After three days of campaigning, four of us are now tentatively on board this subversive Independent candidacy: two women, one man, and myself. The first two days the number of participants doubled daily. If we project this mathematically over the next two and one quarter years until the 2020 election, it is clear I will win.
Let’s not get too confident, though. There’s a lot of work to be done to defeat Mr. Trump. He is well entrenched and yearning for another four years. Relevantly, I’ve found a fascinating article in the current copy of The New Republicgiving unexpected new insight into him that will help us in our task.
Garret Keizer, a prolific writer who lives in Vermont, has penned a study that pins Mr. T. to the wall like a rogue butterfly of a scientific study. He makes an immensely sound argument that Mr. Trump’s strategy is “Nihilism.”
If you’ve forgotten the meaning of Nihilism, let’s consult Webster’s Dictionary. It says Nihilism is: “The denial of the existence of any basis for knowledge or truth.’ I believe that hits the mark pretty well regarding Mr. Trump.
Mr. Keizer puts it this way: “Nihilism is a lack of values.” He then quotes Mr. Hermann Rauschning, a German who abandoned Nazism, who wrote a book called The Revolution of Nihilism.Rauschning said Nihilism is a “hostility to the things of the spirit, indifference to truth, indifference to the ethical concepts of morality, honor, and equity.”
However, let’s not get lost in criticism of our adversary. I prefer to go in an entirely different direction. I wish to attempt to present a new Vision for our United States and our place in the world, on the planet.
America in our lifetime has distanced itself from its original democratic premise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all of us as equals – to the demeaning concept of naked self interest. Our national capitalist philosophy has displaced us as responsible citizens of a Republic. Rather, as Mr. Reizer states so plainly: “what we are at the end of the day is a country of customers.”
I propose we should instead consciously begin to reinvent ourselves as representativea of what it means to embody the philosophy and purpose of living our lives in such a way that we minimize our “naked self-interest” and exchange it for “guiding the world in the preservation of the human race.”
There is very practical application of this idealistic sounding concept. It is quite simply the long-term security of our species. To gain a grasp of this as a philosophy to actually replace our simplistic obsession with naked self interest, consider the almost universal experience of nature.
Fish for, example, preserve their species by holding together in schools. This strategy is extremely effective in guarding their species from outside dangers. Most animals do this.
We humans, though, and we Americans, we divide ourselves into opposing political and religious forces (both questionable concepts) and quite efficiently kill one another in supremely well-organized wars. We actually make it financially profitable to be in the business of war. And we make profit a guiding principle of life.
If we – rather than so fervently embracing our naked self interest – instead required by law that all of our professions and corporations contribute to our long-term human group self preservation, do you doubt it would also improve our personal individual financial conditions?
And, since 85% to 90% of all Americans consider themselves Christians, would it not also far better align our alleged religious beliefs with our actual behavior? Think a bit on that as a political philosophy.
With that observation, I believe I’ll conclude this week’s summary of my campaign. The weekend beckons.
