I’m back!!!
OK. I’ll repeat. Repression and coercion doesn’t work. Despite the quoted centuries of “periods of social stability”, history simply shows a progression of cyclical failures. If you’re satisfied to be in the middle of one of these cycles, good for you! But what do you tell your children or grandchildren when they are at the end of the cycle and entering chaos? What are your words of wisdom when they ask, What the !@#&%^!! were you people thinking? How many times do humans have to come up with the wrong answers and turn around and do it again? Isn’t it about time to find a new approach to social organization?
The first thing needed is to admit that repression and coercion is a failure. It’s an easy “fix”, but a plaster that only hides the wound, it doesn’t solve the on-going problem. Answer a simple question: If repressive social organization works so well, why are things the way they are? Is the world really in a state of social stability?
I’ll introduce a little-used concept and a quaint old-timey word: restraint. It’s a concept that has always been around, just ignored. Restraint, something that finds little credence in our human history and yet is the key to break away from the constant boom and bust cycle of failed governments.
So what is restraint and what makes it the magic bullet? That’s a toughie. There are too many colors and flavors to explain it fully in this debate, but I’ll try to hit the highlights. Restraint is the opposite of the my-way-or-the-highway mentality. Instead of “me first”, it asks what is best for all. It introduces the novel ideas of cooperation, compromise, compassion, and fairness. It’s a simple paradigm that focuses on an ever more simple fact; we’re in this together and we need a way to live together.
So how do we make this work? It would take several generations because restraint is taught from infancy through adulthood. Children who learn to consider others before self will carry this understanding into all their evolving relationships – even into their notions of governing and being governed. The over-riding question is, what is best for all of us – including me? As such a novel idea becomes the “umbrella” paradigm, real social stability becomes possible.
Is this too “fluffy”? Perhaps. Our cynicism would say so, but we are in need of change and change from the constant failure generated by the convenient use of repression and coercion.