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
Courage Over Cowardice: Can Democrats Find Their Way Back?
Democracy thrives on meaningful opposition. When one political party becomes captured by its most extreme voices while the moderate majority remains silent out of fear, we all lose. That's precisely what's happening with today's Democratic Party.
Consider the wisdom of Charles de Gaulle, who when asked how France would survive without him, responded: "The cemeteries are full of men that couldn't be replaced." This profound statement applies equally to modern American politics. Donald Trump is undeniably a transformative figure, but like all leaders, he requires principled opposition to ensure accountability and balance.
What's missing isn't opposition itself, but thoughtful, courageous opposition that reflects mainstream American values rather than fringe ideologies. Most citizens are naturally libertarian in orientation - socially liberal and fiscally conservative - yet our political system offers increasingly extreme options that fail to represent this common-sense middle ground.
Anti-politism offers a potential solution by transforming politics from a career into a civic duty through merit-based lottery selection. By removing re-election pressures and money from politics, we could restore governance that reflects ordinary Americans' pragmatic values. Imagine a political landscape where representatives acknowledge when the other side makes valid points, where immigration policy balances border security with economic reality, and where performance art activism gives way to practical problem-solving.
The path forward may require building a "New Democratic Party" grounded in libertarian principles that provides meaningful opposition while rejecting tribal politics. Until we restore courage as the primary political virtue - the willingness to speak truth even when socially costly - we'll continue cycling through increasingly dysfunctional versions of the same broken system.
Explore how we might create a political future that works for all Americans rather than the powerful few. Share this episode with friends who believe our republic deserves better than what today's politics offers.
Happy Wednesday troops. Sorry, I didn't record on Monday. I'd love to tell you some elaborate excuse, but I just wasn't in the mood. I know that sounds crazy. I could make up a story, but part of my path to redemption from the lows that I reached some years ago was to not lie. So the truth of the matter is on Monday, I just didn't feel it On Tuesday, I thought I'll leave it till Wednesday.
Speaker 1:So here we are and what I want to talk about today, and really there was no specific news that jumped up that I felt like I had to comment upon. But today I want to talk about what's happening within the Democratic Party, and I want to begin with a simple statement, which is that Trump needs to be opposed. Now, when I say that Trump needs to be opposed, it's not because I have Trump derangement syndrome. You know from listening to me that I don't. I easily credit him with the things he's done right, but nobody should be allowed to go unchecked. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, and Donald Trump is not trying to be a Hitler or a dictator. That's just a bunch of nonsense. But we'll get to that in just one minute. The truth of the matter is, though he needs to be opposed. He's not perfect, he doesn't walk on water. He's not the holy grail you know, personified. He's just well, he is a transformative figure, but he's an old man and he's going to pass into oblivion, as we all do.
Speaker 1:Years and years ago, there was a president of France named Charles de Gaulle. Those of you who are old enough to know this will remember this very clearly. Those of you who are young enough, go with me. Charles de Gaulle was the leader of the Free French Forces in World War II. He was the only well, he was the, not the only. He was the most. I think the Laudier went with him, but anyway, he was the most named, well-known French general, most respected French general that did not just cave in and collaborate with the Nazis, as did the Vichy government in France after the main government fell. It's a long. I don't want to go into the history of it, but there was a German, a French general, named Marshal Patin, and Marshal Patin was a collaborator, and I know he's dead. I don't know if he was executed or not, but anyway, long story short, de Gaulle emerged from World War II as the hero of France, the founder of the Fifth Republic, which is how they count their various republics that have come and gone. By the way, if you need proof that republics come or go, you just have to understand that France is on its fifth republic. So, to make a long story short, and we're only on our first and we're managing to screw that up pretty good, but we'll get to that in a minute.
Speaker 1:So General de Gaulle was being interviewed and he came to a point in his life. He was a very complicated man. He was exceptionally French, exceptionally arrogant, exceptionally difficult. All the other people in all the other countries, the other generals General Eisenhower, churchill, the prime minister, all the rest they hated dealing with him because he was such a big pain in the ass. But he was the personification of everything the French loved. So when he retired and he was the president of France after the war, but he was an old man and I think this was the 1950s or 60s, I think it was the 60s when he ultimately retired Don't quote me on that.
Speaker 1:I didn't double check it before I did the report. Well, feel free to double check it, let me know. Anyway, not an important fact in this case. So he was being interviewed by, uh, the biggest french newspaper, which is le monde, which means the world, and le monde was interviewing him and you know, basically, he got a question that was what's france going to do without you, general, now that you're retiring? How can france survive without you? You know, you're the founder of the fifth republic and you're the savior of france from world war ii and you're everything that you know, we want you to be and we all love you. And he was a beloved figure in France, beloved. And they asked him the question how can France go on without you, basically? And his answer was it just stuck with me to this day? And his answer was the cemeteries are full of men that couldn't be replaced, and I just think that is such a self-aware and strong answer.
Speaker 1:Tells me a lot about General DeGaulle, by the way, and it's also true of Donald Trump. Okay, he's going to come and he's going to go, just like we all are, and for the republic to survive, it needs to have a healthy opposition. And this nonsense that Republicans are saying that they're not going to lose another election as far as the eye can see because the Democrats are so weak and they're so strong, and all you know, you've all heard it, I'm not going to repeat what you already know. This is a bunch of nonsense, god forbid. We don't have a strong opposition. The problem now is not that we don't have an opposition major party the Democratic Party it's. The problem is the Democratic Party has allowed the tail to wag the dog to the point where it's become irrelevant. And so, basically, if Trump were immortal, he could run for re-election against the same.
Speaker 1:If they were immortal too, and ran against the same group of Democrats ad infinitum, they'd never win, because their points of view are so out of touch with the mainstream and, worse than that, they won't change their minds, and when I say they, I mean the progressive fringe of the Democratic Party. They won't change their minds because for them, it's a cult, not a political position, in other words, trump derangement. When you just hate Donald Trump, everything he does is wrong, no matter how great it is, and when you're beyond the point of being able to even grudgingly grant credit to anything, you are not being reasonable, you are being a cultist. You're right out there with David Koresh, you know. So listen, dudes and dudettes. Wise up on the Democratic Party. That's what today's podcast is about. What has to happen If I were a Democrat today.
Speaker 1:And for those of you I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but if I haven't I will I intend to run for I haven't mentioned it before I intend to run for Congress next year and I'm going to run as a libertarian, which of course means I'm going to lose. Now the libertarian party is it's a party in the loosest sense of the word. You know it's kind of trying, it's like trying to herd kittens. You know the Libertarian Party has so many interesting, goofy, free at all costs people in it, which are great, by the way. I love them all. But it makes it impossible to organize the party into any meaningful opposition because you know there are the anarchists, and then there's the anarcho-capitalists, and then there's the anarcho-socialists, and then there's the libertarians, who are more Rand Paulian, who want to work within the system, and then there kooky. But I'm going to run within the party for the very simple reason that I can get on the ballot the easiest as a libertarian, and I've always been a libertarian.
Speaker 1:If you read a radical reset available to you on Amazon as the manifesto of anti-politism, which I'll get to, I'm going to weave that into this discussion. You will see that my policy prescriptions. So when I wrote the book, I wrote it and I'm going to weave that into this discussion. You will see that my policy prescriptions. So when I wrote the book, I wrote it and I'm about to do a rewrite of the book. I'm going to tell you right now I'm about to do an edited version where I take out a lot of my own policy prescriptions because they're not important.
Speaker 1:But my basic reasoning under antipolitism, the system itself, which is basically a republic by lottery merit-based lottery that anyone can become a part of it shuts out nobody. It's open to anybody who makes the effort to show the merit to be a part of the lottery and then it's a random selection from that group so that we convert politics from a career into a duty. You know you're called upon to serve, you serve, it's one and done and you're out. That's it. And you know the only argument against it is that we lose the experience of all of these experienced Congress people to which I answer. Simply look at their track record, and who cares that? We lose them? To be perfectly honest. But it takes not some of the money out of politics, it takes all of the money out of politics.
Speaker 1:And if you want to learn more about it, it's at a radical reset, the manifesto of anti-politism. In fact, as I look at Elon Musk trying to establish a third party and as I look at Andrew Yang, none of these guys are making a compelling case for why they exist. I want to start. I want to make anti-politism and I'll get to my whole strategy in this and why I'm talking about this in relation to the Democrats. I'm going to pull it all together. I see anti-politism as a genuine it's obviously a genuine major change because I'm trying to seal the deal for the republic forever. You know, I'm 68 years old and I have no presidential ambitions. Therefore, all I'm trying to do is become an influencer in a major way, so that my philosophy, my political idea it's not even a philosophy, my political system idea that I have becomes.
Speaker 1:I believe it would guarantee America's future, because I believe everyone's default setting is libertarian, whether they know it or not, in the sense that most people are socially liberal and fiscally conservative. If you take all the political labels off of it and you said to most people, should the government be big or small, they'll say small. And if you ask most people, should the government be involved in your private life, they'll say no, and that includes on the issue of abortion as well. Most people are pro-choice. They're pro-choice, they're uneasy with it, they want some restrictions to it. That's fine. But most people are pro-choice because, again, it's your body and I understand that the baby's a boy.
Speaker 1:I don't want to go into the abortion argument today. I'll do that another day when it flares up into the public eye. Right now it's not flaring up, so let's not even go down that road. But the point is that the Democratic Party today has become a mouthpiece. It's basically cowards and progressives.
Speaker 1:Okay, now I've related to you that I have, since prison, adopted Stoicism as my central guiding philosophy, and Stoicism has four pillars Courage, justice, wisdom and moderation. Now, the most important one is courage, and that's it's the most important, because it takes courage to speak up against the crowd. Courage doesn't always mean you have to dodge bullets and live fire, but most people are afraid to speak their mind because they're afraid of the social and career consequences of doing so, and that's very true within political parties and, most of all, true within the Democratic Party today. So you have a tiny fringe of loud lunatics who support things like multiple genders, which is lunacy. I don't even want to go down. There is no debate there. That's complete lunacy. The fact that they're sticking to it so hard and fighting for it so hard tells you why the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is literally a cult. But the other let's say 80% of Democrats or so, who understand that it's a cult, are afraid to speak up against it, hoping that it will self-moderate over time, because they don't want to lose their cherished positions and power within the party, even though they know every word is bullshit.
Speaker 1:Okay, the, the tribalization of America and the breaking down of the economy into people based on how much skin pigment they have, or or you know what perceived injustice took place far in the past, or whatever it might be. All of that is lunacy. It's, it's indefensible, and most Democrats know that. I'm positive. They just don't speak up because they lack courage. And it's hard when you're in an office full of people in Los Angeles, california, working in the, let's say, the, the, the film industry, and you know that, that there's and there's a star in the room and you know stars carry all kinds of within that environment, all kinds of weird power and everyone's. You know the stars going on and on about how she you know, he or she is usually a, she is, you know, multisexual or whatever the hell it might be. And everyone's going yes, yes, of course. Of course, those bad Republicans Listen.
Speaker 1:That's lunacy and they know it. They're just saying it because they're going along to get along, because they lack courage. There's a reason why that's the main pillar of stoicism because they lack courage. There's a reason why that's the main pillar of stoicism, because without it, nothing else matters. And so I think what has to happen, since most people let's also deal with human beings as they are I can preach about having courage. None of them are going to have it, and I don't think less of them as human beings when I say they.
Speaker 1:The broad mass of the Democratic Party that goes along to get along even though they know their own party's positions are insane and like, for example, mollifying the Hamas wing of the party. 80% of Democrats think that's insane. They're just going along to get along and they talk themselves into believing nonsense, and it's all based on propaganda. If you ask anybody for a specific instance of anything, they can't cite it, no matter what the issue is, because they've never looked deep enough to do that. They're going along to get along because they're cowards. They don't have the courage to stand up and tell them what their common sense tells them, which is 80% of this is bullshit. Okay, it's nonsense.
Speaker 1:We're not going to shape human beings, and the danger with progressivism is that it considers itself morally on the high ground and since it considers itself morally just, it doesn't feel like it has to justify itself. It even feels justified the lie when the ends justifies the means, because we're on the moral high ground. That's the problem with it, and the Democratic Party will become a marginalized nothing unless they change. And so what I'm going to do is run for Congress as a libertarian, but I'm going to target my campaign and I'm going to attempt to get. I don't really know how to, if I'll be able to do that, but I'm going to try to run both on the libertarian and democratic ticket in the primary. I'm not sure if I'll be successful at that, but regardless of whether I'm successful or not, that's the campaign I'm going to run. Sometimes you can manifest it even though they won't let you in. I'll do it as a write-in for the primaries, but the bottom line is I'll be targeting Democrats who know that their party's nonsense, with the goal in mind being to create a new Democratic Party.
Speaker 1:A new Democratic Party. That is essentially what the Libertarian Party should have been if it didn't have its anarcho, weirdo wing. That would turn off 90% of voters. And, by the way, anarcho capitalists out there those of you who are strict followers of, for example, murray Rothbard or, today, michael Malice, who I have enormous respect for and I have not read all of his work, but a lot of it enormous respect for, and have not read all of his work, but a lot of it, and I have. I agree with it in an ideal world and I understand that he's very eloquent and can construct a world where volunteerism seems to be dominant and prevalent, but I just don't believe, after being in prison and being up to my ass and the worst of human nature, that that's a realistic point of view.
Speaker 1:Having said that, a new Democrat party that was socially very liberal and fiscally very conservative would have a lot of appeal to the broad mass of Americans who are that, after Donald Trump is gone, as able as other people are, like JD Vance or Marco Rubio or the rest. These are all able people, but Donald Trump is a once-in-a-lifetime figure. He has that certain something that can't be taught or learned. Jd Vance is an intellectual giant, frankly, and extremely erudite, but he's not necessarily well, he's just not. He doesn't have that certain natural connection that Donald Trump has that it's hard to fathom. Maybe it'll show up later, but I feel like if it hasn't shown up yet, it's not going to. Having said all that, I consider him a remarkable human being and that's the other thing. You know.
Speaker 1:To be in opposition doesn't mean you can't acknowledge when the other side does something right. So, for example, if I were leading the New Democrat Party, which again, and at its core, by the way, would advocate anti-politism, the new Democrat Party would say we are for near total personal freedom and we are for almost the strictest of fiscal conservatism, but at the very same time, we recognize that life is life and there are situations and we'll recognize when the other side does something right. So, for example, if we existed today, the New Democrats existed today, we would say to Donald Trump good job on closing the border. Now let's deal with the illegal immigrants that are already here, and the idea of rounding them up with Nazis with their faces covered is not acceptable. There is a legitimate argument to be made for a sane immigration policy. If you guys are interested in what my immigration ideas are, there's a podcast about it earlier. You'll be able to find it in the titles on whatever streaming service you're using or any podcast service you're using, we're listed on all of them. Or any podcast service you're using, we're listed on all of them. But basically, there's a real discussion to be had on how to deal with the illegal immigrants already here and we need them. We need the tax revenue they generate, we need the productivity they generate.
Speaker 1:A lot of the arguments that Trump makes, like they lower wages, are not true. Or, if they are true, they're true to the benefit of the millions of Americans who benefit. You know you have to. I'll give you a really, really good example. Okay, ups used to pride itself on having the union involved in its senior management. Yada, yada, yada. Biden was president.
Speaker 1:There was a strike at UPS. Ups caved in and paid the average UPS driver. Now and again if I'm wrong about this, feel free to chime in, but my source on this is John Stossel the average UPS driver makes $175,000 a year as a result of that negotiation and the union, which was the Teamsters union, you know which is the pro-Trump union, by the way came out. And isn't this great. And we won this great victory for workers. And within a year, 20,000 employees of UPS have been laid off. You know, there's only so many ways to pull it out. So they got a raise for some of the employees and they got 20,000 of them fired. And not everybody drives a truck at UPS. Someone is loading those trucks and somebody is unloading the planes and all those other things that go. I don't know their business model, but there are a million there's probably a million employees at UPS. Anyway, we got 20,000 of them laid off to get a few of them a higher paycheck.
Speaker 1:This is the point I make is you know, life is more complicated. So here we have a situation in immigration where there's a legitimate case to be made to argue with Donald Trump, but no one's making the legitimate case because they're too busy opposing ice in the streets, because it's performance art. You know, the Democratic Party is being led by performance artists and they need to ditch it and there needs to be a new Democrat Party and that new democrat party needs to embrace libertarianism under the democratic banner. And I I there could be another name for the party. I was thinking maybe it should be called the jeffersonian party, but the only reason that I don't think that's a great idea and I think it is is because of the people left in the democratic party who realized that Thomas Jefferson likely, although it's not definite could have been a nephew, might have fathered some black children, but if he did see, historic great figures like Thomas Jefferson didn't shit marble guys.
Speaker 1:I just want to put that on the side. They were human beings and they made judgments within the context of their time that reflected their time, including slavery. And I know that's hard to understand, but it's true. In fact and let's just get over this entire, just a quick digression. Slavery was invented by black people and, yes, black people were enslaved in this country. But they invented slavery because that's where all civilization comes from, the African continent, and slavery is as old as prostitution, and the first slaves were black, as sure as God made little green apples. So I don't want to hear this white guys enslave black people. This is some unique event. There's nothing unique about it. Get over it.
Speaker 1:And the new Democrat Party would say that it's a history to be discussed. It's a legacy to be built upon, but it's not an excuse for underperformance in the present. But a new Democratic Party wouldn't pander. It would offer solutions. And the thing about anti-politism as the core philosophy to the new Democratic Party is people, when they're not pursuing power and they don't just say things to say it because they're trying to get reelected or raise money. That's what anti-politism does. It takes the reelection and the money completely out of politics and they're just speaking their mind.
Speaker 1:People are natural libertarians. You don't even have to tell them because libertarianism is just a fancy word for common sense. If you really think about it, I mean, use the sense God gave you. It's the default. It's why I think it's the savior of the country long term, because of everybody who's serving in office are basically people who have done something with their lives or over the age of 35 and haven't committed a crime, which is basically the guidelines for who's eligible for an or in the upper third of income earners, which means they've climbed at least into middle management. So they've climbed the ladder, they've done everything the right way. They've managed to reach some level of success. That is the pool from where we will derive our future congresses and presidents and vice presidents and therefore they will not be politicians. They'll be normal level of success. That is the pool from where we will derive our future Congresses and Presidents and Vice Presidents, and therefore they will not be politicians. They'll be normal people, and normal people have normal concerns, and normal concerns are common sense, and common sense is libertarianism, and libertarianism should be the new Democrat Party.
Speaker 1:That's what I'm saying and that's what I'm going to end on today, and I know that was a rambling discussion, but I hope I made some sense. Anyway, we'll see what happens. I'm going to run for Congress next year and you know, as Lao Tzu said in 600 BC, the founder of Taoism, the longest the thousand mile journey is shortened by the first step. That's what he said. So that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to take the first step out here in Arizona. Give it a shot, see if I can gain some traction with it, maybe start a little movement and convert the disaster that today is the Democratic Party into a meaningful opposition party and, ultimately, the meaningful party in power. When antipolitism becomes the law of the land and parties simply evaporate. There are no political parties in antipolitism. Antipolitism is the goal of the new Democrat party, as I envision it to ultimately make itself obsolete by introducing anti-politism which eliminates parties, because without elections, who needs them? And it goes on from there.
Speaker 1:Pick up a copy of A Radical Reset on Amazon, my friends. It is available to you in Kindle, paperback or hardcover, let's see. Share this with your friends. This is the de rigueur thing I should say every single time that I always forget to say when I start but please share, share the podcast. I think we at least have fun in a different discussion. Anyway, I don't know, you tell me. I don't think I'm any nuttier than anybody else and I'm a little entertaining. Anyway, I hope. Have a beautiful rest.