Hoping About A Small Earth
Yesterday I listened to an interview with Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend Indiana. He is 37 years old, served a tour in Afghanistan, is a Rhodes scholar and is running for President. He won his 2nd term of Mayor with 80% of the vote.
Mayor Pete comes across as likeable. His self confidence is palpable. He believes that the majority of Americans share the traditional norms, the values of fairness, kindness, openness— especially to those who need a helping hand. He thinks that if the Democratic 
Party can talk about values rather than about policy, the current occupant of the White House will be shown the door.
As much as I’d like to believe that he is right, I am not sure. Do a majority of citizens believe in fairness, at the cost of their perceived self interest? What motivates, —passion or ideas about making the system more fair?
Alas! There comes a time
when man will no longer launch the arrow of his longing
beyond man—and the string of his bow
no longer knows how to zing.
I tell you: one must have chaos in oneself,
to give birth to a dancing star.
I tell you: you still have chaos in you.
Alas! There comes a time when man
no longer gives birth to any star.
Alas! There comes a time
of the most despicable man,
who can no longer despise himself.
Behold! I show you the last man.
“What is love? What is creation?
What is longing? What is a star?”
—-asks the last man as he blinks.The earth then will have become small,
And on it hops the last man
Who makes everything small.
His species is ineradicable
like that of the ground flea;
the last man lives longer.
“We have discovered happiness,”
says the last man
as he blinks.
Excerpt, Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Zarathustra’s Prologue, sect 5 by Friedrich Nietzsche
2 thoughts on “Hoping About A Small Earth”
In my meeting with George Lakoff he told me a story about a presentation he made to a group of conservative women in Southern California. His goal in meeting with them was to discuss the value of the Affordable Care Act in a way that would make sense to them economically. He explained how insuring the poor would actually reduce the amount of money they would spend on healthcare themselves including lowering their taxes. He told me that in the end, the women as a group, were still vehemently against the ACA. The spokesperson for the the group said that she was against having any of her taxes go towards subsidizing the “lazy” segment of society even if the ACA saved her money in the long run. The lack of empathy entrenched in a large portion of society goes directly to your skepticism about Mayor Buttigieg’s belief in the “good” he feels is in all of humanity. In many people, if not most, (but thankfully not all) the desire to be on top and to hell with everyone else is a very strong motivator. I don’t know how we get past this attitude.
That is the view which I now entertain as well. Its irrational, and we flatter ourselves to think that we are distinct from other mammals by our rationality. The irrational of our primal ancestors who climbed out of the mud is expressed in a 21st century mode. It is not easy to dispel the effects of ignorance. The roots grow deep.