The Zeitgeist is Change

Zeitgeist is a German expression meaning "spirit of the age" and this is the irrisistable force guiding the upcoming election. Barack Obama has given this spirit a rather mundane and cliched name - "change". I ask change from what - to what? As I will illustrate - I feel that the Zeitgeist demands change from individualism to collectivism.

You may guess from the tone of this article that I've conceded that Barack Obama will win the presidency this Tuesday. It just seems so inescapably destined to be. I remember as a 12 year old kid - imagining how cool it would be if an African-American would one day be elected president. I imagined him as a man of great intelligence and vision. I imagined a communicator so great that he could rally Americans of all walks of life and background to a common vision and usher in a new age. And of course he would be a democrat. I remember imagining what this man looked like and sounded like - and that man as I imagined him way back in 1986 was exactly like the man we see an eyelash away from the oval office today.

I imagined that this would be such a great day for America. Today it seems that day has come and in so many ways, it is exactly as I imagined yet, yet now I have such mixed feelings. Part of me is filled with inspiration and optimism. Like most conservatives, I feel that Barack Obama is a man of great ability and a man of integrity and principle. The only real differences is that I do not share some of his core values. This message of change which would have sounded so wonderful to the 12 year old Bromby deeply the troubles the 33 year old Bromby.

Obama had spoken about the founding fathers and how they had inadvertently left out of the constitution any provisions related to the redistribution of wealth and the institution of mechanisms in the state to support thed middle and lower classes. My contention is that the founding fathers explicity left that out for a reason. They did not want America to be Europe, otherwise why did they leave Europe ot begin with?

The Zeitgeist's attacking point is the cynicism around the American Dream. For centuries Europeans have sneered at the ideal of the rugged individualist. The Europeans have upheld the ideal of the sophisticated collectivist. Rugged individualism produces some very likeable and heroic individuals, but it also created rugged individuals are less that palateable for the elitists at home and abroad. Rugged individualism also means people who ride gas guzzlers, dune buggies, snow-mobiles and go fly-fishin', bow huntin' - or even shootin' wolves from a helicopter.

For the New Yorker whose existence revolves around late night Starbucks and shoe shopping on 5th avenue - the death of individualism isn't such a big loss.

Perhaps we will move to a more European way of life. Longer vacations, better benefits and broader state control of nearly all major industry. Perhaps humans who aspire for greatness are a thing of the past - perhaps humans are best to simply aim just a shade above mediocrity - rather than trying to rock the boat with "too much success". Maybe if you work a little harder - and fare a little better - you'll have two cars instead of one - and for the priveledged few- one of them wil be a beamer!
Who needs more than that really - as long as we have long lunch hours- 8 weeks of vacation and our predictable steady income - and the personal satisfaction of achieving just above mediocrity? The very idea of achieving greatness in your lifetime becomes such a trifle - such a small thing to sacrifice for the greater good.
Will we elect to become a 'defanged' society - where humans will effectively be taken out of the fight? The state will continue to expand its role of keeping us out of the cold, fed, entertained and occuppied - while we comfortably produce at the capacity that genetics have endowed us. Trudging along never feeling the urge to push the boundaries of our abilities - never aspiring to expand and grow, never having to compete for our paycheck or live fear of downsizing.

Should you endeavour for something beyond the mediocre - there is still one avenue for individuals who want more than mediocity - who actually endeavour for power and greatness. Those inviduals have one place they can go. They can enter the world of politics and become part of the state. The greatest and most powerful posts in the world no longer lie in the hands of men of industry- and wealthy capitlists. Oh no - power this great is far too important to be in the hands of mere private sector individuals. This is no longer power that can be earned through risk, hard work and ingenuity.
Only the state has this kind of power - and it is reserved for the political animals - the pull pedlars. The men of little productive value - but with magnetic personalities and the knowledge of the various levers within the statist system. The ones with the favours and connections within the massive state to get things done.

This is what you are asking for when you ask the government for change. You want the state to reign the evil greedy private sector. This may work for you - but it doesn't work for me. Even if it does achieve the utopian vision of a mediocre, benefit rich society as described above - it is too high a price to pay for the death of the individual. I love the world where a man born in poverty, can use his mind and body to achieve greatness and power and stare eye to eye with the state - rather than always being at the heel of government power.

This is the world you have chosen - and I will live in it, but I will definitely mourn for the ideal world that has been lost.

Perhaps in another century - the Zeitgeist will be that of the individual rather than the collective - I just wish it would have been my century.