Tag: Confucius

Relying on the fair use doctrine of copyright law, the immediately preceding post reproduces what, in my opinion, is an outstanding analysis of the nature of competition between China and the United States. Here are a few additional thoughts of my own. 

They’re All Confucians

Throw a stone at the Politburo and you will not hit a Communist, you will instead hit a Confucian. That’s because they are all Confucians. 

And what does it mean when I say that the Chinese political elite is uniformly Confucian? Mainly, it means two things. It means that the elite believes, down to the marrow of their bones, that the mass of common people—the lao bai xing—are morally and intellectually incapable of self-government.

The common people must be led. But by whom? By a moral and intellectual elite, who can guide society and government along the right path.

Confucianism became the state ideology of China in 136 BCE—the guiding framework for government, law, education, and social ethics. 2161 years later, Confucianism remains the state ideology of China. 

These folks are never going to abandon Confucius and Mencius in favor of John Locke and James Madison. That’s not happening. And anyone who ever thought it was happening, or might happen, or would happen: that person does not know China. 

Are You Saying, Then, That We Should Become Confucians, Too?

No, I’m not. But I am saying that our political elite and our economic elite badly needs to try to transform themselves into our intellectual and moral elite as well. 

We need to be better Lockeans and Madisonians, and we need to draw our inspiration from Luke 12:48, remembering that where much is given, much is required. 

And for the non-elites? They badly need to relearn how to be educated and responsible citizens of a democracy. And morally responsible folks among the elite need to do what they can to help. We could begin by restoring civics education to its rightful place in elementary and secondary schools.

Because if our political life keeps on consisting of performative nonsense, and if the American law bai xingkeep on getting their news from Russian propaganda they read on Facebook then Professor O’Neill tells us exactly where we are headed.