Politics, Cynicism, and Taoists

I was talking to a libertarian friend of mine, Jake, about the criticism over my sales tax proposal by a market anarchist, who disagrees with taxing in any form.

Jake expressed that he himself was starting to see the futility with politics, and that perhaps the system is too far gone to be reformed from within.

I sent him the following note:

I think that being political in general, but especially libertarian, increases your risk of becoming pessimistic and cynical.

I'm an optimist - I think human society and conciousness has risen in the last 2000 years. I really think that America is a great country that can be improved.

The problem is, with politics, you focus on certain parts that need improvement (depending on your affiliation), and you lose sight of the things that are working.

Being libertarian makes you especially vulnerable, unless you keep in mind that it's ideal will never exist.

Humans are governed by a biological survival function called homeostasis. It fears any change that exceeds a certain threshold. It's what keeps our blood chemistry at a certain ph level and our body temperature in a certain range. But, it works on the psychological and social levels too.

Humans are comfortable with a certain level of autonomy vs. government taking care of them, and it has shifted towards more government. The comfort level cannot be shifted quickly in either direction without causing a backlash.

The libertarian ideal is way out of the current range.

My philosophy and focus is simplicity and minimalism, and working with what you have. Taoism is libertarian, but also rooted in working with, not against, nature. That is why the ancient Taoists, criticized Confucian bureaucracy but, when given a chance to work in government, refused.

They only wanted to stay close to nature, at the grass roots level. They knew that politics would affect them, not vice versa.