Carefully Grandpa shuffled down the barn stairs, a trip he has taken countless times. He used to climb the steps two at a time, but that was a long time ago. Today his stride is measured and slow, leaning heavily on the handrail. He pauses at the bottom to catch his breath. He is in no hurry; the cow is already in the stall where she waits patiently to be milked. He pats the old girl’s neck and gives her some fresh hay. She moos softly and begins to eat.

In the corner stands a small stool. Grandpa shuffles over to retrieve it. He has had it for decades. It is a simple stool, timeless, ordinary. It’s bright galvanizing long gone, replaced by the dark orange patina of rust. It’s Grandpa’s milking stool, unassuming even prosaic. Although rare as hen’s teeth today, before the factory farm, before the mechanized milking parlor, every farm had one. The milking stool was indispensable to the growth of civilization.

The workaday milk stool became a metaphor for stability, as it’s three short legs provide a stable perch, regardless of ground irregularities. Place a four-legged stool on an irregular surface, and it wobbles. A three-legged one, however, is rock solid – no wobbles, no tips, the epitome of a stable foundation.

Our country was built on a three-legged stool. Many of you have heard historians compare the legislative, judicial, and executive branches to a three-legged stool. However, that is not to what I’m referring. No, the three-legged stool undergirding our country is much older than that.

Western civilization was built on these three legs. Indeed, I suspect all cultures have been similarly supported by these three legs;

• family
• religion
• government

Family –-is where we first learn to interact with others; to distinguish right from wrong; and develop a duty to others, in this case, family members.

Religion (of all faiths) – expands on the values we learn at home, to further inform and shape our understanding of societal morals. In successful civilizations, individuals share a common set of moral imperatives and understanding of what is expected of them. Through the teachings of religion, individuals develop a sense of duty to something greater than self.

Government – promulgates the laws, statutes, and rules required to run a peaceful and safe society. Government reflects the shared understandings and moral outlook of the individuals who administer it.

None of these legs can stand alone, each influence and colors the other. Religion molds the family. Family sculpts the individual, and individuals shape religion and government. The needs and requirements of government in turn color both the family and religion.

As societies become more complex, their support legs grow taller. Tall, slender legs require lateral stabilizers, chair stringers if you will, tying the legs together. These are the lines of influence discussed above. In complex societies, a maze of interlocking and entwined controls connects the legs linking them into a stable, robust support.

What we have constructed is an intricate series of control loops. Some are feedback loops, and others are feed-forward loops. Like any complex system, a small change in one condition can radically alter a seemingly unrelated parameter.

As long as neither leg grows significantly longer or stronger than the others, the stool remains level and stable which allows us to erect an increasingly complex society.

As long as the parity of the legs is maintained, all is well. Should one leg become predominant, however, then our stool will tilt. A minor tilt is no problem, we can accommodate it by reinforcing and propping our structure. We ignore the cause of the tilt at our peril. For if we allow the slope to increase it could reach a tipping point beyond which our societal structure will slide into oblivion.

Historically these legs are dynamic. Sometimes religion dominates, other times government holds sway. Sadly, our history is replete with instances of a predominate leg discriminating against groups of individuals. At times it has been religious bigotry, other times it has been governmental tyranny. We are, after all, failed beings.

Thankfully, when the system works, the web of interconnections will temper and adjust the relative power of each leg.

Over the last century, we have whittled and chopped at two of these legs -family, and religion. As the importance of each waned, we compensated by building up the third, government.  In our zeal, we have severed many of the interconnecting webs, connecting religion to government and religion to family. Absent sufficient interconnections, the legs become unstable, bowing and bending under stress. Should one snap, the entire edifice will capsize.

If we are to solve the mounting problems of today’s world, we cannot look to government alone. We must restore the health of the other legs, family, and religion. Only then will we regain stability. Only then will we prevent our slide into the abyss.

David Dahl

Check out my book Olivia’s Story Protector of the Realm, or my other works.

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