A New Social Contract: The Parable of the Happy Kingdom

A brief preamble: 

The old social contract, the last social contract, has clearly broken down. That was the New Deal, which was a compromise between the business elite and the 99%, which lasted between the late 1930s until the 1970s. The business elite, with increased global powers, decided in the 1960’s that they no longer wanted to compromise. (See Chomsky, The Crisis of Democracy.) They wanted all power for themselves – that is nothing new in history, other than its global scale. The deal was off, and the war on democracy became a full scale class war. 

Now we need a new social contract, since the liberal democratic model has failed, the Marxist-Leninist model has likewise failed; and the “new normal” of global, bi-partisan, technocratic corporate fascism is intolerable, to put it mildly, and is simply a new empire, ushering in a deeply dystopian world order, which must be flatly and firmly refused and rejected by the people.

A vision is necessary. The old models have failed, and are crumbling. The elite want to revive fascism as their solution. That will fail as well. We defeated the fascists before, and we will defeat them again. 

I have written extensively about visions for a better world, and have offered a manifesto for non-violent democratic revolution, in my first two published books: Enlightened Democracy, and, The People vs The Elite, which I would frankly urge everyone to read. 

There is, however, a value to extremely concise manuscripts or treatises, however. It needs to be spelled out clearly and in brief, so that anyone and everyone cam understand what must be done. In that spirit, I offer this parable.

*

There was a kingdom that lived in peace, but which had only recently escaped from an almost unimaginably long period of suffering and turmoil.

In this happy kingdom, which was no longer a kingdom, but in name only, new immigrants were arriving daily, for it was rumoured far and wide that this was a glorious and wonderful place to be, and a great many now wished to live there. They people of the land could not take in all the people who wished to come and share their land, but they took in as many as they could, because they knew from long experience what it was like to suffer, and they refused to turn their backs on others who were not so fortunate as they had only recently become.

Daily the new immigrants were welcomed. And a typical morning went something like this.

What is your profession, your skill set, your trade?

I am a lawyer.

Right, then. The exit is to the left, the dungeon to the right. Take your pick….. Next!

On and on it went, few lawyers daring to arrive, hearing of closed doors to them in response to their trade. Prostitutes were let in, but not lawyers.

(Lawyers, the people had decided, were barred and banned, unless they forswore their former profession, because, it was rightly perceived, lawyers had a habit of over-complicating everything, with the result that the people’s minds were clouded and confused, leaving their common sense laid waste, such that they became easy prey to the schemes of evil men and evil  women. Klauss Schwabb and Christine Lagarde, remain in their now fortuitously recovered and vivid memory.)

Carpenters, farmers by the thousands, shipwrights, cabinet makers, cobblers, tailors, potters and bakers arrived and were welcomed, but lawyers were barred – and the irony of their term for refusal was not lost on them nor on the people.

Then one day, an old man arrived, almost unnoticed in the throng, long beard and quiet ways, he almost disappeared into the woodwork. But for his twinkling eyes and unusual long brown cloak, he was a most unremarkable man.

What is your profession, skill set, trade? Have you any skills that might make your immigration to this new country easier for you?

I am a philosopher, the old man said quietly, with a voice that sounded somehow like the melody of a mountain stream, though perfectly human and natural at the same time.

The attendant blinked.

Come with me. The king – the former king, that is, to be precise – wishes to see any who might clarify what went so wrong in the past, and for millennia, and which was only overcome here, in this little former kingdom, just recently, and in our lifetimes; so that we might avoid such troubles and such evils forevermore, or at least, as much as possible.

And the old man was thus taken to see the former king.

To the king, or former king, after the usual introductions and greetings and the necessary preamble, the old man said this.

The role of government is to protect the people from tyranny. In good times, the government is nearly invisible, yet there, like a trusted dog by the fire. In bad times, when great evils arise, then only does government become prominent in the lives of the people. And when the evils are driven back, and once again held at bay, then once again, the government becomes almost invisible, like a well-fed, sleepy hound, curled up at his master’s feet. For the people are always the true masters of themselves, and hence, of the government, which is but the servant of the people’s needs. 

When the government makes itself the master of the people, then the government has become the great evil it was designed to protect against; and so, must be banished, or put down, like a rabid dog who attacks his own family. Only then can peace arise again.

This downing of the dog, as the old ones in my realm have called it, this removal of a government which has betrayed the people by overstepping its bounds, and becoming the tyranny it was intended to protect against, is best done with non-violent means, for the dangers of violence, both in terms of evil echoes and ripples spreading through space and time and minds, and even in terms of a failure to successfully complete the task of downing the rabid dog of state, can never be overstated, and so, should be avoided. But the removal of such governments from power in such times of corruption of the government, is not only the right, but the moral duty of the people. It must be firm, swift, and unhesitating, decisive and unwavering, and complete.

When the peace is restored, and the tyrannical government is no more, then the principles of liberty, justice and peace can be restored. And the central principle of a peaceful society, and a just society, is this: freedom and compassion are the two central values which must always be balanced and upheld. If either is lacking, then the society will surely and inevitably descend into madness, turmoil, tyranny and decay.

If you want to know how great evils arose in the past, this is how: the balance was lost, and forgotten. 

If you want to know how great evils are banished and prevented; and peace, and justice, are restored and maintained, it is not so complicated, but it does require eternal vigilance: you must balance freedom and compassion, and never let anyone fool you into believing that the one can be sacrificed for the other; for when either is lost, then madness, turmoil, tyranny and decay will invariably arise, and are guaranteed.

You seek great tomes, great wordy treatises, great, expansive, flowery prose, filled with allusions to famous people, deference to supposed authorities, and great canonical texts. But that is not where wisdom comes from. It is wisdom that is best, beyond all. And the heart of wisdom can be expressed in 10,000 lines, or 1,000 lines, or in two lines. Verbosity is not the measure of wisdom.

But wisdom comes not from words, in any case; and is not always immediately available, though it is the birthright (and even the true nature) of all. Common sense will do. That is common enough, when the people refuse to be fooled by puppet masters and false messiahs. Common sense is more than enough to live in prosperity, in harmony, and in peace. Read all the great and obscure texts you like. Some are of truly great value. Listen to all the verbose and airudite…pardon me…erudite, long-winded, high-sounding, jargon-dropping and pretentious “experts” you wish. Just remember, the keys to freedom, to justice, to harmony, to a life of well-being, and to peace, are within the human heart. If you cannot find them there, then seeking for them elsewhere will likely bring about the chaining of humanity, not its blessings, its protection, or its liberation. Look within.

Balancing the cardinal and foundational values of freedom and compassion is the most essential element. If you can achieve this, and you can, then you can have a peaceful society, and peaceful lives, for a long time to come.

Do not overcomplicate things. That will only invite confusion, and confusion will only invite evil, which always plays on, and feeds on, confusion. Keep it simple. Defeat the tyrants; then help the people without imposing on their freedom, and let them live in peace.

The great evils of the past – which your people have blessedly liberated themselves from, by virtue, not of their exceptional virtue, for they are simple people like the rest, but by virtue of their recovered common sense – arose because the balance was forgotten, and temporarily lost. 

The great evils arose because the right, as it was called, wanted freedom without compassion, which left the door open to tyranny, and invited it in. And they arose because the left, or the less enlightened and more confused among the left, which sadly came to dominate the people’s minds, accepted the lie that security, safety and compassion require the sacrifice and surrender of freedom – which guaranteed that tyranny would be enthroned, and nightmarish society would arise. 

Avoid such grave, and avoidable errors, and the people can live in peace, and will. It is as simple, and as challenging, as that. Remember the balance. Let the people live in peace.

J. Todd Ring,

November 22, 2020