Is the Taurian Concordate really the heir to the Age of Enlightenment?

[Kartr_Kana]

When I was introduced to Btech I jumped around from being a Davion fan to an Outworlds fan, until I finally got a hold of the old Periphery books and read up on the Taurian Concordat and the background for them hooked me. From the rugged individualism, to the line "founded on the principle of 'you don't work, you don't eat'" to fact that they were said to be the heirs to Age of Enlightenment and valued personal freedom, education and hard work, everything about them seemed to match up with my own personal values and politics. Granted, they were struggling under Thomas C who basically abrogated the ideals of his nation due to his paranoid delusions and general mental instability, but the core values of the TC were still there in the population.

Well I recently started reading through the "Handbook: Periphery" which covers the state of affairs just prior to the Jihad and am finding things that cast the whole premise of the TC in doubt. Things like the "right" to "free" and "appropriate" public education, the "right" to "free" or "low-cost" health care and the "right" to "living-wage employment." These "rights" are heirs to Marx not Adam Smith! The person writing this apparently has a Davion level education, because the details don't line up with the broad picture and I feel like I am reading about Liao not the Concordate. These "rights" attributed to the Taurian Concordate are diametrically opposed to the whole concept of a free society, descending from the Age of Enlightenment and found on the principle of "you don't work, you don't eat."

So what happened to the Concordate and in the current fluff, is it really an heir to the Age of Enlightenment and dedicated to freedom? Or has it been perverted into a neo-Capellan socialist experiment, where "prosperity" comes from government largess?

[nckestrel]

Periphery, 2nd edition.(FASA 1996)
page 17. "The philosophies of the Concordat's founders had a profound effect on the development of the realm's religious and social precepts. In addition to many important personal liberties, the average Taurian can expect free medical care, old age pensions, and a living allowance, plus guaranteed death benefits paid by the government to suriving family members."

[Kartr_Kana]

Periphery, 2nd edition.(FASA 1996)
page 17. "The philosophies of the Concordat's founders had a profound effect on the development of the realm's religious and social precepts. In addition to many important personal liberties, the average Taurian can expect free medical care, old age pensions, and a living allowance, plus guaranteed death benefits paid by the government to suriving family members."

Hmmm I must have missed that when I read through it last. However that still begs the question, is the TC really the heir of the Age of Enlightenment? And how do the authors justify this schizoid writing where one line describing the TC is "he who doesn't work doesn't eat," with the Marxist welfare state described a little further down in the same article?

Is the TC a bastion of personal freedom, which holds to the tenets of enlightenment, or welfare state that provides for its citizens from cradle to grave via crushing taxation?

[nckestrel]

They are the same as most societies?  They argue a lots out what it means.

[nckestrel]

And further notes on how far back in publishing history the TC having those rights goes..

Periphery 1st edition, p83

"The average Taurian can expect free medical care, old age pensions, and a living allowance. There are also guaranteed death benefits to surviving family members at the government's expense."

I've been trying to find the "founded on the principle of 'you don't work, you don't eat'" quote, but haven't found it yet.

[BrokenMnemonic]

The Periphery, 1st Ed, p.17:

"On Taurus, the death of Samantha Calderon led to the selection of her only son Timothy as the new Protector of the Taurian Homeworlds in 2268. Despising the democratic processes that smacked of the hated Terran Alliance, the new ruler decided to establish a hereditary rulership instead. Armed with sweeping powers, Timothy Calderon established an ordered culture based on simple social egalitarianism: no work, no food. Those who did not contribute to the general welfare were, in turn, denied access to the common welfare. Though curious and even quaint, Timothy's social-political theories provided just the impetus that the Taurians needed to expand and prosper."

However, it's worth noting that this refers to the founding of the Taurian Homeworlds in 2268, not the founding of the Taurian Concordat in 2335 - Timothy ruled the Homeworlds 'til 2330, then his daughter Sandra Calderon ruled 'til 2335, and it was her successor - Richard Calderon - who founded the Concordat in 2335.

I suspect that while the Homeworlds were founded by Samantha Calderon with around 2300 people (less however many died on the two Aquillas that were lost getting through the asteroids) in 2253, and that population had probably expanded somewhat by Timothy's founding of the Homeworlds in 2268, the "no work, no food" principle had probably become something of a metaphorical gesture/principle rather than a hard rule for the Concordat by 3025, with its population of millions/billions.

[Kartr_Kana]

The Periphery, 1st Ed, p.17:

However, it's worth noting that this refers to the founding of the Taurian Homeworlds in 2268, not the founding of the Taurian Concordat in 2335 - Timothy ruled the Homeworlds 'til 2330, then his daughter Sandra Calderon ruled 'til 2335, and it was her successor - Richard Calderon - who founded the Concordat in 2335.

I suspect that while the Homeworlds were founded by Samantha Calderon with around 2300 people (less however many died on the two Aquillas that were lost getting through the asteroids) in 2253, and that population had probably expanded somewhat by Timothy's founding of the Homeworlds in 2268, the "no work, no food" principle had probably become something of a metaphorical gesture/principle rather than a hard rule for the Concordat by 3025, with its population of millions/billions.

Thanks, just re-downloaded my copy after getting back from a campaign game and hadn't had time to find it.

I just find it odd and frustrating that the society that's supposed to value personal freedom above all and has a history where they once said "if you don't work you don't eat" now has details that belong in a socialist society with an extremely strong central government and extraordinarily high taxes instead of a free society with minimalist government and low taxes.

[BrokenMnemonic]

The Taurians don't value personal freedom above all.

The founders of the first colony were looking for freedom from social oppressors and tyrannical governments - they were fleeing the Terran Alliance, which was a strongly autocratic nation (at least in terms of everyone being subordinate to Terra) whose response to the desire for independence was to send in the troops.

Richard Calderon's offer to the planets/systems that joined together to found the Concordat was:

To the newcomers in the region, Richard offered friendship and his unswerving determination to maintain a strictly "hands-off" policy regarding their internal affairs. In return for his technology and protection, Richard asked only that they be willing to contribute to the common defense against any and all aggressors.

So, each of the planets/systems could administer themselves as they saw fit, and could benefit from shared technology, in exchange for contribution to common defense. That's minimal interstellar governance, and minimal interference from the state in the internal affairs of the planets, but those planetary governments could be whatever they wanted - oligarchies, autocracies, democracies, the whole shebang.

Shared defense is a common good. Things like universal healthcare and education are also effectively a common good - they benefit all of society. When the Periphery Uprising began, it began with a group of Taurian worlds declaring themselves independent, and the Protector telling the Star League that it was an internal Taurian affair, not a Star League matter. That's an extension of their internal policy towards the Taurian state being applied to the Concordat as a part of a higher state again. States can have high taxes and a broad level of social services like healthcare and education without being intrusive or restricting personal freedom. Conversely, "free societies" marked by minimal government services, regulation and taxes have a tendency to centralise power in the hands of the few, through the acquisition and of wealth, and control over it's subsequent disbursement. The Taurians theoretically have a society where you pay taxes, and in exchange, the government gives you protection, education, healthcare and the guarantee of a minimum living wage - so that you have the standard of living, education and good health needed to exercise your personal freedom in the pursuit of whatever your interests and nature are. Conversely, without that standard of living, education and good health, personal freedom - particularly in a lower-tech level state, on planets which are in many cases not idyllic garden worlds, could/would very quickly become the freedom to become a subsistence farmer, to starve to death, to die at an early age when you can no longer labour physically to continue eating, and where wealth becomes hereditary and a means of control.

Freedom comes in different flavours.