The central concept permeating the Laozi is referred therein as wuwei, which translates literally as “not doing,” but means so much more; rather than passivity, a common misperception, wuwei means noncoercive action—and here we see the overwhelming laissez-faire, libertarian, even anarchistic origins in the Laozi, thought by some to be the very first in world history8 (as in “One should govern a country as one would fry a small fish; leave them alone and do not meddle with their affairs”9—a cardinal Laozi political credo most notably invoked in a State of the Union address by President Ronald
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