This is going to be among my final posts on this site, so I want to talk more about The Great Learning, one of my most favorite readings/China topics of the entire semester. I revisited it this evening while listening to a podcast about the current state of affairs of American society as it relates to COVID19.
So obviously, this virus sucks. It has completely killed our economy and our people, totally disrupting our way of life well into the foreseeable future. I also believe leadership at our highest federal levels are lackluster and not really doing enough in my mind to minimize the impacts of this virus. The Great Learning has a number of important points and or values that I think are somewhat relatable or identifiable in some capacity in today’s modern political landscape. The fifth bullet point discussing virtues in the kingdom is something I wish was actually happening for the federal government. I feel like their bold, standoffish behavior with states that don’t necessarily agree with political beliefs were adversely affected in the recovery process. New York is the prime example of one of the ‘States’. Success with this virus should have started with consulting states, but that obviously did not happen. To a lesser extent, California and New Jersey parallel New York’s dire situation.
The 12th bullet point talking about states being rightly governed is also a concerning area for me. In April, it was explained by our leaders that the recovery journey will mostly be left up to the states, opting to take a more hands-off approach to handle this situation. It wasn’t (and still isn’t) a very widely accepted idea; there are protests happening in states like California and Michigan with protestors wanting change to what they see as ineffective emergency policy at the state levels. Thankfully i don’t think that will become any bigger than it already is, but it screams of civil unrest because of a general lack of direction from our P.O.T.U.S. This would not be happening if the Executive branch had a more firm presence (if I were a betting man, i would bet my car on this, but that will never happen). As mentioned in the 14th bullet point, ‘it cannot be, when the root is neglected, that what should spring from it will be well ordered’. I really don’t think we have any true unity anymore, which really sucks. Unity I feel is now more of a ‘pay to play’ or you have to give something to get someone’s loyalty or you only unite when not doing so would lead to something bad happening. If anybody sees unity, its probably from the protestors, who I don’t honestly think really fully understand the situation.
The ‘root’s of our country are divided with left and right, blue and red; its fairly obvious and it won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. If only Confucius was here; his wisdom and sage advice would be a godsend to many of our leaders not only nationally, but internationally as well to countries like China and Russia. He may not have been able to prevent the virus or prevent deaths, but without question he certainly would have done more good than bad if we’re comparing him to the White House.