Between Extreme Capitalism and Extreme Socialism: The Missed Comfort of Lukewarm Waters.

During The Cold War, from around 1946 to 1996, The United States of America and some of its West European NATO allies understood that while Capitalism is a pre-requisite to human freedom, especially the liberty of individuals, some aspects of Socialism were legitimate in insuring sufficient social cohesion and preventing too many people from ending up homeless and hungry. This was more true in Western European nations than America, but even in The United States certain social welfare programs were devised in order to insure domestic tranquility and to be able to convince potential political asylum seeking Soviets and East Europeans that as hard as life can be in the West, the freedom gained was worth the risk.

As part of the post-war deal the West sought to promote the views of relatively progressive liberal thinkers, writers, artists and entertainers, whose views were strongly opposed to all forms of Fascism, especially Nazism. This was not just about de-Nazi-fying Germany, Austria and de-Fascistifying Italy, Spain and other nations of the former Axis nations, but about a legitimate concern for free-market principles, best benefited by tolerating non-violent troublemakers, especially moderate Socialists, Social Democrats and Libertarians. However, as soon as The Soviet Union collapsed, and with it the entire Warsaw Pact, as soon as The United States emerged as the solitary global Superpower, certain elements of the Right-wing political establishments decided that those same creative and outspoken individuals, people like John Lennon, Andy Warhol, Kurt Vonnegut, Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, Gore Vidal, Paul Newman (see my tribute coming soon/or above), who once served their interests in allowing for the appearance of real freedom and liberty (wherein fact the USA has had a contradictory and mixed record on its own stated principles and values)were suddenly at best mildly tolerated by those with real power and massive influence.

What is certain is that truly progressive moderates and liberals, Social Democratic Capitalist Intellectuals such as my self, have been the target of cleverly devised methods to disenfranchise, silence, ignore... (especially by the mass media...who at first were only too eager to give me a voice!)... and gradually totally undermine and eventually destroy them, given that their (my) views are highly critical of extremisms, especially Right-wing Capitalist and Left-wing Communist extremisms! After all, we could be the new Spinozas, Gandhis and Einsteins of the world! We could, if the media would dare do what is truly in the world's best interests, easily become the kind of intellectual heroes, social role models, capable of inspiring, instigating and motivating younger people to avoid joining the ranks of the extremists, to oppose all forms of extremism, and to seek to make a much better world than the one we currently find ourselves barely living in! We could be the kind of hero Philosophers, Poets and Pundits who, through our fine use of words, through our powerful use of great and deeply thought-provoking ideas and images, through our sense of future-seeing and hope, might turn young people away from seeking superficial vanities, undeserved fame and fortune, or from giving up on the world and becoming violent extremists! We might finally be able to convince young people that seeking true wisdom, greater knowledge and genuine enlightenment are just as important as seeking the means to live healthy, comfortable and exciting lives! We might be able to bring about a True Era of Lasting (hopefully Everlasting) Enlightenment,Peace and Prosperity based on legitimately Spiritual and truly Scientific Reasoning and Wisdom! An era when Unity-in-Diversity, Tolerance of Tolerant Others, and True Freedom, Liberty and Democracy reign supreme, for the benefit of all decent persons and all Free-Thinkers!


Only through Social Democracy can The United States of America work to best serve the legitimate interests of practically all Americans, from what should never be less than Lower Middle Class Working Americans to the few Truly Deserving Upper Class Inventors, Innovators, and other quintessential Geniuses! (Oh, yeah...such a I myself! Facetious sarcasm allowed. LOL! Slight element of truth.)

Till then, we must not assume that just because someone thinks they have good reason to be concerned about their relative safety and abuses of their legitimate rights, that they are necessarily exaggerating things or, worse yet, truly delusional and paranoid. One tactic mentioned in several extreme Right-wing manuals involves using very cleverly devised, hi-tech methods to cause "troublemakers", "boat-rockers", "misfits", "non-conformists" and other Responsibly Progressive Liberal Social Democrats & True Libertarians to appear to their friends as being conspiracy-theory-addicted paranoid delusional schizophrenics and potential psychopaths or sociopaths! Anyone interested in the specifics of these cleverly devised, hi-tech methods, being used right now by extreme Right-wingers all over the world, should write me in private and I will try my best to provide details and proof! Remember how right John Lennon was, after years of being the target of similar efforts to defame, disenfranchise and destroy him! As for how to tell the difference between a real victim of such sinister methods/tactics and someone who really does go too far; I'll be happy to send you my views on that too. Nevertheless, one must understand that when a specific person is being targeted for such sinister methods/tactics eventually, over time, the sum effect can be to cause a legitimate victim to actually become, little by little, a double-victim, as it gets harder and harder for that specific individual to avoid assuming things about other people, whose statements and actions might otherwise give legitimate cause for concern and reason to fear, that may or may not be true! The recent movie "Ridicule" alludes to that, and one should always take the trouble to read George Orwell's "1984" again, as it serves to remind us how far people in power are willing to go to remain in power long after any legitimate mandate, if there was a mandate to begin with!

Of course none of us who are truly sensible like having to live under the constant knowledge of, concern about and fear of powerful and influential people who are so bored, mundane, vulgar and vain that they get their kicks out of playing around with the lives of others! In case you have already begun to forget what Machiavelli's The Prince and Malthus's An Essay on the Principle of Population, or for that matter what movies like "Brazil", "Meet John Doe", "Citizen Kane", "The Matrix", "Bob Roberts", "Soylent Green", "Network" and "The Net" are really trying to warn us about!

For younger readers and older readers alike, looking for wisdom without too much of the darker side imagery; there is always my favorite book, Antoine De Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince)!

So, between extreme Capitalism and extreme Socialism, let me and my many fancifully fantastic friends frolic in the luke-warm waters of Freedom, Liberty and Unity-in-Diversity!