time — and in less time than the typical corruption cycle.  In other words, a government derived from, and directed by, the free marketplace, rather than our failed attempts to do it the other way around.

So, there you have it.  We leverage the political and social rift that is splitting the nation.  Then we carve out for ourselves an autonomous region, dedicated to freedom for the individual and freedom for the marketplace, driven by enlightened self interest (call it greed if you wish – bothers me not at all).  I am certain there is a way to do this.  Probably a way that has already been described, if we only had the sense to see it.

At any rate, a better answer is not beyond the reach of a group a dedicated minds.

Again, it sure would be nice if more of you readers would help reason this stuff out.  I am old and by no means exempt myself from the decrepitude (and worse) mentioned above.

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