A Political, Social, and Economic Theory for Animals

At first consideration, many ideas that come to mind seem, generally, very good, or at the very least passable until a certain point. We…

At first consideration, many ideas that come to mind seem, generally, very good, or at the very least passable until a certain point. We might even operate our lives on these initial thoughts without holding them up for reexamination for months, years, and even a lifetime in some cases. Ideas that have an appearance of truth seem as such because they appear to capture, to some degree, the very essence of the reality in which we inhabit. This is what Truth is — that which Reality is comprised of and that which each of us ultimately moves toward; admittedly some do so more peacefully than others. Once we view something as true, as being in accordance with reality, our minds dance with this conception instinctually; a piece of our Being becomes attached to this truth and we carry it with us just as much as it carries us with it. Truth guides us, either consciously or unconsciously, inevitably toward its end — its ultimate conclusion. Our ideas, our truths, become torches that light our path down the road it has already chosen; we rarely see the other paths that only need to be illuminated — we have found this path and believe it to be the best path we have stumbled across thus far. We can lead ourselves toward a life of flourishing or destruction depending on the torches we allow to guide our path.

I am writing this article not to tell you in some top-down fashion which idea is better or that my ideas on political and moral philosophy are better than yours and that you should adopt my stance in its entirety. Any fool might try and convince you to follow their path to a “more just and equal world”, but that idea lacks utility of any sort, other than an immediately gratifying arbitrary power grab that only sews chaos and yields a plentiful harvest of destruction. What I am hoping to do is discuss helpful ways that should lead to better decision-making regarding ideas you adopt and help you to examine if your path is lit by bright torches leading toward a place of flourishing, or if they are only giving you a flame to raze the entire forest to ash.

One such idea, or theory (if you dare to elevate it as such), that many individuals find themselves enraptured by is communism and subsequently socialism, although we will limit ourselves to the language of the former. The idea placed forth by Karl Marx, a German revolutionary, forever changed the world through his anti-true machinations of history and economics (among other things). People adopt the ideas of Marx for various reasons — some due to the perceived “failures of capitalism”, others to their reflexive disposition toward recognizing the natural inequality and suffering which will forever beseech mankind and summarize it into the two of the most heinous words, “inequity” and “oppression”, while others yet seek the opportunity to grab power and control through the great irony that is equity. The latter is certainly the most egregious motivation for the adoption of such an abhorrent idea, while the former lend themselves to both externalized and archaic modes of thinking.

Seeing the recent purchases of multi-million dollar mansions by various founders of the infamous Black Lives Matter (BLM) helps to shed some light on how these ideas get played out, and what motivates these individuals. This is an organization led by self-identified communists that allegedly stand as the voice for the oppressed Black Americans and other individuals they deem as marginalized and oppressed by White Western colonizers who only ever stole anything they came to possess and are fundamentally motivated by power. It is perfectly clear to any attentive and eager ‘Psychology 101’ student that what is happening is a Freudian projection of personal intent rather than genuine scholarship. The only thing that motivates a Marxist sympathizer is power — ultimate and unlimited power to impose the selfish will of the individual onto as many people as possible, regardless of Truth, justice, and true equality. Instead of being saviors of humanity, inside every Marxist is Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Che Guevara, and perhaps even worse to come if these ideas become the precedent for the Western world.

The Classical view of a human person generally consists of four parts: the intellect, the will, the emotions, and the senses. The intellect is our capacity for rational thought and ability to conceptualize abstract ideas while the will is our power to make decisions and not be merely guided by impulse; both are considered higher (divine) faculties. The emotions, or pathos, is our ability to feel and our disposition to an opinion while the senses are simply our base capacity of perception; these are our lower (animal) faculties. The divine faculties, primarily intellect, are able to persist across the sea of animalistic impulses because divinity is inherently not corporeal but is an essence, or immaterial. It is important to note that human beings are rational animals, as all of us should know but is important to mention when discussing the human person. The primary difference between a human and an animal is the fact that only we have the inherent capacity for these divine faculties. Animals are only led by their emotions and senses, nothing beyond that (no matter how much it seems our pets act as humans).

Karl Marx was not a foolish man, in the sense that he knew how to hook people’s emotions and subsequently protect his argument from initial disagreement and sneak away from accountability.

A particularly sinister statement and the focus of this article comes from The Communist Manifesto:

“The charges against Communism made from a religious, a philosophical and, generally, from an ideological standpoint, are not deserving of serious examination. Does it require deep intuition to comprehend that man’s ideas, views, and conception, in one word, man’s consciousness, changes with every change in the conditions of his material existence, social relations, and social life?”

With a wave of his hand, he attempts to dismiss centuries of formalized thinking by creating an appeal to emotion and attempting to invoke the animal within us, but more importantly, by the very nature of his argument for communism, he refutes Truth. Communism is, therefore, anti-true due to its lack of intellectual reasoning and could utilize Ockham’s Razor to cut it away from our thinking like a cancerous tumor. Recall that Truth is reflective of Reality, the cosmos that surrounds us; something that is True must persist through time. Marx instead bases his entire call to action and justification for Communism itself on “intuition”. Intuition is the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning.

There is no Truth in his ideas, only an “intuition” that needs to be present for Marx to be correct. Emotions are true but not True. Our emotions are certainly true in that we are feeling them, but that whole “your perception is your reality” does not really pan out well. When referring to the Classical view of man, you know that intuition falls under the lower faculties. You might begin to understand that Marx had convinced and continues to convince humans that they should be governed by means suitable only for animals. The famous book ‘Animal Farm’ takes on an even more literal and troubling meaning. Equally as troubling is that around 30% of GenZ views Marxism favorably.

The broader issue with the intuition that supposedly grants communists the right to overthrow their bourgeois overlords is that the essence of intuition is emotion — there is nothing to persist and capable of serving as a vehicle of Truth. Surely, you might feel emotion for a sustained period, but that emotion eventually fades. Think of infatuation, anger, or happiness — each of these fades over time. You cannot plant crops in soil that has an acidity level that is in near-constant flux. Likewise, you cannot base sound decisions on emotions and thoughts derived from an emotional state. This is because our thoughts change and we gain perspective that causes the emotion to change. Our thoughts and ideas guide our emotions and thus our behaviors. This is the most basic premise of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, the most widely used mental health treatment today. Marx justifies his “philosophy” based on emotion, which makes the entire idea and subsequent implementation of communism an emotional pursuit. When following this train of thought, communism is no longer a set of ideas but rather an emotion that merely adopts justifications for its behavior — it is then inherently an unconscious and uncontrollable force if let free.

Aristotle, one of the most notable and perhaps the most capable philosophers of antiquity, believed plainly that communism of resources could not work. There is something about sharing resources with others that has never worked well for humanity, and Aristotle correctly identified this truth thousands of years ago. Mankind will always look to skirt responsibility and relinquish autonomous control; whether it is shared resources, land, or even education. This eventually results in the horrible and hell-like conditions that characterize any country where these ideas have been carried out. We can even see times of depreciation in non-communist countries that try their hand at implementing similar policies.

Wait, hold on, communism was not an idea Marx developed? But then why does everyone seem to speak as though he is the progenitor behind this set of ideas? Part of it certainly is a lack of knowledge of history, something we are all guilty of. However, I believe many see Marx as the progenitor of communism for the exact reason he is known today — his call for bloody revolution. This intuition he discusses is not one of kindness or even empathy toward the inequality he correctly points out — it is instead an intuition that the beneficiaries of all pursuits which are not communist must be opposed and extinguished under the jackboot of the proletariat to bring about the utopia. Believing that we are able to bring about radical positive change through a few acts of “necessary” evil is wholly misaligned.

Here are some ways you can make sure you are not guided down the path of destruction, at least not on the scale Marx desired.

It is easy to believe our own assumptions are correct because they seemed to originate within us. Whatever comes our way from our own mind ought to be correct, should it not? No, not necessarily. It is likely that over 95% of our ideas are wrong on some level and to varying degrees. Immediately you might say, “that’s far from the truth, I am the exception”. Well, I have news for you — you are proving the rule more than identifying your exception from it.

Assume that you are wrong so you might come to prove your idea is correct rather than assume you are correct and wait to be proven wrong. Searching for the right answer is far better than waiting for it to find you because it might just be your lack of initiative that leads you to your demise.

“How then might I do this” you may ask. Enter into most situations as though you know very little and would like to learn. Obviously, do not play the part of an idiot, but know that you likely have something to learn from whomever you are interacting with and treat them as such. This will provide both the humility and genuineness that is favorable to learning and forming relationships that might lead you toward a better-lit path. A group of friends that are primarily concerned with gaining knowledge over winning arguments is worth more than any amount of power you might gain from exploitative networks. Searching for Truth is scarce in the modern world, most people seem to search for conformity — be part of the “fringe” seeking genuine answers to the most important questions.

A quote by Donald Rumsfeld should sum this idea up nicely:

“There are known knowns. These are things we know we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know”.

Understand that you, statistically speaking, know very little about anything. The likelihood that you are going to uncover some Truth through a lackadaisical effort and simply hope things will “sort themselves out” will lead to, at the least, an unsatisfied life, and at most the destruction of you and all that you loved, now love, and could love. Search like you have something to find because, well, you do and your life depends on it.