Justice as Moderation

Justice as Moderation

By John Taylor; 2007 January

Confidential payment of taxes on the honor system is, for us moderns, almost inconceivable, used as we are to being forced to shell out while fervently resenting every penny. Our last essay, "Taxanon," featured Machiavelli's discovery of just such a system of anonymous, unvetted taxation during his travels as a public servant for his native Florence. Anonymous taxation had endured in Republican Rome for almost a millennium, and the system was still extant in certain small kingdoms in what later became Germany. Here they collected moneys anonymously with the only assurance that the entire amount had been paid being a citizen's sworn oath that he had done so. Thus the entire revenue stream of these city states depended upon the sense of duty of its citizens. By modern standards they had a light tax burden, only one or two percent of the citizens' possessions annually. Nonetheless, this tax on equity was a simple, inbuilt graduated income tax, and offered as a bonus an incentive not to accumulate unnecessary material possessions.

Machiavelli adjudged that the continuance of this ideal system depended upon two factors that were not possible elsewhere; one, the remoteness of these city states and their isolation from the corruptive influence of visitors from the outside, especially the French and Italians. Two, there existed a relative equality among the citizenry. They had no idle, privileged class of nobility or gentry to offer a bad example; everybody worked for a living, and among workers there was no excessive income gap.

These two requirements, the need to control information and to reduce income disparity, are still essentials of justice. Baha'u'llah established them for all time in the following two pronouncements. The first offers knowledge and unity as the criteria for taking in and delimiting the flow of information,

 "Verily I say, whatsoever leadeth to the decline of ignorance and the increase of knowledge hath been, and will ever remain, approved in the sight of the Lord of creation. Say: O people! Walk ye neath the shadow of justice and truthfulness and seek ye shelter within the tabernacle of unity." (Paragraph 15, Tabernacle, p. 9)

 Adhering to these criteria would avoid the evils of censorship and obscurantism while allowing a free flow of information. At the same time, people under the honor system would voluntarily and anonymously suppress what does not promote initiative and learning or might corrupt or degrade human dignity.

 The second quotation prompted this series on justice; it links justice with personal temperance. "Whoso cleaveth to justice, can, under no circumstances, transgress the limits of moderation." (Baha'u'llah, Gleanings, 342) In a sense it is not surprising that Baha'u'llah should assert that a just person would never, ever step beyond what is just-enough-but-not-too-much. The Arabic word for "justice" is "`Adl," which refers to the careful division and balancing needed to load a beast of burden, such as a camel or pack mule. Too much weight on one side and the animal will either topple over or exhaust itself by constantly trying to right itself. Thus His very word for "justice" implies balance, equity and centeredness.

 The loss of equality, be it in knowledge, power or wealth, excludes right and justice. This applies as much between individuals as states. The historian Thucydides describes the result of inequality in a confrontation between a strong state, Athens, and a small, weak island people, the Melians. Their one sided negotiation is known as the Melian debates. He has the Athenian commander address the Melians in very frank words:

 "... you know as well as we do that right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must." (Peloponnesian War, Chapter 17)

 The existence of inequality encourages the false belief that might makes right. Only a balanced society under a strong central authority can hope for justice and equity. If all value justice and participate in moderation and all that it implies, it would surely free us from corruptive tendencies, and this in turn would enable the world to adopt the honor system, not only in taxation but every aspect of life.

 This is a worthy social goal, for nothing can match the honor system for privacy, freedom, economy and dignity. The Res Publica, or public thing, would resemble its depiction in Rafael's "School of Athens." Here we see seekers of truth everywhere, with Plato and Aristotle walking front and center. The first has his finger pointing heavenwards indicating our universal spiritual inclinations, and the latter holds a moderating hand extended forward, suggesting temperance in all things else. The quality that balances these two loads that we all must carry, of heaven and of earth, is faith.

 "Sincerity is the foundation-stone of faith. That is, a religious individual must disregard his personal desires and seek in whatever way he can wholeheartedly to serve the public interest; and it is impossible for a human being to turn aside from his own selfish advantages and sacrifice his own good for the good of the community except through true religious faith." (Abdu'l-Baha, Secret of Divine Civilization, 96)

 I hope in future essays to discuss in further detail the implications of faith as justice as moderation.