One of the reasons I started my podcast was to learn by asking questions. I would listen to other podcasts and after hearing the guests' comments, I would be ready with a query to clarify their point. Only the host didn’t ask it. Well shit! What do I do? So here I am.
While recording “Episode 713: Reinterpreting a Century of Leftism w/ Thomas777”, which will be released on Friday (supporters have had the audio since Monday), when comparing how unimpressive American statesmen are to those of the past, Thomas jokingly, but not really, stated that you wouldn’t want these people watching your children. That was one of those lightbulb moments. I don’t care if it’s Nancy Pelosi or Mitch McConnell, I think most people reading this would want neither in the presence of their most precious creation. Do I have to remind you that former Speaker of the House, Republican Dennis Hastert, is a convicted child molester? And the Democrats never mention it. You would think that would’ve been a bludgeon to be wielded against the Republicans at every turn. But no.
What a great question to ask a normie when discussing politics? “C’mon, would you even trust these people to watch your children?”
We are always going to have elites and they will always be influential within a culture. It wasn’t until the last couple years that I realized this by reading outside of libertarian thought but was happy to find out Han-Hermann Hoppe agreed. So, taking into consideration Thomas’ comment, and accepting that elites are here to stay, how do we use that? In “What Must Be Done”, one of the local strategies that Dr. Hoppe lays out is to identify natural elites who you deem to be sympathetic to your plan. Strangely, asking yourself whether you would trust this person to watch your children may be a good first qualifier. I understand reading that you may chuckle. I wrote it and I chortled. But it is a good litmus test for who you would trust to be influential in your community and even a leader.
We’ve reached a point in our society that the worst people have the most influence. How did we get here? Does it even matter at this moment. It just needs to change. I’m just trying to provide a little ammunition. A question here and a comment there you can use to break through the mass formation in your sphere of influence. We can do this. We WILL do this. We just need all of the ammunition we can get. Metaphorically.
When I read "ask whether you'd trust them to look after your children" I didn't chortle or chuckle, I just went "well, yeah." When said out loud, it's kind of obvious. And the sort of person who would be suitable to care for your children, are the sort who would have a long-run mindset, an at-least minimally compatible values framework, and a sense of protectiveness sufficient to that task (or you wouldn't so-trust them). That sort of person you trust to make choices on your behalf, trusting that those will be in your long-run best interest. If there were anyone you wanted in a "natural elite" it would be that, I should think.
Speaking of Hoppe, I think this is where (some) Hoppeans mess up time-preference. They think of it as "low == better" but that's not accurate. Too low time preference and you don't make best consumptive decisions. Too high and you spend too flagrantly and don't plan for the long-run. What you want is someone who is looking at "long run best interest" which involves short-term action AND long term action. Time preference, I think, is often used as a stand-in for this broader set of wise thinking, because lower-than-our-present-culture time-preference is one important ingredient in it. But I think all of the ingredients (which I did not, I'm sure, exhaustively list) that go into "I would trust that person with my child" are important, not just time-preference.
That said, extremely short-run thinking, and extremely consumptive thinking (and our children are being consumed, to be sure) is definitely a feature of the present crop of society's elites.
It is curious that they do not use Dennis Hastert as a bludgeon as you say. Maybe they are also guilty and don't want to draw attention to such activities?