The Timeless Way

Better Leadership: the Danger of Corruption

2010-05-22T20:27:00.000-07:00

The American Leadership Crisis

America's economy is broken following decades of poor leadership. An important step towards better leadership would be incorruptible leaders.

What is Corruption?

Merriam-Webster says corruption is an "impairment of integrity, virtue, or moral principle." Notice this definition presumes the existence of integrity, virtue, or moral principle. In our post-modern society I do not believe we can count on ambitious people believing in the existence of integrity, virtue, or moral principle. Some ambitious people know these words and might use these words the way adults speak of Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny to children, but they believe as little in integrity, virtue, or moral principle as they do Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. Many ambitious people are amoral: they are outside of the moral order.

I suggest defining corruption as a betrayal of public or corporate trust. One's actions could be both legal and corrupt. In complex business and government activities it is effectively impossible to write enough laws to make all corrupt acts illegal.

When talking about corruption in business to a business owner he segued into a discussion on "gaming the system." After our discussion I agree with him: gaming-the-system is a form of corruption.

Here is a great explanation of gaming-the-system: "Gaming the System means using the rules, policies and procedures of a system against itself for purposes outside what these rules were intended for. When a system puts too many rules in place, makes them too vague, or otherwise fails to know the consequences of these rules, people who study the rules closely can then use this massive (often contradictory) rule-set to play the 'game' their own, unexpected way."

Gaming-the-system fits within the definition of corruption as a betrayal of public or corporate trust in the sense that if you join a system governed by rules and others expect you to follow the rules, then they expect you to follow the rules to meet the ends promoted by those rules. But if you game the system, then you follow the letter of the rules in a way that subverts the intent of those rules.

When a bank takes loans off of its books just before the accounting for the quarterly financial report, then puts the loans back on the books after the accountants are gone, this is gaming the system.

Now that we have a practical definition of corruption that works in our society, I suggest that corruption is dangerous to our society, I suggest we should face the problem of corruption in American society, and I suggest we strive to reduce the amount of corruption in the United States before our country is irreparably damaged by the present levels of corruption.

Corruption Causes Hardships

Corruption within business and government leads to financial losses. Lehman Brothers went bankrupt in the Crash of 2008, and America is still suffering in 2010. In October 17, 2008, U.S. News and World Report ran the article "The Crash of 2008, How bad is it, and when will it end?" by Kirk Shinkle.

We are still seeing the financial fallout of corrupt business practices. Goldman Sachs structured an investment vehicle, Abacus 2007-AC1, some say was designed to fail because it "was jam-packed with highly leveraged, exotic trades ," as reported by the Telegraph. Goldman Sachs customers lost fortunes and the Securities and Exchange Commission has accused Goldman of securities fraud.

Remember I said a corrupt act could still be legal? Goldman Sachs might beat the charges in court, but Abacus 2007-AC1 could still be a corrupt business deal. It is impossible to write enough laws to force a clever person to be honest.

Corruption Kills

When the project manager decided it was too cold to launch the Challenger space shuttle on January 28, 1986, he was told to take off his engineering hat, put on his management hat, and rethink his decision. The project manager was pressured to do what he knew was wrong -- launch the shuttle under dangerous conditions. The most common form of corruption in America is for a senior manger to pressure a junior manager into doing something wrong. In the case of the Challenger space shuttle disaster, this form of corruption killed the crew of seven, including school teacher Christa McAuliffe.

Early Childhood Training in Ethics

The key to ethical behavior is to teach it early. An essay by Drake Bennett in the Dallas Morning News on May 28, 2010, asked "Can an 'MBA oath' fix business?" The answer is, "No." Ethical behavior needs to be instilled at at young age. I have in the past recommended all the children of Plano recite the Pledge to Justice daily after the pledges to the flags.

The Pledge to Justice: "I do not cheat. I do not steal. I do not hurt other people."

Good leadership is ethical leadership, free of corruption. The foundation for good leadership is created in childhood.

Robert Canright

Better Leadership: the Danger of Arrogance

2009-11-25T06:51:00.000-08:00

Good News

America has had a rough decade, but the good news is that we are starting to work on developing the better leadership America needs to turn our country around.

Rethinking Leadership

I started writing about the American Leadership Crisis back in January, 2007. This last year a friend recommended Where Have All the Leaders Gone? by Lee Iacocca, which also came out in 2007. It is an established fact that America is in the midst of a deep and abiding leadership crisis. The Wall Street meltdown is just one manifestation of this crisis.

The TEA Party movement is evidence that Americans are tired of failed leadership. A resurgent conservative movement is more evidence Americans are looking for better leadership.

The Texas Ascendancy Campaign is a plan to fix America's problems by taking action within Texas. You can follow the Texas Ascendant blog, which has a thread called The Texas Leadership Revolution.

This Timeless Way blog will focus now on rethinking leadership. Good leadership is a timeless human need.

The Danger of Arrogance

We inaugurate this new focus by examining the danger arrogance poses to good leadership. Examples of arrogance surround us. I will just pick up yesterday's newspaper and point you to the article U.K. Documents Show Friction With U.S. on Iraq by JOHN F. BURNS, New York Times, November 23, 2009.

Here is a great quote from a British Colonel about American leadership in this article:
“They need to reintroduce dialogue as a tool of command because, although it is easy to speak to Americans face to face and understand each other completely, dealing with them corporately is akin to dealing with a group of Martians. If it isn’t on the PowerPoint slide, it doesn’t happen.”

Here's another great quote:
“The whole system was appalling,” Colonel Tanner said. “We experienced real difficulty in dealing with the American military and civilian organizations who, partly through arrogance and partly through bureaucracy, dictate that there is only one way: the American way.”

The ancient Greeks were very familiar with the human failings of hubris and arrogance. There is the great example of hubris when Xerxes ordered the sea be whipped for disobedience.

Here is another example. When Alexander the Great first invaded Persia, that was when he was most vulnerable and most likely to be defeated. The Persian Governor had a general who him the surest way to defeat Alexander was to deprive him of foraged food: burn the crops, destroy the food. The Governor refused to listen to his expert and Alexander went on to conquer the Persian Empire.

The scorched earth policy defeated Napoleon in Russia and it would have defeated Alexander.

Arrogance shuts off good advice. Good leadership requires expert advice, but arrogance renders good advice worthless.

It is during the formative years of character formation in elementary school that lessons about arrogance and hubris must be taught. An ethics seminar in the Harvard Business school is too late to form good character.

Robert Canright

PS: Please submit your comments in English. Thank you.

Dante and Confucius on Leadership

2009-06-27T15:35:00.000-07:00

Confucianism, an ethical system, offers much to America because it teaches governmental responsibility for the prosperity of its people.

Dante's masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, has an excellent assessment of the importance of moral leaders. The Divine Comedy is comprised of 100 cantos arranged in three parts: The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso. In the middle of this massive work of poetry, over 14,000 lines, is Dante's assessment of leadership.

In canto XVI of the Purgatario, Dante asks Marco Lombardo for the source of the world's ills in verses 59 to 64. Dante asks if it is our fate, determined by the stars. Lombardo says no, that we have free will (verses 65 to 79). In verses 80 to 84 Lombardo says the problem is not in the stars, but in ourselves. Then in verses 97 to 109 Lombardo says the source of mankind's ill fortune lies in corrupt leadership, not in an evil human nature.

Mankind's ills flow not from our evil nature, but from our sovereigns who break the laws and strike at the good, according to Dante. This message echoes in Confucianism: (Analects, Book 12, Chapter 18) Chi K'ang Tzu was troubled by thieves, so he asked Confucius for advice. Confucius replied, “If you were not so covetous, people wouldn't steal even if you paid them to steal.”

If corrupt leadership is the source of the world's ills, then moral leaders are the source of peace an prosperity, which is a Confucian teaching. If moral leadership is vital for our safety and prosperity, then obviously morality should be a vital part of the eduction for our young.

Robert

Following is the pertinent text from the Purgatorio. The translation is from Francis F. Cary in the 1800's

Here is the question put to Lombardo:
59 The world indeed is even so forlorn
60 Of all good as thou speak'st it and so swarms
61 With every evil. Yet, beseech thee, point
62 The cause out to me, that myself may see,
63 And unto others show it: for in heaven
64 One places it, and one on earth below.

Here Lombardo says the answer lies with us:
80 To better nature subject, ye abide
81 Free, not constrain'd by that, which forms in you
82 The reasoning mind uninfluenc'd of the stars.
83 If then the present race of mankind err,
84 Seek in yourselves the cause, and find it there.

Here Lombardo accuses our leaders of corruption:
97 Hence it behov'd, the law should be a curb;
98 A sovereign hence behov'd, whose piercing view
99 Might mark at least the fortress and main tower
100 Of the true city. Laws indeed there are:
101 But who is he observes them? None; not he,
102 Who goes before, the shepherd of the flock,...[skip 103]
104 Therefore the multitude, who see their guide
105 Strike at the very good they covet most,
106 Feed there and look no further. Thus the cause
107 Is not corrupted nature in yourselves,
108 But ill-conducting, that hath turn'd the world
109 To evil.....

Review: Moment of Truth by Marc Nuttle

2009-06-11T20:05:00.000-07:00

I was impressed by the book Moment of Truth by Marc Nuttle. His book is written to the Christian audience, but is well suited for most conservatives and for all people who believe in limited government.

I see three major themes in this book. (1) He believes a conservative era based on Reagan has run its course and it is time for conservatives to rebuild the conservative movement. (2) He believes people are strongly motivated to improve their world for the sake of their children. (3) He believes it is time for more people to become involved in politics.

On page 25 of his book he has a graph of the 40 year long influence of Ronald Reagan. He discusses the birth of that movement and describes the impact small businessmen had in politics when they felt their businesses were threatened by Hillary Clinton's plans for health care reform.

He has traveled the world working with incipient democratic movements. He found a recurring theme in people involved in politics to give their children a better future. His comments on China were very informative. The Chinese rulers were motivated to improve the lot of their people and they saw Christianity as a positive influence.

If you can get a copy of the book, look at pages 220 -222 for an excellent summary of the book. He has a 3 point call to action: (1) Define yourself and your values, (2) Prioritize your issues, and (3) Communicate your values; lead others in your sphere of influence; illustrate your confidence.

I feel America is in peril because our leaders have lost their way. We must discover or rear-up a new generation of leaders.

All people of good will should be working to fix this country while here is still time to repair it. There is much wisdom in this book applicable to Christians and non-Christians alike.

Robert Canright

Faithfulness and America's Economic Collapse

2009-01-30T21:05:00.000-08:00

The Five Virtues of Confucius include "faithfulness," according to some translations. When I first read faithfulness in this list, I wondered what the translator meant by "faithfulness." The only occasions I have heard "faithfulness" mentioned was in the context of marital faithfulness, but that is not a topic in the Analects, so what was meant by faithfulness?

When I read Cicero's "On Duties," I saw that Cicero meant "constancy" when he said "faithfulness." Then I ran across this quote from Cicero: "The great foundation of justice is faithfulness, which consists in being constantly firm to your word, and a conscientious performance of all compacts and bargains."

Wow, faithfulness is the foundation of justice!

Is faithfulness of practical import today? Let's consider the story, "A Money-Fund Manager's Fateful Shift" by Steve Stecklow and Diya Gullapalli in the December 8, 2008 Wall Street Journal (front page). This article describes how Bruce R. Bent started the Reserve Fund, a money market fund, with a commitment to avoid "commercial paper," unsecured short-term corporate debt. Bent started the Reserve Fund, the 1st money market fund, in 1970.

Then Bruce Bent broke faith with his guiding principle and bought commercial paper from Lehman Brothers, a lot of it. Then Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, and in 2008 the Reserve Primary Fund "broke the buck:" its share value dropped below one dollar and its investors lost money. The China Investment Corporation, CIC, lost $5.4 Billion in the Reserve Primary Fund. Even today the website for the Reserve Fund advertises, "Security, liquidity, and peace of mind in one account," but how can you trust them when they have been unfaithful to their guiding principles?

America's economy is in trouble today because too many businessmen have not been faithful to what Walter Lippmann called the Old Gospel of Success. Lippmann quotes Benjamin Franklin as an example of the Old Gospel of Success: "prudent management and frugality will increase any fortune to any degree." (Page 167)

Lippmann's book, The Phantom Public, describes from pages 163 to 168 the complexities of modern business. He describes the business world as a complex, interrelated system. It is a "tangle of distant human relations," "invisibly managed markets," a chain stretching beyond the horizon, an "invisible environment," making impotent efforts to succeed by work and thrift.

Lippmann says these complexities lead to a concentration of economic power that needs to be commanded by a single source. He quotes Goethe's Faust: "And then a mighty work completed stands, one mind suffices for a thousand hands."

This line of reasoning explains Lippmann's New Gospel of Success: "for business success a man must project his mind over an invisible environment."

If there is one thing the Postmodernists have gotten right is that it is dangerous to place too much trust on the power of men's reasoning. Relying on calculated self-interest instead of morality as a compass has crashed our economy.

To restore our prosperity we must rediscover the classic virtues that made us a successful society and hold onto them.

Faithfulness is a timeless virtue.

Robert Canright

PS: At the end of Plato's Republic, Socrates says,
"I advise that we hold fast to the heavenly way and always seek justice and goodness..."
"Holding fast" is faithfulness. The "heavenly way" is the Dao of Heaven. There are Confucian ideas in the Western classics.

The Four Step Process and the Four Greek Virtues

2009-01-28T07:15:00.000-08:00

In Chapter 3 of my book, Achieve Lasting Happiness, starting on page 65, I describe the Four Step Process for Self-Transformation.

Plato listed four cardinal virtues in "The Republic." Cicero discussed these virtues in his book, "On Duties" (De Officiis). I have noticed these 4 virtues relate to the Four Step Process for Self-Transformation. Notice I said they are related, that is not to say they are equivalent.

4 Step Process ----> 4 Greek Virtues
============================
"Seek truth" -------> "Wisdom"
"Commit yourself" --> "Courage"
"Live joyfully" -----> "Moderation"
"Share hope" ------> "Justice"

In our postmodern society, I think it is important to realize there can be no wisdom without a belief in truth that exists outside the human mind. Some postmodernists believe there is no truth, that what we call truth is something we create and accept, a social construct.

When our leaders believe they can mandate reality through sheer will power, that is a serious problem, as I mentioned in this blog on January 1, 2009, "Leadership Crisis: Mandating Reality."

I believe a society cannot long endure if it does not believe there is truth in this world.

Robert Canright

I last mentioned the 4 step process on June 29, 2008
The Four Step Process and the Eightfold Path

Leadership Crisis in America: Mandating Reality

2009-01-01T21:40:00.000-08:00

NASA engineer Jeffrey Finckenor was quoted in the New York Times saying,

“At the highest levels of the agency, there seems to be a belief that you can mandate reality,” he wrote, “followed by a refusal to accept any information that runs counter to that mandate.”

This refusal to deal with reality has been a long standing feature of our Leadership Crisis. When I first started working as an engineer, decades ago, I was surprised by the gap between reality and the corporation's business plans. I have seen this refusal to deal with reality at many companies.

I remember trying to talk to a corporate vice president about problems with one of his projects, but he refused to listen. A couple of years later that project was shut down, the $25 million expense was written off, and many of the engineers and programmers were laid-off. This failure could have been avoided if problems were faced and solved instead of being ignored. What a waste of time and money that was, but this kind of waste is common in American business.

When leaders refuse to listen to the experts working for them, their projects will either be deficient or will utterly fail. Many of our executives and political leaders believe they can command unrealistic results and force success by sheer will power. NASA lost two satellites to Mars, the Mars Polar Lander and the Mars Climate Orbiter, because Vice President Al Gore decided to just order NASA to cut their budget and shorten their schedule. These failures were caused by the Faster-Better-Cheaper program pushed down NASA's throat by Al Gore. The Challenger Space Shuttle disaster was also caused by willful management.

The U.S.S. Scorpion submarine was lost at sea with 99 crew dead because management decided to use a drastically shortened overhaul schedule, as described in the book, "Silent Steel: The Mysterious Death of the Nuclear Attack Sub USS Scorpion" by Stephen Johnson. I could go on and on, describing wasted money, wasted opportunities, and wasted lives, but the point is made and a question must be asked.

How can smart people be so stupid?

Hubris, I think, lures our leaders to believe they have god-like powers over the universe.

Hubris wrecked the American economy in the Fall of 2008. The destructive power of hubris is plainly evident, and a willful disregard for reality is symptom of hubris.

The ancient Greeks learned about hubris through plays and historical accounts. The example of Xerxes whipping the sea was an example of hubris. We can teach our children about hubris the same way the ancient Greeks did: though drama, literature, and historical accounts.

It is imperative we include moral instruction in the education of our youth, educating them to be aware of hubris, to be aware of its destructive power, teaching them to recognize hubris in others and in themselves.

Robert Canright

The NYT article referenced was "The Fight Over NASA's Future" by John Schwartz, Tuesday December 30, 2008. It is a good article about NASA's future missions and replacements to the Space Shuttle.

Leadership Crisis in America: Greenspan Lies

2008-11-12T20:17:00.000-08:00

On Thursday October 24, 2008, Congress grilled Alan Greenspan about the latest financial meltdown. Here are some quotes from the Wall Street Journal, Friday October 25, 2008.
On the front page, "Greenspan Admits Errors to Hostile House Panel," by Kara Scannell and Sudeep Reddy.

"Mr. Greenspan maintained that no regulator was smart enough to foresee the 'once in a life-time credit tsunami.'"

and

"Anticipating such a crisis 'is more than anybody is capable of judging."

Yet the same issue of the WSJ ran an article on page C1, "Paulson & Co. Scores Again This Year," by Gregory Zuckerman, describing how Paul Johnson was able to foresee the tsunami, anticipate the crisis, and profit from it. Last year Mr. Johnson made $3 Billion personally from the meltdown. His hedge fund, Paulson & Co., made $15 Billion last year.

Clearly, Greenspan is lying to us again.

Robert Canright

Malcolm Gladwell Insults Asians

2008-11-08T08:18:00.000-08:00

The New York Times, in "Sociology of Success" by Stephen Kotkin, November 2, 2008, reviews the latest book by Malcolm Gladwell. Gladwell's previous two books became best sellers by taking ideas were already well known and established, repackaging them as though he had discovered something new, and writing in a light, breezy style meant to be skimmed quickly rather than read carefully.

Now Gladwell, in his latest book, "Outliers: the Story of Success", ventures into a topic broader and more complex than his previous work. Now he fails. He also insults all Asians, as the following quote from the book review describes (paragraph 9):

"If some points border on the obvious, others seem a stretch. Asian children’s high scores at math, Mr. Gladwell would have us believe, derive from work in rice paddies. Never mind that few of the test takers or their urban parents in Hong Kong, Singapore or Tokyo have ever practiced wet-rice agriculture. Noting that math test scores correlate with how long students will sit for any kind of exam, Mr. Gladwell points to an Asian culture of doggedness, which he attributes to cultural legacies of rice cultivation. (Paddies require constant effort.)"

Asians owe their success to rice paddies?

It would seem Malcolm Gladwell has no understanding of the Confucian influence on Asian cultures, where studying has been highly regarded for thousands of years.

CONFUCIAN ANALECTS.
BOOK I. HSIO R.
CHAPTER I
1. The Master said, 'Is it not pleasant to learn with a constant perseverance and application?'
2. 'Is it not delightful to have friends coming from distant quarters?'
3. 'Is he not a man of complete virtue, who feels no discomposure though men may take no note of him?'

Let's look at this again:
Is it not pleasant to learn with a constant perseverance and application?

This attitude, coupled with the financial rewards and public honors bestowed by Chinese Emperors upon the winners of their national examinations, has over the ages developed the "culture of doggedness" puzzling Gladwell.

The belief that only students who are quick studies can succeed in school is the lazy person's excuse.

Ascribing the academic success of Asians to rice paddies is lazy thinking at best, and racism at worst.

Robert Canrigh

Leadership Crisis in America: Texas Contributes to Housing Debacle

2008-10-20T18:59:00.001-07:00

The Sunday, October 19, 2008 New York Times describes how Henry Cisneros of San Antonio contributed to the housing debacle and the sub-prime mortgage disaster. In "Building Flawed American Dreams" by David Streitfeld and Gretchen Morgenson, we can read how Henry G. Cisneros, as Secretary of HUD (Housing and Urban Development) under Clinton pushed sub-prime mortgages. Then he left the government and got on the Board of Directors of KB Home and Countrywide Mortgages, both involved in sub-prime housing.

He made millions on the board of Countrywide. Then he became a developer and sold homes to people who could not afford them.

This is exactly the kind of disastrous leadership Texas needs to eradicate. America is now in a financial crisis because we have been in a leadership crisis for many years. Yes, some Texans have contributed to our economic meltdown. Cisneros is not the only one. Phil Gramm wrecked American banking.

Yet, Texas can take the lead in restoring capable leadership in America. That is the point of the Texas Ascendancy Project: setting a new standard for leadership with integrity.

Robert Canright

David Brooks and Confucianism

2008-09-13T11:16:00.001-07:00

David Brooks is a columnist for the New York Times. On Thursday Sept. 11, 2008, he published a column entitled "The Social Animal."

In this column he wrote, "Over the past 30 years, there has been a tide of research in many fields, all underlining one old truth — that we are intensely social creatures, deeply interconnected with one another and the idea of the lone individual rationally and willfully steering his own life course is often an illusion."

This is exactly what I wrote in my book: we need to recognize our connection to our community. Confucianism has a lot to say about relationships between individuals and the community. Both the Analects of Confucius (which are in my book) and the Great Learning have much wisdom on relationships and community.

In my description of The Winding Spring Process of Education I highlight a portion of The Great Learning (the Ta Hsueh, also written as the Da Xue) that describes the interaction of family and community.

Confucianism will make important contributions to America.

Robert Canright

TLR, Rod Dreher, and Ron Paul

2008-09-01T17:04:00.001-07:00

Rod Dreher's column on 8/31/08 in the Dallas Morning News was puzzling. He called the Republican party "intellectually moribund" and raised many good examples of how the Republican party does not understand the "root causes of our civilizational crisis." Rod Dreher said, "there are and have been few, if any, effective sources of countercultural resistance from the right," even though Ron Paul and his supporters have resisted the culture of corruption very vigorously.

It is true the Dallas Morning News has effectively censored the Ron Paul Revolution, but Rod Dreher cannot be unaware of its existence. Mr. Dreher is in St. Paul, saying the Republican convention has, "all the brio of the Bataan Death March." I do love Mr. Dreher's way with words, but I wonder why he does not drive over to Minneapolis and observe Ron Paul's Rally for the Republic. Here is the Mission Statement for the Rally for the Republic:

The Campaign for Liberty events planned for August 31 - September 2 will be a celebration of our movement and our supporters, a launch party for the Campaign for Liberty, and a clear call to the Republican Party to return to its roots of limited government, personal responsibility, and protection of our natural rights. The event will run in conjunction with the first two days of the Republican National Convention and will feature top conservative speakers, musicians, and organizations. It will also have an organizational and training function for the Campaign for Liberty and the Freedom Movement.

I am very glad to see a Texan, Ron Paul, working hard to bring integrity back into politics. Integrity must be a part of the Texas Leadership Revolution. America needs better leaders for a better future. Developing better leaders is a concern to Confucians. I'm glad to see a Texan, Ron Paul, leading the charge for a better future.

But I am puzzled. Is Rod Dreher unaware of what is going on in Minneapolis, or is he under orders from Belo Corporation to censor Ron Paul?

Robert

Oregon: Economic Growth without Population Growth

2008-08-23T15:22:00.000-07:00

I visited Oregon on vacation. When I started pumping my gas, an attendant ran over and informed me that by state law I was not free to pump my own gas. I had to step aside and let him finish pumping my gas and hand me my receipt.

Oregon obviously lacks economic growth. One of my sisters lives there and told me that people move to Oregon without jobs because it is beautiful. Then they struggle to find employment because there are few jobs available in Oregon.

I read many years ago an article that said people in Oregon did not want their state to become over crowded and polluted like California.

I posted earlier the speculation that a research project for a Nobel Prize in Economics would be economic growth without population growth.

Oregon would be a great laboratory to test methods of growing the economy without growing the population.

Robert

How to Win a Nobel Prize in Economics (Part 1): Economic Growth without Growth

2008-08-23T14:31:00.000-07:00

I've said before that Confucians can contribute to economics. The world will listen if you have a nice credential like a Nobel prize in economics. Once you have your prize, people might listen when you tell them there is morality in economics.

If you are a Confucian and studying economics, I suggest you go for the gold: win a Nobel prize. I suggest you might follow in the footsteps of Herbert Simon: study at the University of Chicago and propose something obvious as a new idea.

Have you ever heard the joke, "when all else fails, lower your standards"? Simon got the Nobel Prize in Economics for calling that "satisficing." I'm not joking! Check the web links.

Here is an obvious problem that has not been solved: Describe how one achieves steady economic growth without population growth.

Look at how the American economy is run: it assumes a continuously growing population. Picture yourself with a baby diaper factory. If there are more babies born this year than last year, then you can sell more product this year. If the population growth goes to zero, then so does your growth, unless you take away sales from another manufacturer.

Warren Buffet was in a panel discussion after the broadcast of the I.O.U.S.A. movie. Buffet said that the pie was always growing. That's what he was talking about: the economy grows because the population grows. This is the foundation of the world's economic system.

But the population growth in some European countries has turned to zero or gone negative (a shrinking population). Some European countries have avoided economic innovation by importing people from the Middle-East to fuel their population and economic growth. The American Ruling Class has done the same, flooding the country with immigrants and telling the American people to embrace diversity.

The science fiction writer Robert Silverberg wrote, "The World Inside," describing a world culture with over-population. Science fiction writers might find an extremely crowded world an interesting subject for fiction, but the world's resources are finite and cannot support infinite population growth. This is just a fact.

Want a Nobel Prize? Here's a Noble Prize in Economics just waiting to be picked up: describe how we can have a continuously growing economy without population growth.

Robert Canright

Here are my previous posts on economics
December 23, 2007: Confucianism and Economics
January 18, 2008: More on Economics and Confucianism
May 30, 2008: Confucianism, Economics and Finance

TLR: the Texas Leadership Revolution

2008-08-14T14:19:00.000-07:00

America desperately needs better leaders. We need leaders truly grounded in morality, having a real sense for justice and civic virtue.

America needs common moral ground. To avoid religious divisiveness, I searched for a system of secular ethics that could serve as a common moral ground for the multicultural society we have today. I believe Confucianism is a good candidate. Confucianism is a philosophical movement, not a religion. I have discovered that Texans find it difficult to consider Confucianism, so I have been studying Stoicism.

I believe Cicero's book, On Duties (De Officiis) has much to offer us. Consider this quote from the reviewer at Amazon.com: In "On Duties," Cicero drives a dagger in the heart of today's ills.

TLR, the Texas Leadership Revolution depends on moral leaders. And I don't mean frauds who tell fake stories about walking on the beach with Billy Graham, I mean men and women who manifest the leadership described by Cicero in his book, On Duties.

Robert Canright

Benevolence and Bobby Fischer

2008-07-26T20:17:00.000-07:00

Jen (Ren) is a key Confucian virtue. I ran across a reference to the kindness Pal Benko showed to Bobby Fischer. Pal Benko had qualified to play in the 1970 World Chess Championship cycle while Bobby Fischer did not, because Fischer was stubborn and skipped an important chess tournament.

Yes, Bobby Fischer was not supposed to play in that series of chess matches because he did not do what was required to qualify. Pal Benko showed benevolence to Bobby Fischer, giving Fischer the spot Benko had earned. The rest is history. Fischer was already on a winning streak. He had won his last seven chess games. Fischer obliterated Mark Tiamanov 6-0, even though Tiamanov had defeated him last time they played. Next he defeated Bent Larsen 6-0. In the semifinal game, he defeated Tigran Petrosian in their 1st game.

Fischer at this point had won 20 games straight against grandmasters. Only World Champion Wilhelm Steinitz had done better with a 25 game winning streak. Fischer went on to beat ex-World Champion Petrosian and the reigning champion Boris Spassky.

Bobby Fischer became the only American to officially hold the title of World Champion of Chess, and America was swept up in a chess playing frenzy, because of Benko's benevolence to Bobby.

Robert

The Four Step Process and the Eightfold Path

2008-06-29T14:32:00.000-07:00

In Chapter 3 of my book, Achieve Lasting Happiness, starting on page 65, I describe the Four Step Process for Self-Transformation.

Four Step Process for Self-Transformation:
1. Seek truth
2. Commit yourself
3. Live joyfully
4. Share hope

Recently, when thinking about the Eightfold Path, I noticed an overlap between the 4 step process and the 8 fold path.

The Eightfold Path of Buddhism
1. Right view
2. Right intent
3. Right speech
4. Right action
5. Right livelihood
6. Right effort
7. Right mindfulness
8. Right concentration

Look at how the 4 line up with the 8:

1. Seek truth --> Right view (1)
2. Commit yourself --> Right intent (2)
3. Live joyfully --> Right action (4)
4. Share hope --> Right speech (3)

The top half of the Eightfold Path is universal.

Comparing the Eightfold Path to the Four Step Process illuminates both.

Robert

References:
Here is a website on the Eightfold Path
http://www.thebigview.com/buddhism/eightfoldpath.html

Going through the archives of the Timeless Way Yahoo Group, here are the first 4 posts related to this 4 step process. They are a couple of years old.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TimelessWayDallas/message/14
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TimelessWayDallas/message/15
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TimelessWayDallas/message/21
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TimelessWayDallas/message/25

Good Leaders have a Noble Spirit

2008-06-11T20:39:00.000-07:00

The Wall Street Journal, Tue. June 10, 2008, had a review of a book, Nobility of Spirit by Rob Riemen. The review was written by Darrin M. McMahon. To bolster the legitimacy of this book, we are told the idea came from Thomas Mann's essay, "Adel des Geistes," which is "Nobility of Spirit" in English.

In Dr. McMahon's review, he says of Mr. Riemen, "It is the role of thinkers and writers, he [Riemen] believes, to serve as guardians of our spiritual nature and as custodians of timeless values..."

I must heartily disagree: It is your role to serve as guardian of your own spiritual nature and custodian of those timeless values you treasure. No one can do that for you.

I do very much appreciate the reference to "timeless values." My book, "Achieve Lasting Happiness, Timeless Secrets to Transform Your Life," is predicated on the belief that lasting happiness is rooted in timeless values.

McMahon says Riemen's book, "is intended as a meditation ... on the forces ... needed to sustain..." civilization. Yet, I think it is not so much ideas that sustain civilization as parents and teachers who sustain civilization. I've taught in lower economic schools, and there truly is a battle between civilization and misanthropy, between the noble spirit and the mean spirit. The battle goes on daily, and its heroes lack appreciation and support.

When I taught in the public schools, I saw many unhappy children having no idea of how to have a happy life, which is why I wrote my book and make my efforts to promote a noble life.

To appreciate how the noble spirit can give us better leaders, I suggest an alternative to Mr. Riemen's: I suggest Cicero. I suggest his De Officiis, "On Duties." The term Cicero uses is "greatness of spirit" instead of "nobility of spirit".

The book review says Mr. Riemen came upon the idea for his book at a dinner party. I was led to Cicero by my studies in Confucianism. I was looking for people and ideas from Western culture that correspond to Confucian ideals, and studied Cicero's work, On Duties, finding it very compatible with Confucian ideals.

If the next generation of American leaders would study Cicero's book, "On Duties," we would have a much brighter future.

Robert

Confucianism, Economics and Finance

2008-05-30T20:41:00.000-07:00

The Wall Street Journal has run a 3-part article about the collapse of Bear Stearns, a large investment bank (the articles ran on Tuesday May 27, 2008, May 28, and May 29). That reminded me that Confucianism has traditionally been concerned with the physical welfare of the people, as I mentioned in my New Confucian blog, Nov. 29, 2007.

In this Timeless Way blog, on Dec. 4, 2007, I discussed of moral behavior on Wall Street. Of course, moral behavior is very important to Confucians, but traditionally Confucians have stayed away from trade and commerce.

On Dec. 23, 2007, I mentioned that ancient Confucian discourses on the Salt and Iron debates and the Well-field system of agriculture show Confucians have always had an appreciation for the impact of economics on the peoples prosperity.

On Jan. 18, 2008, I mentioned the Confucian scholar Yan Yuan (a.k.a. Yan Xizhai, 1635 - 1704) discussed finance, labor and risk management.

In 2000, Dr. Wei-Bin Zhang published On Adam Smith and Confucius, the Theory of Moral Sentiments and the Analects, ISBN 1-56072-765-9 (Nova Science Publishers, Commack, New York).

So for thousands of years there has been a recognition by Confucian scholars of the importance of economics, but economics has always been a small topic within Confucianism. I think it should take on more importance.

Consider in addition to the collapse of Bear Stearns, the collapse of the investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert and the hedge fund Long Term Capital Management. These investment banks and hedge funds do not get the press coverage that Enron, WorldCom, and Arthur Andersen got, but they all form a picture of an American financial system teetering on the edge of complete collapse due to incompetent leadership.

Confucians need to take their interests in ethics, leadership, and the prosperity of the people, connect it with a love of scholarship, and direct this interest to the real world of Wall Street Finance.

If the American financial system suffers a complete breakdown, which can happen, the entire world economy would sink and people around the world would suffer. Too many leaders in finance have developed moral blindness as a by-product of unbridled greed.

Confucians can and should bring the light of morality back into Wall Street.

Robert

PS, the Wall Street Journal article I mentioned in the beginning was titled, "Lost Opportunities Haunt Final Days of Bear Stearns" by Kate Kelly

Leadership Crisis in America: February, Part 3, Texas and the World

2008-03-23T17:14:00.000-07:00

There was so much scandal in February that I have had to blog in 3 parts. The theme in today's blog is "Texas and the World."

On February 23, 2008, three British bankers were convicted of fraud in connection to their work dealings with Enron. Yes, because David Bermingham, Gary Mulgrew and Giles Darby worked with the Texas company Enron, they are now going to jail.

I want to emphasize that when Texans are involved with swindles, we can can hurt people around the world.

We had bank fraud committed right here in Plano, Texas some years ago and I'm guessing the perpetrators thought, "so what, it's just numbers in a ledger." But we have to think along the lines of Emmanual Kant's catagorical imperative: what if every body cheated?

Our Texan President permitted the bankers here to commit massive fraud with sub-prime mortgages. Our country is now in a recession. The Federal Reserve Bank is bailing out investment bankers. And the disease of Mortgage Backed Securities is rocking banks around the world.

On February 19, 2008, Julia Werdigier wrote, "Brown Defends Takeover of Ailing British Banker," in the New York Times. The Northern Rock Bank in England was failing because they believed American bankers were honest and responsible. The government had to nationalize it to keep it open.

That was February. On March 23, 2008, the Financial Times of London reported that the central banks of Europe might have to buy Mortgage Backed Securities (MBSs) to reduce the damage done to European banks by the American sub-prime mortgage swindle.

We must understand that what we do matters. Fraud committed in Texas can hurt people across America and around the world.

You cannot be a competent leader if you are unethical. Ethics is a core competence.

We are in a Leadership Crisis. We desperately need better leaders, ethical leaders.

Robert

Obama and Confucianism

2008-03-19T12:03:00.000-07:00

Barack Obama gave a speech in Philadelphia on March 18, 2008 in response to repeated airing on news broadcasts of Jeremiah Wright's inflammatory damnation of America. The speech is 37 minutes long. You ought to read it or hear it. You can do both at this link to the New York Times, although I suggest you look for a website that allows you to download the speech in its entirety so you can listen to in uninterrupted by data stream buffering.

When he says that he cannot break his relationship with Jeremiah Wright because, "he is like family to me," he is expressing a Confucian quality.

Chang Yun-Shik, in "Mutual Help and Democracy in Korea," says (p. 99):

... a social bond once established is not supposed to be terminated.

Within the uiri network of interpersonal relationships, emphasis on the person is likely to override impersonal concerns of the wider world... should there be a conflict between the two. Shifting loyalty from the person to nonpersonal concerns does not take place easily.

When Barack Obama said he disagrees with Wright on some issues, but cannot disown him because he is like family, he means there is a personal social bond that is not to be broken, as described by Chang in his article about Korean Confucianism.

A lot of Confucian ideas are rooted in our humanity, making them international in nature and applicable to American culture.

By the way, there is a higher density of Confucians in Indonesia than America and Obama spent part of his youth in Indonesia.

Robert

The article mentioned is from Confucianism for the Modern World, Edited by Daniel A. Bell and Hahm Chaibong, Cambridge, 2003.

Leadership Crisis in America: February, Part 2, Killer Leaders

2008-03-02T16:21:00.000-08:00

Adrianne Jones, a 16 year old Texan girl was murdered in 1995 by a boy, David Graham, from the Air Force Academy and a girl, Diane Zamora, from the Naval Academy. The Dallas Morning News in "David Graham full of remorse" by Debra Dennis, Feb. 10, 2008, reported that Zamora bragged to class mates that her boyfriend murdered a girl for her. One of her classmates turned her in. Now Graham and Zamora are serving life sentences in prison.

But what if her classmates had said, "cool," instead of turning her in? That day could come. Already we have had murderers enrolled in two service academies. What if there are students now in the academies who will kill to get ahead? I do mean literally murder someone for personal advancement.

We have so many kids in America going nuts and killing other kids that it is simply a matter of time before we have kids with this kind of killer mentality in the academies again, or in the boardroom in a Fortune 500 company, or in a Washington agency.

Oliver Stone in the movie JFK suggested the CIA might have been involved in the murder of John Kennedy. It might be true.

Vincent Foster died under suspicious circumstances in the Clinton White House. It is a fact that "the White House and Hillary Clinton in particular handled Foster's files and documents immediately after his death [and] became an issue of much investigation itself."

Germany was an educated, cultured nation when Adolph Hitler and his band of murderers got into power. Something like this could happen in America. This is why we have films out now like Michael Clayton, about a corporate executive committing murder, and Absolute Power, about a US President committing murder.

You might have heard me say "morality is the root of education." If you do not pay attention to morality, then you will be like Harvard, accepting Jeff Skilling and giving him the opportunity to commit massive fraud.

Simple fraud that destroys a couple of companies and ruins the lives of thousands of people pales in comparison to complex fraud, like the sub-prime mortgage swindle, that can push the entire nation into recession.

And all this financial swindling pales in comparison to the threat of having murderers in high positions of power. It might have already happened, but can we survive as a democracy if it happens again?

Killer leaders might be in our future if we continue to promote people without regard to their character.

Robert

Leadership Crisis in America: February, Part 1, American Failures

2008-03-01T18:55:00.000-08:00

So much happened in February that I will make a 3 part posting on the Leadership Crisis. This installment will touch briefly on American failures. The purpose of this post is to emphasize the seriousness of the Leadership Crisis. We have weekly, almost daily reminders of the depth of the problem. If you are not already convinced we are in a Leadership Crisis, then I hope you will believe after these posts.

I want to move beyond preaching how we are in a Leadership Crisis and start considering how we got into this mess and how we might get out of it.

The New York Times, Wed. Feb. 6, 2008, "Papers Show Wachovia Knew of Thefts" by Charles Duhigg reported that Wachovia Bank was a knowing participant in theft from the accounts of Wachovia customers. Yes, Wachovia helped crooks rob Wachovia customers because Wachovia found a way to profit from the theft. What a betrayal of their customers. And not just a few, but thousands of their customers.

Forbes, Yahoo Finance, and the Wall Street Journal (Sat. Feb. 23, 2008) said Bank of America, which purchased Countrywide Financial Corp., made David Sambol would head its combined consumer mortgage operations. Sambol, Countrywide's President, drove Countrywide into the jaws of bankruptcy. Sambol ruined Countrywide so BoA could purchase it cheaply and he gets rewarded for failure.

Remember I said we should consider how we got into this Leadership Crisis? Promoting proven failures is one of many reasons we are in this Leadership Crisis.

The New York Times on Tue. Feb. 26, 2008 published "Guilty Verdict for 5 in A.I.G. Case" by Lynnley Browning. Among the five newly convicted business persons are Ronald Ferguson, CEO of Gen Re, Elizabeth Monrad, Gen Re CFO, and Robert Graham, Sr. VP and Asst. General Counsel: convicted on 16 counts of fraud and conspiracy to manipulate financial statements. (Gen Re means General Reinsurance.)

Imagine the number of business leaders who belong in jail numbering in the hundreds, maybe in the thousands. This is a sad situation.

Also consider the unspoken premise for all this fraud: thousands of American business leaders do not know how to grow their business, which is why they resort to fraud, so they can fake success.

Why are we in a Leadership Crisis? Perhaps too many business persons have been promoted to leadership positions by faking success. Lying about schedules, budget, and performance to the CEO is not a crime. But when a faker is promoted to CEO or CFO and fakes financial statements, then yesterday's fibs become today's crimes.

Robert

Competence and Ethics

2008-02-11T17:03:00.000-08:00

The January 25, 2008 issue of the New York Times had an article, "Fraud Costs Bank $7.1 Billion," by David Jolly. This article describes how a bank employee, Jerome Kerviel, lost billions of dollars in unauthorized trading. The police are making a case against him.

I believe Stan O'Neal at Merrill Lynch and Charles Prince at Citigroup each lost more than $7 Billion for their companies, but they got big bonuses to go away.

Sending some people to jail for losing billions while you reward others for losing billions is crazy. This is part of the Leadership Crisis facing the whole world, not just America.

I say that ethics is a core competence. An unethical businessman is an incompetent businessman.

We need better ethics if we are to avoid another world wide financial depression. The world economy is quickly becoming a house of cards that will collapse precipitously from the right kind of scandalous financial disaster.

Robert Canright

Culture and Family

2008-01-26T17:17:00.000-08:00

Culture (Wen) and family are very important in Confucianism. I thought about the importance of these when I read this quote in the New York Times from the author Tom Perrotta (an old article, not a recent one):

Perrotta: "Speaking as a former teenage guy, the fact that you might someday get lucky was like the only thing getting you through those years. If you take that away I don't know what's left. It was the basic narrative of male adolescence."

Perrotta was expressing surprise that some teenagers today make an effort to be chaste.

A well educated and cultured young person has many sources of inspiration. The base life described by Perrotta is the result of a lack of culture. Culture enriches our lives. Fine music, poetry, good books, stimulating philosophy, and stimulating
conversation enlarge our humanity and expand our vistas.

A strong, loving family grounds a young person emotionally so he or she is not desperately seeking love and becoming misled by sexual passion.

I try hard to be a good parent and I believe the lessons of Kongzi and his students help me be a better father.

I see many applications of Kongzi's lessons in contemporary American life.

Robert

The article was "A writer's search for the sex in abstinence"
by Motoko Rich, Sunday Oct. 14, 2007, the Arts & Leisure section.

More People Discuss the Leadership Crisis in America

2008-01-24T20:39:00.000-08:00

Here is an article from StrategyWorld.org that discusses the Leadership Crisis in America. Confucianism can to much to improve leadership in America and the world. The Analects of Confucius and The Mencius, a collection of the teachings of Mencius (a.k.a. Mengzi or Meng-tzu) have many lessons on leadership.

Robert

Wang Yangming's Community Compact

2008-01-20T12:04:00.000-08:00

Bill Cosby in his book "Come on People" offered no new ideas for helping communities struggling with poor education, drugs, and poverty. I have started studying Confucian community compacts to look for ideas to help struggling communities.

If an American community wanted to write a compact, the following text from Wang Yangming would be a great preamble.

"The responsibility for all this should be shared by...government officials and all of you, old and young.

Alas! Nothing can be done to change what has already gone by, but something can still be done in the future. Therefore a community compact is now specially prepared to unite and harmonize all of you. From now on, all of you who enter into this compact should be filial to your parents and respectful to your elders, teach your children, live in harmony with your fellow villagers, help one another when there is death in the family and assist one another in times of difficulty, encourage one another to do good and warn one another not to do evil, stop litigations and rivalry, cultivate faithfulness and promote harmony, and be sure to be good citizens so that together you may establish the custom of humanity and kindness....

All of you, both old and young, do not remember the former evil deeds of the new citizens and ignore their good deeds. As long as they have a single thought to do good, they are already good people. Do not be proud that you are good citizens and neglect to cultivate your personal life. As long as you have a single thought to do evil, you are already evil people. Whether people are good or evil depends on a single instant of thought. You should think over my words carefully. Don't forget...."

Wang Yangming, 1472-1529

This is a brilliant exposition of the right attitude to have going into a community compact. I am too humbled by Wang's brilliance to try to add anything to what he said. I will only mention American historical context: during his lifetime Columbus discovered the New World (1492) and the Jamestown colony was started in Virginia (1508).

Robert

Chess or Sports as Ritual

2008-01-19T07:01:00.000-08:00

Ritual is a big deal in Confucianism, but what rituals so we really have in America?

The New York Times, Sunday Jan. 12, 2008, had an article: "The Ritual of Chess, a Decoder of Life" by Dorothy Spears

There is this interesting sentence in the article:

"...the sense of chess as ritual. With continued focus and awareness, chess seductively suggests, we can decipher our chaotic landscape."

There are certain ritualistic aspects of chess, but ritual is supposed to bind a community together. High school football games are more effective at that than chess.

Our high school football team went pretty far in the state championship cycle this year. Not that I'm a football fan, but because I wanted to be a supportive member of the community, I went to all the playoff games, even traveling hours out of town.

The parents and alumni were very supportive and enthusiastic. I truly felt a part of something when I joined in with their ritualistic cheers. It was a very good experience.

We do have rituals in America, we just do not think of them that way.

And sports like football or baseball are more effective as community rituals than chess, which is very individualistic.

Robert

More on Economics and Confucianism

2008-01-18T21:25:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking more about the application of Confucianism to economics.

Here's what the Confucian scholar Yan Yuan (a.k.a. Yan Xizhai, 1635 - 1704) wrote:

"...culture is not just the Odes, History, and the Six Arts; an impressive personal presence, clear speech, the military, farming, hydraulics, the use of fire, finance, grain, labor, and risk -- anything that can refine who I am and embellish
the fundamental forces in the universe -- all are part of culture."

Finance, labor, and risk are part of economics!

There is definitely a connection between economics and Confucianism.

Robert

The quote is from page 79, "Confucian Moral Self Cultivation,
2nd Ed." by Philip J. Ivanhoe (2000)

Long Term Planning, Space Colonization, and the Ru Jia

2007-12-25T19:44:00.000-08:00

John Tierney wrote, "A Survival Imperative for Space Colonization", in the Tuesday July 17, 2007 issue of the New York Times (Science Section).

Tierney raised two key points, explaining the mathematical reasoning for these points. One point was that the there is a 95% probability that the human race will last at least 5,100 more years, but no more than 7.8 million years.

We only have 3,000 years of recorded history, and we might be extinct only 5,100 years from now. That is something to think about.

Then Tierney postulated that if the likelihood of human survival is heightened by establishing a human presence on another planet, like Mars, then we have a problem because there is a fifty percent (50%) probability that we will lose the ability to travel through outer space during the next 46 years.

No one has walked on the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. We have lost two satellites and two space shuttles due to incompetent leadership. We really could lose the ability to put people on other planets, just like we can no longer build battleships.

I have long term plans, or hopes, for Confucianism in America. I hope we can start a Confucian Universiy with specialties in Education, Economics, Law, and Philosophy. Maybe this university should have a department focusing on the long term survival of the human race.

Confucianism has been slow to catch on in America. The poet Ezra Pound wrote his first translation of the Analects in 1937, 70 years ago. He promoted Confucianism in some of his writings, but World War II ended his efforts. My efforts to promote Confucianism might take as long as 15 to 25 years to bear fruit. If there is a chance we can lose space flight in 46 years, then an active Confucian community would have only 46-25=21 years to save our space flight capability.

We want to see individuals fulfill their humanity, to see leaders exhibit moral leadership, and to work for world peace (The Doctrine of the Mean). Maybe we need to add "working for the survival of humanity" to our Confucian goals!

The Ru Jia, the School of Scholars, is durable. We study works that are thousands of years old. We've already been on a mission to improve the lives of people for 2,500 years. Who else is better suited to ponder the long term survival of humanity?

Robert

Confucianism and Economics

2007-12-23T21:03:00.000-08:00

I believe America can benefit greatly from Confucianism. I am thinking more and more that Americans interested in Confucianism should want to see Confucian ethics make inroads on Wall Street.

American finance has suffered many shocks from unethical business. How many shocks can the economy absorb before the harm becomes irreparable?

A few years back we suffered a crisis in the savings and loan industry and many savings and loan banks were driven essentially into bankruptcy. Then World Com created a bubble in the internet business with a false report about projected internet usage. Now we have the sub-prime mortgage scandal. Dishonest businessmen have probably inflicted more financial losses upon America than the Al Qaeda attack of 9/11.

In the Dec. 23, 2007 issue of the Sunday New York Times, Ben Stein wrote in his "Everybody's Business" column an article entitled: "Tattered Standard of Duty on Wall Street."

Here is his concluding paragraph:
"... are we a nation if there is no meaningful restraint on what people can do with an offering statement and a computer screen inside our borders? We surely cannot remain a republic under law if there is no law except the axiom from "Richard II" that "they well deserve to have, that know the strong'st and surest way to get."

His point is that businessmen at reputable companies are violating their fiduciary duty and getting away with it.

Confucianism cares about the prosperity of the people and about moral leadership. The salt and iron debates and Mencius's discussion of the Well-Field system prove that Confucians have historically cared about economics and taxes when the people's prosperity was threatened.

The people's prosperity is threatened today. Confucians can and should work to restore fairness and ethics to Wall Street.

Robert

American Leadership Crisis in Finance and Investments

2007-12-04T20:21:00.000-08:00

Here is an article from the New York Times, "A Lurid Aftermath to a Hedge Fund Manager's Fast Life" by Andrew Ross Sorkin. The article is in the Tuesday Dec. 4, 2007 issue. It describes how Seth Tobias, who ran a $300 million hedge fund, chased after gay strippers, did cocaine, and died under questionable circumstances.

Seth Tobias sounded more like a mafioso than a businessman. Or is there really much difference between Wall Street and organized crime? There is a serious leadership crisis on Wall Street. Part of the problem is that Wall Street does not understand that simple morality is a part of competence: if you are immoral in finance, you are incompetent in finance.

Seth Tobias is not the only questionable character on Wall Street. Citigroup just recently sacked Charles Prince, their CEO. Prince participated in the sub-prime mortgage scam and cost Citigroup billions. Citigroup has been plagued by poor performance and financial scandals for years, in Japan and in Europe for example.

Confucius said you cannot hold onto ill gotten gains. The message of Confucius is that there is power in virtue. On the flip side: there is weakness in immorality, and there is way too much immoral behavior on Wall Street.

Robert

Is America Slipping into the Third World?

2007-11-28T19:12:00.000-08:00

I have mentioned elsewhere that Carlos Slim is the world's richest man. He lives in Mexico, a Third World country. The Nov. 24, 2007 issue of the Wall Street Journal had an article about the Anil and Mukesh Ambani brothers being worth almost $100 billion together. They live in India. We can see there is great wealth in the Third World, but it is concentrated in the hands of very few people while the Middle Class is very small.

The same is happening to America as more wealth is concentrated in fewer hands while the Middle Class is being squeezed out of existence. Is America sliding into the Third World? It might be.

The answer is Confucianism, which teaches that the wealth of the entire community is important.

Robert
The Wall Street Journal article is "All in the Family: $100 Billion" by Eric Bellman.

Ben Stein and the Leadership Crisis

2007-11-25T15:48:00.000-08:00

You've heard me talk frequently here about our leadership crisis. On Sunday Nov. 11, 2007 Ben Stein's column, Everybody's Business, in the New York Times had an article entitled It's Time to Act Like Grown Ups. You should read the whole article, but look at this near the end:

"But it certainly hurts to spend day after day, as I did this fall, at Walter Reed Army Medical Center — where the incredibly brave wounded soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan learn about walking and eating without their natural legs and arms — and to realize that the America for which they’re fighting is led in so many arenas, especially the money one, by such weak, disappointing specimens."

The "weak, disappointing specimens" he refers to are our leaders. After reading Mr. Stein's article I got fired up and gave this short speech: Better Leaders for a Better Future. Boy, do we need better leadership.

Here's an article about how our leaders killed an expensive spy satellite. Here's an article on how the Dept. of Education lost the results of a reading exam because no one proofread the test. What incompetence!

Just last week I was thinking how I almost went to Vietnam and my kids were almost old enough to go to the Iraq war. I resolved that my grand children should not be caught up in a poorly thought out foreign war. Then today's Dallas Morning News (11/25/07) had an article about some guy whose brother died in Vietnam and his son died in Iraq. It was on the front page: Family Endures War's Deadly Echo.

Better leadership is a matter of life and death. We must start developing a new generation of leaders, and we must start as soon as possible.

Robert

People Make History

2007-10-24T19:52:00.000-07:00

Some might think that history is the confluence of many factors. The swirl of current events that becomes history might seem so complicated as to be beyond the influence of any individual. Yet Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "...there is ... no history, only biography."

People do make a difference. In these critical times, we need the best leaders we can get, yet we have a scarcity of good leadership. We are in a leadership crisis.

Confucianism can raise up a new generation of great leaders. America needs Confucianism to survive the tumultuous current events leading to a dangerous future.

We must use the principles of Confucianism to prepare our children to become tomorrow's leaders -- effective leaders!

Robert

Confucianism and Hope

2007-08-19T19:42:00.000-07:00

The Bible says we should always be prepared to give an answer for the hope we have in Christ.

If a Confucian were asked what he hopes in, maybe it would be that moral leaders would lead the people into prosperity and harmony. Everyone should follow the way and live a life of self-transformation, but there is a lot of emphasis in Confucianism on providing advice to the ruler and a heavy reliance on the ruler to affect change.

One person in Michael Moore's movie, Sicko, said that people who have lost hope are easier to control.

Confucianism can give us better leaders.

Confucianism can revive our hope.

Robert Canright

Where is our Francis Bacon?

2007-08-01T19:44:00.000-07:00

Francis Bacon wrote a brilliant work promoting the scientific method, the Novum Organum. I look for people in Western history to serve as examples of what an American member of the Ru Jia could aspire to become.

Francis Bacon comes close. He was a brilliant thinker and writer. Those are qualities the Ru Jia, the school of scholars, should seek. He was an engaged man of action, which is very American. Unfortunately, he had character flaws, especially living beyond his means.

Nevertheless, in over 200 years of American history, where is our Francis Bacon? Since the founding fathers, America has not produced a man like Francis Bacon. If one said, "England had only one Francis Bacon," I would suggest Issac Newton, David Hume, John Locke, and Adam Smith are men of equal or superior intellect.

Are the best minds in America always inferior to the best minds in Britain? Or is there a problem in the way we education our children, an old and recurring problem?

This concern is why I have the Education for the 21st Century blog and the Timeless Way Foundation website.

America will either shrink or grow in world power over the next century. If we cannot develop better leaders, how can we florish in an increasingly competitive world?

Robert Canright

Civil Society, the Super Rich, and Political Theory

2007-07-22T17:48:00.000-07:00

I have discussed Civil Society in another web site. Basically, civil society stands is a layer of society between the state and the family/clan. Civil society is an advancement over simpler forms of society that were just the state and the rest.

Society is more complex now than in Hegel's time (Hegel wrote about civil society). We now have class that might be called the Uber-rich or Super Rich. These are people so rich that they might be beyond the reach of the law. They might actually control the law and our government.

Louis Uchitelle in the Sunday July 15, 2007, issue of the New York Times wrote an article, "Age of Riches; The Richest of the Rich, Proud of a New Gilded Age". He documents how the richest people living in America today rival the richest people in the history of America.

The Super Rich are a fourth element of society. They are beyond civil society. They are so rich, they might be beyond the state. They are so wealthy that they, and the corporations they control, might actually be a threat to our nation's economy. I will refer you to the Dallas Morning News, Sunday July 8, 2007, Rod Dreher writing, "Evils of Capitalism, Big Business Can be as Dangerous a Threat as Big Government."

Because the Super Rich can buy the government if they wish, the only protection society ultimately has against the power of the Super Rich lies in some members of the Super Rich having enough moral decency to act as a counter-balance against the unscrupulous members of the Super Rich.

Our society and our schools must embrace a common system of ethics. Since religion has been chased out of the schools, Confucianism is the only non-religious system of ethics that can work as universal ethics for our modern society.

America needs Confucianism for its survival.

Robert Canright

Peggy Noonan and America's Leadership Crisis

2007-07-14T21:13:00.000-07:00

Peggy Noonan, former speech writer for Ronald Reagan, is catching on that America has trouble with its leaders. Well, she is beginning to catch on. She wrote an article in the July 14, 2007 issue of the Wall Street Journal entitled, "American Grit", and said this:

"Americans ... are disappointed, by both teams and both sides. Some part of them thinks no matter who is president he will not protect them from forces at work in the world. Some part of them fears that when history looks back on this moment, on the past few presidents and the next few, it will say: Those men were not big enough for the era."

Well said! Are leaders are inadequate, all of them, and this era is dangerous. We are in a leadership crisis. Peggy Noonan is beginning to understand the problem.

Robert Canright

Contemporary Confucian Examples of Leadership

2007-07-08T19:54:00.000-07:00

Confucius and Mencius both had many lessons on leadership. We can solve the leadership crisis in America by applying Confucian principles. Paul Yingling and Lynn Turner are contemporary examples of leaders following Confucian leadership principles. Read the details in " Paul Yingling, Lynn Turner, and Confucian Leadership."

Robert

Leadership and a Texas Renaissance

2007-07-08T12:00:00.000-07:00

The key to developing good leaders is education grounded in morality. Morality is the root of education, as the sages have said. Better education in Texas will lead to a Texas Renaissance, which will revitalize our leaders, our economy, and our culture.

Robert

True Leadership is in the Family

2007-07-04T20:54:00.000-07:00

As I have said in the Hispanic Vision blog and the Education for the 21st Century blog, fathers need to be leaders within their families.

The Wall Street Journal, on Tuesday May 29, 2007, ran an article: "How is it that you can lead a staff but not a family" in Jared Sandberg's Cubicle Culture.

Families need the fathers to be leaders. Teachers have an expression for fathers who are a bad influence on their children: "The apple does not fall far from the tree."

America is in a leadership crisis, but every father can contribute to improving this country by being a good father. Of course, how many fathers truly know what takes to be a good father?

Robert

Leadership Crisis in Texas Education

2007-07-02T20:21:00.000-07:00

In 2007 the Texas State Legislature decided to replace the unpopular TAKS test with End of Course Exams. The End of Course exams were such a failure in the past that the State of Texas replaced them with the TAAS tests.

The TAAS tests were so easy they were replaced with the TAKS test. I used to be a math teacher and I think the TAKS tests did a fair job of measuring students' learning the state mandidated curriculum.

I think there are some problems both with the curriculum and with the way it is implemented. I know there are problems in communities that are reflected in poor preformance.

The State of Texas needed to tackle the problems with the curriculum and the problems with failing schools. When the State Legislature chose to replace the test without examining the problems, it avoided facing problems.

Running away from problems is what failing leaders do. Changing tests without facing the root causes of the failures is another example of the leadership crisis facing America.

Robert

What is the Timeless Way?

2007-06-28T10:30:00.000-07:00

The Timeless Way is an American interpretation of Confucianism. As soon as we look at Confucianism through American eyes and start applying Confucianism within American society, we begin to differ from classical Confucianism.

One example of American Confucianism differing from classical Confucianism would be an American Confucian aspiring to join the ruling class rather than serve the ruling class.

In ancient China, Confucians worked to become ministers or administrators in service to the Emperor. In America we can run for office and become the leader instead of the administrator.

As a practical example, instead of going to School Board meetings and trying to persuade the School Board to correct its errors I ran for a seat on the School Board. I have not won a seat yet, but I expect to win in the future.

Wm. Theodore de Bary wrote a book, The Trouble with Confucianism, where he considered why Confucianism did not make more of a positive impact in Chinese leadership. One thought he had, if I remember the book correctly, is that Confucians were never the leaders.

In America a Confucian can become a political leader. It would be good for America if some leaders were Confucians. We might then make headway in reducing our leadership crisis.

Robert

America is Slipping into the Third World

2007-06-17T13:55:00.000-07:00

Rod Dreher had a column in the Sunday, June, 17, 2007 Dallas Morning News entitled, "Stranded on Delta." He described being stuck on his plane for 5 hours while it sat on the runway.

Can you believe this happens in America? Isn't this what happens in poor Third World countries? Isn't this what you would expect in Mexico or Russia? How can this be?

I believe the incompetence and corruption of our leaders is pushing America into the Third World.

We have to insist on better leadership if we want our children to grow up in the America that was able to put a man on the moon. The Timeless Way, American Confucianism, can help us develop competent, ethical leaders.

Robert

"Heck of A Job" by Rod Dreher

2007-06-10T18:44:00.000-07:00

Rod Dreher's column, "Heck of a Job", in the Sunday 6/10/07 Dallas Morning News did a wonderful job of addressing the incompetence of our current leadership.

I have been discussing our leadership crisis, and Mr. Dreher was good enough to say Paul Wolfowitz was incompetent and Dick Cheney and Condi Rice are failures with Iraq. He described their performance as incompetent hackery and he called this administration a "hackocracy." I recommend his article for your consideration.

Americans need to discuss the failings of our leaders and to demand better performance.

I mentioned this also in my blog, Education for the 21st Century.

The Timeless Way is an American interpretation of Confucianism, which has a lot to say about leadership.

Good leadership is a moral issue.

Robert

Maybe the Generals are Listening

2007-05-10T19:54:00.000-07:00

I mentioned earlier how a Lt. Col. scolded the Army Generals for not speaking more frankly to the President and Rumsfeld.

Probably, the President gets the advice he wants, since he likes to surround himself with yes-men. Probably, the generals can only speak safely after retirement, and they are starting to do that now. Did the scolding make a difference?

Robert

Leadership Crisis in the Military ?

2007-05-09T19:35:00.000-07:00

Lt. Col. Paul Yingling has published this interesting article in the Armed Forces Journal: "A Failure in Generalship"

He said that our generals should have given better advice to our government, which amounts to saying they should have told the President (or Rumsfeld) he was wrong and accept being forced out of their jobs.

The willingness of an advisor to disagree with the boss even at if the cost is one's job is a Confucian virtue.

Essentially, Col. Yingling said our generals need some Confucian virtues!

Robert

America's Leadership Crisis of the Week

2007-05-01T18:20:00.000-07:00

The Wall Street Journal on Friday April 27, 2007, reported that Marilee Jones, a dean at M.I.T., was forced to resign after it was discovered she had lied on her resume when she went to work at M.I.T. She claimed college degrees she did not have. Apparently, she never graduated from any college.

There is not a week when we do not have a report of a leader in business or government in a scandal.

We have a leadership crisis.

Lee Iacocca, the former Chairman of Chrysler, has just published a book, "Where Have All the Leaders Gone."

One of the political parties claimed to embrace family values, but has been tarnished with many scandals: a Congressman who is a pedophile, a Congressional leader who covered up for him, Paul Wolfowitz, who worked for Bush, gave special treatment to his girl-friend, a State Department executive was caught using call girls.

Political parties are part of the problem of poor leadership.

Where is the solution? It is with you and me and our children.

We must set the standards.

Robert

Morality and Education

2007-04-22T15:37:00.000-07:00

Chu Hsi wrote that moral principle is the main point of learning.

America has much it can learn from Confucianism to improve our public schools.

Robert

The Importance of Moral Principle

2007-03-30T20:33:00.000-07:00

All the major newspapers have reported how the Dallas law firm of Jenkens and Gilchrist has closed because it sold improper tax shelters. Confucianism holds that moral principle is the root of education. The failure of this major law firm shows that Confucianism is pertinent to American business.

Here are links to the article in the Dallas Morning News and the New York Times.

Here is a link to another article on this topic.

Robert

Another Example of Failed Leadership

2007-03-11T18:39:00.000-07:00

We see too many examples of failed leadership. The scandal at Walter Reed Hopital is an obvious example. Less obvious is the example of college professors who promote worthless solutions. A good example is in a New York Times article, "Knowledge is power only if you know how to use it." In this article, researchers promise to deliver "solutions to problems as predictably as technological know-how does today."

America needs better leadership, honest leadership, and competent leadership. The American version of Confucianism, the Timeless Way, can develop better leadership.

Fatherhood is Leadership

2007-01-24T20:41:00.001-08:00

You've heard me say again and again that we have a leadership crisis in America.

Confucianism not only has lessons for government and business leadership, but by promoting the importance of the family, it also helps men improve their leadership in the home: fathers are leaders within their families.

This last Sunday, January 21, 2007, the Dallas Morning News (Steve Blow) and on Wednesday the New York Times ran pieces decrying the large number of unwed mothers.

Confucianism will be a great help in improving the quality of life in America.

Robert

The Crisis in American Leadership

2007-01-19T20:26:00.000-08:00

Everywhere you look, in business or in government, you see our leaders failing. Jeff Skilling has a Harvard M.B.A., yet he brought down Enron. George W. Bush has a Harvard M.B.A. and he picked Michael Brown to head FEMA during the Katrina hurricane. Do you remember President Bush's famous quote, "Way to go, Brownie. You're doing a heck of a job."

Confucianism can help American learn again what leadership is all about. The Analects of Confucius talk about leadership. There is even more material about leadership in a book called "The Mencius" by a Confucian scholar named Mencius (or Mengzi)

Education is the key to good leadership, but Confucianism or a similar system of ethics is necessary to truly unleash the power of education.

Robert

Confucius and the Widening Gap Between Rich and Poor

2007-01-10T20:09:00.000-08:00

Confucius said, "If you want to advance, help others to advance." Kongzi (the more accurate form of his name) had nothing against people becoming wealthy. He was for the prosperity of the community, but not against individual wealth.

Check out this installment of The Naked Economist. It indicates the state of the US economy, by some measures, is closer to the economy of Brazil than the economy of Japan.

The people at the top are ignoring the prosperity of the people at the bottom. This is contrary to Kongzi's teaching.

Confucianism is very pertinent to contemporary American society.

Robert

The War on the Middle Class

2006-12-26T11:13:00.000-08:00

I have just finished reading "The War on the Middle Class" by Lou Dobbs. He is correct. There are powerful forces squeezing the middle class out of existence.

Only morality can turn the tide against the forces of rampant greed. The Timeless Way is Confucianism for the 21st century. It is universal ethics that can be embraced by people of all religious persuasions.

The Timeless Way is not the study of an ancient philosophy, it is the practical application of timeless wisdom to the problems of our contemporary 21st century.

Robert

We Must Be Commited to Ethical Behavior

2006-12-20T18:27:00.000-08:00

The Dallas Morning News, on Saturday Dec. 16, 2006, ran an article from the AP entitled, "Industrial spying convictions called crucial." It said a U.S. citizen from China and a permanent U.S. resident from China pleaded guilty to economic espionage. They were smuggling intellectual property from four U.S. companies to a Chinese microprocessor company backed by Chinese government entities.

Besides being criminal, this behavior was stupid. China is awash in American money. The Chinese government can buy technology. It does not have to steal it. The theft shows low moral character. Because there was no need to steal, the alure was simply an inclination to cheat.

U.S. power brokers are just as petty. The Wednesday Dec. 20, 2006 issue of the Wall Street Journal has an article by Alan Murray, "Will Backdating Scandal Thwart Effort to Roll Back Reforms?" Here he says (speaking about this year's stock option backdating scandal):

"More that 120 companies have been implicated in what all but a few hardy holdouts now acknowledge is simple theft."

These American executives were obscenely rich, yet they still became thieves, not out of necessity, but out of a compulsion to be dishonest. They are men of low moral character.

The world needs better leaders!

This is one reason I am promoting Confucianism. It can serve as universal ethics for the whole world.

Introduction

2006-12-18T19:26:00.000-08:00

This blog discusses an American version of Confucianism.

Robert