Confucianism and Hope

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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 ?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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