The Reason Why Political and Economic Systems Fail; The Executive Summary
Gregg Zegarelli Esq.
Managing Shareholder at Technology & Entrepreneurial Ventures Law Group, PC
The reason why political and economic systems fail is not complicated, but we human beings tend to avoid the critical-thinking truth when it is uncomfortable, often by application of mollifying delusive hope. [1, 2]
The cycles of revolution, growth, and decay of social constructs seem incessantly to continue, over and over. Therefore, let us try to examine the condition drawing upon our Klingon: "The truth is a dish best served cold." [3]
As you read on, please remember that the following is a summary and there are or can be exceptions to the general rules set forth herein. [4] Wisdom requires general rules as a baseline, understanding that there are exceptions.
Therefore, it is not asserted that the following is true so much as it is asserted that the following tends to be true enough. To be rational, Pi is even today not perfectly determined and a perfect circle is only a theory—indeed, even our own human existence is only an approximation—so existential knowledge concedes to close enough.
So here goes...
First we necessarily address the general rules of human nature, because, as a common sense presupposition, it is folly to assess human political and economic systems without having first a basic understanding of the essential nature of human beings.
1.The first general rule of existence, such as we know it, is that animals that exist within any eco-system of focus are interdependently related. Some animals are predators, some animals are prey, and some animals are both predator and prey.
2. Each animal serves some purpose by its existence and work. Some categories of animals are relatively more instinctual (such as reptiles), and some categories of animals are less instinctual (such as mammals), in the sense of making a free choice regarding their own conduct. (That is, so far as evidence suggests, bees don't freely choose to take a needed vacation.) [5]
3. Mother Nature's "circle of life" does not resolve to equality. Equality among animals is not a natural construct. Categories of animals are not equal, and particular animals that exist within any category are not equal between or among themselves. We talk a lot about equality as a "natural right," but nature does not grant equality. Social equality is a human contrivance. Nature abhors equality. [6] Unique particular things cannot be equal and remain unique.
4. Equality is not a natural construct, but, such as it is, Order is a natural construct. Mother Nature does not achieve order by equality, but by self-fulfilling hierarchical tiers of relative natural power. Mother Nature's "natural construct" [7] is a system of competition. Animals are not trying to be equal. Animals are trying to survive first and then to be comfortable second. Even two vegetarians will compete for the last leaf.
Although it tends to make untrained human society uncomfortable by evolved social academic imprinting, it is self-evidencing that Mother Nature tends to grant survival to the fittest (whether by brain or brawn). It is by the contrivance of societal rules and civil constraint—rather than Mother Nature's rules or constraints—that grant survival to those unfit for natural survival. It is a hard and cold truth, but nature abhors weakness, perhaps by definition. Mother nature rewards the fastest runner—the fittest—with survival and comfort.
5. Mother nature creates insecurity for survival. Getting food—that is, surviving—takes work. [8] Competition for survival and comfort significantly increases work, particularly with limited available resources, but the condition also forces strength (excellence) in form and implementation as a function of relative success for survival and comfort. Mother Nature creates the insecurity that forces the work that rewards the fittest (by brain or brawn), but human beings naturally tend to prefer to be secure and not to work—this contention is causation.
6. Mother Nature's order by inequality naturally tends to resolve to "apex predators." In nature, "power" wins (whether by brain or brawn). Humans might characterize Mother Nature's system as a "brutal" or a "mean" construct, but she does not characterize her system as such. She simply implements her rules. Mother Nature achieves order without regard to the philosophical concept of "fairness." The wolf just wants to eat, and the lamb just wants to survive. [9]
The wolf tearing apart a lamb is not good, bad, mean, or evil. As a general rule, Mother Nature does not concern herself with the plethora of confusing human mores and social moral structures. [10] Moreover, Mother Nature's systemic "apex predator" implementation has not changed throughout all of time, and there is no evidence that it will change in the future, at least in any relevant material way. Mother Nature does not grant existential perfection to any particular life: some are strong, some are quick, and some are smart. The mosquito is silent. To each its own power of self.
If any animal had no flaws, it would naturally conquer and not concede to any lesser animal. Absolute power apexes absolutely. [11, 12]
(The point about "absolute power 'corrupting' absolutely" is a social moral concept, not Mother Nature's concept.) Let us not confuse the "moral goodness" of Jesus, Confucius or the Buddha. [13] The general rule is that animals are not natural martyrs of extinction, but rather the inverse.
Therefore, we stop here and isolate two critical general rules of natural existence: a) Mother Nature resolves animal relationships to order by application of relative power; and b) the relative power of animals evolves to "apex predators" in a top-down unequal hierarchy. That is, Mother Nature tends to find order by unequal top-down power.
[Remember, these are general rules and finding some new-math sociological study about an exceptional group of monkeys in the Himalayas does not defeat the general rule. Great human beings throughout history accomplished great things without conflicting surveys of every counter-intuitive fact of existence.]
6. What is commonly understood as "civil relationships" between or among human beings, also known as "civil society," is a form of contradiction to Mother Nature. Civil society is like building a "weather shelter" of frameworked contrivances to manage or to otherwise coordinate Mother Nature's brutal construct of order by natural power. Civil society is a reconciliation, at some social level, more or less, of the more naturally powerful relative to the less naturally powerful. That is, without the contrivance of rules in civil society— without application of external power, that is, human law—the more powerful (by brain or brawn) will conquer the less powerful. To conquer, and its corollary to enslave, is a human natural inclination, proven by history. [14]
7. The specific natural attribute of relative hierarchical power is not absolute (e.g., quickness v. strength), but a rise to an unequal natural hierarchy is absolute. Each human being is created to be unique, and natural differences between or among human beings will manifest in relative power. These unlimited matchings of relative attributes of competitive power keep Mother Nature's animal life fresh, dynamic and ever-evolving.
But here is the rub: No human being can be absolutely secure that any attribute of relative competitive power (advantage) will be applicable to every context. For the excellent runner, land; for the excellent swimmer, water. The more complex the environment, the less universal any attribute of relative power, and the more insecure the assessment of advantage. Even a king needs a food-taster.
8. Man concedes apex power in a vertical life-market to achieve a more complex and interesting horizonal existence with other humans, each of whom similarly would prefer less vertical apex power in order to secure horizonal survival and comfort. Civilization is a Mother Nature human inclination workaround.
The natural quest for survival and comfort drives animals to conquer. Human enslavement of others is a corollary. The more complex the animal, the more complex the manner and method to achieve and to sustain relative power. Man is a tool-maker, and the most powerful tool that man can make is a human slave, so much more versatile than any ox or cow. [15]
[Some would say here that a morally "good" person would concede power to constraint for the benefit of the weak, but the paradox is that such a person comes after incremental evolution of social construct contrivances, and not before. In the state of Mother Nature's nature, morality as such does not yet exist...the wolf is not mean to destroy the lamb, the wolf is simply trying to survive. No less for a lone man, who will not tend naturally to die as a starving martyr to save the rabbit's suffering. History evidences the same tendency to conquer and enslave any "lesser" man. Without implementation of civil society by overriding contrived rules of order, one way or another, human beings are relegated to the default system of rules provided by Mother Nature, being a brutal construct of existence where relative power controls. Remember, general rules.]
Therefore, let us stop and isolate a rule: Civil society is intended to override the default rules of order where competitive natural power resolves to the hierarchy of "apex predator."
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We now proceed to the general rules of contrived social affinity, often known as human "law." As to what law is unto itself, we acknowledge that law is contrived force against human natural inclination.
[If laissez faire or pure human freedom actually worked and sustained in light of human tendencies, we would not need an Electoral College, salary caps, unions, anti-trust law, the anti-clothesline football rule, or indeed, laws.]
As a further consideration, we acknowledge that political and economic systems are ordered contrivances that are reflective of the human beings who are constructing them. The flaws in political and economic systems are merely exaggerations of the flaws in human beings.
[Such as it is, we are handed a human body as a gift, and we are sometimes handed a political body as a gift. The shape of those bodies in ideal form, relative to actual form by our care of them over time, is self-evidenced.]
9. The means by which humans perform work within an eco-system, with appurtenant reward of security and comfort, are denominated as an "economic system." The rules regarding which humans generally associate is denominated as the "political system." The economic system and the political system are correlated to each other, but they are distinct.
10. A political system is often denoted by a spectrum scale often denoted from the left, being Communism, to the right, being Fascism. Some political systems imply an economic system, such as Communism whereby the people commonly own the means of production. The United States of America is a republic of constitutional law, with representative elections by modified democracy, with a capitalist economic system. A capitalist economy is where the means of production is owned by individuals. A socialist economy is often thought of where the government owns the means of production (that is, neither per se commonly owned or individually owned); moreover, socialism is often considered a transitional stage to communism itself.
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Noting the relative amount of text above, you will note that most of this article regards Mother Nature. If this seems strange to you, then your educational system may have failed you. Indeed, observe carefully the majestic awareness of human nature by the American Founding Fathers and other sages:
Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. It may be a reflection on human nature....[b]ut what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. ~James Madison (Father of the Constitution), The Federalist Papers, 1788
Mankind soon learn to make interested uses of every right and power which they possess, or may assume....Nor should our assembly be deluded by the integrity of their own purposes....[t]hey should look forward to a time, and that not a distant one, when a corruption in this, as in the country from which we derive our origin, will have seized the heads of government, and be spread by them through the body of the people; when they will purchase the voices of the people, and make them pay the price. Human nature is the same on every side of the Atlantic, and will be alike influenced by the same causes. ~Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia II, Correspondence 1782-1786 [16.1]
The strife of the election is but human nature practically applied to the facts in the case. What has occurred in this case must ever occur in similar cases. Human nature will not change." ~Abraham Lincoln
Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all, and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well. ~Jesus ONE®: 372
It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. ~Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations
I purposely avoided all political disquisition; nor shall I now avail myself of those advantages, which the sacred cause of my country, of liberty, and of human nature, give me over you... ~George Washington (in replying to his enemy, General Gage) [16.2]
It is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts....I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past.... Let us not deceive ourselves. There is no longer any room for hope.... What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! ~Patrick Henry [16.3]
So in regard to wealth. Go on in confidence, study the rules, and above all things, study human nature for "the proper study of mankind is man." ~P.T. Barnum, The Art of Money Getting [16.4]
All these wise statements have one essential common denominator—one thing in common: an understanding of human nature. The awareness of the need for the necessities, incentives and rewards that human nature requires, conjoined with the known risk that human nature is weak, and is easily corrupted, evolving from an incentive to an excess. [17]
If we should note the genius of the experiment known as the United States of America, then we find that the Founding Fathers gave a political body and an economic system that provided for self-governance, free-thinking without arbitrary imposition, monetary rewards for individual excellence, all while recognizing human natural weakness by checks and balances. So says sage Benjamin Franklin, "A republic, if you can keep it." [18] That is, like any body we are given as a gift, but only if we care for it with discipline by keeping it in shape over time. [19]
The genius of the United States, as a matter of civil administration is in the balancing of human natural inclinations with civil necessities. What the Founding Fathers of the American Experiment gifted was perhaps the most perfectly constructed body since the beginning of time, reconciling the basic essential animal nature of human beings matched to the need for ascendant social civil integration of a diverse people of various personal natural and cultural attributes. Whether a nation so conceived can be sustained, and whether it can be kept, is the experiment's test, which takes time.
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Now, the political scientific reason why political systems and economic systems fail is because they fail to sustain a balance of civility reconciled to application of the rules of Mother Nature.
That is, on one hand, some systems are too close to Mother Nature, and therefore do not provide the reprieve from the brutality of that construct, yielding unhappiness that leads to frustration that leads to revolt or destruction. We might say the construct fails to be sufficiently civil. We might look at Nazism and the amoral animalistic philosophy of the brilliant Nietzsche, attached to the principles of Mother Nature and survival of the fittest, but only by loss of ascendant civil nobility and common individual security.
On the other hand, some systems are too far removed from Mother Nature, which frustrates the core nature of the human being that cannot be sustained in forced repression, again yielding unhappiness that leads to frustration that leads to revolt or destruction. We might say the construct fails to be sufficiently essentially human. We might look at communistic structures that fail to reward apex excellence, being too far away from Mother Nature, leading to frustration that excellence fails to be rewarded.
Therefore, to determine if any political system is bound to fail from within, the simple predictive evidence is whether the construct is adducing unhappiness by being too close to Mother Nature's rules or adducing unhappiness by being too far from Mother Nature's rules. Will North Korea sustain? Check the rules. Will the United States of America sustain? Check the rules. Check and balance.
Mother Nature can be persuaded, but she will not be contradicted.
We observe a historical truth: Each time that humanity is crushed by catastrophic social failure, human beings rise out of the condition magnificently, but each time that humanity enjoys unlimited success, human beings topple over tragically.
The reason is because Mother Nature has provided human beings with the instinctual DNA power to survive, which is to manage failure. Her brutal construct of natural existence does not contemplate survival and comfort without the competitive risk of failure that creates work, and, moreover, the work that creates excellence in the fittest. Simply stated, Mother Nature does not understand the construct of luxury or utopia—there is no Prosperity DNA. The fittest of her construct never stop working. Mother Nature teaches that life is work.
Watch for it: Where there is life without risk and the pain of work, and, even in prosperity, the pain of discipline to sustain a healthy body. It resides both in the upper and the lower. But the pain to sustain comes either way. [20, 21]
Mother Nature is a nurturing but stern mother. She will allow human beings some room to run and play around with ourselves in a Social Construct, by the civil contrivance of human law, but she remains ever vigilant to provide her rewards and her punishments, by her immutable rules of Natural Construct, as is fitting. [22]
Certainly virtue is like precious odours, most fragrant when they are incensed or crushed; for prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue. ~Francis Bacon
[21] Benefit and Burden
"Vitia in systematibus politicis et oeconomicis sunt mere amplificationes vitiorum in homine." ("The flaws in political and economic systems are merely exaggerations of the flaws in human beings."); "Etiam duo vegetarianus ultimo folium contendent." ("Even two vegetarians will compete for the last leaf.") ~grz
* Gregg Zegarelli, Esq., earned both his Bachelor of Arts Degree and his Juris Doctorate from Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His dual major areas of study were History from the College of Liberal Arts and Accounting from the Business School (qualified to sit for the CPA examination), with dual minors in Philosophy and Political Science. He has enjoyed Adjunct Professorships in the Duquesne University Graduate Leadership Master Degree Program (The Leader as Entrepreneur; Developing Leadership Character Through Adversity) and the University of Pittsburgh Law School (The Anatomy of a Deal). He is admitted to various courts throughout the United States of America.
Gregg Zegarelli, Esq., is Managing Shareholder of Technology & Entrepreneurial Ventures Law Group, PC. Gregg is nationally rated as "superb" and has more than 35 years of experience working with entrepreneurs and companies of all sizes, including startups, INC. 500, and publicly traded companies. He is author of One: The Unified Gospel of Jesus, and The Business of Aesop™ article series, and co-author with his father, Arnold Zegarelli, of The Essential Aesop: For Business, Managers, Writers and Professional Speakers. Gregg is a frequent lecturer, speaker and faculty for a variety of educational and other institutions. © 2023 Gregg Zegarelli, Esq. Gregg can be contacted through LinkedIn.
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ISA/TRAQ Certified Arbor Consultant at Peak Tree Specialists, Inc. PN-9710A
1yAlthough I am a theist and so have some qualms with the source of some of the specific phenomenon mentioned, this is INCREDIBLY well written and enlightening. Happy I came across it and will be looking for other stuff you've written.