How Would Lao-Tzu Vote?

Let every state be simple

like a small village with few people.

There may be tools to speed things up ten or a hundred times,

yet no one will care to use them.

There may be boats and carriages

yet they will remain without riders.

There may be armor and weaponry

yet they will sit collecting dust.

The people must take death seriously

and not waste their lives in distant lands.

Let them return to the knotting of cord.

Let them enjoy their food

and care for their clothing.

Let them be content in their homes

and joyful in the way they live.

Neighboring villages are within sight of each other.

Roosters and dogs can be heard in the distance.

Should a man grow old and die without ever leaving his village,

let him feel as though there was nothing he missed.

    The Tao Te Ching, Chapter 80 – trans. Jonathan Star

In a recent discussion I was asked if I could comment on what the ancient Sage, Lao-Tzu, might say about the approaching Presidential election in the United States. The question was asked sincerely and I tried to consider an honest answer.

Lao-Tzu lived during a chaotic period of China’s history. Several powerful kingdoms were vying for the power to establish an Empire. Great armies were being raised on all sides and the wealth than had been spread throughout ninety percent of the population who lived in rural villages was being siphoned into the urban areas where it was concentrated in the hands of a very few. Loyalty, civic duty, and patriotism were the watchwords of the day. Expressions of dissatisfaction were viewed with suspicion. It was in this context that the teachings of Lao-Tzu’s Taoist philosophy were formed.

The power structures of his day considered him an anarchist. He was a rural idealist and felt that the only legitimate government was that of the small community, free to decide it’s own common good and purpose. Leaders would not be those who marched out front and set the goals, but those who discerned with the community wanted and unobtrusively helped them achieve it. Armies would not be necessary because no one would want to amass territory or resources. It’s idealism, to be sure. But the Tao Te Ching is a book of ideals; a series of poetic observations of the way the Cosmos spontaneously unfolds itself. It is a call for humanity to wake from its dreaming and return to its proper place in the Mystery of Life.

So my honest answer is that I believe that he would long ago have left this society behind and the question of how he would vote would never arise. He would consider the country ungovernable and would ignore the empty rituals that perpetuate and legitimatize the privilege and power of the few. He did believe he had a civic duty and he fulfilled it through his teaching and through his life. His advice to us today would be the same advice he wrote to the Chinese people before he disappeared “into the West” twenty-five hundred years ago: the 81 poems of the Tao Te Ching.

What about the specter of Donald Trump? Wouldn’t that be enough to convince him to vote? I can understand that feeling. In truth, Donald Trump is a misogynistic, ignorant, bigoted, sociopath and it is horrifying to think of him as President. But the office of President itself has turned into a horror show; an office no one in any sane society should be allowed to hold. That Donald Trump would be for a nanosecond considered for any leadership position illustrates the dysfunction and insanity of what we have come to call “democracy.”

I will cast what informed votes I can in local issues and participate in my community in as many authentic ways as I am able. But more and more I have the feeling that this nation is no longer functional. It is a shared illusion built on the flawed premise that the nation-state is a viable form of human social arrangement. So, what are we to do? Do we take to the hills? Do we revolt and man the barricades? Those are both possibilities, but neither addresses the true problem: that the modern nation, as it exists, can no longer meet the true needs of humanity. Something entirely new is needed, and I believe the Tao is taking us in that direction. It is inviting us back to an understanding of government that values simplicity, humility, and service in leadership.

New forms of human community are already emerging. People are gathering to support each other in a multitude of ways. My hope is that these creative forms will emerge quickly enough to lessen the chaos of the decline of the nation-state. But there will be many decades, even centuries, of difficult transitions, experiments, failures, and successes. You and I will see the beginnings. Our children, grandchildren, and following generations will have to supply the creative vision and the courage to bring a new world into being. We can help them by ourselves ceasing to cling to a dream that has turned into a nightmare. By waking up, taking their hands and pointing them toward a new humanity, we will fulfill the most important civic duty we will ever face.