Competence and Ethics

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

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.

Wang Yangming's Community Compact

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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