Many people are saying that life is not going to be the same going forward post Covid-19.  Very little exciting details are mentioned.  Some of the negative effects mentioned are the fact that economy will have to rebuild, ownership patterns will change, the hygiene emphasis will be enhanced, some social distancing will become the norm, governments might play a bigger role because of their underwriting of debt, more tracking of personal movement and association will become the norm.  None of these excite a free human spirit wishing to understand themselves, the world, and being able to contribute and be valuable to society.

Bearing in mind the conceptual principles of the Threefold Social Order, here are some thoughts and aligned concepts that are fairly simple and close to everyday competence and consciousness that could really shift the future in a healthy, effective and sustainable way in South Africa.  They might not be too different where you.

1 – Reconnecting competence and capital by changing the way Banks lend.

During this period of Lockdowns, people in the economic sphere have been separated from their capital.  This separation is likely to stay this way for many previously sustainable small businesses because they will not have the capital to restart having lost their savings in trying to cover fixed overheads during the lockdown period.  Despite their competence and experience in their area of economic activity, to raise more capital, the banks, as they operate today, will require security for the new loan to assist with restarting their businesses or, in my words, reconnecting their human competence with capital.  The banks are unlikely to be this flexible thus ensuring that many competent human beings with lots of experience will remain outside of the economic sphere at huge cost to the overall economy and society at large.  This is, for a society, like asking a physical human body to function with its digestive system removed.  Where is the sustenance going to come from?  No food for a living person or the means to convert it to energy, and no tax to fund the infrastructure, courts, jails, police, basic services, arts and culture and so on.  These are similar in nature.

The current conceptual bankruptcy in not seeing this problem will not change the way society is structured going forward.  There needs to be a new conceptual framework, not a mile away from the way things currently work, but different enough that it adds the salt needed to connect this separated human competence to capital again in a sensible and affordable way.  The change required – set up risk funds with the express mandate to reconnect honourable human competence and experience with capital sufficient to get going again. There is plenty capital lazing around societies around the world that is needing exactly this – to be reconnected to the human spirit.  A fraction of this dead capital would suffice and liberate the State as we know it from burdensome support of the jobless masses.

 2 – SOE’s (State owned enterprises) only in exceptional circumstances. Most of current batch sold or closed.

The conceptual blunder in this sphere, the Rights sphere, is that they are part of the economy.  This is nonsense.  Economy has to do with providing relevant products and services for the material needs of others efficiently.  The State can never achieve this as their role is completely different in concept.  They always want to attach rights to money to the State. They also want to attach money to those that keep the State in power.  This is like having you heart digesting your breakfast and your nerves conveying oxygenated blood.

How can the State be paying the salaries of the SOE’s with taxpayers’ money while these taxpayers are locked up at home because of some uncertain enemy?  Rather use this hard-earned money to fund the infrastructure and salaries of good teachers to improve basic education in a country where education standards are amongst the worst in the world.

3 – Remove racism from the economy – no BBBEE (Broad based black economic empowerment). Get mentorships going instead. Incentivise EE (Employment Equity) rather than punish.

Capital is created when human ingenuity connects with nature products and then the working of different people in the differentiation of labour.  An example would be making a chair from wood.  The price of a chair drops when specialisation occurs in the differentiation of labour where one person’s ingenuity goes to buying the right wood, another to the design of the chair and the processes of assembly, another to the costing and so on.  The market, together with the manufacturer determine a value during the trade for this product.  Where is the race of the people involved in such a transaction?  I cannot see it!  It is all about human ingenuity and experience.  When rights get attached to one’s race, all relevance and efficiency become secondary because of this right that becomes attached to one’s race. This makes the whole society poor.  Remove the rights attached to race.

4 – Encourage discreet religious freedom and remove curriculum interference.  Fund schools.  Union directed employment of teachers can surely not dictate our children’s orientation to life?

All people want to understand themselves and the world out of their very nature as human beings.  Animals don’t to this.  Human beings do.  If you remove this need and right from human beings, you push them towards being animals.  Animals can learn but they don’t realise that they are learning.  They are not conscious.  It is a gross infringement of human liberty to try to force their search for meaning out of their grasp.  Allow our individual search for meaning.  Don’t think that this can be bottled into a politically branded Super Vote container.  God won’t allow this even if some political beneficiaries of society will – for a while.

5 – Apply the law equally.  Stop targeting specific groups and adopting an ‘example’ philosophy.  Keep criminals serving their term.

When the State allocates rights on a race or political orientation basis, all those excluded from this circle go negative, underground.  This breeds conflict, self-entitlement, race and rights-based opposition, court congestion and more.  People simply don’t give their best from either those with unfair access to rights and opportunity, or from those with a cattle brand stating that they are second rate citizens just because of their race, religion, or political allegiance.  Just apply fair laws equally. Look to the future, not retribution.  Be bigger than past. 

6 – Strict and fair tax collection. No corruption and waste of taxes.

Treasure every cent of taxes collected.  Collect it from everyone fairly and equally.  Having removed the rights relating to race, religion, and political allegiance, set up excellent systems to ensure no abuse of tax money.

In summary, these six points, at least, are not complicated, have conceptual clarity and objectivity, require selflessness, diligence and more.  They will, if taken into our higher human intentions, lead to a sustainable and vital revival of the economy, a sense of freedom to find meaning in life, and sense of equity amongst the people of South Africa from where we can build something even better, and as an example for the world.

Why follow the chaos?

If each of us begins to work at gaining conceptual clarity in our thinking of these issues the decisions we make and action will begin to change and, therefore, the environment around us will begin to change.  Something like the following will begin to emerge in Society:

1. Governments will focus on providing the correct infrastructure needed by the nation and managing rational laws that will be fairly implemented
2. People will focus on their own development and the healthy development and education of their children. Families will begin to display healthier value systems.  These healthy people will populate the Government and economy improving their health and sustainability.
3. The economy will become more fluid in being able to provide the relevant material needs for society efficiently. This will drive costs and price down.