This blog has just finished a series of posting regarding a
foundational construct offered by Jonah Goldberg. This writer needs a milder topic and the
reader deserves a shorter read. So, at
the risk of being schmaltzy, this blog offers the following – from Lao Tzu –
that captures, for the writer, a federalist notion:
Watch your Thoughts, they can become
Words.
Watch your Words, they can become Actions.
Watch your Actions, they can become
Habits.
Watch your Habits, they can become Character.
Watch our Character, it becomes Destiny.
Perhaps the original intent was religious, but it doesn’t
necessarily have to be. It can also be
secular.
The federalist
turn occurs in the last line. This
writer does not know this philosopher’s meaning, but he feels the line captures
an unavoidable truth. No matter how much
a person feels he/she determines his/her own fate, the manifestation of what
will occur relies on the “our” element.
People who
hold a purely capitalist notions of the economy, seem to have a hard time accepting
that fact. Yes, business owners work
hard. They put in the hours, the sweat, the
anguish, and the risked capital. But all
businesses exist within a social landscape that permits that business to
exist. Like what? All the publicly owned infrastructure – the streets,
water works, police protection, public health services, etc. Are those services and related goods just a
transaction between resident/businessperson and the government – taxes for services?
Roughly
testing that idea, this posting offers the following. In New York City, from “Googling” the
subject, one finds that the median income is from $50-58,000. The City’s budget comes to $89.2 billion a
year. That comes to a per capita (per 8.6
million population) share of expenses of circa $10,350. Add to that state expenses and taxes and
federal expenses and taxes. Somehow,
these numbers seem to indicate the average New Yorker falls short of covering city
expenses given the median income levels just listed.
The point is: an individual citizen, on average, does not
exchange the amount he/she pays in taxes and the benefits he/she gets from
living in a jurisdiction like New York City.
This blog is not passing judgement on the fairness of that city’s taxing
policies or of any level of governance. Do
governments do too much question is for another posting. This one is only claiming that being a citizen
transcends being in a transactional relationship. More is at stake. In the extreme, how does one place a price on
the sacrifice many have made – such as in the armed forces or first responders.
In addition, transactions do not
elicit love. It might engender
appreciation, respect, even a sense of marvel at what professionals can accomplish. But they do not, in any real sense, elicit
love. Yet, for a nation to survive, that
is exactly what is needed in order to advance much less survive. “Watch our Character, it becomes
Destiny” refers to what a society is and will become.
Of interest, there has been various
version of the above set of suggestions.
A more individualistic version has the last line, “Watch your character,
it becomes your destiny.” This is
attributed to Frank Outlaw, the deceased president of the Bi-Lo Stores.[1] Perhaps his version demonstrates the “businessperson”
bias alluded to here.
Another point of interest is the fact
that the word “watch” contains the first letter of each of the key words of the
quote. “W” for words, “a” for action, “t”
for thoughts, “c” for character, and “h” for habits. They are not in order, but the coincidence (?)
is worth noting.
How’s that for a schmaltzy effort?
[1] See “Watch Your Thoughts, They Become Words; Watch
Your Words, They Become Actions,” Quote Investigator, n.d., accessed June 24,
2019, https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/01/10/watch-your-thoughts/
.
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