(As I’ve said, I’ve been working on a massive collection that will be published in hardcover and eBook format. It is sort of a final chapter of a stage of development. I’m editing material that was written as far back as 2005. It includes short stories, essays, theory, journals, cuts and some other clues how one person got to… here. This piece below will not be in the book, and it has not been edited and straightened out to the internet; it is still in book format (not the first paragraph, as I figured that would be… as far, as most readers would get) It’s a very long read and contains early errors and (at times) strange word choices, but it was an honest attempt in analyzing the times that we lived through, and remember, I wrote this while Bush was still president and it appeared in a book called, The Absurd In The Desert (out of print for now) and was published back in 2007. Sometimes it’s good to go back and see how we’ve grown in anything that we do, but also, once again learn from who we were all over again. Hey, it’s all trial and error anyway. I post for record and future online reading when I’m not by home-base. There will be a few pieces (shorter) like this in the book that should be out early to mid February. If you got this far, thank you for reading.)
A Humanistic Theory of the State Based on the Utopian Dream
Within the modern times our society is currently entangled with, many political and social contradictions hinder progress towards a more humanistic, ethical and just construct. In aspiring to adjust to the expanding globalized world, the United States, and its embedded faith
driven ideologies, have misplaced the reality of the turbulent local and global dilemmas that all of its subjectively distinct citizens are physically confronted by each day of their waking lives. If a future Utopia is to develop within our current population, many ideological
definitions will have to be overthrown in order for the government to properly serve the citizens of a democratic state. Perhaps the foundation of the United States has far too many internal contradictions within its political, economical and social institutions, but for this lone-writer, the
population at large seems to be filled with enormous amounts of compassion, raw materials and economic wealth. Addressing the internal ideological deficiencies within America, moving passed theoretical historical labeling, and implementing a honest humanistic social method, could lead our civilization into a future culture that does not use the words change and progress as political propaganda, but instead actually realizes a type of Utopian dream that is contained within the human imagination.
In order to construct a theoretical method that can properly conceptualize a type of Utopian civilization the
problems of our current era will be briefly analyzed. From
there a political ideology will be replaced by a more
humanistic philosophy that combats many of the internal
contradictions that have created such hopelessness within
the population of not just the United States but also
throughout the globe where the division of labor has
transformed the worker, the citizen of the state, and the
natural world into a commodity. How such a Utopian
government would be molded from our current political
structure and the difficulties it would come into contact
with in order for it to actually become a reality will also be
discussed in the following essay. The building blocks of a
more progressive and Utopian social dream are already
present within our social construct and with a drastic
reassessment of our political structure the natural goodness
that is buried underneath all of our socialized
contradictions will in turn unleash the decency that the
United States has misplaced. But first, such hindering
political fallacies must be addressed and properly
dismantled of.
A brief definition of the word Utopia must briefly be
addressed in order for this paper to carry on so that it may
try and bridge the gap between the United States’ current
political construct and a more theoretically harmonious
human society. The actual meaning of the word Utopia as
taken from the Webster Dictionary is described as a
“Prefect, Idealistic, and often impractical scheme of politicaland social reform”. In a sense an actual functioning utopia
is impossible for any social and political system to obtain.
Although passionate and idealistic words such perfect could
be said to be irrationally founded they at least provide a
reformer of political philosophy a pure definition in which
a society should strive towards. It is not intended by this
writer to imply that any human condition could ever
completely transform into an actual Utopia for there are too
many personal freedoms that would have to be removed
for such a political system to thrive. If human beings have
become appendages of the machine as Marxist theory has
often noted then any type of utopia would combat natural
human values with similar totalizing control mechanisms.
The point is not to be a perfect political system but rather
try removing as many of the unnecessary contradictions
that continue to blemish the altruistic nature of humanity. A
utopia type political system may never truly take shape,
perhaps this is a good thing, but it does provide our
modern civilization with an inspirational theory that
further brings hope to such a brilliant but constantly
antagonized populous.
Reforming a declining democracy and transforming
it into a more pseudo Utopian society would have to
combine numerous political philosophies in order to
combat many of the current deficiencies the state has
embedded within its institutional structure. Two classic
political philosophers, whom both have had major
influence of the history of the formation of governing
bodies, are Plato and Friedrich Engels.
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As far back as Platonic enlightenment can a political
conceptualization based on a humanistic emphasis be
found within the cannon of human philosophy. A state
should (as Plato all too well understood) use the
philosophical and critical mind in order to reinforce
progressive, honest, and legitimate ideals upon the overall
structure of the state and its collective civilization, which
both share the same unified existence. Developing the arts
and actively recruiting the future liberal arts university
graduates to take positions within the local and national
government, in accordance to socialization based on a more
humanistic ideology, could further create a network of
social and political goodwill.
Early philosophers such as Engels shared a love for the
commonwealth, the governed population, and the
exploited classes who were divided and controlled with
political philosophies that reinforced the social standing of
a select few: The elite. As Engels mentioned, “the state
should not be an instrument that reinforces the ruling
class.” While internal classes are still separated and the
elected government reinforces the elite’s interests as Engels
included in the final paragraph of his anthropological
account of the rise of the political state there will come a
time when the humanistic enlightened mind will be
necessary in order for society to progress.
“The time will come, nevertheless, when human intelligence
will rise to the mastery over property.” And further, the
“interests of society are equal to individual interests, and
the two must be brought into just and harmonies relations.”The United States of America is a massive
civilization that yields a vast amount of power throughout
the entire world. Embedded within its modern history this
great State has claimed it stands for the common good of
the entire world. But as many labels and stereotypes of its
misshapen, violent, and slave ridden history have vanished
(perhaps replaced with newly crafted false generalizations)
the combination of freedom, history, and religion have
separated the people of such a compassionate human
collective with the tyrannical tools known as fear and
outdated superstitions. The primary objectives of a state
like the United States of America that must be implemented
in order for a transformation into a more admirable and
Utopian culture would be to call for a drastic resocialization
of the entire underlining population.
Understandably this would take a number of generations in
order for corrupting folklores, ideologies, and negating
mystic dreams to be dispatched of. But to this specific
writer this is not just some abstract theoretical liberal
opinion. It is neither right nor left. If progression, humility,
and ethical doctrines are to be the backbone of a civilization
then the bombs, the social walls, and the false beliefs must
be for once dismantled of.
The passion of the human collective is a tired family.
While the government has socialized the upper class within
the United States the workers, the farmers, and the
impoverished continue to be marginalized and further
divided against one another. The cure for this American
plight is not going to be solved with digital charts, political
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pundits, or even by the removal of the negative
generalizations. A theory for how to correct the economy,
reversing the expanding population whom is suffering
from mental depression, and in order to change the
negative view of the United States from aboard is abstract,
it is lucid, and it is hard to define, but it is seen every day,
with eyes much like mine, on the streets of our beautiful
society when illegitimate control mechanisms are detached
from the social creature’s existence.
A humanistic philosophy known as Existentialism
has since its creation discussed the declining social and
political standing of the intellectual, the artist, and the
humanitarian. The media age is upon us, the oppression of
the worker still exists, and one act of terror is condemned
while another is justified. Many of the citizens within an
ever growing globalized population struggle to find a
meaningful place on such a post modern and supposedly
progressive battled ground. The truth is that words can be
simulated the same way products are manufactured and it
does seem that on both sides of the political spectrum from
the Marxists, the Democrats, and the Neo-Conservatives
have all allowed nihilism to pigeonhole them into one false
political framework. Only by understanding that humanity
faces such polarizing and totalizing ideals can a society
admit that limits must be respected and excess must be
subjectively and socially curbed. The Modern political
structure, in not just the United States, seems to be
detached from the overall population at large. The
systematic division of classes and the labor they produce is
one of the many driving forces leading society into despair.These types of variables point directly not at a physical
entity, but rather at an invisible ghost, an abstract entity,
and an illegitimate and out of place ideological mechanism.
A primary concern of this essay so far has been
concerned with the illegitimate ideologically doctrine that
severely tampers with natural humanistic progression. If
humanity is to transform into a more peaceful social world
then the need for a radical philosophical framework must
be implemented. By combining classical philosophies with
more modern existential themes can a method of resocialization
both ideologically abstract as well as
physically institutional be outlined. A humanistic political
philosophy lets go of many of the historical labels, ideas of
the past, and it strips the future social chains away by
focusing on the plight of social life as it occurs within the
present time which all of us collectively share together.
Contingent upon a progressive state is the need for
moderation. It is apparent that a collective humanity must
not remain so obsessed on the history it at the same time
denies.
A basic conceptualization of a humanistic theory
understands that as a subjective being I have the admiration
of other beings and in turn those beings have the need for
me to admire them. Thus the state ideal is a chain of
goodwill that is based on respect, compassion, and the
understanding that together we are the state while at the
same time the state is what we are. The citizens reflect what
the state truly is and the power for peace rests within the
simple acts of kindness we naturally share with each other
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every day when we take the time to separate ourselves from
the robotic tyranny that evokes such fear and frustration
through much of its voting population.
The current political system in the United States as
well as the revolutions it has invoked has always been
based on ideologically charged motivations. Perhaps it is
time then that we as a society toss aside such socialized
meanings and dismantle the institutional and governmental
influence that Christianity, the illusionary conception of free
trade, and the dysfunctional capitalistic theory has
throughout the country. Some may say this political theory
is overly radical, utterly delusional, and intellectually
unsophisticated but as the frustration continues to mount
among the working civilians of the United States a drastic
reformation must be at least be spoken for during such
turbulent times. The basic focal points of a humanistic
political philosophy are simple in their defining attributes
but have a kind of harmonious and synchronized tone that
should be implemented and inserted into the social
communities.
A respect for all that is life within nature should be
one of the defining characteristics of a peaceful, social, and
political species. Only by tearing down the ideology that
worships history and instead is motivated to protecting the
ethical dignity of all civilizations can the United States at
last move forward. In correspondence with the post
modern obsession with material objects and their irrelevant
status we as a society have further negated the bonds we
share with both our local communities and the at largegoverning body of the encompassing state. The ideology
that exists within every institutional appendage of the state
contradicts itself with its increasing commitment and
involvement with the self manufactured legitimate increase
of systematic murder. This type of ideology, which is
directly corresponded to the political institutions of the
state, justifies all of its mistakes, errors, and illusionary
progression on it’s over indulgence of not just its past
history but also its manipulation of a symbolic iron fisted
future. This is not what is called progression, it is what is
known as a tyranny, a police state, and above all else it is
political madness. Justice must not be a replicated word for
purely symbolic and ideological reasons but should, if any
type of pseudo Utopian dream can unfold, be seen
throughout the state as a living, breathing, and sensible
thing. There should never be any confusion about what
justice looks like in its physical form or else we are
forgetting the very nature of the human species.
The re socialization of the state must focus on a
humanistic philosophy if true political progression can
occur. The focal concern must stem from compassion that is
passed on by all of the people who understand the
dangerous obstacles of the actual human condition as it
exists in the present day. Every citizen cannot afford to
become a spectator observing from the confines of their
mediated homes. Rather they must insert themselves into
the social community while always participating in the
spread of the common good. The individual, the subjective
being, and the citizens of the state are always responsible
for the actions its government takes for there is no such
delusion as the conception of the innocent perpetrator.
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By using a more Existential philosophy in order to
show humanity that we share a finite existence together,
that freedom is contingent upon our very existence, and
that there are great amounts of resources right here within
our own country can we as a state turn the page on such a
anxiety ridden time. Even on the lowest level of the state’s
superstructure can the subjective being (whom is
individually conflicted by all the historical insecurities that
are provided by our ideological obsessions) turn such types
of objectified blame into radical action without any human
blood being spilled.
The refusal to blame abstract and dying ideologies, the
state, and other generalized cultures is a platform, a
framework, and in the modern time we all share, a
pragmatic theory that could one day, if started subjectively,
transform our society into a pseudo Utopian, radically free,
and physically progressive humanistic society