I try not to over-diagnose the Tao Te Ching’s language. It’s been translated and retranslated more than almost any text. But some lines hit so hard they demand focus.
Chapter 53 is one: stay on the straight path, fear only deviation.
Whether your guideposts are from Taoist wisdom, the Bible, or the Constitution, the message is the same: Keep it simple. Don’t equivocate on this point.
Yet politicians do this all the time, while convincing themselves they’re still on course.
Listen to what they say: “Sure, there’s nothing in the Constitution about education or healthcare or handouts but the general welfare clause allows it — even though the Founders wanted limited government.”
Or: “The Bible doesn’t say government must care for the poor, but Jesus commanded compassion, and isn’t government the people?”
Excuses abound. Deviation becomes the norm. Expected. Demanded. The result could be seen two millennia away. We should all shudder at what’s been done.
If I have just an ounce of sense,
I follo…
