Peter Allen was a singer-songwriter who wrote a fine song from 1974 called “When Everything Old Is New Again.”

I don’t think we can hang on to all of the old ideas, but we have to keep some of them, or at least remember why our predecessors built the system the way they did.

If we don’t understand why, then trying to make change is a bit like trying to fix an aging concrete bridge without the schematics. Put that on the list of “things to avoid.”

For example, I’m not sure that full recognition of the rights of those with “assistance animals” should have been enabled without deep thought about verification, given the subjectivity involved in the definition and the potential for fraud. If my pet iguana lowers my blood pressure, why shouldn’t I keep it in my rental unit?

And I’m not sure that we should impose mandates on private citizens and businesses to affirmatively do this or that, to develop disaster response plans or harden homes against the weather, or whatever whimsy someone dreams up.

These are costs that the government creates, but which don’t appear on a government budget, and which don’t fall equally on all people. They exacerbate the sense that we are not “all in this together.” We need to adapt, but some “fixes” can end up causing as many problems as they solve.

“Akua knows.” This is an old Hawaii saying which means that God is watching and he knows what you’re doing, even if you think you’re getting away with something. And there is an implication that at some point down the line, there will be a reckoning for that.

Whether you believe that or not, it is better for society if you do, because it will help you control yourself. Putting aside the question of what you deny yourself based on your own values.

And here’s a gem from Aristotle’s “Politics”:

“For, while property should up to a point be held in common, the general principle should be that of private ownership. Responsibility for looking after property, if distributed over many individuals, will not lead to mutual recriminations; on the contrary, with every man busy with his own, there will be increased effort all round.”

It is the congruency with human nature that makes this statement valid today, nearly 2,400 years after it was first written.

Fast forward to the 20th century and John Maynard Keynes, who took the time to review the history of economic ideas before promoting his own:

“The purpose of promoting the individual was to depose the monarch and the church; the effect — through the new ethical significance attributed to contract — was to buttress property and prescription.” (“The Essential Keynes.”)

Keynes’ point is about the role the separation of church and state and relative freedom play in the industrial revolution and the development of the market system.

Scary Monsters

Yes, folks, it’s not just about whether you want the FBI in your bedroom. This is, and was, about business.

Is all this just more Western, tear the Earth, philosophy? No. There is an old Taoist saying, from ancient Chinese (pre-democratic ideals) culture: “Where the laws are many, the people will be poor.”

And to those who think that the government is the cause of their problems, recall that James Madison counseled that we must see through the government to the Factions that are putting pressure on that government. Note his description of Factions in Federalist No. 10: “By a faction I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by a common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.” (“The Federalist Papers.”)

Context matters when we are adapting our institutions to a changing world.

Madison thought Factions and the Political Parties posed a grave danger to the republic. Question: do career politicians qualify as a “faction?”

Today, some in government seem to forget that they are just passing through our venerable institutions. For Calvin Coolidge, a sense of civic duty mattered. From his concise second inaugural address to the Massachusetts state legislature: “Conserve the firm foundations of our institutions. Do your work with the spirit of a soldier in the public service. Be loyal to the Commonwealth, and to yourselves. And be brief — above all things, be brief.”

Context matters when we are adapting our institutions to a changing world. We have to know where we came from in order to chart the course forward. Something old, something new.

No one is saying that it is easy to know what to keep and what to discard in culture. But maybe “what works” is a good starting point for a standard for us Americans.

And just don’t get me started on “Paint It, Black” by the Rolling Stones or “Scary Monsters” by David Bowie.