The Personal Website of Mark W. Dawson

Oppressive Patriarchal Hierarchical Society

Oppressive Patriarchal Hierarchy Society, and variations of this statement, have been utilized by critics of our society to besmirch America and Americans. Usually spoken so as to fundamentally transform our society to the critics’ vision of a more just society. A more just society is a laudable goal, but the means to achieve a more just society often results in more injustice and most often ends in failure. A failure that is due to the critics not recognizing human nature or human history. If you do not recognize human nature or learn from the lessons of human history, then any change you may make is doomed to failure.

Much of human history has been of Emperors, Kings, Princes, and other Monarchies, as well as Despots, Dictators, Autocrats, Tyrants, Rulers, Chiefs, etc., with a hierarchical structure supporting them. The question is then what culture, society, government, or civilization in the world, or the history of the world, does not or did not have an Oppressive Patriarchal Hierarchical Society? Hierarchies seem to be innate in the human experience. Some people rise to the top, and some of them sink. Other people move up or down in the hierarchy due to their knowledge, skills, and abilities. Some people are just stuck in their position in the hierarchy due to birth or inabilities. The question we need to ask is how people rise and fall or maintain their position in a hierarchy? Is this rise or fall through the application of power or meritocracy? If the answer is anything other than meritocracy, then we have an Oppressive Patriarchal Hierarchy Society.

If you examine the history of fundamental changes in the structure of society and governments in the last several centuries, it can be illuminative as to the success and mostly failures of fundamental transformations of society and governance. The last several centuries have seen four major long-term transformations and several other short-term transformations. The American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, and the Chinese Revolution are examples of long-term transformations. In the 20^th and 21^st century, we have had revolutions of Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, Franco Spain, and innumerable South American countries despots that were of a short-term transformation.

In which of these revolutions can the people say they were better off after the revolution than before the revolution. Only the American Revolution can make this claim. This was because the American Revolution created a hierarchy of meritocracy and not of power. All the other transformations replaced one form of Oppressive Patriarchal Hierarchy Societies with another form of Oppressive Patriarchal Hierarchy Society. In the United States, we replaced an Oppressive Patriarchal Hierarchy Society with one based on a Hierarchy of Meritocracy. We also replaced the concept of government rule of the people to government subservience to the will of the people, and to the protection of individual natural rights from government intrusion.

Throughout history, when societal hierarchical structures were created, they were instituted with top-down authority and responsibility. The people at the top make the decisions, the people in the middle carry out the decisions, and the people at the bottom follow the decisions of those above them in the hierarchy. These decisions were often arbitrary, capricious, and self-serving, with little thought to the needs or wants of the bottom people, and often in violation of the natural rights of the people. In America, we turned this hierarchy upside down. The people at the bottom had the freedom and liberty to make decisions about their lives if these decisions did not infringe on the natural rights of others. In return, all the people had the right and responsibility to choose leaders that preserve their and others’ freedoms and liberties. American Constitutional government was formulated and instituted on this premise, and anything contrary to this premise was not to be allowed. It is for this reason that the American Revolution succeeded while all the other revolutions failed.

To those who would retort that we, the United States, still had slavery at our founding that violated these natural rights, I would respond – guilty. However, slavery was common throughout all history and in all societies, governments, or civilizations —slavery not only of physical bondage but of the psychological bondage of limited or no freedoms or liberties. Slavery was with us before we transformed our society by the American Revolution, and existed for several decades after we went through this transformation, as I have written about in several of my articles in the “History” section of this website. However, we went through another transformation in our society, The Civil War and Reconstruction, to correct the problem of slavery. This transformation reaffirmed our commitment to the protection of individual natural rights and a hierarchy of meritocracy. And we have had several other minor transformations to reaffirm this commitment. It is laudable that we have had these transformations and improved our society.

Most of the wealthy people in the United States have not achieved their wealth through oppressive or patriarchal means, but by supplying goods and services that the American people needed or wanted. Their success was not predicated upon an Oppressive Patriarchal Hierarchy Society but upon a Hierarchy of Meritocracy. Most of the American industrial and technological leaders throughout American history have started from humble origins. They rose to the top of the hierarchy through merit, the merit of intelligence, knowledge, skills, abilities, hard work, and perseverance. They did not utilize power to achieve their goals, but they sometimes used influence to retain their position in the hierarchy, as it is of human nature to do so. However, most of them were also the most charitable people that ever were in human history.

By today’s standards, they often behaved immorally or unethically, but by the standards of their time, there was much less immoral or unethical behavior. If you judge any person or people of the past by today’s moral and ethical standards, you will find all of them wanting. And if future generations judge today’s generation by their moral and ethical standards, we will be found to be wanting. As moral and ethical standards are always evolving and hopefully improving, it is only possible to judge a person or people by the standards of their time. We should learn from our history, and improve our society from what we have learned, but judgments should be reserved for our own actions. However, whenever we make improvements to our society, we should always remember “The Law of Unintended Consequences” and to tread carefully, and with the recognition of human nature and the lessons of human history.

The successes of the American people were not based on an Oppressive Patriarchal Hierarchy Society but based on a Hierarchy of Meritocracy. And their successes material benefited all the people of the United States, and now the peoples of the world. Whenever and wherever a Hierarchy of Meritocracy is instituted, the people benefit. Some may be left behind, but most are enriched and have better lives. For those left behind, we must be charitable and help them rise in the Hierarchy of Meritocracy. But to transform a Hierarchy of Meritocracy to some other form results in more injustice, and most often ends in failure.