The Love of Fame

The Love of Fame

Peter Schultz

 

Hamilton wrote in the Federalist about “The love of fame, the ruling passion of the noblest minds….” What if Hamilton was wrong and the love of fame is not always an indication, a characteristic of a noble mind? What if the love of fame is characteristic of narcissistic minds, of those who think of themselves as great, as visionaries, ala’ Napoleon, Churchill, T. Roosevelt, W. Wilson, George W. Bush? 

 

And then what is to ensure that those “great projects” that Hamilton tells us the lovers of fame undertake will be as concerned with the common good as with satisfying their passion, the lust for fame? Recall Lincoln: the really great ones would enslave freemen or free slaves in order to satisfy their love of fame, their desire for “immortality.” And after all, the founders reconciled themselves to slavery in order to gain their fame. And as Walter Karp reminds us, Woodrow Wilson took the US into WW I, thereby helping to destroy the republic, in order to claim the fame of waging the war to end all wars. Even President McKinley succumbed to the temptation to wage war in order to make America and himself great. 

 

Isn’t this what Franklin was warning the constitutional convention about in his remarks on not paying presidents? Ambition and avarice combined are political nitro glycerin, with the result that the presidency will not attract men of peace. And certainly, the lovers of fame seem to be attracted to war and war-like politics. Absent war can presidents achieve greatness, fame? Hence, the allure of war. 

 

In the end, we end up with Trump, who confirms that the love of fame is not only consistent with narcissism but even fortifies it. Trump’s narcissism has flourished in the presidency. And of course Trump lives amidst other narcissists, who are also seeking fame. is this what Madison meant when he wrote in the Federalist that ambition should be used to check ambition because relying on virtue is never sufficient? Narcissists checking narcissists. What could go wrong? 

 

People and Politics

 

People and Politics

Peter Schultz

 

People want answers and that’s what politicians and politics promise to provide. Regarding abortion, e.g., pro-life and pro-choice provide answers, clear, concise, easily defensible answers. 

Try an alternative: pro-love. Doesn’t provide answers but rather raises questions. And the answers to these questions aren’t clear, concise, or easily defensible. Hence, this alternative will never be viable politically.  

Questions make almost all people discontent. Almost all people want answers, clear, concise, easily defensible answers, answers they would die and even kill for. Ambivalence, however appropriate it is, is not a political or a moral virtue. Ambivalence implies that asking the right questions is more important than clear, concise, and easily defensible answers. 

[Academic postscript: This has helped me understand Aristotle’s Politics, which has the appearance of a mishmash, of parts obscure in themselves and that don’t seem to fit together. Maybe that is part of Aristotle’s teaching about politics: clear, concise, and easily defensible political answers are available, but those answers don’t reflect the character of the political, an arena where ambivalence is not only appropriate but beneficial. You may know the truth, but it won’t set you free. That’s the deal.] 

Operation Trump

 

Operation Trump

Peter Schultz

 

                  Trump is an almost perfect cover for a deeply corrupt political order, an order that exists and is arranged to benefit the few at the expense of the many. With Trump as president and as a leading political figure, that the real problem is a deeply corrupt political order disappears behind calls for Trump’s impeachment and his hyper conspiratorial view of politics and his rhetoric. In terms of hiding the thoroughly corrupted political order, the louder, the shriller the charges against Trump, the better.

 

                  For example, focusing on Trump, the fact that twice in the last few presidential elections, candidates who lost the popular vote won the presidency seems unimportant. That the people’s will was denied, in 2000 and again in 2016, is not deemed a defect in the reigning political order that needs fixing. Why should it be when Trump can be blamed for our failings and when, overall, that the few are favored over the many seems of marginal importance given the dangers created by Trump? That presidential elections favor the few, e.g., the wealthy few, over the many is obvious to pretty much everyone. But so long as Trump is center stage, such favoritism seems relatively unimportant.

 

                  As a result, the corruption, the rule of the few at the expense of the many, goes on unabated, serving and rewarding those who are profiting from this corruption. And those protesting Trump most loudly are, ironically, “co-conspirators” in helping to maintain our deeply corrupt political order.

The Problem of Civilization

 

The Problem of Civilization

Peter Schultz

 

                  In accounting for the savagery of the British Empire, Arnold Toynbee said that “There has been a ‘racialization’ of the division of those inside and those outside the civilized pale.” [Elkins, 180] While Toynbee’s assessment is not wrong, it obfuscates another, deeper problem, viz., the civilized pale itself. That problem reveals itself as hierarchy, in this case a hierarchy based on the British conviction of Britain’s superiority.

 

                  Hierarchy is civilization’s response to what is seen as chaos. In fact, politics may be described as navigating between chaos and hierarchy, with the civilized embracing hierarchy, a hierarchy that ultimately justifies imperialism, war, repression, despotism, and even inhumanity. In other words, whether racialized or not, civilization is problematic, at the very least. Hence, “the legacy of violence” of the British Empire, as Caroline Elkins calls her history of that empire. But it was not only a legacy of violence; it was also a legacy of savagery and inhumanity, both justified in the name of civilizing the Empire and the world.

 

                  However, civilization, hierarchy can be “beautified” via justice, friendship, caring, poetry, music, and love. That is, by embracing the erotic. This beautification does not, however, subvert hierarchy but it may be said to clothe it, to dress it up with grace. Because hierarchy is not subverted or overthrown, it remains strong, even predominant. Insofar as hierarchy remains unquestioned, imperialism, war, repression, despotism, and even inhumanity flourish, as happened in the British Empire. Triumphant nationalism is the soil in which imperialism, with its attendant features, takes root and thrives. Hierarchy bespeaks the onset and fortification of a military, despotic empire.

 

                  Regarding the other “extreme” of political life, the chaos can be beautified or seen as beautiful. There is beauty embedded in the chaos, the beauty of freedom, of adventure(s), of surprise, of mystery, of the magical, and of the inspirational. Again though, chaos, although containing beauty, is not subverted by the beautiful. Chaos persists, fortifying the appeal of hierarchy, of civilization, which seem necessary for survival. But “what if what you do to survive kills the things you love,” viz, the beautiful things, and you find your “God filled soul fill[ed] … with devils and dust?” [Springsteen, Devils and Dust]

 

                  Civilization is dangerous, however desirable or necessary it might seem. If you doubt that, just ask Socrates, Huck Finn, Billy Budd, Billy Pilgrim, Sheriff Bell, or the counselor.