A Radical Reset
Our Republic has been converted into a democracy which is just another name for mob rule. The mob is getting what it wants, to paraphrase H.L. Mencken, good and hard. One day soon, the entire edifice is going to collapse under its own weight and what takes its place historically will be tyranny. A Radical Reset is the alternative and the system is called Antipolitism. It calls for a new republic based upon merit and not ambition. No parties, no money in politics, no careers in politics, and only serving the public good.
A Radical Reset
Trump's Victories Won't Last Without Fundamental Change
Herbie introduces his concept of anti-politism, a system where government officials are selected by merit-based lottery rather than elections, and explains how it would create lasting political reform that Trump's administration cannot achieve.
• Anti-politism converts politics from a career to a civic duty through lottery selection of qualified citizens
• Under the current system, even successful reforms will eventually "snap back like rubber" to previous dysfunction
• 80% of Americans receive more in government benefits than they pay in taxes, creating unsustainable debt
• Social Security bankruptcy timeline has moved up from 2033 to 2031, yet remains unaddressed by politicians
• Current political system resembles mob rule with both parties competing for larger pieces of the mob
• Merit-based selection would bring common sense leadership regardless of political affiliation
• Trump's accomplishments are significant but cannot fix the fundamental flaws in our political structure
Check out my book "A Radical Reset" on Amazon to learn more about anti-politism and policy solutions for a rational government.
Happy Friday. Dudes and dudettes. It's me your pal Herbie, host of Eradical Reset. Sorry, I didn't post a podcast on Wednesday as I promised I would. I actually recorded one, but there was some issue with the recording and when I went to master it it was pooped up. And by that point it was late in the day and things are coming so fast and furious I decided, oh well, things happen, I'll just post one today. So what a week it has been.
Speaker 1:It's hard to say what I really want to talk about in any one specific thing. I think I want to relate the current situation to maybe an alternate history of what would have happened with all of this had politics been anti-political. So, for those of you who are joining me for the first time, I am the founder of an idea that sounds so much more grandiose than the guy who came up with, an idea that is so obscure that nobody knows about it yet. But listen, every journey is shortened by the first step. I think it was the Buddha who said that, but anyway, every journey is shortened by the first step. I think it was the Buddha who said that, but anyway, it is absolutely true. So, long story short, anti-politism is a republic, but instead of voting, it's a lottery selection based upon merit. Now, if you want to read about it and how it works and why, it converts politics from a career to a duty, and it makes it impossible to have a career and it makes corruption far less likely. It takes not some of the money out of politics, all of the money out of politics, it gets rid of all political parties and it makes it possible that even you, listening to me right now, could be president of the United States. And if any of that interests you, then go buy a copy of A Radical Reset. It's on Amazon, by me, herbie K. Herbie with a Y, by the way. I spell it with a Y, not an I-E. I'm not a love bug, I'm Herbie. So pick up a copy. It's in Kindle, paperback and hardcover, read it and learn about antipolitism, as well as a number of policy prescriptions that I think a rational government would undertake. And that is really the subject of today's discussion, which is rationality in politics, which we really don't have very much of Now.
Speaker 1:To give you a little review, by the way, I predicted that a week from the bombing, the Ayatollah would be out of power. It hasn't been a week yet. So my prediction stands. We'll see. Looks like I'm going to be wrong, but listen, stranger things have happened and it's only Friday and by Sunday, god only knows what will have happened. So things are moving so fast, just digressing slightly. If you had to pick someone to be, donald Trump would be a good person to be, just because he's having the week from heaven. I mean, my God.
Speaker 1:Today alone, it was announced that the Chinese affirmed the deal that he made with them on rare earths and microchips and technology and so on and so forth. Anyway, it's all good and, as I told you, this is all part of the game of chess that he's playing when most everybody else is playing checkers. So the Middle East is connected to China because of the Chinese need for Middle Eastern oil. That was the reason that Karg Island was not bombed by the Israelis or the United States was to leave the door open for China as part of that negotiation, but letting them know that we could close that door at any moment, and that gave Trump enormous leverage and that's why this deal this morning, for example, was completed. It's all working out.
Speaker 1:In the short term, I'm optimistic, but in the long term, I'm very pessimistic and I want to talk to you about that in reference to antipolitism. Now let me make a couple of things clear. First of all, I think Donald Trump whether he ends up being a successful or unsuccessful president, remains to be seen. It's too early in his term to mark. This term, his first term was successful. His second term, most second terms are not successful, but we'll see. We will see. He is in this term in office, this second term, the single most productive president, I think.
Speaker 1:In American history I don't think there's ever been a president to do so much so fast. Now, maybe not even Franklin Roosevelt, who, by the way, was a big dumb schmuck. I credit him with some things positive. It's not true that I always say he's a big dumb schmuck, but basically it was Franklin Roosevelt that created the big depression. Somehow he gets credit for ending it when in fact, he turned the recession into a depression by government intervention.
Speaker 1:But anyway, so let's talk about anti-politism, the thing that concerns a lot of what Trump's doing, as you guys know, bringing it to the present event. I'm very much in favor of, I like what he's doing on the border generally, although, as you guys know, I think both sides are wrong on the issue of amnesty in particular, which you can read about also in a Radical Reset and also in past podcasts. I've discussed it at length, I'm not going to rehash it here. I don't agree with him on everything, because I don't have to agree with him on everything. People who think that you know, oh my God, he disagrees with Trump, does he still like? Yeah, in general, I think Trump has the makings of potentially a great president.
Speaker 1:His instincts are libertarian. Frankly, he's a big deregulator. He doesn't like the government involved in your life. He doesn't want the government telling you how to use your property or run your business. That's very, very libertarian stuff. So I like it. And he's been very strong in the Middle East, very strong on foreign policy in general. He's got NATO paying. I don't have to.
Speaker 1:You know what I'm going to leave that to other pundits. They're all doing that. I'm not another pundit. I'm coming at it from a whole different angle. I'm trying to start a movement and so I don't need to necessarily mimic every other political pundit on. I need to present an alternative, which is the anti-political alternative, and the concern here is let's say that Trump gets everything he wants, including this big beautiful bill. The one thing he's not dealing with is the debt, and the debt, ultimately, is going to do us in. And I'm not even saying that Trump is wrong about his plan to increase the trajectory of the economy so that it's growing faster than the debt, and that would put the debt issue aside for the time being anyway, and he's right. That happens to be true. I just don't have any long term confidence in the Congress maintaining that or in interest rates being as low as they are. I know Trump thinks they're too high, but historically they're really too low. I'm going to take a sip of tea now, so just this is why I'm taking a short break. You too low. I'm going to take a sip of tea now, so just this is why I'm taking a short break.
Speaker 1:You know, here in Arizona, I don't want to make you feel bad wherever you are, but the humidity this morning is 8%, that's eight, not 18, not 80, eight. I grew up in Miami beach. This time of year in Miami beach, when you walk outside, it's like you're taking a shower with your clothes on. You have to put your, your towel, in the dryer after you shower, otherwise it'll never dry Better. Yet you wash it after every wash because it's got a mildew after every shower here in Arizona, your towel's dry five minutes after you hang it up. I'm not exaggerating. I've washed my hands. I don't have to use a towel. By the time I walk from my bathroom into, let's say, the living room, my hands are already dry, naturally. But on the other hand, I have to run a humidifier 24-7 in my home because my skin gets so dry. But that's a small price to pay for all the other good things that come with dry heat. Okay, why do I get the dry heat? I don't even know. Okay, back on subject.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about anti-politicism. So what I'm concerned with here? Let's say that Trump gets all of his ducks in a row. He's successful on the border, which he's already been. He's successful with the negotiations and the tariffs with the Chinese, which I believe he's going to be, and with everybody else, including the EU. He's gotten NATO to pay up 5% of GDP, which no one thought was even remotely possible. He's the only. Every president talks about it. He's the only president that's ever done it, and I know that all of you Trump deranged are out there now thinking that I'm a mega guy. You know that's just stupidity. That's just people who don't listen. You know it's.
Speaker 1:I like a lot of what Trump's done. I don't like a lot of what Trump's done, but you know what? On balance, he's going to be an incredibly consequential president. He's changed American politics in a very, very major way, but what he's not is an ideologue, and Trumpism, if it is an ism, doesn't really exist. What we're living through now is a cult of personality. I don't mean that in the communist, you know, mao Zedong, joseph Stalin sort of way, adolf Hitler sort of way, I know, all you Trump deranged are going to jump on that. No, it's just that his personality is so huge, he's so charismatic and he has enrolled so many people into his vision, which are their visions as well. He didn't really what Trump did.
Speaker 1:I don't think Trump so much invented MAGA as identified it and then gained control of it. In other words, the underlying values that make up what MAGA is the hardworking men and women of traditional values who go to church on Sunday and have children and still go to the soccer games and the softball games and roll their eyes at the things that come out of the Ivy League, the normal, what I would call normal America. That's MAGA and Trump didn't invent those values. In fact, if anything, he lived a life contrary to them, given his playboy times, but he has somehow embraced them and gained control of them. He's riding that beast for the time being, but he's an 80-year-old man. I'm rounding, I know, and he amazes me, but he's still going to slow down and he's not going to be president in three years and that's that.
Speaker 1:And do I think JD Vance is the likely successor? I do. Do I think JD Vance is an able person? Oh, I think he's exceptionally able. He might continue the role, but I don't think of, you know, a couple of years, or even seven years, let's say, or even 11 years. Let's say that Vance is elected and then it serves two terms. So from this day forward, we have 11 more years of this kind of government minimum. It's still the very nature of the system and the bureaucracy is going to the minute these men are off the stage. Come right back again. It's just, it's the nature of things since the founding of the Republic.
Speaker 1:Alexis de Tocqueville, who is a Comte, c-o-m-p-t-e, c-o-m-p-t-e, yeah, comte, which is a count, count Alexis de Tocqueville of France in 1815 in his book Democracy in America. I think it was 1815. Might have been 1815. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm right. Anyway, it doesn't matter what year it was why do I care, I don't know but in 18. And then I've got to repeat it again. You know, I need to be more self-aware of what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:Anyway, he warned of what's happening right now, that once people figured out they could vote for, they could vote themselves benefits they don't pay for, they would never stop, which is why the founders built in protections. Protections like you had to own property in order to vote. Well, you know, by doing away with that you basically like. And, by the way, in those days that made perfect sense, since it was an agrarian's economy and 80% of the people worked in farming. So a lot of people on property even the ones that didn't work in farming on property, everyone had their own garden. And that meant you had skin in the game, because there was no income tax and the government raises money through tariffs and through fees. And when you're spending your own money because you have skin in the game, you're much more careful with it.
Speaker 1:When Woodrow Wilson, who is I've said it before, I'll say it again the single most evil man in history, I think in modern history, for sure of any nationality, that we can discuss one day when I have absolutely nothing else to talk about but Woodrow Wilson, in one of his unending lists of heinous acts God, I hate him Did away with the property requirement and by doing so he unleashed what's going on now. Then he introduced the income tax and that was the end of that. I mean, the mess we're in now is, in many ways, directly as a result of Woodrow Wilson, and then people like Franklin Roosevelt, lyndon Johnson, building on it in big ways. And then you know the welfare state taking over to the point where not even the Republicans consider reforming it, and it's eating us alive. And the biggest part of that is Social Security. And if you were paying attention I know with so much going on it's hard to pay attention but the time frame for Social Security to go bankrupt has been moved up from 2033 to 2031. That's not very far, guys, and this is a looming crisis. It's like we're walking into a crisis and no one wants to talk about it and there's going to have to be major reform. And the problem is, even if there is major reform, even in the best case scenario, even if they get control of it. Now it will come back, just as it has for the last 200 years, because it's a selfish instinct that motivates it, and the selfish will find a way to be selfish.
Speaker 1:Take it from me, a former criminal you can talk yourself into believing that you're holy even as you're committing a crime. Believe me, when I was committing my crime and this is no excuse you know intention is not an excuse here I should have known what I was doing. Going in, it was willful blindness. Believe me, I'm not making excuses, but I did not think of myself as a criminal until I was identified as a criminal and finally finally engaged in some self-reflection. That was long overdue.
Speaker 1:But that's not the case with most people in government and in career, and when their careers are in politics. It should be impossible to serve all these terms of politics. It just should be impossible, and yet somehow it isn't, and that just blows me away. It just blows me away. So, anyway, and anti-politism, because it is government by lottery and it's selecting from a meritorious class of people. Again you can read about it. We eliminate career because you have no way of knowing you're going to be selected by the lottery until you're selected and then you can only serve one term and then you're done. There's no re election and once you've served your one term, you're out of the pool forever. You can never serve again.
Speaker 1:So the idea of people coming into Congress like Joe Biden when they've never held a real job in their life and going from not having a lot of money to suddenly being worth you know millions, can't happen. Okay, that kind of corruption and believe me, that's all it is, and it's not just Biden, there's tons of them Tend to be on the Democratic side only because they're the party of the state and the bureaucracy and that's where a lot of the theft goes on. And the insider dealing and the non-government NGOs that are really geos, that are really controlled by cronies and funneling millions. All of that would never happen in an anti-political system, because there are no political parties and no political careers. As such, congress then would become a part-time pursuit, because today, when I say congressmen, I mean senators and representatives as well. Congresspeople generally spend 80 to 90 percent of their time raising money, and in anti-politism there would be no need for money because there would be no elections. So zero money in politics. And since there's zero money in politics, they could continue doing what they do for a living and going like the original, like the founders did. This was how the founders thought it was never a full-time job at the beginning. They would go, they'd balance the budget, they'd meet if there was an emergency, if some foreign power was attacking us which is a legitimate role of government then they would get together and decide if they were going to declare a war or what they were going to do about it, and then they'd make their move and go home again. That's what we have to return to a Congress that doesn't have so much time on its hands that it has to find ways to spend our money. So the problem with now, and the reason that anti-politism would be so much better, is that, no matter what Trump does, it's going to bounce back like rubber.
Speaker 1:I'll share a story with you that'll illustrate what I'm trying to say with you. That'll illustrate what I'm trying to say. Years and years ago, when I was a young man, I was living in Loveland Colorado. My oldest son was born at McKee Medical Center in Loveland Colorado and I was in my first business, which was a small chain of pet stores in Northern Colorado. That's PET, p-e-t, pet. I have a thing for animals, I still do. My home is in Menagerie. I have a dog, a cat and two aquariums and I really would like to have more. Okay, so I've always been an animal person. I won't go into the whole story of how I ended up in the pet business, but I opened a couple of pet stores yada, yada, yada. That was back in the early 1980s.
Speaker 1:Now, living up there in northern Colorado, I had you know it was good in business to join clubs, organizations, get to know people, and one of the groups I joined was Kiwanis. Now, the reason that I joined the Kiwanis, which is a service club for those of you who are unfamiliar with Kiwanis was because when I was in high school at Miami Beach High School, I was very active in Key Club and Key Club was the high school. I don't even know if they still exist, but back in the day, when it was still not looked down upon, back in the 1960s and 70s, high schools had service clubs I don't know if they still exist and the Kiwanis Service Club in high school was the Key Club and I was very active in it and I had a lot of friends in it and it was a wonderful experience and I don't regret any of it. So, as an adult and when I say an adult, I was in my early 20s I joined the Kiwanis Club in Loveland, Colorado.
Speaker 1:While I was there, I met a lovely man and he was a Presbyterian minister named Jim. Oh, my God, I want to say Jim Baker, but that's not right. It might have been Jim Parker. It's not right. It might have been Jim Parker. It's not important. We'll just call him Jim. Reverend Jim. Oh, no, that sounds like something out of Taxi. Let's not do that. Pastor Jim, okay, so, pastor Jim, he had a common last name. I want to say it was Parker. Pastor Parker, no, that's not right. Anyway, if you're alive and you hear this out there somewhere, and he's probably still alive I would love you to remind me of what's your last name. I'm so embarrassed. Anyway, he was the pastor of the first Presbyterian church in Loveland, which is a beautiful I'm sure it's still there a beautiful old stone church.
Speaker 1:And one thing led to another, and I was going through a rough patch in my first marriage that ended in disaster. Yadaada, yada. I began to experiment with Christianity, even though I'm Jewish, and I grew very, very close with Jim, and it was a great experience and even though I did not convert to Christianity, I certainly have a great appreciation for for it, that that since that time, since pastor Jim, I was and I was not the word is not indoctrinated educated and I got to see the best side of Christianity and he was the real deal and a really fine guy. Anyway, he invited me over for dinner one night at the Parsonage, which is where the parson lives. I guess I'm using the word parson a lot. I hope I'm using that right Again, being Jewish, there are no Jewish parsons, so I'm not sure if I'm overusing it. Anyway. Parsons, so I'm not sure if I'm overusing it. Anyway, stick with me. The Reverend, the Parson, the Pastor oh, I wasn't even using Parson, I was using Pastor. I get so confused Parsons, pastors, pastor, anyway. But it was called the Parsonage, not the Pastorage. So that's how I got on Parson.
Speaker 1:But anyway, I went over and I met his very lovely wife and his children and she was expecting me, she made dinner, it was really great, and she said why don't you go out with Jim? He's in the garage, in his wood shop. And what I didn't share with you as part of the story was is that Jim had a master's degree in theology and a PhD as well in psychology, and he was just a very educated and well-read guy. I might have that backwards, it might have been a master's in psychology and a PhD in theology. It was one of the two. Whether they flipped, I don't know. Anyway, not important, completely unimportant.
Speaker 1:Anyway, it struck me in my youth and my immaturity, as in Congress, that this very well-read and educated guy was doing woodworking. This was a leftover prejudice from my mother who somehow looked down her nose at manual labor. Believe me, I don't have that, but in those days I kind of had it. And anyway, to make a long story short, and I said so, I said to him I said, jim, what's with the woodworking? You're educated, blah, blah, blah. I'm not going to repeat all the things I already told you about.
Speaker 1:And then he said to me he said, look, it's really simple. I spend all day counseling people. Whether I'm counseling them in the context of Christianity or psychology or both, I'm counseling people all day. And he said, 99% of the time they go on and do what they want to do. Anyway, they snap back, you know, I think. I have them, you know, fixed back. You know I think I have them, you know, fixed, and I'm not his word was not fixed, I forget exactly what it was, but you know I have them at least on the right path. And then they snap right back like rubber and they go right back to doing what they were doing. And he said what I love about woodworking is that when I cut it it stays that way.
Speaker 1:And, as he related to me, that it explains I I have shared with you, by the way, that I'm a pilot. One of the things that I love about being a pilot is that if I do everything the right way, it always comes out the right way. Like landing a plane is a controlled crash, but if you control it the right way, then every single time you're going to put it on nice and soft and easy. And then there are procedures for other situations when the wind is blowing in the wrong direction, this and that and the other. I'm not going to go into flying, but for the same reason I think and I like fishing very much, and fishing I think it's not so much and fishing is not catching. I many times go fishing and don't catch anything, but there's something about the peace of being in nature. That does it. So I could appreciate him saying that, and that's the problem with government.
Speaker 1:So this whole story relates to no matter what President Trump does, no matter how straightened out he gets the country, no matter how much he gets things going in the right direction in a number of different areas, inevitably they're all going to snap back, because that is the nature of humanity at its selfish worst. And in democracy, democracy is just another word for mob rule, and that's what we have now is mob rule, and both sides are trying to figure out how to get a bigger piece of the mob. And the thing of it is what antipolitism does is it basically picks out, through a very simple system, who's doing something with their lives in terms of achievement. And the reason that that's important isn't because they're better people, but people who achieve something in their lives. And I don't set the bar all that high. I'm talking just. You know well, anyway, you'll read the book, but where I set the bar is not unachievable, it just means that you have to put your head down and do all the right things to get there. And that's very intentional, because in order to achieve a certain level of success in life, unless you're lucky or a trust fund baby which I eliminate in antipoliticism, by the way. You'll see why when you read the book or the possibility of a trust fund baby getting involved.
Speaker 1:People who work for a living and achieve a certain level of success share common habits, regardless of their nationality or their race or their religion. So you know, whether you're Presbyterian, jewish, muslim or Buddhist, you know the same habits that propel you into your career and have you rise up the ladder, no matter what your career is, are identical, regardless of what your ethnic background or religious background is. And that's so important because we have a fetish today with everybody, separating everybody out by melanin level or religion or whatever it might be melanin level or religion or whatever it might be, or nationality when really America is about decency and it's about recognizing the rights and the primacy of the individual and about natural rights, rights given to us by God, whether God is a literal being or an understanding. Those natural rights are, is are what make America great, and by setting up a professional political class.
Speaker 1:You know, remember also, the founders never envisioned people living typically into their 80s. You know, in the Founders' Day, if you were 40 years old, you were dead. I mean most of the time. It's just it was a whole different understanding. They never envisioned Joe Biden's taking place. Yes, benjamin frank lived to be in his 80s, but that's. That was the. That was an anomaly, not a, not a common thing. And boy he must have, he and jefferson and adams. They must have been tough cookies man, because they all got sick over and over and over from horrible things, but somehow they fought through and of of course, they survived. They had great immune systems, but most people were dead. I'd have been dead because I had appendicitis and my appendix ruptured when I was 11 years old. I'd have died at the age of 11.
Speaker 1:Think about that as you relate to how democracy has morphed all the way to today, to where we have a lot of people voting who really have no business voting. You cannot allow. It is a fact today, in the welfare state and in an anti-political government, this would change. But right now, 80% of the people derive more in benefit from the government than they pay in taxes. It's the top 20% who literally pays all the actual taxes. Yes, the other groups pay some taxes, but they're collecting more, and when I say they, we, I'm a member of the lower group since I got out of prison.
Speaker 1:But here's the bottom line, guys. You know, between the infrastructure, the roads, the hospitals, the police, the garbage pick, all the things that we take for granted are all government services of one government or another in one way or another, and we are not paying enough in taxes to get the service we're getting. We're getting a pretty sweet deal, except that we're running up a debt that we'll never be able to pay, which is immoral, and none of this would have ever taken place in an anti-political government, because the people involved would have been people of merit, and people merit all think about the same. They don't have to be democrats, republicans, they have common sense, or they would have never gotten to where they are. You know, they're people who have done something with their lives, not just talked about it. They're not talking heads, they're not politicians. They're not people who have made careers out of yapping and hearing themselves. They're not sociopaths, they're lawyers. We're not going to have a legislature that's over half just lawyers. There will be some lawyers Commence with the percentage of lawyers in the population, maybe a third of 1%, 1%, something like that but not this plethora of people who are basically.
Speaker 1:What is a lawyer, but a paid prostitute? A paid verbal prostitute? A paid intellectual prostitute is a better way of putting it. They'll take your side as long as you pay them, and they will prostitute themselves. Even if they think you're wrong, they'll still do it, and they'll do it with a big smile on their faces Paid intellectual prostitutes. Anyway, I think I'll leave it there today. Antipolitism. Let me just sum up by saying this If we had an anti-political system, the good things that President Trump is doing would still be done and would last. Where? Today, no matter what he does, it's not going to last. It's as simple as that. I wish that weren't true, but it is so. Anyway, you guys have a wonderful and beautiful day, a wonderful and beautiful weekend. We'll talk again on Monday and we'll see if my prognostications of last Monday come true regarding what's going to go on in the Middle East. We shall see Peace out. God bless you and God bless America.