A Fool's Progress

[1] The flush face in the mirror belonged to Jay Gatz. I bloomed a bad case of that quintessentially American disease of the mind that sends us marching off to prove ourselves to people who don't really care. Here I am in a nation of easy marks, lapping up the carnies' spiel about that great prize behind the glass: ours for the taking, if only we'll play the game. On the tv screen a throng of citizens in a cage, in Freedom Plaza, violently protest the peaceful transition of power from George Bush, to George Bush. And it seems to be confirmation that the real crisis in our post-modern world involves semantics.

[2] Like a good little donkey I've pulled my cart for 37 years. But I don't seem to have gotten any closer to that damned carrot - despite the exhortations to keep trying, and to pull just a bit harder. Well, the cart is stopping. And if you've won life's lottery, and you've been riding in the back, I'm through listening. What I see up ahead, in the distance, begins to look like Gatsby's green light: year-by-year receding before me. But for Zelda's money what would your life have been, Fitzgerald?

Douche Bags

[3] There's a big story here, and no one is telling it. Yes, the fix is in. And without being driven to despair, it's helpful to develop an awareness of the factors underlying the transformation of our nation. Economic levers can be used to move political mountains.

[4] California aside, in the election of '04 the "Big Money" states that John Kerry won were clustered around the Great Lakes, i.e., the old manufacturing region known as the Rust Belt: NY (31), PA (21), IL (21), MI (17). Those four states provided a total of 90 electoral votes. But in the election of '80 things looked like this: NY (41), PA (27), IL (26), MI (21). And those four states provided a total of 115 electoral votes.

[5] What happened? Chiefly, there was a demographic shift in America, because there was a flight of Capital from America. The position of Labor - the most important element in the Left's coalition - weakened. As goes Labor, so goes the Left. The Democratic Party depended upon intelligent working men and women who voted their interest. And as they have lost, who has gained? In the election of '80 things looked like this: TX (26), FL (17). And in the election of '04 things looked like this: TX (34), FL (27). This is a game of numbers, nothing more.

[6] To blame anyone out of power for the results of the '04 election is to ignore the careful work on the part of the Bush family. How, and why, did they manage to move from the rather insignificant state of Connecticut to control the highest offices and Republican Party machinery in precisely those places - TX and FL - that would be most necessary for a successful Presidential bid? Maybe, a sudden gust of wind blew them thither - the same sort of gust that carried Hillary Clinton to NY. California, you're slipping - and don't say, "I'll be back."

The Eye

[7] I should be afraid to write such things, no? As federal law enforcement builds a database of fingerprints, the Census Bureau provides information about Arab-Americans to Homeland Security, my state collects digital portraits when it licenses drivers, my toll highway authority forces patrons to carry transponders in their vehicles, various marketing firms and credit bureaus track my purchases, and my e-mail, cell use, and library habits are examined, I am free. And, per his inaugural address, my President has promised to give this freedom to the world.

[8] In 1942 President-to-be Eisenhower's brother supervised the relocation of Japanese-Americans to detention camps. Their property was sold. Many were incarcerated for a period of nearly three years - never having done anything wrong. The action amounted to the issuance of a Bill of Attainder - expressly forbidden by the Constitution - but the Supreme Court upheld its legality. See paragraph [9] below.

We Hold These Truths To Be Self-Evident, That All Men Are Created Equal

[9] We are free: free to compete. What do (1) genetic inheritance, (2) the environment into which one is born, (3) malicious acts, and (4) random events have to do with: gender, race, class, intellectual potential, beauty, athletic ability, physical health, and mental health? And what do any of those things have to do with your ability to succeed in this life?

[10] In 1865 racially based slavery was ended in the United States. And African-Americans were free to compete. See paragraph [9] above.

[11] Yes: as "Paul the consumer" I desire [some of] the low-priced, high quality goods that competition is supposed to provide. But, as "Paul the working man" I find that I am unable to sell my labor as cheaply as most Indian, Mexican or Chinese nationals. And if I'm not working, I can't afford a God damned thing. See paragraph [9] above.

[12] Absent manufacturing, the solution is to find work in the service economy. Roughly 80% of the jobs in America, now, are in "service." Observation: the people served will tend to be those favored by the circumstance of their birth. "May I cook for you? Bring you your food? Massage your feet? Drive you about town? And, please, whatever your desire, feel free to act like dirt - because you are superior, as evidenced by your surfeit of possessions." But we won't call this slavery. And if you do this work, it is wrong to feel humiliation; it is wrong to feel resentment. See paragraph [9] above.

[13] I apologize for my lack of ambition. Let us all become doctors and investment bankers. See paragraph [9] above.

Leo Strauss And The Philosophers Of The Future

[14] Semantics: that branch of semiotic dealing with the relationship between signs and symbols and the things to which they refer. The words [signs] that I type are inherently meaningless associations of equally meaningless letters to which you gentle reader [hopefully] attribute some meaning.

[15] Voltaire is said to have discouraged one of his companions from discussing atheism while the servants were present: "Only their belief in God stops them from cutting our throats while we sleep."

[16] There is not truth; but there are truths. There is not morality; but there are moralities. What a fellow like Voltaire believes to be true is at odds with what he finds useful for his servants to believe to be true. Voltaire is not alone, of course. The idea of master morality and slave morality is well developed in Friedrich Nietzsche's writing. Nietzsche will go so far as to deny that any such thing as "morality" exists in the "real" sense (see Twilight of the Idols "The Improvers of Mankind" among others.) After Nietzsche will come the philosopher of the Third Reich: Martin Heidegger; and after Heidegger will come Leo Strauss. Strauss will obtain a professorship at the University of Chicago, where he will maintain the necessity of hiding the "truth" while simultaneously telling "noble lies" to the citizens of democratic regimes.

[17] It is striking that there are "Straussians" within the President's cabinet. Especially when one notes the President's frequent invocation of religion: while employing its symbols, there is a discord between his actions and the teachings of the faiths. Show the flag; hold your hands in prayer; speak of peace and freedom; play upon the emotions invested by your citizens in these things. "It is enough that they should know your purpose after you have accomplished it, " said the Italian.

[18] When you have manipulated the economy, positioned yourself for maximum political advantage, collected reams of personal information about me, demonstrated a penchant for denying entire groups of people liberty and property, and cultivated an attachment by my fellow citizens to ideas that you believe to be false and symbols you believe to be meaningless, I must wonder what sort of war you are waging, and what sort of freedom you are bringing.

Fin

[19] My name is Paul Edward Germanos, and I wrote this.

Poscript:...some 25-50% of my peers - bright, creative and sensitive people - are being told that when they worry about these things they are suffering from depression. Then they are given psychotropic meds. After that, even if the questions don't disappear, the questions' urgency does disappear.

For me, it has become very personal: not only because I "felt" the pressures during the past 2 years in the taxi, but because I have been questioned about my ethnicity at the polls, at work, at uni, and by police during a traffic stop. And now I seem to be "frozen out" of my grad program (run by Straussians.)

I. What I have chosen to do: A. Think clearly, and answer the question: What is the good life? B. Be honest about what is possible, given the current situation. C. Communicate with others. D. Refuse to repeat the lie, or act in any way that stifles freedom. E. Remember: existence is finite, and imperfect.

I am not comforted by the myth that at some point in the future there will be a period of super-abundance as a result of scientific advances. I do not believe that the lies being told are "for my own good."

II. Population - Technology: A. Leading causes of death and disease in the world: 1. lack of: clean water; healthy food; minimal care during pregnancy/chilbirth; and sanitation; 2. presence of: war/conflict. B. We possess the (primitive) technology necessary to solve those problems - but we don't. Why? Money? We had 300 billion (and counting) dollars to spend on Iraq, killing ~100,000 civilians in the process. Answer:

III. Population - Malthus: A. We already have too many people (more than needed to make the system work.) B. Surplus labor drives down wages and working conditions (viewed as useful.) C. The bulk of the population is good for: consuming goods? fighting war? the sex industry? nothing? D. The people being treated as "surplus" tend to be non-European.

IV. Natural differences do exist; but: A. Environment heightens natural (genetic) differences: 1. food; 2. parenting; 3. education; 4. drugs; 5. stress; etc. (everything in paragraph [9] above.)

It begins to seem to me that we are being habituated for slavery. Have you seen what kids are eating? Have you noticed that history, philosophy, literature, politics, etc, have almost disappeared from the public schools? Have you heard how many young people are being put on Zoloft/Prozac/etc? Have you observed the children being raised by strangers in day care centers? Is it to be believed that no one has considered the cumulative effects? There is a growing conviction within one group that it ought to be served; and there is a growing expectation within another (larger) group that it will have no choice but to serve.

V. The crypto-facists in line w/ Nietzsche suppose that: No rational investigation of the whole is possible. Rather, what we call philosophy is but an effort to supply arguments that "seem" rational in support of our prejudices. Everything is, ultimately, an assertion: a discharge of the will.

Human relations are (in that model) characterized by the use of force and fraud in opposition to weakness and ignorance. This precludes the possibility of community, democracy, and any argument against "man's inhumanity to man" be it death camps, or footbinding - you can't say it's wrong.

Any definition of "rightness" that I accept has to allow for living things to develop their natural potentiality. I don't see much room for that anymore. I am resisting as best I can. I am not going to play master or slave.

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contact: paulgermanos(at)msn.com
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