On August 24th, 2023, I wrote:
I no longer have any political affiliations, interest in politics in general, or any future plans for activism. I am retired from politics.
It has been a year since I made this announcement and I couldn’t be more pleased with the result. I did do a six-month announcement back in February of this year where I wrote out a number of reasons why this was one of the best decisions of my life. Much of my commentary in that write-up was to do with the improvement in quality of my audience, though there has been some reduction in size. I pointed out that I gained a good chunk of my audience before 2018, when I switched into political overdrive and it has been a real pleasure seeing longtime listeners either come back around or make their voices more heard. I also wrote about my personal happiness increasing.
I have seen a continual degradation in political commentary as the political situation goes down the tubes. So much of the space is filled with petty barbs and keeping score. People are becoming more unhinged and more tolerant of random violence.
The same criticisms I had of the whole situation in 2018, of the obvious playing for time and inability of people to rally around their moral philosophers (and subsequent frustration I felt and poured into a couple of books) remain the same. Not much has changed only with the departure of so many quality people, those who have stepped in with selfish delight and relish have been of a lower tier – both cognitively and morally. It is to be expected. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
It is election season and so I do say a thing here and there because it has become a nation’s sole obsession but my overarching point of not pursuing a will to power still holds true. I could speak on my former objectives within politics but my current objectives are so much more compelling.
We are living through a time of unprecedented societal breakdown. Learning how to live through it has challenged me to the point of completely changing the trajectory of my life. As I wrote in an Instagram post about nine weeks ago, “In the past year I have completely re-engineered my life by going back to first principles and trimming away everything that wasn’t serving me or my family.” I am highly involved in paving the way for some steps that may surprise others.
Politics requires certain things from you that are odds with reality:
-You must play the status game and provoke envy in your audience.
-You must not speak honestly on your true thoughts or feelings.
-You must not hold loyalties any longer than is politically convenient.
-You must minimize and disregard the plight of children.
-You must engage with a conclusion first or you will look weak.
-You must find people to belittle for your own gain.
-You must build a moat of sophistry around the question, “How will this be funded?”
-You must engage in flattery and paint your submissiveness as veneration.
I did not play by these rules, and so many others, very often and the moment that free speech left politics, my prospects in politics fell flat. I didn’t much care at the time because I was absorbed by some ongoing health struggles that I have only just now in the year of 2024 resolved to a majority extent. I tried to pick up politics again for a year there and just hated every moment of it. Having emerged from politics, I can see now that my level of performance was compromised by my health issues and people of low quality were able to approach me that would not otherwise have been able to. My health issues hurt my confidence! That takes some vulnerability to admit.
A continuing litmus test for me to has been to stand by peaceful parenting and see how people respond. The results have been a mix. I believe peaceful parenting is the greatest moral struggle of our time, far transcending in scope and importance anything that could be going on in politics. I think a greater and greater number of people in politics know this fact and are, instead of humbly doing the right thing, doubling down on their personal dog and pony shows. Some of the exceptions to this, such as Pewdiepie switching his focus to parenting, have been a real delight.
To wit, I published the first book ever on peaceful parenting. This is my home. Many others will find their way here. Already there are copes, in anticipation of coming disillusions, to keep people in politics longer. I think this is a wicked trick! Why not try something more honest, humble, and true? No need to play the colonel or general in cynical politics, as quality people step out, when you can be at the ground level of peaceful parenting, there to build it up as the world needs.
