For a number of reasons, I am finding my way to reading John Stuart Mill 'On Liberty' for the first time. It's lovely. I picked it up particularly to read its second chapter, the one on free speech. In those meaty and well-considered paragraphs, Mill does a fairly excellent job of considering the reason of wrong thinking in both the dimensions of truth and utility. It is truly a masterwork of thought that forces one to consider his premises at several levels and from a dialectic point of view. Of course, I was looking to receive such wisdom. It is consonant with my lifelong civil libertarianism. Just previous to this book was the Heterodox Academy's Jonathan Haight, whose 'Coddling of the American Mind' is a bit less precient and wise than Allan Bloom's presaging book 'The Closing of the American Mind' that I read back in the 80s. But now that everything Bloom has predicted is obvious, the closed minds need reminding that they are being coddled. What could be a better metaphor for the presidency of Donald Trump. A closed-minded man who has been coddled.
The helicopter parents of Trump are, of course, the power hungry and wandering tribe of Republicans who try desperately to be Conservatives but end up just being to the right of common sense. For all I can see, they do so in a retro kind of way which is quite odd considering that few could remember much of what the recently deceased George HW Bush did, besides be two orders of magnitude more dignified than the current Oval Occupant. Since I am into my 10th year of Stoicism, I can't say that I've pursued much satisfaction in political philosophy. I am truly happy with those sectors of American life that are about as good as it gets, as long as I am able to appreciate and afford them. I've ridden the tallest rollercoaster in the park. That's enough. I don't need to remain high. I don't need to chide the Republicans for their failure, I just occasionally need to hear better men than myself do so, and prepare for the end times when better men have abandoned the field that is America's ruling class. In the meantime, as I cultivate and tend to my own worldview, I think my observations on the state of sub-catastrophe might be of some use.
No there is no catastrophe. The Department of Justice has not been dismantled. Trump's own government (as if) is setting after him and his associates with a view to burning them in oil. The fate of that dastardly subset of government functionaries and flunkies will burn brightly enough to satisfy cynics and witch-hunters alike. But there seem to be few with the courage to pursue actual justice of the sort the country most desperately needs. I speak of the impending collapse of our bourgeois proletariat in the face of the coming inflation as the Fed inevitably raises interest rates after the ridiculous holiday of free money certain Americans have gotten. I'm not sure how to feel about that in consideration of my remaining hopes to climb higher in society. Another dumbell curve strategy, I suppose. Plan for great success and great failure at the same time. What we have been able to demonstrate and complain about over the past couple of years is astounding, and I still consider a great portion of that to be courtly theatre of the most sniping sort. Even Haight in his book makes the exact same mistake he blamed Trump for in citing foolishness 'on both sides' of the dustup in Hooterville. Or was that Charlottesville? Since we know Americans hate Americans for being Americans, it certainly doesn't help that the head political hack in charge of the Executive Branch has consigned all of his enemies and non-flunkies to the sharp end of his blunt force Twitter feed. That kind of divisiveness used to be understated. Now, as the young people say, it's fire. A dumpster fire. I know it's a cliche, but what is really happening that's so horrible in the long view of things?
China, Russia, Mexico, Britain, Syria and various shithole countries.
The American people do not understand China. They do not believe that Russia is dangerous or that Mexico creates refugees. They don't believe that Britain can possibly survive without an empire or at the very least a seat or two in Brussels and they don't believe that the USA did anything to actually destroy ISIS. I can't tell if my assessment of those beliefs are accurate, but I do get a sense that there aren't very many 5,000 word essays that are making the appropriate rounds to put things clearly.
What is think is most important to understand about China is their bloodless attitude towards the emerging world. To me, it seems like they cannot believe that any other country could possibly be as civilizingly industrious as they are and so they are obligated to lead the way. I suppose I believe some of the worst things about China that many other countries blather on about the US, with respect to 'imperialism'. China is more of a obsequious nanny who was whipped as a child. So it holds a rod over those in its expanding sphere of influence saying 'concrete is good for you'. As if nobody actually knew. The obnoxious Chinese are in that way, like the fearful parent who publicly scolds her child in the supermarket, not caring who hears them whimper. Trump's America is incapable of seducing away China's soon-to-be client states. He'd rather go toe to toe in a battle royale. Americans don't particularly care to be nationalists. It's fair to say we haven't been since Kennedy and the Space Age. So there is no gumption to correct Trump's tariff slap fest. Moe hits Curly. Curly hits Moe. China is indeed stealing intellectual property right and left, and is most certainly engaged in cyberwarfare against the US, as is Russia. There is a smart way to straighten all that out. Trump will not pursue the smart way. That might have been the job of Rex Tillerson, the only member aside from General Mattis, whom I found to be exceedingly admirable in the current White House. Tillerson is out. Tweeted out.
As for Mexico, it's a rehash of nationalists vs globalists. Not really interesting to me anyway. Mexico makes good car parts for some small minority of cars Americans care about. Mexicans themselves make for good Americans when the choice is made clear. There's no doubt they'll work for it, but half of America doesn't want them to. Because nobody is illegal. More tweet logic.
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Once again I am exasperated in trying to make sense of some consistent political philosophy that American candidates and the electorate are disciplined to. I don't know why I bother. I am at peace with that part of the world fouled by its own nasty terms. I have better places to go.
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