Trump the Tyrant

An Introduction to the Text

 It has almost left the public mindset that President Trump has almost been assassinated during a campaign stop in Butler, Pennsylvania, but given the tremendousness of the event as a whole, I felt inclined to wonder whether what Thomas Matthew Crooks barely managed to do could be ethically justified. To many this question likens abhorrence and the terminality of a Liberal mindset, but once one begins to think sober about it, it comes close to an intriguing question, no less because there are so comparably many incidents of this kind took place in the relatively short history of the United States. Abraham Lincoln was shot in the Ford Theatre; William McKinley was shot at the World Fair in Buffalo, New York State. Before him, James Garfield was shot at a railroad station. Finally, Ronald Reagan was almost shot in broad daylight on a road. One could cynically remark that it must be an American tradition to shoot one's president down every couple of years.

“Christian” Nationalism?

 Trump, the Heritage Foundation, and the Threat of a US Theocracy

It has become undeniable by now that Trump is likely going to become the candidate who, while not necessarily endorsing it himself, will represent the idea of “Christian Nationalism” in the 2024 General Election, at least as per the definition think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and others have forged. At first glance, this idea seems contradictory, given that Trump often represents the exact opposite of Christian ideals: He's an adulterer who has paid off an adult-movie starlet so that their affair did not become public; he's a pathological liar who has often enough sown hatred against the needy and his next ones; the man who couldn't quote any part of the Bible who has likely never looked into the Good Book. Apparently to such organisations, it's not about having someone to represent the ideals he's supposed to infuse into their policies, but someone they can manipulate for their own means. And ever since Michael Wolff's book “Fire & Fury”, it's known that everyone around him has used him as a puppet rather than a serious president with whom one could have discussions on policies from which to draw compromises that would finally convince both sides in Congress¹. The second tenure, if it were going to materialise, would be no different, only with more extreme manipulators in the White House and outside thereof.

My Christmas Message for 2023

 On Christmas, Politics & Society

Now the countdown has begun again: 14 days until Christmas. Many in our street have begun illuminating their house, decking the inside and outside with lavish decorations as if they needed to be visible from space, and of course the first christmas-themed sweets were already purchasable in late summer. All of this made me wonder again about how little the whole eve actually mattered amidst this ludicrous pomp. In Germany, we've got the famous skit movie entitled „Weihnachten bei Hoppenstedts”, where said pomp is being ridiculed, but as always, the best comedy is based on at least a grain of truth.

Individual Responsibility and Corporate Guilt

Recognising the import of the individual in a collectivised world

Foreword

In the early 20th century, many economic and political philosophers and thinkers began to see with aghast how collectivist philosophies and movements began to pave their way into power. The most prominent example was for sure the Большевики movement in Russia that would eventually bear the Soviet Union. Ayn Rand would thus be its most famous dissident who also contributed greatly to a political philosophy. (Even though many would perhaps disparage her or the Libertarian philosphy as a non-philosophy or apology for misanthropic instrument to smother the poor, and her as a spiteful bully mocking the same for their state of impoverishment; I have since offered a more sober and constructive critique of her thinking¹) Other dissidents, like Александр Солженицын or Жорес Медведев, instead decided to stay within their country and oppose against the Stalinist régime from the inside, undergoing several kinds of mistreatment, documenting the terror from the inside and exhibiting it for the rest of the world to see, even though knowledge about the reign of terror remains awfully low within post-Soviet Russia² as well as in the Western world. (For which I ironically didn't find any relatable articles; if you have got any, let me know through the known means of communication so that I will add them in a separate footnote)

 Ayn Rand

The books to be reviewed

1. Rand, Ayn (1996). Atlas Shrugged. London: Signet Books. 

2. Rand, Ayn (1963). For the New Intellectual. London: Signet Books. 

3. Rand, Ayn (1967). Capitalism – the Unknown Ideal. London: Signet Books.

4. Rand, Ayn (1964). The Virtue of Selfishness. London: Signet Books. 

Abstract

If there had to be only one word to describe Rand’s thinking, it should be: Brutish. Because that’s how not only her clear, unadorned language, but also her thinking is perceived by many, especially those who oppose her thinking, the school of thought she has sparked through her plentiful tomes of fictional writ-ing and the couple of essays, two of which I will consider as noted in the box under the headline, although the second book must rather be understood as a collection of excerpts from her fictional writing, introduced with an essay of hers—one that fits the single-word description about her aptly—and summing up the nonfictional virtue of all of her books. 

Ludwig von Mises

A Review

One thing must be said before we begin writing this chapter on Mises’ “Human Action”: That he is a great thinker with a profound comprehension of how the Free Market can work the best in the mutual interest of all people: When governments mingle as little as possible inside its workings, especially when governmental officials in charge of prosecuting corruption and unjust competition have little knowledge on market theory, as academic as this premise may sound. Once officials have no background even in employment but only in academia—in this case within the humanities at worst, even STEM sciences would not help becoming a more proficient official; at best it would be to hail from the eco-nomics, whilst governance or public administration would create an arrogant nescient who shows off audacity in power—, they are prone to maraud in the uncharted fields of the market, wreaking a futile debris in an ill-fated attempt to improve conditions for the employees. Such is the tale of the eager official who only wanted to help, according to the populist Capitalist. But more on that later.

 The Intellectual Virtue of Absolute Freedom

(Extract in Blog | Full text hereunder (Free))

    In philosophy, absolute freedom means the independence of all restraints, moralist as well as legal. It is usually marked as a negative freedom for reasons I am not going to dive into as we are not here to hold a Lycian debate on the philosophical stance; at least not purely, traditional-ly. (Other than that, we can note that negative freedom usually means the absence of a state to restrain one’s freedom of movement, speech or any other register) My interest is more obtuse, more politically coloured. I want to discuss the intellectual virtue of absolute freedom, although the word “absolute” is misleading, as it implies an egoist fashion pioneered by the likes of Ayn Rand and Max Stirner, the latter in particular. (Without turning into the true pioneers of ancient Greece, captivated by Plato in his dialogues, preserved in writings such as the «Politéia». As interesting as they may be, I haven’t read them and am uncertain about their value for the times we inhabit, with many more, much more current writers as those I mentioned heretofore and will add up in the later passages of this text) 

Häuserkampf gegen die Wohnungsnot

 Ein Plädoyer gegen Hausbesetzungen

„Es ist besser, unsere Jugend
besetzt leere Häuser als fremde Länder.” 

— Kaiser Wilhelm II.

    In Berlin kam es einmal mehr zu einer Debatte um die Zwangsräumung einer widerrechtlichen Hausbesetzung — es handelt sich dabei um das legendäre Wohnprojekt im Objekt in der Rigaer Straße, mit der Hausnummer 94. Legendär deswegen, weil man seit jeher in der gesamten Nation seine Entwicklung in den Tages- und Wochenzeitungen mitverfolgen konnte; set es existiert und die Polizei darin tätig werden musste wegen etwaiger Rechtsverstöße und Beschwerden vonseiten der Nachbarn, wurden Polizisten angegriffen, diese wehrten sich entsprechend zurecht. Dennoch kam es aber auch, spätestens ab dem Tag der Räumung, zu widerrechtlichem Verhalten vonseiten der Polizei, es wurde Pfefferspray eingesetzt. Die Räumung erachteten dabei schon viele als längst überfällig, gleichzeitig wurde man anderswo in Berlin, im Stadtteil Neukölln, tätig. Selbstverständlich kam es abermals zu Protesten, gegenseitig wurde man einander gewalttätig, doch am Ende war die Staatsmacht dennoch erfolgreich und konnte die Einbrecher entfernen¹. Auch einige Nachbarn schienen erfreut darüber, dass endlich wieder Ruhe in ihre Straße einkehren konnte. Schmierereien und sonstiger Vandalismus in der näheren Umgebung standen dank der Hausbesetzung an der Tagesordnung, während der Razzia warf man sogar der Berliner Landesregierung vor, mit den Hausbesetzern zu sympathisieren, was jedoch der Innensenator Berlins, Andreas Geisel (SPD), dementierte². Es mag also sein, dass man nicht mit Hausbesetzern sympathisiert als Landesregierung, doch zumindest kamen erst kürzlich Beschwerden auf, dass man eine Räumung in der Rigaer Straße 94 versäumte, man versäumte vielmehr die Einholung entsprechender gerichtlicher Beschlüsse, die eine solche Maßnahme rechtlich absichere³. Es ist und bleibt also spannend in der Frage, wie es sich um solche Wohnprojekte und Kneipenbetriebe entwickeln wird. 

Sunday Message – 2019, Calendar Week 42

Sunday message on 20th October 2019

What has drowned within a couple of days in the flood of information in Germany, and is of course unbeknownst to Americans since it deals with a local politicians some of us Germans might not have known if it hadn't been for the Union's loss of its sister party's absolute majority in its homeland of Bavaria, Freie Wähler's (FW) Hubert Aiwanger suggested that his country (whether he spoke about Germany or Bavaria is of no interest) would be much safer if all of us law-abiding men and women carried knives with us to protect ourselves. Immediately, the media and the internet rushed against him with full force. It came to my mind to wonder: How different are Germany and the US when it comes to the right of self-protection? That's why today's Sunday Message is in English.

During U. N. Climate Action Summit:

Trump suddenly alters own summit's topic from “Religious Freedom” to “Freedom to be Christian”

After having attended the main Climate Action Summit for ten minutes, hosted by the United Nations (UN), Trump departed to host his own summit concerning a similarly staggering subject of the 21st century: Religious freedom. Yet suddenly, as it was told to us from our pool reporters, Trump has altered his summit's main topic to “Freedom to be Christian.” So far, we couldn't reach out to the president for comment on his unexpected correction.

Wort zum Sonntag – 2019, KW 34

Wort zum Sonntag, dem 25. August 2019

Denkt man an Deutschland in der Nacht, wird man nicht unbedingt um den Schlaf gebracht, denkt vielleicht aber an einige Kulturgüter, wie beispielsweise die überschwängliche Bureaukratie, preußische Tugenden, wahrscheinlich auch an das Dritte Reich, aber auch an Socken und Sandalen. Dächte man aber aus unerfindlichen Gründen an die deutsche Cuisine, käme einem sofort wieder diese eine Grundzutat in den Sinn: Fleisch. Neben der Kartoffel wohl eines der Güter in Deutschland, die wohl nicht vom Speiseplan zu denken sind. Ist das aber so sinnvoll? Aus gesundheitlichen Gründen, ethischen, klimatechnischen? Da sollte man mal drüber nachdenken. Tun wir das also einmal!