Confucianism, especially the Analects and Mencius, is, to my mind, most effective as a vantage point from which to assess and, if need be, criticize power holders. I know that, historically, Confucianism was co-opted by power holders to rationalize their rule. But those rationalizers always relied upon Legalist means to perpetuate their power; their Confucianism was a thin ideological veneer laid upon a deep Legalist practice.
Recently, I have been using Confucius and Mencius to point out the shortcomings of the PAP regime in Singapore. The same could be done for the Bush regime in the US. If there is anything that has characterized the Bush presidency it is mistakes: mistakes in Iraq; mistakes with medicare reform; mistakes in fiscal policy; mistakes with personnel issues (fire Rumsfeld now!); mistakes, mistakes, mistakes. So much so that the question of the day is: is Bush the worst president ever?
Given his dismal standing in the polls, he is obviously in need of new political advice. Well, here is some from Mencius: the first thing to do is recognize your mistakes and publicly address them...
But in ancient times, when the noble-minded made mistakes, they knew how to change. These days, when the noble-minded make mistakes, they persevere to the bitter end. In ancient times, mistakes of the noble-minded were like eclipses of the sun and moon: there for all the people to see. And when a mistake was made right, the people all looked up in awe. But these days, the noble-minded just persevere to the bitter end, and then they invent all kinds of explanations. (73)
Mencius is being polite here, still using the title "noble-minded" to describe those who fail to recognize their own mistakes and stick it out to the bitter end. I think we can safely drop that title when speaking of Bush and company. Their mistakes really are like eclipses of the sun and moon: big and obvious. But they do not make them right. And that is why the "awe" so many of us associate with Bush has nothing at all to do with his integrity, and everything to do with his audacity in trying to hide and explain away his big and obvious mistakes.
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.