Ant McWatt stated August 22nd:
For genuine freedom for the majority of individuals in the world (rather
than a neo-con minority in the West) and a reduction in government
interference (one of your pet desires), I'd look towards some MOQ
orientated system of political anarchy with a small dose of Northrop and
environmentalism. (Note the absence of the word Liberal).
Platt then asked August 22nd:
I've tried for 10 years on this site to get you and others on the left to
spell out in detail the political system you would like to see that you
think
would reflect the MOQ. ("Political anarchy" sounds like Noam Chomsky). Will
you
now?
Ant McWatt replies:
Not too sure I like the description that I'm on the political left or the
implication that theres much wrong with the ideas of Noam Chomsky but the
following section from my MOQ Textbook should give you a good start in what
an MOQ based political system would look like:
6.2.1. THE MOQ SOLUTION TO CAPITALISM
The MOQ (as a holistic philosophy that recognises social structures as being
composed of value patterns and, therefore, being as real as anything
material) can be employed to challenge the alienating assumptions of
capitalism. For instance, it considers money as a social value and, in
consequence, recognises that its secondary to more Dynamic intellectual
values such as beauty, justice and freedom.
In the MOQ making money is a social activity that should not dominate the
higher intellectual goal of truth, or interfere with perception and pursuit
of Dynamic Quality. (Pirsig, 2002d)
Such MOQ principles are applied by Paradigm Research International which
encourages companies to operate on co-operative lines and to be sensitive to
their biological and social environments (locally and globally). Paradigms
C.E.O., Dr Robert Harris (1997, p.1) notes that such companies operate
longer, provide a less alienating working environment, and remain more in
harmony with the local and global environment. Moreover, he further
suggests that they are as successful financially, if not more so, than
companies retaining the traditional capitalist structure. However, there
are relatively few MOQ based companies and, not surprisingly, there are
considerable difficulties in convincing shareholders and directors to share
significant control and equity with their workers.
6.2.2. THE WORK OF MARY PARKER FOLLETT
Its interesting to note that Harris is interested in the work of Peter F.
Drucker (who promotes socially-conscious economic systems) who in turn, is
an advocate of the work of Mary Parker Follett (1868-1933). In the 1920s,
Follett was a well known American political scientist and management thinker
who thought a proper sharing of power within business organisations was the
key to social progress and commercial success:
Genuine power can only be grown, it will slip from every arbitrary hand that
grasps it; for genuine power is not coercive control, but coactive control.
Coercive power is the curse of the universe; coactive power, the enrichment
and advancement of every human soul. (Follett, 1924, p.xii-xiii)
According to Drucker, Follett was a prophet of management though her ideas
were largely ignored in the States during the 1930s and 1940s because her
conceptualisation of power with rather than power over others was
contrary to the dominant capitalist ideology. However, her ideas never
really went out of favour in Britain and after becoming especially popular
in Japan during the 1960s, American interest in her work returned. Her
ideas are similar to those advocated by Harris in that both think business
organizations should be flat networks rather than hierarchical structures.
Follett was able to advocate the fostering of a self-governing principle
that would facilitate the growth of individuals and of the groups to which
they belonged. By directly interacting with one another to achieve their
common goals, the members of a group fulfilled themselves through the
process of the groups development. (Smith, M. K., 2002)
Like Pirsig, Folletts philosophy also draws from the work of William James,
especially in its pragmatic sentiment. As far as I can ascertain, Pirsig
and Follett also have the same notion of the individual and both place
higher value on the creative rather than the rational aspects of experience.
It would be fair to say that Follett is a precursor of many of the MOQ
ideas applied by Harris to business.
The Metaphysics of Quality does definitely imply that, other things being
equal, an employee-owned company is more moral than a privately owned
company for the same reason that a democracy is more moral than a
dictatorship. Both enhance intellectual freedom within a traditional static
social pattern and thus are a higher form of evolution. Employee ownership
also appeals to the old Indian idea of community of equals that allows
maximum freedom for all. (Pirsig, 1991a)
6.3. CONCLUSION
It seems that, in essence, that the MOQ advocates a more balanced economic
structure retaining the advantages of (intellectually orientated) socialism
and capitalisms Dynamic free market.
From a static point of view socialism is more moral than capitalism. Its a
higher form of evolution. It is an intellectually guided society, not just
a society that is guided by mindless traditions. Thats what gives
socialism its drive
On the other hand
a free market is a Dynamic institution. What people buy
and what people sell, in other words what people value, can never be
contained by any intellectual formula. What makes the marketplace work is
Dynamic Quality. The market is always changing and the direction of that
change can never be predetermined.
The free market
(prevents) static economic patterns from setting in and
stagnating economic growth. That is the reason the major capitalist
economies of the world have done so much better since World War II than the
major socialist economies. (Pirsig, 1991, p.224-25)
Pirsigs analysis is interesting because though capitalism has serious
faults (such as Third World sweat shops and poor environmental records) its
free market element is successful in an economic context. The critical
issue then is the level of control that should be applied to a free market
to obtain as much of its benefits without the degeneracy it causes (to
higher values such as justice) when its given too much freedom. The ideal
is obtaining a balance between freedom and order and in which context they
should be applied.
===============================
I dont how much detail you want but Ive also mentioned Northrop numerous
times in the context of the international political arena and, more
recently, Tom Hodgkinson (How to be Free) who espouses an anarchist
philosophy reminiscent of the MOQ at the local level.
All around us we see stressed out workers competing for the best parking
space, snatching at every opportunity and consuming with a vigour that would
put most drug addicts to shame - Hodgkinson, with a broad sword that takes
in medieval merrymaking and our 21st century tax burden (higher now than in
fuedal times according to the author) puts forward an almost unarguable
point that we all need to slow down, consume less, laugh more and stop
striving for the next big thing. As most people deep down know this to be
true it took How to Be Free for me to finally stop and, like being gently
slapped in the face with the fish of happiness and quit rushing around like
an idiot.
It's rare for books to actually stop you in your tracks (The Corporation
- Bakan, Stupid White Men - Moore, The Culture of Fear - Glassner, How
Mumbo Jumbo Conquered the World - Wheen) but I was the road rage, drag the
dog around the park, five meetings a day, make more money screaming bundle
of stress that somehow defines modern man. How to Be Free points to an
alternative way of life that drags the absurdity of this modern capitalist
lifestyle out into the bright sunshine and stabs it repeatedly with
observations, facts and comparisons. Buy this book or alternatively, on Tom
Hodgkinsons advice, buy a ukulele .. or was it a banjo. Buy two, one for
yourself and one for someone you know who screams at cyclists.
J. D. Mulder
(http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Be-Free-Tom-Hodgkinson/dp/0241143217)
.
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