The 2020 Election Cycle

The cap to an insane year was a truly insane national election. While I know that this is a public platform, I feel the need to express, in a little way, how in my opinion, recent events have played out. For the sake of future generations, even if they don't read our own words, these sentiments need to be expressed.

First off, while there is still the slim, off chance that events may still swing Trump's way, it is a very tenuous chance at best. The powers that be, the real powers that be, have managed to sidestep our institutions and traditions in ways that have rightly been referred to as a silent coup, or a hostile takeover. Furthermore, they have done so largely through the cooperation of those very institutions of elected legislature, judiciary and executive authority. 

One day perhaps, those individuals involved, from robes to suits, will see clearly how they, in fact, surrendered their authority and sundered their responsibilities. For now, these same non-entities celebrate how 'their' power and privilege defeated a populist President. So be it, these founts of wisdom have made their decision and have sealed their future regard, or lack of it.

What is left to the rest of us are the consequences of this event, this great disruption in what has been up until now, the longest-running, most stable example of representative government in the history of mankind. From January 20, 2021 on, the world for America and Americans will be a very different place. In the first place, who are our new masters, the engineers of this current imbroglio?

First, let us put aside such traditional trappings as ideology, such swings of definition as left or right. What is taking over is a far-reaching global agenda that respects neither ideas, nor culture, nor traditions that disagree with its pre-formed view of how society should be organized and conducted. For it, human society is a global phenomenon that must conform to a model that respects neither traditional nation state boundaries, nor differences in cultures, ethnicities, belief systems, even gender identities.

In short, what we are facing is less control by a political system or ideology, as a trans-humanist movement that sees mankind less as a creative and developmental force, as a biological system badly in need of reform according to their vision. Such elites, wherever and whatever they are, look down from their gilded and insulated perches upon populations supposedly restrained by regressive traditional societies. Such is their faith in their viewpoint, their methodologies, above all in the correctness of their own belief in these, that even electoral and representative systems are to be disregarded if the results contradict their own driving principles.

Such a system will seek to breakdown whatever traditional cultures it takes over. We can see much this process now acting out in Europe and Latin America. Up until recently, we Americans, as always, thought we were above the fray. No longer, the long sought ambition of all systems of global organization, the subjugation of the linchpin of the world's economy and politics, the mighty United States of America, appears at least superficially to have been achieved.

What this means will be a visible loss of individual and community autonomy in this country. Decisions will be made and policies carried out that are in clear defiance of the general will. When it is expressed through the traditional means, the ballot box, the results will be oddly skewed towards whatever the establishment viewpoint, expressed through the mass media and other organs of the ever oppressive opinion industry, will want it to be.

Eventually, Americans will realize that they are under the control of an elite that cares little for their everyday concerns. Not while they can manufacture consent through votes imported or manufactured. How long the USA will maintain itself as solvent entity, as a great power, as a unified nation, as even identifiable regions of the country, will have to remain to be seen.

No situation plays itself out entirely and frankly, achieving all of the above in four years is a tall order, even with all the 'progress' that has been made in the last sixty years or so. Still, with no one to teach it or instill it, the old idea of a nation founded on individual rights and responsibilities, on liberty, will be a distant concept in the era of the 'Grand Reset.' One would hope for their own sakes, that our future masters' cleverness and capabilities match their astonishing arrogance.

 The Heavens Say Farewell to 2020

This year's winter solstice will be marked by an astronomical alignment that occurs only every 4 centuries or so, the Grand Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter. For a cosmic moment the night of the 21st of December, the two great gas giants will appear to join as one in the night sky. For those fortunate enough to see their union by advanced optics, the rings of Saturn will appear as horns upon the celestial bull of Jupiter. 

One wonders how seeing this rare sight was greeted in the ancient world, a world much more conscious of astronomical phenomena than we sometimes give them credit for. After all, this might actually have been the 'Christmas Star' that guided the Chaldean Magi to the house of the Infant Jesus. This might also have been the source of the 'Ma' character used in ancient Prakrit and Sanskrit.

The astrological significance of this sign, especially in light of Mars' near approach in early October, could probably be debated. One hopes that 2021 will be a more sanguine year, but perhaps this year was only the foreshadowing of a cruel and chaotic decade. Oh well, whatever the case, may you be fortunate on this chilly year's end, to take full advantage of the wonder of this spectacle.

 No Such Thing as Capitalism

Sam: So you say there is no such thing as Capitalism?

Me: To which I ask you, what is the ideology of capital, the social planning program, the core doctrine or the particular strategies espoused by its adherents? You, as well-read and informed as you are, have no answer to my query? I can tell you right now why that is, there is no ideology, no program, no doctrine of any sort, not even really any plan of action by its adherents, unless you count the age-old one of getting rich. 

You see, (taking up his wallet and proffering a Jackson) this is capital. A piece of paper, representing an assigned value, that has neither sentience, nor emotion, nor investment in any particular state of being. An inanimate object, that exchanged for some item, set on fire, tossed on the waters, all of these states are equal to it, it has no more need to alter the current state of its environment anymore than does the air that circulates around us, or the chairs we sit upon.

And yet this thing, this matter is supposed to impose some sort of political structure, some type of order on society just by being present? I really doubt it.

Sam: So let me ask a fairly obvious question, beyond stoking greed and misanthropy, what does an imposing capital structure do? Come to think of it, what is capital's function, anyway?

Me: Brave questions! First off, yes, capital can be an acquisitive end, even obsession all its own. The same however, can be said of just about anything. Most certainly, those who rail against 'capitalism' tend to exhibit a compulsive desire of their own, that of greed for power. Their external need to impose their will upon their surroundings and all who live within their watch certainly meets or exceeds the internal need of 'big capital' for sucking in and concentrating the wealth contained within.

As for the second, I think more profound question, what does capital do exactly? All capital is is a form of incentive. Incentives motivate actions and a combined set of actions and actors make up a society. 

We all have incentives to motivate us. When we are hungry, we prepare a meal. When we want to fill our time, we read a book or watch TV or surf the net. 

Capital is the successful way we have to make abstract labor and resources. This is of course, in order to exchange them, in what is ideally a mutually beneficial way. You mow my lawn, I give you a fiver. 

Again, even though the concept of capital is the closest thing many will come to a metaphysical form, there really is no mystery to it. There is certainly no set form for how capital can and should be exchanged, after all capital is exchanged even in a society such as North Korea, that officially frowns upon it. I'm afraid the altruistic motives that most theorists and ideologues seek as the foundation for utopias without money, tend to be more personal and point phenomenal than these great minds wish, certainly nothing to base an entire society upon.

Yet we have this concept of a 'capitalist' society. Usually, the image that seems to self-generate in our minds, certainly in those of academics, tends to be an image of a banana republic. Dirty, poverty-stricken streets, plentiful armed soldiers whose tanks and guns tend to be American in origin, lounging and lurching towards a workers' holocaust under tropic skies. 

Which is, of course, what the idea is meant to convey. The idea of 'capitalism', or capital as its own ideology, is a formulation by socialists merely to represent what they supposedly are not. Every new and potentially competing idea, after all, needs to have an opposition to define itself. Capitalism is merely socialism's intended bogeyman, the values and beliefs of the 'bourgeoisie' and big finance, as opposed to a socialist's own ostensibly altruistic and humanistic value system and measures of success. 

Thus by espousing capitalism as a doctrine, automatically places so-called capitalists at a disadvantage. They are, by definition and by deliberate intent of the original definers, defending something which is meant to be a straw man to begin with. Automatically, they are fighting their mental way out of a corner into which they are painted into, which is of course, the result of using a simple material argument (ie, money is good, a lot of money is BETTER!) as opposed to a doctrinal or ideological argument supposedly based on reason, such as their opponents will deploy.

In truth, capital, like just about anything else, does the maximum good for the maximum number under a system that fosters that kind of reciprocity. This would be a representative system that ensures rule of law, including property rights that ensure protection of material assets, wealth and the results of industry and enterprise. That as much as possible at every stage of development, does not monopolize incentivization by either large capital, nor undue political or institutional influence, but allows for sufficient competition and innovation for society to progress and adapt technologically, institutionally and in the body politic.

A society ruled by law, based on a constitution, which in turn is based on individual rights and responsibilities: in short, based on liberty. In short, a constitutional republic, or as close to one as any given political system can be. When its proponents espouse the 'magic of the free market' or other such thing meant to convey what capital CAN do and can bring under the proper conditions, that should be what they mean. 

In short, when you are for capitalism and use the market argument, what you are saying is that you are on the libertarian side of the argument, be you a classical liberal, libertarian or a republican of some sort. You are definitely not a socialist, communist, or fascist (such as types like yourself are often painted as). In fact, from a well-formed argumentative structure not tied to your opponents' rhetoric, you can freely take them on on the basis of YOUR core beliefs and ideas.

After all, compare the success of 'capitalist' societies as opposed to left-leaning, ideological ones. Ask your potential debaters, what is THEIR record of success?!

 Venice and Alviso

Take Alviso, a not very impressive stretch of marsh and small, sandy islands. At the turn of the last century, just before ill-fated attempts to turn it into 'New Chicago March,' the supposedly promising site of future manufacturing and commerce, it was even less impressive than it is now. Today, most of the geography has been dredged to form salt ponds for the Morton company.

Yet imagine how it might have been under different circumstances. In truth, this sheltered cove connected to the ocean by its location in San Francisco Bay and the winding Alviso Slough, might have supported a different legacy, as would its location past the East Hills. Imagine a 'simpler,' more primitive time of wandering barbarian tribes and Mediterranean agrarian societies on the brink.

A re-telling of the storied legacy of La Serennissima might come to mind in re-imagining the rather mundane story of Alviso. Can't quite see the comparison, ready to laugh at me for even making it? Well let me relate it and tell me what you think.

Ah Venice, the glory of the Adriatic, defender of Christendom from the sway of the Turk, trader to all and sundry, bold and beautiful, ruthless and cunning, a match for great Byzantium itself. In its time, from about the start of the second Christian millennium to its downfall at the feet of Napoleon himself, its power and wealth, its place in European affairs, was such that it was claimed to be at the height of its power from roughly the 14th to the 16th century, to be the uncrowned capitol of Europe.

Yet it wasn't always the Jewel positioned before the fertile plains of the Veneto. During the whole of the first millennium, while the power and glory of Roma rose and fell for the final time, one could have come to the current location and found it not unlike Alviso was when it was discovered and named for Ignacio Alviso, an 18th century explorer of California whose descendants were deeded land around the area.  An area of tan marshes and mud and sand islets encrusted with salt and the guano of cackling sea birds feeding and breeding in the marshes and swooping and gliding overhead.

Then came the barbarians to the peninsula and the gates of its many cities. No one knows exactly when or for what circumstance the first inhabitants came to this place. Some say it was in the wake of Attila's ravages in the 5th century. Others, the incursions of the Lombards in the 8th and 9th. Elements of both stories are probably true and what is certain is that the little settlements that sprang up in the sheltered lagoon, previously inhabited only by itinerant fishermen, were the product of conflict.

While the hills beyond constituted a fine defensive barrier, still much more was needed if a proper community would arise. So it was that the various refugee communities settled on the 118 islets, found strength and peace in unity. The islets were linked by bridges of various kinds. 

In wartime, these could be destroyed and the communities linked by them were thus protected from direct land attack. The fishermen turned boatswains were in turn transformed into defenders, whose fast boats and picks ruthlessly dispatched all who attempted menace on the waters. In time, these fine foes became the famed gondoliers whose storied passages are still a unique part of the visual landscape on the sun-kissed waters.

One can see with the mind's eye what Alviso might look like under conditions like those that graced Venice. Far out, where the train tracks go past the slumbering ruins of the ghost town of Drawbridge, would be the start of the great Lido. Once past, near where the ponds bloom salmon and tan, where the water is death to swarming little fish and where the Great Flyway brings bird life of all sorts to rest, sea gulls, ducks and geese, the sight that inspired the view from London's Thames would present itself. The great basilica of St Giorgio Maggiore, the Hall of the Senate and the Ducal Palace and where the birds strolled and the lions had wings, San Marco square. 

Perhaps upon the islets that still litter the lagoon of Alviso, one can spot a place for the famed glassworks of Murano, the constant activity of the grand brick edifices of the Arsenal, the waters filled with grand galleons and galleasses, bringing the wealth to Venice and striking its might from the Adriatic, to the Aegean to the Levant, even up to the realm of the Ottomans and the legendary Golden Gate of the Dardanelles itself.

Alas, Alviso's life began in more humdrum, utilitarian circumstances. The outlet for the fruits and early on, the pelts of Santa Clara Valley to the markets of San Francisco wasn't really as congenial for its early formation as Venice's more dramatic story. Still, one can see how the mechanics of history can work in similar circumstances and one can dream of the beauty and history that boasts such as the music of Vivaldi, the painting of Giorgione and Titian and the majesty of the legendary Carnival.