Confucianism - Freedom and democracy 2.0

Is Confucianism a religion?

I. Getting unstuck 1 - How can we talk with one another? Our small d democratic failure

It may seem ironic that humanists or the non-religious need a foundation for belief, but that is what I see as needed in America now. Liberals in any case need a way to talk with each other about morality and values. Secular liberals who are afraid of biblical references need a way to talk with some conservative Christians. This is a series of posts about giving secular liberals some Confucian ideas to use in exchanges with each other and with conservative Christians. Confucianism and early Christianity are virtue ethics. They share many beliefs about the means to good and moral behavior in the here and now. Confucianism can help liberals find meaning for themselves and help in communicating on big ideas.

The spirituality in Confucianism gives it a foundational leg up on other humanist traditions, including communitarianism, civic republicanism, humanism, and even the social gospel.

Confucianism - Freedom and democracy 2.0

Is Confucianism a religion?

An introduction to this series of posts  Is Confucianism a religion?  Yes. No. Maybe. Who cares?

The elevator pitch for this series of posts is that America has deep cultural problems emerging from the left and the right. Communication is poor or non-existent, but democracy needs communication to function. Otherwise we descend into tribes – as we are seeing already.

Some American secular liberals are willing to talk with some conservatives, but are afraid of running afoul of some biblical language with which they are unfamiliar. Terms like virtue, tolerance, benevolence and love are absent from liberal discourse. In any case, many secular liberals themselves can claim no particular moral foundation for their positions. Once beyond rights, which can be ephemeral, what is the rationale for moral behavior?

We need new ways to talk with each other without fear and loathing and with tolerance and benevolence.

Watch the fires burning across the river

Autocrats make blunders. Xi has made some, and Putin … well, ok. But Xi is not the isolated single decider that Putin appears to be. And China seems well-positioned to benefit from the Ukraine fiasco, regardless of outcome, if China simply keeps its head down, as best it can.

So why the unswerving support for Putin? What can the strategy be? Is it just autocrat bromance? You and me against the world?

The Left Turn in China

Mr. Xi has moved Chinese politics significantly to the left since 2012. Party theory and Party loyalty are again of supreme importance, and fear is again daily fare for many people.

But another left turn is more important for daily life in China, and that is the traffic left turn signal at stop lights. The theory and practice of left turn signalization in China needs immediate attention. Short explanation follows.

Laser-like development focus ...

Just a brief note -

Speeches and policy documents are nearly always long. It is not uncommon for a leader to talk for an hour or two on one topic, with supremely bored listeners fastened to their seats and their cell phones,  trying to pass the time. (The cell phone diversion is less common with speeches by senior CCP officials). 

Power of Prayer

Notes from visiting my government students in China

Kuandian County is in Dandong in Liaoning Province, and sits on the border with North Korea, across the Yalu.

It is one of the semiautonomous majority-minority counties in China. The population is mostly Manchu, one of the barbarian tribes that pestered China for centuries. In 1644 the Manchus took over Beijing, established the Qing dynasty and began elimination of the Ming dynasty. Kuandian is one of those dongbei, northeast China areas from which the Manchus came.