When I first started writing about politics 15 years ago, my text came from my first poli sci teacher at Rice University, the late Dr. Gilbert Cuthbertson.
Doc C, as we called him, taught that politics could be explained by three variables:
- Myth, the stories we believe about our past, present, and future.
- Values, the lessons arising from those myths.
- Power, the result of applying those myths and values in the public square.
Myth x Values = Power. This lets you solve for Myth and Values. Myth = Power/Values. Values = Power/Myth.
What this means is that power comes from what we believe and what is within our control.
Americans today act as though we’re in the Great Depression, World War II, and the Civil War, all at once.
On the right, our values are under dire threat from enemies within. On the left, our democracy is under dire threat, also from enemies within.
Yet if you look objectively at our situation, it’s quite the opposite.
The Cloud has let America reassert its dominance over the world economy. None of the leading cloud companies are European. China’s Alibaba is worth just one-third of Facebook (uh, Meta), which is the smallest of our 5 Cloud Czars.
America’s economic dominance has brought unfathomable wealth. The idea of a centi-billionaire seemed ludicrous just a few years ago. Now we have 10, and 9 are Americans. Larry Page has been retired for years. He’s worth $125 billion. Elon Musk is worth twice that.
If children are hungry in America tonight, it’s because we have chosen to keep them hungry. If health care is unavailable, it’s because we have chosen to make it unavailable. There’s plenty of wealth around to meet all our needs. It’s just sitting in assets, in stocks, bonds and Bitcoins, rather than being recycled. This is because most of the needed products and services are social. They serve everyone, benefit everyone. No company, and no man, can buy all these social goods. We can only do it together.
We’re told this is how things must be. But it’s not. We have chosen not to recycle our wealth. We have bought the myth that growth emerges from economic feudalism. The value this implies is that only a few of us deserve happiness.
This is a false myth, resulting in false values, and a misuse of power.
By all reports, Elon Musk is not a happy man. All the wealth, power and fame in the world won’t make you happy. You must choose to be happy.
The happiest man I ever knew was the late Cantrell Johnson. He lived a life like that of Jesus, doing odd jobs to keep a roof over his head, preaching on weekends. He had more trouble in his life than 100 other men, but he never blamed God for it. He praised God, every day.
As I wrote about 2021, Americans today are sick. But it’s not all long COVID. Mostly we have a mental illness. We’re making ourselves miserable.
The answer to our problems is an attitude adjustment. We can choose to be optimistic. We have the tools needed to fix the world, and to improve life for everyone. But we need to believe that.
Neither of our political parties is answering that call. Democrats call us a Weimar Republic, with Nazis about to take over and never let go. Republicans see communists everywhere and are frightened of any truth contradicting their fantasies.
What we need are optimists, who will tell us true stories and offer values arising from them. We need Reagan Republicans. We need Obama Democrats. We need to see that the better angels of our nature are all around us. We need to rally around them.
We don’t have to sleepwalk into communism, into fascism, or into Civil War. We are the ones we have been looking for.
Look around, look around, at how lucky we are to be alive right now.
