How Did Lao Tzu View Of Government

Many people question if the government should be responsible for instructing people how to live in society. These people also demand welfare from the government, but are not willing to accept the laws, and the people who run the government. Lao-Tzu discusses in Thoughts from the Tao-te Ching how the government should handle its people.
In today’s society the government is expected to define right and wrong and punish the law breakers, who may not share the same morals as the government. These people who break laws may have thought that what they were doing was correct. Lau Tzu would not do this. He does not define morals. Lou Tzu would rather not have morals at all. According to Lao-Tzu people should left to make their own choices. He believes that if we let go of what society views as correct, then the people will know what to do (207). Throughout Thoughts from the Tao-te Ching it is suggested that a leader must not influence people to do anything. A leader should just let things happen and that the people will always choose the right (207). Today leadership is viewed as a way in which a person can influences others to accomplish an objective. Today it is seen that people tend to rebel against authority, and that they will not be content and do the opposite of what they are told (Lao-Tzu, 211). In Lao-Tzu’s
society this would not be an issue because the people would never be told what to do.
Lao-Tzu suggests that a leader must also empty the minds of those who he is ruling over.
Although he also states that in order to lead, first it is necessary for the people who are being ruled to forget all that they know.( Lao-Tzu, 206). A leader could then completely persuade anyone to obey. When people cannot think there is no way for them to make decisions that are what are best for them. If people could not think for themselves, then it would be the duty of the leader to instruct them on how to act. Lao-Tzu on the other hand believes that it is not the responsibility of the leader to show instruct the governed, that they will just know what to do
(206).
In the United States government, we know what the president does and how he is governing the country. Lao-Tzu believes that the people should not know what the leader is doing to govern the people (206) The president spends a great deal of time on speeches telling the American people what he plans to do while in office, but many times does not do the things that he has promised, or does not finish what he said he would do. Lao-Tzu states that a leader would act rather than talk about what he was planning to do (207). Also that a leader should also always finish everything, and everything that is done should be done in humility. Not everyone needs to know about what has been done (Lao-Tzu, 210). If the American citizens did not know what the president was doing to govern them, then they would be outraged. Alternatively in Lao-Tzu’s society the people are not aware of what their maser does and they think that what the master does for them they do themselves. (207)
In the society that most people live in today, the leaders tend to have a platform that is intended to change the world, or at least what they are governing over. Most people like this idea, because the world is viewed as imperfect. Most people would do everything in their power to change the world, whether others want that change or not. It is intended that it is for the greater good. Not everyone would agree that these world changing ideas are for the greater good. Lao-Tzu would not agree that anything that attempts to change the world is what is best:
The world is sacred.
It can’t be improved.
If you tamper with it, you’ll ruin it.
If you treat it like an object, you’ll lose it. (208)
He would be against most modern leader who believe that their changes would be extremely beneficial to the world. In Lao-Tzu’s view point any changes that these leaders have claimed to have made that changed the world only made it worse. Lao-Tzu does not believe that anything should be controlled, that leaders should be ahead of everything, but not ever in control (208). A leader must be limited in how much he can rule (Lao-Tzu, 212). If a leader today were to rule well he would need to listen to the views of the people he is governing, and be open to change based on what the people want from him. Lao-Tzu expresses that a leader must be steadfast in his word and be unchanging. He states that if you change your views that you will “lose touch with who you are” (Lao-Tzu, 208). Many people in the world today would say that a leader must stay with the times and change their views to fit in with popular culture. Lao-Tzu does not believe that a leader should govern that way (208). Many people would suggest that they should be in control of what they do with their life and how they should live it. These people believe that the government should not try to instruct them on what they should do, but the same people fight for the government to pay for everything that they need. The government gives people this money for specific things, such as food, or school, and these people only want more. They are asking for government assistance, which is exactly what they are fighting against. The government should assist the people to an extent, but for the most part they should let these people find their own way. Lao-Tzu feels that a leader will do what he needs then when he has done what is necessary he will stop (208). If the government interferes too much with the people then the country will no longer be as good (Lao-Tzu, 212).