performance basing society

Performance Basing Society

Whether or not a society is competitive and thrives depends over time on the extent it makes performance the cornerstone for social organizing in all sectors of the economy� including important areas now benignly neglected. Of course "performance" is a variable and its assessment depends on the nature of the task and level of responsibility and is sometimes difficult to measure. But it is essentially enabling those with demonstrated competence to rise to levels commensurate with their ability� to the greatest extent possible (understanding perfection in anything is unattainable).

If a society hopes to thrive in the long term it must use the best of its collective intelligence to address the problems it faces or be swepth aside by others more adept at harnessing their resources. Of course the market place currently rewards well when performance is manifested as profit� sometimes to gross excess. But there are very important areas where performance is crucial to future welfare that have been neglected because of biases relating to religious belief and ethnic sensitivity.

Consider two of the most important things people do: breed and vote. Most religions have "scatter your seed" exhortations embedded in their teachings held over from when numbers equated with strength and dominance. Tribes with beliefs or common religious teachings that encouraged breeding even in the most difficult circumstances produced greater numbers and more ably prevailed over others� and spread their seed. The compulsion to breed is part of our biology.

Adding to this, some ethnic groups fear any insertion of social pressure or concern into the breeding process might result in a reduction of their group fertility and thus slow their numerical advance to greater representation and power. Again numbers are equated with power. Combined with religious concerns regarding abortion and use of birth control, these concerns have unfortunately too often forced the issue of irresponsible procreation out of the realm of political debate.

The issue of abortion is particularly divisive because some of the most fanatical religious beliefs equate abortion to murder. We seem to be able to equate reverence for life in other species with cognitive ability or awareness, but when it comes to viewing the value of human life we get lost. We "naturally" accord more "value" or respect to dogs and dolphins than we do to rats and cockroaches, but when considering the value of human life some due to religious bias advocate the same reverence for the glob of cells forming a human embryo as they would an adult.

Our failure to deal effectively with irresponsible procreation has resulted in over half of all US births being delivered by mothers on welfare or public assistance. And these women have a fertility rate three times that of others. Clearly current policies are not only failing they are making the problem worse. Given the fact (acknowledging exceptions) that financially stressed women are less likely to be on the upper end of the cognitive bell curve we should be able to envision the impact of our negligence on the quality of the human gene pool� while at the same time we lament growing levels of social dysfunction and seemingly intractable poverty and unemployment.

Then consider voting. We currently enfranchise as many people as possible with equal voice in electoral processes at all levels of government. We do this regardless of voter awareness about issues germane to their own welfare or the welfare of society. Past abuses of the electoral system due to racial and other biases have understandably stigmatized any competency standards limiting the "right" to vote. But since leaders generally reflect the intelligence (or lack of) of those electing them, it seems like head in the sand mentality not to question whether universal voting privileges is a good idea. We spend a lot of time criticizing government but seem to be adverse to looking at why it is so often so incompetent.

First consider the common contention voting is a "right". The word democracy does not appear in the US Constitution. In fact the privilege of voting was initially granted only to white male owners of property. These limitations are not necessarily good criteria for measuring or assuring awareness or wisdom. But they certainly dispel the notion that an absolute democracy enfranchising all with equal voice is part of the founding philosophy of the United States. The privilege of voting is not a universal right in any fundamental legal context.

Lack of standards also skews electoral politics towards pandering to the lowest common denominator and often results in politicians playing one vested group interest against another� poor versus rich, religious extremists against moderates, etc. Candidates thus focus on "gut" issues tapping emotionally charged prejudices and biases. The past or present lifestyles of candidates are perused and scrutinized in detail to find vulnerability. Campaigns degenerate to superficial sloganeering punctuated with sound bites to smear opponents. This type of process alienates many of the best and brightest and keeps some or the most inquisitive and creative minds from seeking political leadership.

Of course we could continue to tinker with the educational system to improve education for all� and presumably over time expand the general awareness of the public. However over much of our history much tinkering has been tried with little improvement to show for it. Students today seem even more out of touch and ignorant about the world around them than their predecessors. We spend over twice per capita on education when compared to other developed countries and our students still rank at the bottom on the scale of achievement. Ignorance and apathy actually seem to be expanding due to distractions and the growing complexity of life that overwhelm the minds of many. And even if we were able to substantially improve the system there would still be a significant fraction essentially unreachable or uneducable due to factors extending far beyond the reach of the educational system.

An alternative to absolute democracy would be to weigh each vote in proportion to awareness as gauged by scores on a civics test that would measure basic understanding of government and the economic, technical and social problems with which it must handle. Voters scoring at the ninetieth percentile would cast votes weighing three times those scoring at thirtieth percentile, etc. And it should stand without explanation that since access to the vote has such a history of corruption and manipulation by those with racial or other biases any approach limiting democracy would have to be carefully constructed to assure fairness and relevance to a basic understanding of crucial issues facing political leadership.

Another spin-off attribute would be likely greater motivation for some to seek a greater understanding of the world. Many who might have been apathetic when young might be motivated at a later stage in their lives to improve their awareness in order to attain the vote and become a more responsible member of society. If awareness meant more in terms of social prestige it might be more actively pursued.

If voting and procreation are to be rights they must be shouldered with responsibility like other rights. Just as we do not encourage drunks to drive we should not encourage the ignorant or irresponsible to vote or breed and thus endanger all. No one benefits from poor leadership or the perpetuation of generations on welfare. If our goal is the greater good for the greater numbers (of all life) then we should facilitate this outcome with the implementation of policies that enable those with the greatest competence to lead and manage the institutions that make or provide the goods and services we depend on for our well being.

Many equate attempts to limit irresponsible voting and breeding to ill founded policies of the past. But it is wrong headed to stigmatize any rational change with examples of misuse from our sordid history. Past policies were driven by phobias and prejudices untied to reason including racism, sexism, homophobia and the hegemonious monopolization of the process of wealth creation. Giving a greater democratic voice to some based on awareness has never been tried. And not discouraging those unable to care for even themselves from breeding at disproportionate rates seems plainly stupid.

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