“I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.”
Peter Thiel, Pay-Pal Co-founder
I want to thank Peter Thiel for his ruthlessly arrogant confession of the rightwing plutocrats’ goals. Being concerned about keeping what freedom I have, I take heart to know what we are up against: “freedom” for Thiel, “slavery” for us. Obviously, fascism (in Mussolini’s definition “the merging of government and corporate power”) is the “freedom” Thiel yearns for. America has moved far enough toward that goal that a billionaire is now so confident of success that he can openly declare it. We common folk will have to decide whether we want to be generous, letting our culture’s plutocrats have their full “freedom,” or insist on keeping at least some of that precious essence for ourselves. Since what freedom I have depends on democracy, I have made my choice.
Our recent election shows that millions of our countrymen have trouble making up their minds. They believe that the price of gasoline is reason enough to throw democracy to the sharks. They might be unpleasantly surprised to realize that the chum bucket is connected to a rope tied around their ankles. Nautical analogies aside, the fact is that nearly half of American voters are on board (sorry) for putting into action the ideal of billionaires like Peter Thiel, who ardently believe that they owe nobody anything, while everybody owes fealty to them. There is a tradeoff: Eliminating democracy will free billionaires to rule us all, while setting conservative plebes free from critical thinking. Our upper class, hostile toward democracy since America’s founding because democracy gets in their way, has been steadily regaining control over society since the Great Depression—with help from growing numbers of average folks, who must work for a living, who stand to be hurt should Thiel get his wish, yet also harbor (oops, again) hostility toward democracy.
During mankind’s long-running potluck barbecue, which we call Paleolithic times, society was purely democratic. The survival of every individual depended on the well-being of the entire tribe, while the health of the tribe depended on the well-being of every individual. As people domesticated animals, the concept of ownership emerged, then accelerated with the development of agriculture. The personal plot of land was each man’s living, of no concern to anybody else. Of necessity, people still maintained societies to protect their lands from outsiders, which they could only do by forming governments, including armies—a process that needed leadership. Eventually, the leaders successfully claimed status as “more equal than others,” which initiated the ongoing controversy over how much more equal anyone has a right to be. With industrialization, the controversy over equality sped up along with everything else, and we invented the “rugged individualist” who stood above all humanity as the heroic demigod of the age. The elevation of a tiny segment of rich and powerful individuals to super-human status allowed them to suffocate the individuality of everyone else, through poverty and wage slavery. Thiel, with the cocksure hubris of someone who feels entitled, makes no effort to hide what he means by “freedom”: return to those halcyon times when government did not interfere with the capitalists’ freedom to acquire more.
The temptation is strong to believe the glowing but fictitious promise of a world without government. Who likes being told what to do? Who likes paying taxes? Could a plethora of bad laws be solved by making no laws at all? If we eliminate government, are we not all set free? Human nature disproves that hypothesis. With the eradication of all laws, we might all be technically free—free even to rob, but others would be free to rob us. We would not be equal. People like Thiel, whose wealth and power allow them to claim more equality would, as upper classes have always done, create social structures to maintain their privileged positions, imposing their will over everyone else. Most humans tend to thrive when they cooperate to build workable social and commercial infrastructures, a personality trait remaining from that long Paleolithic age. Compromise and sharing, which cut against the grain of our desire to acquire more, create and strengthen societies that deliver the most good for the most people—meaning social, economic, and political democracy. Any “freedom” that is incompatible with democracy means for most of us no freedom at all. So much for the “wonders” of libertarianism, as preached by followers of Ronald Reagan, Milton Friedman, and Ayn Rand.
Peter Thiel, who now finances politicians who advocate libertarianism at the expense of democracy, is taking that lust for power to its logical conclusion. Nearly half the American voters remain loyal to the libertarian creed, even though they favor social programs wrought by democracy, even though libertarianism’s practice makes life as tough for them as it does for liberals. The elites are happy to take their votes, tell them how free they are, then continue to rob them. Since the establishment of our government in 1789, government of the people, by the people, and for the people—originally geared to increasing the liberty and prosperity of White, property-owning males—has over time expanded to include poor people, all races, and women. Historically, citizens and politicians have debated whether to expand democracy quickly or slowly, and over time, America has trended to expanding and strengthening democratic structures. Now we hear serious talk about ending democracy, because it interferes with oligarchs’ always getting what they want.
Today’s oligarchs cannot achieve their goal of absolute power without help from some commoners. Since commoners hesitate to vote for politicians who promise to limit their personal health, wealth, and happiness, the elites must honor our democratic forms by offering bribes. Pomp and ceremony can go a long way toward making the plebes forget how badly they are being treated, but sooner or later bread and circuses must be delivered. Bread in modern times means lots of things to buy, and circuses are provided by many forms of media. Some commoners who vote to support curtailing, and now ending democracy, are bribed with more diabolical promises, such as making conditions even worse for other groups of people, along racial and religious lines. Those who sacrifice their rights under such conditions fail to realize that once the rulers are permitted to abuse some people, they never fail to eventually come after everyone else. Only democracy: government of the people (not just some) can protect the rights of one and all. Should Thiel and his fellows gain full freedom for themselves, the rest of us will be enslaved. Ironically, even the oligarchs will be enslaved to an Orwellian god that is power.
History shows that our universal human desires for personal freedom and economic security cannot be satisfied unless we share them with everyone else. When cultures overlook this fact, instead obsessing on individual gratification of these natural desires, our human needs mutate into greed and power lust, and cultures become spiritually sick. Everybody’s freedom and security are threatened. In a sane world, sick human beings who are consumed by greed and power lust would get psychological and emotional help. In our world, they get absolute power, power which they wield over the rest of us, which only makes them, and us, sicker. A psychological forebear of Thiel’s, railroader C.P. Huntington, once celebrated the essence of greed saying, “Whatever is not nailed down is mine. What I can pry loose is not nailed down.” Thiel is simply dressing it up a bit.
