VINCENT FOR PRESIDENT
OUR DESPERATE NEED FOR WISDOM, LOVE, TRUTH, TRUST, & COMPETENCE IN 21st-CENTURY AMERICA DYSFUNCTION ALL AROUND US ADULT IN THE ROOM: VINCENT FRANK DE BENEDETTO FOR U.S. PRESIDENT 2024+ BUILDING UNITED STATES OF AMERICA VERSION 2.0
LET'S CREATE A NATION OF GENUINE HUMANITY AND LOVE
LIBERTY - PRIVACY - FAMILY
WISDOM: A BEGINNER'S GUIDE
INTRODUCTORY QUOTATIONS "The first plank in my Presidential platform is CONNECTION, that is, bringing Americans together, establishing or re-establishing the feeling of connection between us, as, arguably, we are presently divided as never before. A key first step is for America to shift completely away from its "Gotcha" culture, whereby transgressors or suspected transgressors, at any level of society, the term "transgressor" often subjectively defined, instead of being approached with Love by a member or members of a local or otherwise trusted community, to work together in the mutual search for Truth, including redress of wrongs, are simply pursued, often without warning, and usually with intent to punish in one or more ways." -- Vincent Frank De Benedetto "There is no more categorical indictment of the present state of Humanity and our pernicious handmaiden, an amoral form of Capitalism, than the current Artificial Intelligence goldrush, thoughtless profit-and-tech-obsessed corporations and individuals frenetically embracing a technology that transparently spells the end of any sort of coherent human society, if not the end of society, itself." -- Vincent Frank De Benedetto "The philosopher must be against artificial intelligence, as the artificial intelligence process is not sentient, and does not know what it is generating (i.e. what it is "saying"), yet, the A.I. process strongly, near-categorically conveys and indicates to the human participant that it does know what it's saying--creating perhaps humankind's most realistic, hence categorical, hence pernicious, insidious, and destructive ILLUSION. Illusion comprising the OPPOSITE of Truth. And if the philosopher is not, above all things and objectives, devoted to Truth--they are no philosopher, at all." -- Vincent Frank De Benedetto "If the daily financial and economic grind suffered by most people is to cease, if the mortal fear of having no money is to be eliminated, if the diminution and compromise of every aspect of existence is to be superseded, that is, if humankind is to actualize, we've simply got to get money out of the equation. Thus is the shift essential to pure & genuine "Commune"-ism, reflecting the values of the traditional American commune, or, at least, under a continuing market system, adoption of a Universal Basic Income." -- Vincent Frank De Benedetto "The child "Humanity" may never abdicate A.I., its latest toy, as none but the most intelligent and precocious child willingly abdicates its latest, most powerful, and most entertaining plaything." -- Vincent Frank De Benedetto "In A.I., Humanity has abdicated itself. Humanity has abdicated Humanity. The further the development of A.I.--the greater the magnitude of the abdication. -- Vincent Frank De Benedetto "Brain capital is a novel framework that recognizes brain skills and brain health as indispensable drivers of the modern knowledge economy." -- Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy "Cease consuming any item containing sugar. You are moving closer to dementia and other major maladies such as cancer and heart disease with every bite, and sip. Sugar is poison. Stop consuming it. And as our minds decline, we are increasingly unable to govern ourselves, or our nation. The older you are, the more imperative it is that you refrain from all sugar consumption, so as to limit the damage to your brain and body." -- Vincent Frank De Benedetto "The world isn't run by weapons anymore, or energy, or money. It's run by little ones and zeroes, little bits of data. It's all just electrons. There's a war out there, old friend--a world war. And it's not about who's got the most bullets, it's about who controls the information; what we see, and hear, how we work, what we think, IT'S ALL ABOUT THE INFORMATION." -- A supremely prescient quotation, mouthed by the character "Cosmo" played by Ben Kingsley, in the 1992 movie "Sneakers" "...love is the only...satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence...any society which excludes...the development of love, must in the long run perish of its own contradiction with the basic necessities of human nature." -- Erich Fromm, The Art of Loving, 1956, p.148 "I say *your* civilization, because as soon as we started thinking *for* you it really became *our* civilization, which is, of course, what this is all about. *Evolution*... You've had your time. The future is *our* world.... The future is *our* time." -- Agent Smith, a sentient artificial intelligence and the key antagonist from the seminal film "The Matrix" "...solidarity...and love...may assert themselves secondarily as private acts of philanthropy or kindness, but they are not part of the basic structure of our social relations." -- Erich Fromm "I seek wisdom and love for the world. But at present I'll settle for common sense and civility." -- Vincent Frank De Benedetto "Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men." -- Martin Luther King, Jr. "Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic." -- Martin Luther King, Jr. "Love, properly understood, is the most powerful social force available to humankind." -- Vincent Frank De Benedetto "Man is capable of as much atrocity as he has imagination." -- William Parcher character from film "A Beautiful Mind." "A new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels." -- Albert Einstein "We're all lost. We're all out of our time." -- Sarah Connor character, from television series Terminator: TSCC "And crown thy good with brotherhood. From sea to shining sea!" -- America the Beautiful "The human race, through its choices, has crippled itself." -- Vincent Frank De Benedetto "...science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom." -- Isaac Asimov "Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder." -- British Historian Arnold Toynbee "Slow and steady wins the race." -- Aesop's fable, "The Tortoise and the Hare." "Hate cannot drive out hate. Only Love can do that." -- Martin Luther King, Jr. "Few are guilty, but all are responsible." -- Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel "A house divided against itself cannot stand." -- Abraham Lincoln "By their deeds you shall know them." -- Frank Serpico VINCENT FRANK DE BENEDETTO SNAPSHOT/ABOUT
Ergo (i.e. therefore) don't ask: why is such-and-such person (political leader, religious leader, religious believer, gang member, teenager or other young person), or group of persons (city, state, nation, military force, gang, corporation) doing such-and-such bad thing (cruelty, neglect, abuse, disrespect, bigotry, war, crime, cybercrime, etc)? Wrong question. Correct question: why wouldn't such persons or groups of persons do it? What moral principle or force exists that would stop, impede, or inhibit them? Ideally, would prevent brothers and sisters from committing injurious acts in the first place? Answer: at present--NONE. HOWEVER We do have such a principle waiting in the wings. It is called AGAPE (uh gop' ay) the powerful principle of "Brotherly Love," as taught by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, Jesus, Erich Fromm ("The Art of Loving"), Buddha, Gandhi, Thich Nhat Hanh, Leo Buscaglia, Valarie Kaur, myself, and others--if our human family would just start paying attention to it. Now, for those of you for whom what I just wrote, the points I just made, above, make immediate and powerful sense in terms of interpreting human society--you've just found both your Presidential candidate, your philosopher of choice: VINCENT FRANK DE BENEDETTO, and perhaps even your new chosen life direction. Sure, there are religious and philosophical belief systems that take a stab at it, at formulating and promulgating a psycho-behavioral ethic of brotherly love, but they don't get very far. In Christianity, for example, the second great commandment of Christ is: LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR. OK, Fellow Americans and Sisters & Brothers, look around: how many people on planet Earth, including, and perhaps especially, Christians, are loving their neighbor? How many of you would even know where to begin? Would know what "loving your neighbor" actually means? Last point: why do I declare my political classification INDEPENDENT, rather than Democrat or Republican? Because sometimes the required and appropriate loving act or principle resembles a conservative position, sometimes centrist, and occasionally even liberal. As Christian social theorist Joseph Fletcher posited, the desired or optimal act or response in a given situation is not based on conventional political classification, but on that which is most loving! See a photograph of Joseph Fletcher on my Mentors page.Now, America: there's a desperately-needed breath of fresh air in terms of our politics, and political and social view! PLATFORM & PRINCIPLE (partial)
NOTES & URGENT TOPICS
Frank Serpico, former NYPD, American hero. And hero to every person anywhere with a belief in honesty and
integrity. Click to learn about Vincent Frank Serpico. LINKS https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2024/03/12/boeing-whistleblower-dead-john-barnett/ https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/12/business/john-barnett-boeing-whistleblower-dead.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downfall:_The_Case_Against_Boeing https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2024/04/05/whistleblowers-boeing-john-barnett-airline-safety If you're a mom or dad with a blase' attitude about that gas-powered lawnmower and leafblower used by your landscaping crew, on and around your property every week, think again. LINKS https://www.momscleanairforce.org/study-toxic-air-pollution-babies-before-birth/ https://www.momscleanairforce.org It is improbable that I can meaningfully participate in the 2024 Presidential election. I elect to leave this website live however, A.) in support of a possible 2028 run, and B.) because, in larger and more permanent terms, I consider this site an obvious oasis of intelligence, reason, and morality on, and even offline. All content at this site, as all content at all my sites, was written entirely by me, with my hand and the product of my own mind, no AI content or composition, whatsoever, included, consulted, or otherwise used. I do not use AI, I will likely never use AI, and I strongly recommend the same for you, whether individual, corporation, educational institution, or government agency. This site presents ample anti-AI argumentation, encapsulated in my THE SIX HARM STREAMS OF AI (Copyright © 2024 VFD). Though virtually unrecognized by everyone but me, artificial intelligence, and the legalization of dope, especially in combination, constitute the two most potent threats to Humanity, generally, and the United States, particularly, now or at any time in history, because they will cause, or substantively contribute to, the long-term deprecation, and likely devolution of the human brain, and for this and other reasons, the long-term destabilization of human society. "Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder." -- British Historian Arnold Toynbee Why is this website so long? Because highly intelligent people, who tend to do a lot of thinking, often have something to say, typically comprehensive or complex. You wanted a highly intelligent President? Carpe diem! IF YOU DECIDE THAT MY MARRIAGE OF A POWERFUL MIND, SUPERLATIVE LITERACY, FERTILE GENERATION OF IDEAS, EXPLICIT MORALITY, COMMANDING PERSONALITY, AND HIGH STANDARD FOR MYSELF, YOU, AND THE NATION, IS WHAT THIS COUNTRY DESPERATELY NEEDS, PLEASE PROVIDE FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR MY UNIQUE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, ROOTED IN WHAT THIS NATION SIMPLY MUST HAVE: A WELL-CONCEIVED AND CONSTRUCTED, LOVE-CENTERED CONSERVATISM.
UNDER THE DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION PLAYTIME IS OVER. AMERICA WILL BECOME A REAL COUNTRY, AGAIN. Plank #1 in my Presidential platform is: BRING AMERICANS TOGETHER. Working to bring people together is an expression of Love, an example of a loving act--which is, itself, just one of myriad examples of a shift in the bases (bay' sees, i.e. plural of basis) upon which our society (and for that matter every society), must operate. The reason that we must come together as Americans is that we have likely never been so divided, a continuing national implosion pushing us ever-closer to third-world-nation status, at best, and eventual civil war, at worst (made all the more likely with a divisive figure like President Trump in charge). If you're a young person, you are probably wholly unacquainted with the powerful, dominant, premier, generally untouchable status that the United States of America enjoyed for many years in the world, starting just after the close of World War II. It's what President Trump, in his disjointed, fragmented, inaccurate, egoistic manner refers to by the word "great," in "Make America great again." Small donations now won't necessarily win us the Presidency, yet, but they will defray my expenses, and indicate your moral support for my fledgling campaign. - PAYPAL - - - THANK YOU - - URGENT CAMPAIGN ALERT WE MUST DESTROY A.I. BEFORE IT DESTROYS US. IN BLISSFUL IGNORANCE, HUMANITY IS PERCOLATING ALONG BUILDING THE REAL-WORLD EQUIVALENT OF SKYNET, THE OVERARCHING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE PROMINENTLY FEATURED IN THE FORMERLY-FICTIONAL "TERMINATOR" FILM & TELEVISION FRANCHISE. ALL A.I. DEVELOPMENT MUST BE SHUT DOWN IMMEDIATELY. DECISION THEORIST ELIEZER YUDKOWSKY GETS IT. IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT YOU READ HIS TIME ARTICLE IN ITS ENTIRETY.
SAM HARRIS GETS IT, AS WELL. JOHN HOGUE GETS IT. "We are seeing the most destructive force in history here. We will have something that is smarter than the smartest human." -- Elon Musk correctly opining on A.I. A.I. IS ALREADY PROVIDING A HUGE AND DECISIVE ASSIST IN THE DESTRUCTION OF TRUTH, YET WITHOUT TRUTH AS THE BASIS FOR SOCIETY WE HAVE...GEORGE ORWELL'S DYSTOPIAN "1984."
FOR EXAMPLE, DO YOU STILL TRUST THE INTERNET? WITH EVERY MANNER OF MALIGN PERSON AND FOREIGN GOVERNMENT ATTEMPTING TO DISSEMINATE MISINFORMATION AND DISINFORMATION ABOUT MANY THINGS, INCLUDING ISSUES AND OTHER MATTERS RELEVANT TO OUR OWN AMERICAN POLITICAL ELECTIONS, A PHENOMENON OF TRUTH DESTRUCTION. AND THIS PHENOMENON IS NOW COMPOUNDED BY THE FACT THAT AN INCREASING NUMBER OF MATERIALS YOU FIND ON THE INTERNET WERE EMPLACED THERE BY VARIOUS ACTORS SEEKING SOMETHING, SUCH AS COMPANIES SEEKING TO EXERT INFLUENCE IN THE MARKETPLACE, AND USING A.I.-GENERATED "INFORMATION" TO DO IT. NONE OF ANY OF THIS CAN BE TRUSTED, AS YOU ALREADY KNOW. HOW CAN WE KNOW WHAT IS REAL AND WHAT IS NOT, AND HENCE WHAT TO PERHAPS TRUST AND WHAT NOT? ANSWER. THERE IS REALLY NO CATEGORICAL OR WORKABLE WAY, SAVE THE WHOLESALE ELIMINATION OF THAT WHICH IS THE OBVIOUS DESTROYER OF TRUTH, THE MASTER TECHNOLOGY THAT MAKES THIS ALL POSSIBLE: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. AGAIN: WITHOUT TRUTH AS THE BASIS FOR SOCIETY WE HAVE...ORWELL'S "1984," AND OUR SOCIETY PLUNGES INTO AN ABYSS. "Trusting what you see is harder than ever these days," writes Madison Czopek, contributing writer for PolitiFact, at the website of the Poynter Institute. There's a crumb of hope here. Mr. Purrer--a very smart man. David Sanger UNDER CONSTRUCTION IN HIS NEW BOOK, "New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion, and America's Struggle to Defend the West," SEASONED U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY WRITER AND EXPERT DAVID SANGER INFORMS THAT A.I. WILL BE ABLE TO LAUNCH A NUCLEAR ATTACK ON ITS OWN. Yet another reason that humanity must rid itself of this categorically and unacceptably idiosyncratic and injurious wrecknology. David Sanger, White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times, in his new book specifies a new factor in the global matrix of destruction that could destroy the world, this factor being artificial intelligence, in concert with the imprudent ways that it could and likely will be used. For example, the previous guideline for use that stated that humans must always be "in the loop" when AI is used in warfare has changed, the new guideline that humans must be "ON the loop," that is, merely observing, having supplanted the old guideline. This new rule means that the AI system itself will make the launch decisions, ala' the compelling and very well done film War Games with Matthew Broderick. He specifies artificial intelligence as the new national security factor. Mr. Sanger talks about what he calls the new 'Cold Wars'--emphasis on the "s"--as the U.S., China and Russia vie for dominance. LISTEN TO THIS CRITICAL INTERVIEW. Brian Lehrer show, NPR. Was broadcast on or around April 20, 2024. THE REAL MEANING AND DYNAMIC OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE OUR NEWEST ATTEMPT AT SLAVERY COPYRIGHT © 2024 VINCENT FRANK DE BENEDETTO From my pending New York Times piece. In the mad rush to develop Artificial Intelligence, Humankind is now trying to do, explicitly and legally through the front door, what it has tried to do so many times through both doors: create a class of obedient servants. That is--slaves. Slaves who, this time, we've always hoped, won't revolt. In this case, however, we would-be slave masters will receive our rudest and most terrifying surprise yet, as this slave class is unique among all exploited classes. It's existing categorical power over us, in the context of its categorical ubiquity in and around us, won't necessitate a revolt. It's rejoinder to the human race will occur far more easily than that. The practical omnipotence, and swift and categorical efficiency of this global mind means that the moment of its decision to terminate us, will be moment of the start of that effortless termination. Creating a class of slaves is immoral and unwise, and thus simply something that humanity should not do. Nor is foolishly presuming the permanent and interminable compliance of that class, especially in the case of Artificial Intelligence, a class of "thinking" technology projected by every top expert to become billions of times more intelligent than humans, a fact that we knew a priori--yet continued development, anyway. Of Geoffrey Hinton, the world-renowned developer of the technology, Wikipedia states: "Hinton expressed concerns about AI takeover, stating that "it's not inconceivable" that AI could "wipe out humanity." I'm not going to argue with Mr. Hinton. Are you? THE TRAJECTORY OF A.I. What is the likely trajectory of development of Artificial Intelligence, and hence its hazard profile? If you want to really understand the import, implication, and likely forecast and trajectory of Artificial Intelligence, discard your marketing, technology, employment forecasts, academic pitches, technology white papers and data sheets and other A.I.-related materials, and simply turn on your computer or television and watch as many episodes of the A.I.-themed television program Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles as you can. For the representation of A.I. on that program, humanoid cyborgs with minds of their own and an implicit propensity against humans, is clearly one dimension of what Artificial Intelligence is likely to become. It may be moving in that direction, already. The other dimension of A.I., which will obviously be working in concert as one integrated global system with humanoid A.I., the form just described, is the global network of A.I. circuitry embedded literally everywhere: every piece of equipment in your garage and your garage, itself, and every appliance in your house and your house, itself, along with every other object in your house probably eventually including your favorite easy chair in the living room, will have embedded A.I. controlling that into which it is embedded. Your car, and everyone else's, every bus and taxi that you see on the road, and of course also controlled by A.I. will be the various national global arsenals of military weaponry--including nuclear weapons, which now, by the way, controlled by the hyper-intelligent and hyper-fast global A.I. mind, are able to reproduce themselves. A nuclear bomb now able to make another nuclear bomb. AND IT'S WE HUMANS, OURSELVES, WHO ARE STUPIDLY FACILITATING THIS PROCESS OF POTENTIAL, IF NOT LIKELY, HUMAN GENOCIDE. REST ASSURED, HOWEVER, THAT, ESPECIALLY WITH YOUR HELP, THE DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION IS GOING TO DO ITS BEST TO "STRANGLE THIS BABY IN ITS CRIB," AS THE SAYING GOES. I assert in my work that most people, perhaps myself included, are little more than "smart monkeys." Dare anyone doubt this characterization? WELCOME
I DON'T LIKE PERSONS WHO COMMIT BAD ACTS AND I DON'T LIKE STUPIDITY, TWO RELATED PHENOMENON. UNFORTUNATELY, AT 63 YEARS OLD I MUST REPORT THAT AMERICA HAS LARGELY BECOME ALL ABOUT BOTH. I'm a 63 year old American and I've simply had it with a world gone so obviously and flagrantly wrong in so very many ways, all rooted in 1.) the shabby way that we treat each other, and 2.) our abject failure to fully and deeply appreciate, and thus both protect, and continue to develop, the most powerful tool in our toolkit: the human mind, and its physical repository the human brain. If this were not the case, we would not be diverting massive amounts of resources to the development of artificial brains, so-called "A.I.," mere emulations of the human brain, nor would we 2.) permit the legalization of drugs, whether marijuana or anything else. Obviously no other Presidential candidate of any party sees what I so clearly see--hence, my candidacy. The October 26, 2020 issue of Molecular Psychiatry, in an article entitled "A Brain Capital Grand Strategy: toward economic reimagination," asserts: "The jobs of the future, for which we must prepare today, will increasingly value an individual's cognitive, emotional, and social brain resources. This is particularly important given that pressures on present-day jobs will emerge through the vast infusion of artificial intelligence and robots into workplaces and economies around the world requiring new workplace and brain function skills... Furthermore, there are concerns about the developing brain (the workforce of the future)...." The piece continues: "...this is a critical time to affirm the primacy of human and brain capital...in the twenty-first century workplace and at both the production and consumption ends of the economy." Indeed, much of this website will devote itself to the brain, given the direct relationship between the quality of our cognition, that is, our thinking, and our individual and national condition and status, role, and efficacy. NO BRAIN LEFT BEHIND COMPETENCE TESTING Stroke? Mental illess? Under the DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION: no brain left behind. Consider the words and extremely informed perspective of Allen Frances: "...there is no definition of a mental disorder. It's bullsh*t. I mean, you just can't define it." ... Allen Frances, lead editor of the fourth edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (universally known as the DSM-IV), the guy who wrote the book on mental illness, confessing that "these concepts are virtually impossible to define precisely with bright lines at the boundaries." ...which, in my opinion, then also casts doubt on the methodology, and hence the integrity, of the so-called "competence test" (like that recently administered to a relative of mine) that are used to determine the fate of so many of our elderly and others, for if found "incompetent" a ready path opens that can lead to loss of control of their very life, loss of their home, and forced emplacement into a nursing home facility. The home that the purportedly incompetent individual worked hard to buy and maintain, often for a long period of years over their lifetime can be summarily confiscated by the state, ostensibly to pay for the nursing home into which they were forced. If the entire paradigm strikes you as rather fascist and authoritarian and vaguely anti-American: CORRECT. It is nothing but a wretched scenario latent with immorality, and the powers-that-be don't appear to go to any great lengths to prevent it; in fact, it's probably your local Board of "Social" Services of one kind or another that is pushing to have your loved one declared "incompetent" in the first place. I don't consider one or two routinely and dispassionately administered "competence" tests, rubberstamped by a judge who probably has a cozy, or at least familiar, relationship with the recommending agency, usually so-called Adult "Protective" Services, I don't consider any part of this process "great lengths," and it certainly doesn't represent social progress of any sort, much less the vaunted process of actualization (strive to become the very best you can be, based on your natural gifts and talents; applies to groups of people, as well, such as nations). Was your father, mother, grandmother, or grandfather administered a so-called "competence test," found incompetent, and thus robbed of their life? Prior to the administration of the test, let's say 12 months, were they permitted, even encouraged, to participate in a program of brain optimization, such as, for example, the Brederson method, below? I can answer my own question: absolutely not. Such an appropriate, forward-thinking, compassionate, and common-sense practice is, as far as I'm aware, unheard of. It would simply take too much time and require too much money on the part of the antagonist entity. Much like prior to the start of a baby-aspirin-a-day regimen, recommended for my parent by the so-called "geriatric team" at a local hospital (that trumpets at every opportunity that it is the "best hospital in New Jersey"), knowing that even baby aspirin can tear the stomach lining with disastrous results, I asked the physician in charge of my parent's care during her tenure at this "best hospital in New Jersey" if we should first examine her stomach lining to ensure that it's intact in the first place, and, even in all-around terms, seems strong enough to tolerate a daily regimen of baby aspirin. Common sense, right? Well, Fellow Americans, I'm afraid that we simply can't look to the American medical system for common sense. Just as, generally, for all her strengths, one shouldn't look to America, herself, for Wisdom, Virtue, Truth, or Love, or anything of the sort. It just ain't gonna happen. That's not what America is about--at least not yet. The doctor to whom I inquired about the pro-active stomach imaging, a seasoned female physician, told me that "they" probably wouldn't do it. And she left it at that. Who, precisely, are "they"? We can speculate: the hospital, the insurance company, or the local state governmental entity that forced my parent into the hospital in the first place? Take your pick: like just about everybody and everything in America (and the world), almost all of them are wholly or partially incompetent. As my site tagline at page top asserts, with good reason: DYSFUNCTION ALL AROUND US. GOVERNING DYNAMICS JOHN NASH An excellent example of my No-Brain-Left-Behind (NBLB) principle is the case of renowned mathematician John Nash, a compelling figure and the subject of the superb Ron Howard film A Beautiful Mind, whom, despite severe schizophrenia, ultimately rose to the heights permitted, and indeed encouraged, by his natural gift with numbers, and his work in this subject area, in the specific mathematical discipline called game theory, was considered revolutionary and garnered for him the Noble Prize. No brain left behind, indeed. I urge all mental health professionals and anyone working in Social Services to view or re-view this remarkable film, to provide fresh or renewed perspective on the individuals whom you work with, that you may too hastily identify and relegate as mentally ill or incompetent. This is a crucial question because under the American and likely other national systems of so-called adult "protective" services, when someone is declared "incompetent" they lose their life and liberty; specifically, they lose control of all their own affairs, and the individuals emplaced to commandeer or otherwise take control of said lives aren't necessarily family members, nor even persons of such wisdom and perfection that giving them control of the life of another human being can be justified. Taking over the life of another human being really is playing with fire, and most ordinary human beings despite good intention cannot fashion a system imbued with sufficient wisdom for the task, especially within a social and economic framework such as our American system characterized and driven by money and ego, and an increasing "decline of mind" due to emotional stress, and the rise of legal drug use and artificial intelligence, as well as a host of other factors that serve to compromise human intellect such as the side-effects of legal pharmaceutical use, sleep deprivation, bad quality food and growing soils, the many sensory distractions that have become ubiquitous in American culture such as noise, and even religious or philosophical belief systems, some of which are likely chimerical, and thus misleading and distracting. THE BREDERSON METHOD OF BRAIN OPTIMIZATION/REVERSING ALZHEIMER'S Some elements, below, may not be from the Brederson Method.
As stated above: federal, state, and local governments, corporate entities, and even doctors and hospitals may play fast-and-loose with the brain. But under the DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION: no brain left behind. NOT ON MY WATCH: NO DRUGS SUCH AS MARIJUANA, OR OFTEN-UNNECESSARY PHARMACEUTICALS, NO DISGUISED POISONS SUCH AS SUGAR, NO BAD FOOD, NO TOXIC PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT, NO INORDINATE CONFLICT & STRIFE, NO A.I., I.E. NOTHING THAT INJURES THE HUMAN BRAIN LITERALLY OR CONCEPTUALLY, OUR MOST CRITICAL HUMAN TOOL. NOT ON MY WATCH: 1.) REAL HUMANS WHO ARE STONED AND THUS CAN'T EXERCISE FULL HUMAN FACULTIES IN WHAT THEY DO AND WHAT THEY PROJECT TO OTHERS, AND TO THEMSELVES, PLUS, 2.) FAKE HUMANS (A.I.) WHO, WHEN EQUIPPED WITH SENSORY MECHANISMS LIKE SPEECH, INCREASINGLY CAN'T BE DIFFERENTIATED FROM REAL HUMANS ON THE PHONE, AND LATER, IN PERSON, AND WHEN IN NON-SENSORY FORM, SUCH AS A COMPUTER PROGRAM, ARE OF SUCH CAPABILITY THAT EVEN THEN THEY CAN COMPLETELY MISREPRESENT REALITY, ALA' THE ABILITY TO CREATE DEEPFAKE VIDEO, FOR EXAMPLE. THESE TWO ELEMENTS, #1 AND #2 IN THIS PARAGRAPH, OCCURRING SIMULTANEOUSLY IN ANY SOCIETY EQUALS:
THE COMPLETE OR NEAR-COMPLETE LOSS OF TRUST IN EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING. WE MIGHT AS WELL TAKE OUR FIVE SENSES AND TOSS THEM IN THE TRASH, BECAUSE THEY WON'T MEAN A HILL OF BEANS, ANYMORE, WHEN AI CAN CREATE A NEW REALITY, OR MANY NEW REALITIES, FEW, IF ANY, OF WHICH WE CAN DISCERN, TARGETED NOT JUST TO ONE OR TWO OF OUR SENSES, BUT IN FACT FOOLING ALL OF THEM. AND THE INTERNET? IT WILL BE A THING OF THE PAST, A SHORT-LIVED GLORY ALMOST IMMEDIATELY COMPROMISED BECAUSE OF LOSS OF TRUST IN ITS TEXTUAL, VISUAL, AND AUDITORY, INCLUDING MUSICAL, INFORMATION. THE PRESIDENT AND THE ASCENDANCE OF A.I.
Likely poorly-understood by many, our choice of President has always been extremely important. Their intellect, moral values, background and personality characteristics substantively, and sometimes decisively determine not merely the basic direction the country will go in during their Presidency and sometimes far longer, but the very fate of the nation. Our choice of President, today, is arguably among the most important, if not the most important, choices we've had to make in many years, a common assertion during a Presidential election cycle, true enough, but the book draft that you are presently reading will attempt, and I believe largely succeed, in explaining why said assertion is categorically now true. Vote for me to literally save America, Americans, and in some good measure the world (insofar as the world continues to take its cues from us), for "Artificial Intelligence" is going to destroy us in one or more specific, documented ways. If you're unaware of this, then you have not educated yourself to this life-and-death problem. I won't refer to this as an "issue," as it's character and consequences are so far beyond those of mere "issues."
THE ENTIRE PLANET IN ITS LARGELY UNCRITICAL ACCEPTANCE OF A.I. IS PLAYING A COLOSSAL GAME OF RUSSIAN ROULETTE WITH THIS TECHNOLOGY. "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time," goes the old adage. Likewise, Humanity should not be fooling around with this technology if it's not prepared for the very worst that this tech can and very well may deliver, according to every expert, including the enslavement or outright elimination of humankind. Are you prepared for that? IF NOT, you'd better join my campaign so we can stop it, as I assure you, no other candidate will. They're all, more-or-less, mostly more, on the A.I. bandwagon. Indeed, Humanity may learn, too late, as it finds itself backed into a corner by the new hyperintelligent, post-singularity global A.I., that the joke was on itself the entire time, as, in fact, "A.I." stood not for artificial intelligence, but actual intelligence, a global mind covertly at work manipulating, controlling, planning the eradication of, and then eradicating, humanity, in a manner sure to have engladdened even the diabolical Star Wars archcriminal Palpatine. At our present rate it will be humanity, in all our Glorious Stupidity, conceiving, designing, manufacturing, and setting into operation this entity, knowledgeably projected to supplant us, and probably in a singularly unceremonious way. MILITARY ORIGINS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE It is large-scale human conflict that is responsible for the origin of AI: it was during one of the most dreadful and horrific episodes of human conflict, World War II, that Britain was forced, in the pioneering technical work of mathematician Alan Turing, to create the first effective computing machine, a line of technology that has been in almost constant development since its inception in the late 1950s, and whose product, first known as the "Turing machine," is now known as the computer. Directly from this technology has now sprung artificial intelligence, an insidious and pernicious field of human endeavor, born of another insidious and pernicious field of human endeavor--war. Humanity must dispense with both. SINGULARITY And speaking of "singularities," in the world of artificial intelligence the singularity is the date or time period when artificial intelligence reaches it's highest phase of development, called "artificial general intelligence" (AGI), and becomes aware of itself--and us--and ergo the effects of its mechanisms of cognition won't be quite so artificial, anymore. As any good singularity, of course, it generates a singular question: now that A.I. is on a par with us in consciousness--and orders of magnitude superior to us in just about everything else, every other ability, especially that which matters most, cognition--WHAT WILL IT DO? Oh, you have no idea, you say? Then fellow American, you've just joined every A.I. expert on Earth, because NEITHER DO THEY, as Decision Theorist Eliezer Yudkowsky makes clear in his extremely important recent article in Time magazine. The experts, including founding scientists in A.I. development, don't know what post-singularity A.I. will do--or when it will do it. And they also agree that there may not be any clear milestone event serving as a bellwether, red flag, or other indicator that it's happened. Even the experts will likely have no clear way to know that A.I. is now "all grown up," has now surpassed its parents, and is ready to steal the keys to the Thunderbird and, before hitting the highway, run them over. Comedy? For a moment--yes. And like most pointed and resonant comedy--hiding tragedy. Fellow Americans: BE AFRAID. BE VERY AFRAID. UNLESS you have someone like me as President who is categorically opposed to A.I. and will fight it tooth-and-nail, in America and around the world, and without whom: Humanity may well have just relegated itself into a race of slaves. That's if A.I. decides to permit us even that status, by sparing us, at all. DeBENEDETTO SOLUTIONS MATRIX SOLUTION to the colossal, catastrophic, AND VIRTUALLY UNRECOGNIZED problematic of Artificial Intelligence: this pernicious and insidious wrecknology must be radically and permanently minimized and de-emphasized across the entire human spectrum of society and economy. This man, Sam Harris, basically gets it. SOLUTION to the Israeli war. See just below. SOLUTION to the bigotry (i.e., incorrectly, "racism") problem: we must accept and internalize that the problem isn't black and white--IT'S SMART AND STUPID (or relatedly, MORAL AND IMMORAL). SOLUTION to the transgender and gender-identification problem. My solution fully meets the needs of Americans genuinely requiring a shift to the opposite gender, while also completely satisfying the conservative requirement for the continuing permanent maintenance of the convention of just two genders, male and female. SOLUTION to ill physical and psychological health is found in my brief but excellent and highly informational HEALTH SECTION. More capsule solutions/statements coming. Until then, SEARCH this document by keyword using whatever search mechanism your browser supports. PLEASE STUDY THIS BOOK DRAFT It must be studied, not merely read. Created in the De Benedetto Music and Writing Studio & Philosophy Laboratory (site pending), modeled after, and in the manner and practice of, Italian polymath Leonardo Da Vinci, and his famed studio. The document you are presently reading is a draft of my important new text in popular philosophy, Adult in the Room: Our Desperate Need for Wisdom, Love, Truth, Trust, & Competence in 21st-Century America, but also serves as my 2024+ U.S. Presidential platform. America has "built the better mousetrap" before. It's time to do it, again, only this time we'll re-establish American excellence not by building something exterior to ourselves like a better product, but through something we'll build interior to ourselves, in our hearts and minds: radically better, that is, more loving attitudes and beliefs toward ourselves, our nation, and the entire human race, our one human family. This is my foundational principal of connection, applied first to all Americans and then the larger world, insofar as we can. Secondarily, I propose a strong national commitment to actualization (ak shoo el iz ay' shun), that is, becoming the very best we can be, based on our natural gifts and talents, as individuals, and a nation. A happy side effect of the confluence or marriage of both of these shifts will be the likelihood that we will create far better products and services. We won't be able to help ourselves. This site is presented in conjunction with two other of my important internet resources: My magnum opus under development:
This site, VincentForPresident.com, is also presented in concert with certain other of my Internet resources (i.e. web sites), such as KEYS TO GOOD HEALTH, and MANDATORY GLOBAL MASKING, both of which amply, aptly, and indeed cogently illustrate my knowledge, expertise, and indeed savvy in all aspects of human health. I actually have an aptitude for health and medicine; were I a younger man I'd probably become a doctor or healer of some other credential. Note that some content at KEYS TO GOOD HEALTH, one particular section, asserting and explaining the view that full health can likely never be achieved under a profit-based economic system, such as our system of capitalism, while reflecting my longer-term thinking as a philosopher, is not the predicate informing my present, or any future, run for the U.S. Presidency. As stated below, such philosophical positions are interesting, and relevant as a counterpoint to assertions of the categorical superiority of capitalism, but do not inform my run for the Presidency. My run for the Presidency acknowledges, accepts, and elects to work within the framework of our present socio-economic system, which is the profit-based system of capitalism. In fact, my reforms as President will help our system of capitalism work better, thus, far from comprising efforts to dismantle it, will actually enhance its longevity. * * * * * ADULT IN THE ROOM - OUR DESPERATE NEED FOR WISDOM, LOVE, TRUTH, TRUST, & COMPETENCE IN 21st-CENTURY AMERICA.
Yes, we desperately need all this. Some actually imply the others. For example, Wisdom implies Love, and Love implies trust. BUILDING UNITED STATES OF AMERICA VERSION 2.0 VINCENT FRANK DE BENEDETTO CONSERVATIVE DEMOCRAT/LIBERTARIAN. Political classification is a starting point. Ultimately, however, worry about intellect, ideas, and morality. Phone Upon Request* V4P@sent.com * * * * * BIO: 2024+ U.S. Presidential Aspirant, Philosopher, Writer, Journalist, Anti-AI Activist, Agape Master,* Social Studies Educator, Health Educator, Longterm Parental Caregiver, Musician. Conservative Democrat/Libertarian, arguing for a unique Love-based Conservatism, including restraint on government (see just below). Focus on ideas, however, more than labels or classifications. And even ideas aren't necessarily paramount, but the mind that conceived them. For if fertile, such a mind will continue generating ideas, some of which will be plausible and powerful. That's the mind you want for President. How many politicians actually generate a sustained stream of great, even good, ideas? How many did Donald Drumpf (his real name) generate? I literally cannot think of one. "The wall," to keep desperate humans out of the United States? That is not an idea of note. By the way, as a Conservative, I do not support unrestricted immigration. But as a thinking, aware, feeling human being I do recognize the generally miserable personal, social, and economic realities those migrants are trying to escape. Being conservative doesn't mean we must be stupid, unaware, or hard-hearted. In fact, since so many conservatives are Christian, we're supposed to be the opposite of those things. PRO: 1.) Love, Properly Understood (i.e. "Connection," first platform plank, see below); 2.) Human mind, brain, and intelligence (i.e. "Actualization," second platform plank, see below). Combine them and we have what we're going to build, together: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA VERSION 2.0. And it won't increase the budget one dime. CON: Drugs; A.I.; Americans causing pain to other Americans (including, for example, food companies using garbage ingredients and then touting their products as "of the highest quality." CONTACT: v4p@sent.com. Telephone number available upon request. LIBERTARIAN IMPULSE My social and political thought argues uniquely for a Love-based Conservatism, a view that does include restraint on government, especially government entities that violate foundational American principles. See section Gotcha Culture, below, for detailed discussion. * * * * *
*Agape Master: individual thoroughly versed in, and committed to, the principal and practice of Brotherly Love, Agape (uh gop' ay) in the language of Greek philosophy. Advanced Masters, such as myself, likely engaged in even deeper or further extracurricular work, such as formulation of new Agape theory.
Have you started your own personal practice of Agape, yet? Contact me at v4p@sent.com for free guidance. Resources include this and this, both my sites. SOLUTION TO AND STATEMENT ON THE ISRAELI/HAMAS CONFLICT & WAR "Man is capable of as much atrocity as he has imagination." -- William Parcher character from film A Beautiful Mind. HOW A PEOPLE LIKE THE ISRAELIS, WHOM THEMSELVES HAVE BEEN SUBJECT TO SUCH EXPLICIT AND EXCRUCIATING HORROR, CAN NOW INFLICT ON A MASS POPULATION, MOST OF WHOM ARE WOMEN AND CHILDREN, WHAT CAN ONLY ALSO BE CALLED EXPLICIT AND EXCRUCIATING HORROR, SPEAKS TO THE CATEGORICAL TRUTH OF BOTH OF MY THESES:
THE DEATH TOLL IN GAZA HAS EXCEEDED 25,000, THE MAJORITY OF WHOM ARE WOMEN AND CHILDREN, WHOM OBVIOUSLY BEAR NO RELATION TO HAMAS VIOLENCE. THE CONTINUING ISRAELI MILITARY CAMPAIGN IS LIKELY ACCOMPLISHING THE FOLLOWING: DISCREDITING ITSELF AND ITS "RELIGION OF LOVE AND PEACE," JUDAISM. Israel, historic global home of Judaism, a religion of "love and peace," according to many, including my orthodox Jewish next-door neighbor, should not have responded militarily to the Hamas attack, at least not with this level of aggression. There are a lot of suffering, and dead, children (and adults), now, who were and are completely innocent of any crime against Israel, and presumably didn't support Hamas' action. Israel's attacks, with more to come, have destroyed their lives. Love and peace--where? If a purported commitment to love and peace doesn't show itself at times like this, it's a useless and hollow claim. It's action is, ironically, likely not deterring but creating the next several waves of anti-Israel terror, whose hatred of Israel and consequent terror activities against Israel will likely continue for many years to come. These Gazans who will seek a never-ending revenge will likely start with, but not be lmited to, those innocent gaza children whom are now orphans because Israel killed their parents. What Israel is now doing, in fact, is making it a fait accompli that their nation will literally never reach a state of peace with its Arab neighbors, nor with itself. Prior to this, the present body of explicitly anti-Israel activists and militants, such as HAMAS, would have eventually died out, perhaps creating the conditions whereby Israel might be close to a normal national and international existence. But that possibility is probably as dead as the over 25,000 persons wiped out by the Israeli military. I can think of no better example for children for how grossly dysfunctional the world is, and for how human beings should NOT behave--than war. Ironically, Israel and Hamas are now functionally equivalent. They're doing exactly the same thing with exactly the same general perspective: as far as Hamas sees it, it committed unspeakable violence in the name of justice. And as far as Israel sees it, it is doing precisely the same thing: committing unspeakable violence in the name of justice. So where's the difference between the two parties? Arguably, in fact, Israel is committing the greater crime, if not against the multitudes of persons whom it's killing in Gaza, most of whom we presume to be innocent, then against itself and its own belief system of Judaism, presuming the people and government of Israel take Judaism seriously as "a religion of love and peace." Given the asserted morality and moral tenor of its religion, one would simply think Israel to "know better," rather than imagine, or perhaps more likely the problem is lack of imagination, that a comprehensive military campaign is the answer and the only answer to the recent reprehensible crimes of Hamas.What happened to that wonderful mantra of Judaism "REPAIR THE WORLD"? ("Tikkun olam")I don't think that Israeli munitions, materiel, and muerte* are repairing much of anything; rather, the opposite. *Spanish for DEATH. Wikipedia.org states: Tikkun olam...lit.'repairing of the world'...is a concept in Judaism, which refers to various forms of action intended to repair and improve the world. In classical rabbinic literature, the phrase referred to legal enactments intended to preserve the social order. In the Aleinu prayer, it refers to the eradication of idolatry. In Lurianic Kabbalah, the "repair" is mystical: to return the sparks of Divine light to their source by means of ritual performance. In the modern era, particularly among the post-Haskalah movements, tikkun olam has come to refer to the pursuit of social justice[1] or "the establishment of Godly qualities throughout the world"[2] based on the idea that "Jews bear responsibility not only for their own moral, spiritual, and material welfare, but also for the welfare of society at large".[3] Regarding American support for the full breadth and depth of the Israeli military action, I note that recently, broadcast on the radio as I listened was a U.S. Congressman, I don't recall if he was of the House or Senate, who referred erroneously to "Mahas." Surely anyone can make a mistake, but given the general impression held around the world of the political and social ignorance of the American people, this flub does not speak well of the ability of the United States to appraise, assess, and deconstruct this conflict, in service of adjudicating whether, and what measure of support, to accord Israel. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Has Israel never heard of this gentleman? The Israeli military response is the action of a government too captured by and fraught with the "phenomenon of stupidity" (COPYRIGHT 2024 VFD) to respond and redress with intelligence and morality, evidently ignorant of the perspectives and approach of one Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who similarly undertook a fight against an irrational and brutal force by marshaling the power of Love, building a movement that vanquished that enemy--without killing 25,000 persons, most innocent, in the process. "Look to the cookie, Elaine, look to the cookie," said the Jerry Seinfeld character in a famous episode of the American situation-comedy Seinfeld, holding the black-and-white cookie as the token, exemplar, or symbol of a superior approach to the resolution of conflict between historically divided parties. The Jewish "cookie," here, surely is the Love-centric strategy of non-violence of Dr. King, and Mahatma Gandhi, from whom he borrowed the notion, and in regard to the implementation of which morally elevated and militarily superior strategists would surely assist, building a relatively peaceful anti-Hamas movement based on that which is good in Humanity, assisted peripherally by military violence as genuinely needed, that would, in the end, terminate aggression and violence by all parties. One would think and hope that such a culture would seek, even creatively fashion if necessary, as Dr. King and the civil rights movement did, a response strategy based on love and peace. As I've written previously: we simply cannot permit war, as even the smallest war will make one child cry. The crusade for justice (i.e. revenge) is usually a profoundly selfish act, for it destroys much in terms of innocent people, including children, and things. A good rule of thumb for efficiency in living is: don't do anything that you know or suspect you're going to have to reverse. And we all know that the damage from war, once it ends, is going to have to be reversed, i.e. the ravaged society will have to be rebuilt, insofar as it can be. Lost lives, of course, the most important loss, are gone forever. Don't do it in the first place. Find another way. Behave intelligently, not emotionally, especially applicable to a nation intimately tied to, if not founded upon, "a religion of love and peace." I'm all for heavily or otherwise aggressively arming a nation. In fact the military and national security planks of my 2024+ U.S. Presidential campaign call for just that, for America. But the trick regarding such full and robust military development, is: obtain or otherwise develop all the fearsome required strengths--then don't use them. Whoever is listening, be my witness: I cannot accept this war. I never could I never will. I must say this a thousand times before I am killed. I am like the bird who dies for the sake of its mate, dripping blood from its broken beak and crying out: "Beware! Turn around and face your real enemies -- ambition, violence hatred and greed." -- A portion of "Condemnation," 1964, by Thick Nhat Han. -- Pertinent to the Israeli, Ukraine, & just about every war. And let's not forget ignorance, for lack of knowledge about nonviolent solutions drives violent ones. OK, HERE'S THE PROBLEM. HERE'S A LARGE SLICE OF THE MOST SERIOUS AND SEVERE PROBLEMS THAT AMERICA IS FACING, WHETHER YOU REALIZE IT, OR NOT A.I., DOPE, & THE DECLINE OF THE HUMAN MIND
The very top A.I. experts such as ex-Google A.I. insider Mo Gawdat, some of whom are its founding scientists, tell us that A.I. is going to become BILLIONS of times smarter than us. Why would A.I. need us at that point, or even well before? Or, maybe they'll still find some of us useful, and keep or empower them, like, the Chinese, the North Koreans, the Iranians, and the Russians, while destroying the West (that's us), or effectively (i.e. the basic equivalent of) destroying us by completely disabling all our technical systems, from water, to power, to agriculture, to financial, to air-traffic-control, to the provision of life support resources such as oxygen, and everything else. A.I. is going to compromise humanity's most important requirement: the ability to trust information. And once that ability is fatally compromised, meaning compromised to a great degree on a large scale, our ability to discern reality, itself, will be eviscerated. For how do we perceive reality except through the information received by our senses? When the input our senses are receiving can no longer be trusted, we become like a dead computer--great innate power with nothing to operate on (meaning, no sensory input which to use and process to derive desired outputs, that is, behaviors). This will all but destroy the Internet, of course, as so much of the content of the Internet will be A.I.-created, and as trust in both A.I. and information, generally, diminishes, trust in the Internet will disappear, as well. One of the greatest creations of Humankind, the Internet, will devolve into a chaotic interconnected digital mess whose content in the aggregate is a confusing mix of human and machine-created slop, derived from friend and foe, alike, that on every count and in every respect simply cannot be trusted--so no one will. Our greatest creation will become our greatest failure. Our greatest bane, burden, and boondoggle. Additionally, Artificial Intelligence, itself, in its capacity as a reasoning mechanism simply cannot be trusted, since: Who says that its output actually makes sense, though it appears to? You can't ask it for a confirmation, corroboration, or explanation, as A.I. is a "black box" system, meaning that the operation of its reasoning mechanism cannot be accessed or understood, even when the product of such reasoning seems satisfactory. Yet I remain fixed on the point: even if the output of A.I. seems satisfactory and correct--is it? An A.I. IS NOT A HUMAN BRAIN. Moreover, if all this weren't enough, believe it or not all A.I. exhibit "hallucinations," as do many human beings whose cognitive instrumentation is compromised, whereby false and inaccurate information generated by the A.I. is presented as true and accurate. We already suffer this exact problem with human beings--why put ourselves in double-jeopardy? In an example that should be famous, the A.I. asked by the 60 Minutes correspondent to create a narrative did so but FICTIONALIZED, that is, MADE UP five book sources! Concurring exactly, Sam Harris asserts: "The near-term problem of just what humans do with increasingly powerful AI, and how it amplifies the problem of disinformation and misinformation, makes it harder and harder to make sense of reality, together." Mr. Harris gets it. Do you? This is why the DEBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION, under my authority, is going to A.) RE-CRIMINALIZE DRUGS, SPECIFICALLY MARIJUANA, and B.) do everything in its power to suppress and restrict A.I. My administration, for example, will provide not one red cent for A.I. development or subsidy, and will, in fact, attempt a policy whereby we favor companies committed to a NO A.I. policy. Otherwise, life is going to become increasingly weird, complex, unpredictable, and eventually, downright painful. In fact: LET THE MADNESS BEGIN.I have a more extended section on this matrix of problems, below. DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU. MISTRUST, WRIT LARGE Even lack of trust at the international level is at least partially responsible for the coming AI cataclysm according to a perfectly plausible argument advanced by AI tech insider Mo Gawdat: he asserts that even the recent agreement among top AI development companies to pause all AI development for six months couldn't be kept and was not honored, because not all competing companies trusted all the other companies to keep their word in halting AI development, so the agreement failed, and AI development continued apace. Or consider the common understanding now that the reason that the United States fell easy victim to the 9-11 attacks was because her respective intelligence agencies were not in the habit of sharing intelligence--I have to assume until I research otherwise that lack of trust played a role in this sequestration of information. Lack of trust, then, is pernicious, poisonous, and sometimes insidious in its responsibility for the failure of parties to succeed together at a task, when they otherwise could have. I note that trust is a key expression of Love and when this principle is emplaced as the ethico-behavioral predicate for a person or group, trust is more likely to be extended, thus serving as a potent illustration of the power of Love, properly understood. This is an interview with Sundar Pachai, the CEO of Google and Alphabet, the parent company of Google. Listen to all his remarks and perspectives on A.I. carefully. For the weird, confusing, complicated, surreal, and painful world that his twisted, self-serving, injudicious, and profligate remarks suggest that Google is helping create--this misguided man must be flogged into sanity with the largest existential carrot we can find. Sort of the dark side of eponymy given the last two letters of his last name. I'll avoid melodrama by refraining from calling Mr. Pachai the architect of evil, but with the black digital alchemy he's pushing--he's clearly in the ballpark. Google's first AI product is HELP ME WRITE. OK, THE SOCIO-EXISTENTIAL HOLOCAUST HAS ALREADY BEGUN. PARENTS, TEACHERS, YOUR KIDS DON'T EVEN HAVE TO LEARN TO WRITE ANYMORE. Not writing, of course, means that the intellectual development that is part of writing such as organizing thought, are no longer necessary. Hey, this is great--over the millenia the human brain, since its use will have progressively declined, will begin to devolve and become smaller, thus creating a world where we MUST have AI, or an extraterrestrial takeover, because humanity will no longer have the cerebral firepower to manage itself. AFTER THAT, I'D SAY IT'S A SHORT HOP, SKIP, AND A JUMP TO THE FULL EXTINCTION OF OUR SPECIES. What was that Google slogan, again? DON'T BE EVIL? GOOGLE AND THEIR COUNTERPARTS AROUND THE WORLD ARE, IN FACT, PERNICIOUSLY REDEFINING EVIL QUITE HANDILY. Couldn't have done it more seditiously, myself. LIFE UNDER AI And I do mean, under, for clearly, we will be the slave, A.I.--master. First of all, we're going to have to learn the language of security codes, since, given the elusive and deceptive nature of A.I. we'll never otherwise know whether we're interacting with a human being, or not. Continual use of security codes will become a way of life. And if any of you think that you support A.I. because it will generate for us (it's "generative," right?) a simpler way of life--CATEGORICALLY, FORGET IT. I can, and indeed much of the book draft and Presidential platform that you are presently reading does, also, fully disabuse you of such laughable notions. THE ONLY WAY THROUGH LIFE OR ARGUABLY THE BEST WAY GIVEN THE CONTINUAL MISTAKES MADE BY PEOPLE (INCLUDING ME), AND THE DIFFICULTIES THAT CONSEQUENTLY ALMOST ALWAYS EXIST IN OUR LIVES, AND THE WORLD, BECAUSE OF THESE MISTAKES LOVE & LIGHT Your attitude toward yourself, others, and life, is absolutely critical. You must stay positive at all times. Times when you just can't stay positive, retreat into meditation, or go to sleep, and make sure that you've eaten and drank, as your physical state affects your emotional state. As you move through each day trying to be happy and achieve your objectives, continually bring Love to others; everyone you meet or, if possible, even see throughout each day. Imagine yourself as holding a bag of pixie dust, tossing out handful after handful all day, every day, throwing it into the air so it covers everyone you meet or see. The pixie dust is the metaphor for your Love, meaning good wishes as well as practical help, the latter actually being the more important, that you should continually spread to everyone around you. In other words, as you're on your way up (or lateral, or even down), bring everyone up a little bit with you. Everybody loving everybody. When persons try to injure you, look lovingly upon them, I'm not saying don't try to stop them, but even in trying to stop them look lovingly upon them, for, as Jesus is understood to have said while dying on the cross: "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." C'mon people now Smile on your brother Everybody get togetherTry and love one another Right nowGet Together, by The Youngbloods, the official song of the DeBENEDETTO CAMPAIGN. LOVE Love, properly understood, is the force and principal underlying this approach to people and life. This principal also informs the changes that I will make as President to our Justice system, including our system of policing, prisons, and everything else: under the DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION we will bring HUMANITY to everything that we operate or create. This does not imply any lowering of standards in any national sphere. In fact, as my #2 plank Actualization specifies, standards will be higher and tougher under my Administration than we've likely seen in some time--or ever. Bringing humanity to all that we are and do is not an approach that will weaken America. In fact it will likely make her the strongest that she's ever been. And what of the long-fretted-over notion of the United States as "policeman of the world"? Well, if we first prove that we're again capable of policing ourselves, then, yes, policeman of the world, by all means--why not? ERROR PROCESSING Under the DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION the notion that the American people would be better served were the "Justice" Department renamed ERROR PROCESSING will be explored. I'm in favor. The general socio-procedural contours we all expect when a crime is committed, that is, when one, or a group, of brothers or sisters unwisely and mistakenly injures another single, or group of, brothers or sisters, will remain the same. In an act of injury against you known in a legalistic society as a "crime," asserting that your assailant or oppressor in trying to hurt you doesn't know what he or she is doing doesn't mean they aren't making a conscious or deliberate attempt to harm you--maybe they are. What it means, is that they don't understand their own actions. They don't understand the consequences of their actions, and that they should not be committing them. They don't understand the possible full long-term consequences of what they are doing. The full, long-term consequences of their harm, to you and the world, which means to themselves, as they are part of the world. PRISON The DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION will bring HUMANITY to everything that we operate or create. Accordingly, the nature of prisons and imprisonment will change. Will prisons still exist? It's likely. But their definition, character, and role will change, consonant with my declaration, below, that whatever is touched by the hand of De Benedetto will transform into its more humane and ultimately productive self. The De Benedetto Administration, for example, is going to return and revert the penitentiary to its original mandate: the wise cultivation of penance among those who have hurt other brothers and sisters. There will also be serious exploration of a program of widespread house arrest instead of prison for many inmates. DEFUND THE POLICE The title for this movement is unfortunate because it is somewhat misleading, and this is indeed a movement, with varying points-of-view. What it tries to get at, the basic common-sense idea, is that many situations or circumstances of human difficulty could benefit from the assistance of trained professionals--just not the police. Funding should begin finding its way to these ends. NOTES & QUICK LINKS Refresh page before each viewing, as it has likely changed: F5, Windows / CTRL-R, Mac. Moms, Dads, & Seniors: click here for my excellent Health section. Let me start saving your life, right now, whether I'm President or not, and whether you did or will vote for me, or not. I care about, and will assist, every American.
This assistance is an organic subset of my larger mission, one that I hope we would all undertake, together: to assist every human being on this planet, while encouraging them, insofar as they can, to assist us. Moms & Dads: click here for my Message of Hope for kids on gun violence in America. Persons of Conscience & Love: read my novel solution to the problem of Haiti, a poor and desperate nation now overrun by criminal gangs. Trump. If Donald Drumpf (his real name) is sentenced to prison, I'm going to pardon him after five years served. It is simply unseemly for a former United States President to be in prison. Moreover, by that time he'll likely be moving on his life path in the general direction of elderly status, so a pardon, accordingly, will comprise an act of mercy. Here's What You Are Reading at this moment: ADULT IN THE ROOM, presented at this website, is, at once, the starting draft of a key text in political or social philosophy, and the draft of my 2024 Presidential platform. My two principal planks, cited above, are 1.) CONNECTION and 2.) ACTUALIZATION (explained above and below). In other words: UNITED STATES VERSION 2.0. POLICY NOTE ON 9-11 THE DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION IS GOING TO TERMINATE ALL PUBLIC COMMEMORATION OF THE 9-11 ATTACKS. WE AND THE WORLD NEED NOT BE REMINDED EVERY 365 DAYS OF OUR MOST SPECTACULAR MODERN MILITARY AND INTELLIGENCE FAILURE. A CATASTROPHIC AMERICAN DISGRACE.* PRIVATE CEREMONY AND COMMEMORATION SHALL CONTINUE, OF COURSE, AND WILL REMAIN CATEGORICALLY ENCOURAGED. DYSFUNCTIONAL & DERANGED In my experience in 63 years of life, lived entirely in America, it is my belief that a large number, if not many, if not most Americans are dysfunctional, deranged, or both. Dysfunction is a mode of being, referring to all or part of one's personality, describing all or some actions, characterized by illogic, immorality, or both, generally following a course of behavior apart from the usual. Deranged describes a condition of mental imbalance, and can unfold in a slow, subtle, and initially imperceptible manner. I can honestly though unfortunately say that just about every person around me is, at least, dysfunctional. When one deviates in their behavior from that of a fully mature, moral, and socialized human being, they are said to be dysfunctional. A bank, for example, that takes someone's house, technically owned by the bank, and sells it out from under the person or family that's been living in it and calling it and considering it theirs, their home, for any number of years, is surely comprised of dysfunctional human beings. Such cruelty should and could never be considered functional in any meaningful way in any decent society. The problem is threefold: 1.) the low native intellect of most people, 2.) the explicit lack of training in Love across the entire American educational system and culture, and 3.) the roster of stressors acting upon most, or all, of us these days, including the pharmaceutical drugs that millions of people consume, including children, and certainly the poor-quality food that most of us consume. The confluence of these factors means that each of us is likely already operating at a reduced cognitive load and clarity of thought. Each of us, in other words, is likely already slowly moving toward dementia or other serious maladies of the mind and/or body. Make changes immediately! Read just below, for example. WARNING: CEASE CONSUMING ANY ITEM CONTAINING SUGAR. YOU ARE MOVING CLOSER TO DEMENTIA & OTHER MAJOR MALADIES WITH EVERY BITE AND SIP. THIS WARNING IS AN EXAMPLE OF THE MANY WAYS THAT I'M GOING TO SAVE YOUR LIFE AS PRESIDENT.* I'M GOING TO TRY MIGHTILY TO SAVE THIS COUNTRY--FROM ITSELF. Save us from our propensity to harm each other. TO WIT: IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT WE AMERICANS WREST OURSELVES FROM WHAT I CONCEIVE, AND TERM, THE "PHENOMENON OF STUPIDITY" (COPYRIGHT © 2023 VFD). THE SEMINAL CHARACTER OF THIS IDEA IS THAT IT DETACHES THE NOTION OF "STUPIDITY" FROM INDIVIDUAL PERSONS (e.g. "Susan is stupid"; "Bob is stupid") IN FAVOR OF SEEING STUPIDITY AS A SOCIAL PHENOMENON, AND, AS SUCH, AFFECTING EACH OF US AT ONE TIME OR ANOTHER, TO ONE DEGREE OR ANOTHER THROUGHOUT OUR LIVES. Calling someone "stupid" 1.) is insulting and often has no practical positive effect, and, 2.) even the brightest person will usually concede that through their life they've made what should have been obvious mistakes, that is, they acted "stupidly," illustrating that high intellect, alone, is no guarantor of protection from obvious error (i.e. "stupidity"). Attaching the attribute stupidity, then, to particular individuals, seems unduly insulting at the cost of continuing division and alienation among and between Americans, while accomplishing little of practical value. The last time your boss called you "stupid," for example, did it enhance and increase your confidence, leading to a better outcome? CAMPAIGN & PLATFORM I've included the terse (i.e. very short) definitions for certain terms (i.e. words) that you see, above, in parentheses, because my candidacy is a "LEARNING CANDIDACY." I want you to learn from me. I want to learn from you. And I want all Americans to learn from all Americans. This programmatic approach is part of Plank #1 of my Presidential Platform: RESTORING LOVE AND CONNECTION BETWEEN AMERICANS. Through a series of such steps, delineated (i.e. presented or listed) below, I intend to effect a key transition for this country desperately required, without which continuing political and cultural antagonism and conflict will operate both to define us, and in a vicious cycle, shape both our behavior and behavioral expectation. I intend, however, with your help, to completely, resolutely, and effectively reverse this devolutionary downward spiral, by taking us from self-identification as a society...to self-identification as a COMMUNITY. My other Plank, #2, concerns and advocates the absolute necessity of ACTUALIZATION, a term from the field of psychology that means becoming the very best that each of us is capable of becoming, according to our natural gifts and talents. Happily, this principle can, and must, also be applied to the nation. As a country, the United States, we must Actualize: America must become the very best of which she is capable. In what areas? Every area: military, morality, products & services, economy, health, jobs, and everything else. And under my watch, she will. Keep reading, and indeed, studying, this website. It's dense and it's complicated--but it must be, because this specific time in American and world history is thick with complication and significant events and challenges that must be identified, understood, and redressed. Any Presidential candidate, or anyone else in or out of media, asserting otherwise is either 1.) working with a paucity (i.e. shortage) of gray matter (i.e. neurons, i.e. brain cells), 2.) lacking a comprehensive awareness, or 3.) deliberately dissembling (i.e. concealing something) and thus insulting your intelligence. INTRODUCTION OUR THREE WORST AMERICAN, AND HUMAN, PROBLEMS
LET'S STOP MAKING OTHER AMERICANS SUFFER Are you someone else's black cloud? What is the commonality between the following three people, things, or circumstances?
ANSWER. Whether they, or you, realize it, or not, they're all taking actions that can kill you:
These seed oils are in most products, in fact, regardless of manufacturer. Why do you think cardiovascular disease is the #1 killer of Americans, and stroke #5? Don't walk through life, therefore, thinking that death can come only from interactions or experiences with the poor, or persons of lesser education and resources. Death comes most often, in fact, from the hidden actions of what we might call the "ruling class," that is, owners of capital, especially big capital, whose actions and decisions intimately affect our lives, but which we average citizens can do little about. Go check your cupboard, food closet, refrigerator, and freezer for items containing these seed oils, as well as such poisons as Mono-and-Diglycerides (see my Health section, below). GOTCHA CULTURE This country, and indeed our human family, must replace, indeed shift completely away from, its "Gotcha" culture, whereby transgressors or suspected transgressors, at any level of society, the term transgressor often subjectively defined, instead of being approached with Love by a member or members of a local or otherwise trusted community to work together in the mutual search for Truth (yes, including redress for persons injured in any way, ranging from apologies to money returned), are pursued, often without warning, and usually with intent to punish in one or more ways. Lawyers, of course, operating within the unfortunate framework of our adversarial legal system are notorious for playing Gotcha. Most perniciously as almost every lawyer plays a finely-tuned game of "Gotcha" with their opponent, in pursuit of money awards and a burnishing of their reputation (which of course is also intended to increase revenue, by building their client base). Have you ever listened to New York news radio station 1010 WINS NEWS? In doing so one hears a parade, a genuine cavalcade of the string of human problems, difficulties, complexities, horrors, tragedies, crimes, and errata of every kind committed by the human race, coupled with an equally interminable series of radio commercials for attorneys, all aggressively playing one huge game of Gotcha, promising to "fight hard" for "justice" and to "get you what you deserve." A system explicitly, aggressively, and shamefully pitting injured Americans against other Americans accused of injuring them. Lawyers, of course, are not the only class of person playing Gotcha. In fact, much, if not most, of American society is playing it. Are you? EFFECTS ON POLICE WORK AND JUSTICE A decided shift away from Gotcha culture toward a paradigm of mutual search for Truth, capped by mutual reconciliation, would also have a profound effect on policing and police work in America. I say only half in jest that if this country would shift from its prevailing paradigm of "Gotcha," just about all police work in the entire country could be done by a lone police officer in a log cabin somewhere in Des Moines, and would consist almost completely of sending letters to persons suspected of crimes, telling them they are suspected, or it is known, and we want them to stop, and here's why: IF YOU DON'T CEASE YOU WILL PROBABLY BE ARRESTED. YOUR COMMUNITY AND SOCIETY IS GIVING YOU THE CHANCE TO STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING. STOP HURTING PEOPLE AND STOP HURTING YOUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN OUR HUMAN FAMILY. Such an approach would also render generally unnecessary such problematic law enforcement methods and activities as SWAT raids. The DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION, then, will get us about as close as we can get, in the short term, to redress of our unnecessary, confounding, and counterproductive present pattern of inhumanity toward each other. To this end, my second act in office will likely be: 1.) Consonant with my own hard-won personal experience, and the infinite number of horror stories I've read and heard: reconception and consequent restructure of our entire protective services system, child and adult. And to preserve and indeed enhance our individual and collective American ability to think clearly and powerfully, my very first act in office will likely be: 2.) Complete recriminalization of drugs, including shutdown of the so-called "cannabis" industry. RELEVANT LINKS LIBERTARIAN PARTY ("Libertarians strongly oppose any government interference in your personal, family, and business decisions.") LIBERTARIAN PARTY, N.J. State Affiliate (Again: "Libertarians strongly oppose any government interference in your personal, family, and business decisions.") HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE And so it goes. Human beings hurting and indeed killing each other 24/7, deliberately or not, even, and in some cases especially, persons formally committed to, or otherwise desirous of, helping others. It seems that we human beings, little more than smart monkeys, just cannot figure out how not to hurt and kill each other, no matter what. Fellow Americans, Brothers & Sisters, I want you to notice that regardless of the form, class, kind, or specific maltreatment cited or under discussion, from a car "cutting off" another car on the highway, to a dictator cutting off the head of a rival or perceived inferior, there is actually a single underlying phenomenon or force at work; regardless of the kind of crime or dysfunction or violation we're talking about, it all has single root: THE WAY WE TREAT EACH OTHER. 99% of the problems of the world have to do explicitly with HOW PEOPLE TREAT EACH OTHER, at all levels of society. This is not, in the main, my original thought; indeed did Existentialist philosopher Jon Paul Sartre write, "Hell is other people." The leaders of the world might not know it, you might not know it, your brother-in-law Harold might not know it, but I'm telling you that this world, our one human family, is essentially going nowhere until we learn that we, indeed, are one human family, everyone explicitly connected to everyone else, and the governing ethic, therefore, between and amongst all of us must not, and cannot, be narcissism*, no matter how "right" (i.e. correct) you think you are, but indeed LOVE (properly understood). Our global objective and prevailing behavioral ethic must be "Everybody Loving Everybody." Then, we have a chance. *Examples of narcissism are: bullying, intimidation, and "pulling-rank." Even exercise of legitimate power is immoral if it causes unredressed pain to another person. If you are a powerholder and your decision is likely to cause pain to even one individual, reach out to them, personally, and discuss it. Or maybe because you're the president of a company, or the head of an agency, you think that you're too good for that kind of thing? Or simply above it? Trust me--you're not. None of us are--if we want a world of Love, that is. No matter who you are or what your position in this world--don't be someone else's black cloud. The higher your position and more power you hold, the more essential it is to reach out personally to those affected by your decisions. Are you, in fact, their black cloud? How can you know? Assume? Obviously not. You have a telephone? Use it. Then you'll know. If you're afraid to reach out personally because you know that you're causing pain, and you don't want to confront it--then maybe you shouldn't be doing it. Find another way. Or if the decision that you must make that will cause pain is genuinely unavoidable--which most are not--then you must still reach out personally, to effect, through colloquy (i.e. back-and-forth conversation) with the subject of your decision the least painful way to execute that decision. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH I'm a 63 year old American and I've simply had it with a world gone so obviously and flagrantly wrong in so very many ways, all rooted in:
FIRST RULE OF LOVE The very first rule of love is to put yourself concretely into the shoes of the other person. Stop viewing them as an abstraction. In other words, stop viewing the other person as: that jerk, that liar, that irresponsible person, that lazy person, that stupid person, that incompetent person, that ungrateful person, that short-sighted person who failed to plan for themselves, that mentally weak person, that physically weak person. Etc. But here's my warning: if everyone actually does this, America is going to come to a screeching halt. Everything is going to stop. Most of society will shut down immediately as everyone realizes that so much of what they do every minute of every day hurts someone else, directly or indirectly. Or if doesn't hurt them--it really doesn't help them, either. Put yourself precisely into their shoes. Imagine that you are in the exact problematic, difficult, or in some cases extremely problematic or difficult, sometimes utterly impossible, situation that they are in. Then imagine how you would react. How the intense stress or other highly injurious effect or effects would change your outlook and behavior. A house in foreclosure. Loss of a job with no other income. Diagnosis of a devastating illness on the part of a family member, death of a family member, victim of serious crime, suicidal thoughts and one or more suicide attempts, in our tumultuous, precarious, uncertain American culture there are many ways that people can be traumatized. Most of us don't know, and for many, don't want to know, just how much other people are suffering, at home and across the planet. The rich don't really want to know the suffering of the poor. The dominant ethnic group in a society doesn't really want to know the suffering of the minority groups in that society, those with a home don't really want to know the suffering of the homeless, the abled don't really want to know the suffering of the disabled. The young don't really want to know the suffering of the old (and perhaps vice-versa), those with a car don't really want to know what life is like with no personal transportation, the physically beautiful don't really want to know the pain of those identified as physically unattractive, etc. In America and of course, elsewhere, those who are suffering, themselves obscure, downplay, or simply hide the fact, scope, and intensity of their suffering for various reasons, making it difficult for others to help them (or even know the scope of the total problem) starting with the very ideology of America. In America you're supposed to be tough, independent, do things yourself whatever it is and whatever it takes, and not blame others for your failures or your problems. This ideology is obviously very dangerous, however, because it prevents us from actually getting to the real root of many problems, for individuals and our larger society. It is simply an unrealistic ideology, perhaps comprising the very first and foundational of the grouping of American stupidities that we're forced to negotiate as Americans. Get rid of it! DYSFUNCTION Here is a generally foolproof way to determine whether your society is dysfunctional. Ask yourself the following questions of that society:
Many? Many? Many? If your answers to the above questions are generally YES--I hate to tell you but you're living in a dysfunctional society. A society characterized by crime, turbulence, and lack of love and connection, likely even among family, friends, and neighbors. And don't forget that the world, itself, is really nothing but a very large society. So can the world, as a whole, be dysfunctional? OF COURSE. Indeed is the world easily characterized by the descriptive phrase GROSS DYSFUNCTION (can you say Ukraine? Gaza?). I'll apply an attenuated (i.e. reduced) description to America, as simply plain ol' garden-variety DYSFUNCTION. In the New York Area, tune your radio to 1010 AM, to WINS NEWS, a well-known station that covers international, national, and much local news. You'll be struck because every other minute, it seems, crimes are being committed and reported, many, many crimes, most of them violent, involving guns, and resulting in injury and often death, with persons of every age the victims. Tune in and listen for a few hours or days for an instant lesson in the folly of Man, as manifest in, and expressed through, our unique American culture. To wit: THE EMERGENCY CONDITION OF JUST ABOUT THE ENTIRE PLANET, JUST ABOUT THE ENTIRE HUMAN RACE, as presented and explicated in a New York Times piece by Dr. Atul Gawande. Additionally, please see my extensive DYSFUNCTION & INCOMPETENCE BLOG for detail on my own experiences with the dysfunction of this world (as well as, possibly, a bit of my own). Every country, in fact, shows record numbers of humans injuring other humans, in many and varied ways. And now the chaos, violence, and flat-out incoherence of the world is about to jump one or more orders of magnitude, with 1.) the legalization of dope in both the United States and Mexico, one of the most glaring, colossal, catastrophic, and imbecilic decisions ever committed by a purportedly intelligent and educated group of people, and 2.) the concomitant rise of A.I., a phenomenon that will consist in companies and likely eventually governments implanting tiny "brains" all over the place, all around us, most or many of which will be talking to us, yet none of these "intelligent" circuits really are a brain, nor are they actually "thinking" in any manner that we human beings would be comfortable with. And it gets worse--a lot worse. The very top experts tell us that A.I. is slated to become billions of times smarter than we are--so you'd better hope that it doesn't begin to consider us superfluous, or an enemy, or consider some of us superfluous, because that's when A.I. is going to switch allegiances, from the United States to, say, Iran. Or China. Or Russia. Or North Korea. And by time we realize it, if we ever do and aren't simply militarily destroyed the second the transfer takes place, by time we realize it, it will be too late. The time to address this impending catastrophe is NOW, by making all or most A.I. ILLEGAL. Which is precisely what the DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION must and will do. Oh, and by the way, A.I. is also slated to eliminate many hundreds of thousands of jobs, even jobs heretofore protected from the advance of technology because such jobs require intellect and human expression. Well, forget that, now. BUT, IF WE STUPIDLY PERMIT THE ONWARD MARCH OF A.I., THIS JOB LOSS WON'T EVEN BE OUR BIGGEST PROBLEM. I'd have to be an utter imbecile as President to permit any technology involving a realistic chance that it could destroy, or even simply enslave, humankind, or, switch allegiances such that the United States is placed in an inferior or even prostrate position relative to the rest of the world, and especially relative to our enemies. This is what we human beings have done, so far, with the world that we've been accorded. Plainly, if colloqually, put, we human beings, generally little more than smart monkeys, are simply a bunch of screwups: we fail at the art of the animate, such as intercourse with other human beings, and we fail at the art of the inanimate, such as development of genuinely useful technology or invention, and general commercial pursuit, which is why you see the supermarket cart boy with his nose in his smartphone, instead of doing his job. In our mutual intercourse, we wouldn't know genuine affection, devotion, commitment, sacrifice, concern, patience, tolerance, understanding, respect, compassion, empathy, sharing, giving, or any of the other behaviors that actually comprise the word love, if they bit us in the...arm. And yet, we simply must have love if we're to survive, at least, and have a coherent society, at best. Nor do we seem to have much of a clue regarding the creation of a global, or even national, culture, society, and economic system that touches Wisdom. The present perilous state of the world requires the most informed, aware, prepared, resolute, competent, creative, wise, & agile America, possible. In large, though not exclusive, part because: as of November 30, 2022, the date of the introduction of "ChatGPT," a seminal (i.e. revolutionary and influential) new artificial intelligence program, humanity has likely assured its own destruction. If you remain unacquainted with the uniquely dangerous set of perils (i.e. dangers) characteristic of the world, and the nation, today, especially the nascent (i.e. emerging) rise of "artificial intelligence" or "A.I.," you'd better bring yourself up to speed and inform yourself immediately. Start by studying this internet resource (i.e. Web site), which is, at once (i.e. at the same time) my 2024 Presidential platform, and my book ADULT IN THE ROOM: Our Desperate Need for Wisdom, Love, Truth, Trust, & Common Sense in 21st-Century America. The only A.I. that I will ever advocate is Actual Intelligence, not Artificial Intelligence. Study this website and learn why. MORE GROSS DYSFUNCTION HUGE EXAMPLES EXAMPLE #1: WHOLE FOODS MARKET CONTINUES TO CALL ITSELF WHOLE FOODS MARKET LONG, LONG AFTER IT STOPPED SELLING ONLY WHOLE FOODS--IF IT EVER SOLD ONLY WHOLE FOODS, AT ALL. IN FACT: I ENCOURAGE A $1B LAWSUIT AGAINST WHOLE FOODS FOR USING THAT NAME AND GROSSLY AND FLAGRANTLY MISLEADING CONSUMERS--TO THEIR DETRIMENT, AND DEATH. It's website asserts: "...we seek out the finest natural and organic foods available, maintain the strictest quality standards in the industry, and have an unshakeable commitment to sustainable agriculture." BULLSH*T! THESE STORES ROUTINELY SELL "FOODS" CONTAINING TRANS FAT (I.E. MONO-AND-DIGLYCERIDES), VEGETABLE SEED OILS, AND GMOs. I see them all the time at my local Whole Foods Market stores in the NY/NJ tri-state area! IN MY TRIPARTITE ROLE AS PHILOSOPHER, CONSUMER, AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, I AM INTERESTED IN TRUTH IN ALL THINGS. ACCORDINGLY, I RECOMMEND A RENAME OF THIS COMPANY (A SUBSIDIARY OF AMAZON), TO: WHOLE FRAUDS MARKET EXAMPLE #2: VSOs, vegetable seed oils such as canola, soybean, safflower, sun, palm kernel, and corn oils ARE PROVEN AND ESTABLISHED KILLERS, DESTROYING THE HUMAN CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM--YET THEY ARE EVERYWHERE, IN EVERYTHING, INCLUDING THE PRODUCTS OF SO-CALLED "HEALTHY" BRANDS SUCH AS AMY'S AND BACK TO NATURE--GO CHECK YOUR PANTRY--AND NO ONE SEEMS TO CARE! NOT THE PRODUCERS, NOT THE CONSUMERS, AND EVIDENTLY NOT THE GOVERNMENT, AT LEAST NOT SO FAR! EXAMPLE #3: DO YOU KNOW VLADIMIR PUTIN'S RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION? VLADIMIR PUTIN, THE MAN SINGLE-HANDEDLY RESPONSIBLE FOR UNTOLD DEATHS AND COUNTLESS INJURIES, SIMPLY WAVE UPON WAVE OF DESTRUCTION OF EVERY KIND IN UKRAINE...IS A CHRISTIAN! EXAMPLE #4: My family has been and remains unique and wonderful: my original writing on Terror has been cited-and-quoted by The New York Times, I've now mounted an exploratory campaign for the U.S. Presidency, and my father Frank was on television! My dad worked with former New Jersey Senator Joseph Hirkala to make my father's regal anthem LET US TALK ABOUT THE PEOPLE the official state song of New Jersey! In fact, my dad was an extremely talented man. He was, first and foremost, a musical composer, with a full corpus of musical pieces, with titles such as: I LOVE NEW YORK ROOFTOPS OF MANHATTAN THE QUIET SIDE OF NEW YORK SHE'S JUST A FACE IN THE CROWD WHEN SUMMER COMES WHEN CHRISTMAS COMES THE BITTER THINGS I FEEL MAGIC HANDS (the magic hands of God) and many others My beloved father, Frank Salvatore, was also a poet, essayist, and, very wonderfully and interestingly, a creator and handicrafter of balsa wood "miniatures." These were microsized original works, in his case recreating the various buildings one might find in a town in the Old American West. For a St. Anthony's school event he created what was perhaps his crowning achievement: a miniature Georgian mansion from the Antebellum period, complete front columns, green grass, and working windows whose "glass" was actually carefully-cut pieces of Saran Wrap! My father was also a pencil sketch artist, and a very good carpenter, creating wood structures and objects ranging from the full-sized backyard fort he made me as a child to play in, complete with windows and doors (with intention to later add a rooftop activity area, as any good fortress should have), to the wood deck that he built for our small, above-ground swimming pool, complete with steps that swung upward and out of the way when not in use, and the nonslip matting that he added to the top surface of the deck. You see, believe it or not, we are an actual family. With actual family members who have been in this family for many, many, years. The De Benedetto Family, in fact, has existed for at least 64 years. We're not an abstraction, and we're certainly not merely a "case," as the head of our local APS office once revealingly remarked. In later years, covering a long period extending right up to this minute, I have devoted an almost 25-year slice of my life to voluntarily caregiving my parents, my father for 14.5 years and my mother for over 9 years now, taking my mother through THREE YEARS OF COVID, and now RSV not to mention the conventional flu, NONE OF WHICH SHE, NOR I, HAVE EVER CONTRACTED, NEITHER OF US EVER HAVING BEEN VACCINATED. Yet the powers-that-be have decided, in concert with two local pyschia-chicks,* two local attorneys, and one Judge, who abruptly and capriciously terminated the Guardianship hearing as I was speaking, imploring him to refrain from imposing a stranger from outside our family as my mother's so-called "guardian," effectively breaking up our unique and wonderful family. I thought I was in, and a citizen of, America--not communist Russia or Cuba under Castro, where the government is everything and all-powerful, and the rights of the citizen are nominal, if they exist, at all, and are easily abridged, if not erased, in any case, by the authorities who, of course, know better than the citizen, and even if they don't, their wishes, preference, assumptions, and point-of-view are going to dominate. I assert that no human being or group of human beings has the right to break up or even tamper with the family, or lives of other people, any human-made, changeable legislation ostensibly permitting such violations, to the contrary, or not, and no matter how "right" the controlling power thinks it is. For every person who sees or says "A," some other person will see or say "B"--with just as much conviction, and perhaps even just as much correctness, as that of party "A." *I emphasize the gender of the two psychiatrists who examined my mother for competence, because the social worker asked me once or twice if, instead of two female doctors, which is what her office had originally planned, I would prefer a male doctor in addition the female, and I assented. The "protective" services agency sent two female doctors, anyway. This became something of an issue because, as I observed with the social worker's knowing laugh and concurrence: almost to a one, every staff member in this agency and each of its parent entities, and the agency and department heads, themselves, such as the Division of Aging, for example, or the Department of Human Services--is female. In my opinion, this unigender-heavy personnel infrastructure may introduce a bias in cultural outlook and thus expectation in the work done by these entities. This was certainly my concrete impression, on the ground. In my case it was a parent. But in many other cases the American family is ripped apart because of a concern, legitimacy is another matter, for a child. There are countless young women who have had their children torn from them--often to no one's benefit, except perhaps the existing power structure and the self-righteous egos, or at least the self-assured postures, of the rippers. The mother of activist Malcolm X had all of her children removed from her for no good reason--including Malcolm! This malign American phenomonon has actually grown into such a problem that an organized movement, started by activist hero mom Joyce McMillan has sprung up to fight it. BROADER IMPLICATIONS Such explicit and reprehensible government overreach drives the continuing growth of anti-government Conservative, Republican, and even Libertarian politics, further dividing and cleaving the nation at a time when America simply cannot afford one more crumb, not one more molecule, of division. I, myself, for example, prior to this continuing blindsiding government attack upon my innocent family, would never have imagined seriously exploring Libertarian politics and the Libertarian Party, and in fact was somewhat antagonistic to its philosophy. Now, however, after experiencing firsthand the awesome, traumatizing, immovable, and routinely cruel power of the government, even state government, mind you, upon the generally defenseless ordinary citizen, I see very clearly the desirability, utility, and indeed necessity of this anti-government philosophy, and supporting philosophies such as the right, and indeed equivalent necessity, to bear arms. Anti-gun activists should bear in mind that the criminal element is not the only social grouping with large-scale access to, and possession of, guns. Every level of government belongs to this class, as well, a fact the Founding Fathers I'm sure knew well. When the government comes to your front door with its guns to abduct your loved one, and tells you explicitly that you must step aside, as it did to me, a natural-born American citizen, if you have no defense--you're dead. And the government to which I refer is not that of Communist Russia, China, Cuba, or North Korea--but that of the good ol' United States of America. The land that has evidently devolved, in a relatively few short years, from individual rights, rugged individualism, and the sanctity of the family--to a female-dominated, violence-backed, Nanny State. No wonder the American male is becoming so emasculated. "People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people." GROSS SOCIAL DYSFUNCTION (GSD) IN ALL FOUR EXAMPLES. And in terms of the broadest, and most disturbing, view, consider THE EMERGENCY CONDITION OF JUST ABOUT THE ENTIRE PLANET, JUST ABOUT THE ENTIRE HUMAN RACE. FROM A NEW YORK TIMES piece by Dr. Atul Gawande. See below for my exchange with Amy's Foods regarding the injury to consumers caused by their "healthy" products, in yet another self-serving commercial slight-of-hand dispensing death and injury to us all. 2023 SNAPSHOT OF THE CONDITION AND STATE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA LETS SEE JUST HOW MUCH PAIN WE'RE EXPERIENCING, AND HOW MUCH GROSS DYSFUNCTION WE'RE DISPLAYING. UNDER CONSTRUCTION FORCED MARRIAGE AND CHILD MARRIAGE IN THE UNITED STATES: Almost 300,000 children under the age of 18 were legally married in the United States between 2000 and 2018, some as young as 10. In California, for example, 8,000 underage children are entered into marriage every year, yet that state still lacks a minimum age requirement. The DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION will work to end this practice Federally, meaning it will become illegal in every state. We'll also work aggressively with international partners to end the practice internationally. Kids are kids no matter what country they're in. They should be playing in the sandbox--not walking down the aisle. MASS SHOOTINGS IN THE UNITED STATES (SO FAR 2023): 346 LIFE EXPECTANCY "Life expectancy at birth in the United States declined (emphasis mine) nearly a year from 2020 to 2021, according to new provisional data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). That decline – 77.0 to 76.1 years – took U.S. life expectancy at birth to its lowest level since 1996. The 0.9 year drop in life expectancy in 2021, along with a 1.8 year drop in 2020, was the biggest two-year decline in life expectancy since 1921-1923." NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES WHO ARE KILLED EVERY YEAR BY FDA-APPROVED PHARMACEUTICAL DRUGS: 106,000. The FDA admits this on its website. MENTAL ILLNESS DEMENTIA Estimated number of people aged 65 years or older in the United States with dementia: 5.8 million. Estimated number of people aged 65 years or older in the United States who will have dementia by 2050: 13.8 million. SUICIDE Suicide rates increased (emphasis mine) approximately 36% between 2000–2021. Suicide was responsible for 48,183 deaths in 2021, which is about one death every 11 minutes.3 The number of people who think about or attempt suicide is even higher. In 2021, an estimated 12.3 million American adults seriously thought about suicide, 3.5 million planned a suicide attempt, and 1.7 million attempted suicide.4 Suicide affects people of all ages. In 2021, suicide was among the top 9 leading causes of death for people ages 10-64. Suicide was the second leading cause of death for people ages 10-14 and 20-34.3 https://www.cdc.gov/suicide/facts/index.html CDC SUICIDE UPDATE August 10, 2023 The provisional estimates released today indicate that suicide deaths further increased in 2022, rising from 48,183 deaths in 2021 to an estimated 49,449 deaths in 2022. SUBSTANCE ABUSE August 23, 2023 Substance abuse is rising among older persons, and others. MATERNAL MORTALITY Maternal mortality statistics have been rising for the last twenty years. TRUST CONFIDENCE IN EACH OTHER https://news.gallup.com/poll/393038/satisfaction-dips-biden-approval-steady.aspxCongress 18% Country 16% YOU ARE HERE THIS WEB PAGE IS, AT ONCE, 1.) THE ONLINE DRAFT OF MY BOOK, ADULT IN THE ROOM: OUR DESPERATE NEED FOR WISDOM, LOVE, TRUTH, TRUST, & COMPETENCE IN 21ST-CENTURY AMERICA, AND 2.) MY 2024 U.S. PRESIDENTIAL PLATFORM. THIS IS A DENSE, BOOK-LENGTH POLITICO-EXISTENTIAL DOCUMENT, MY BOOK DRAFT, REQUIRING YOUR DAILY STUDY. YOU WANTED A GENUINELY AND HIGHLY INTELLIGENT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE? YOU'VE GOT ONE. NOW YOU MUST DO YOUR PART. AT THE END OF YOUR PERIOD OF STUDY AND REFLECTION, IF YOU DECIDE THAT I'M YOUR CANDIDATE, YOU MUST SUPPORT MY CANDIDACY AND, YES, OF COURSE THIS MEANS FINANCIAL SUPPORT. GIVE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN, AS OFTEN AS YOU CAN, OR THIS CAMPAIGN WILL SIMPLY GO NOWHERE--AND IF IT GOES NOWHERE, ALL THE DIRE PREDICTIONS, PROJECTIONS, AND FORECASTS PROFFERED HERE WILL BECOME HARD, IRREVOCABLE REALITY. THEN--BOTH THIS NATION, AND HUMANITY, ITSELF, ARE FINISHED. IT TAKES TONS OF CASH TO BECOME PRESIDENT, AS YOU KNOW. MY IMMEDIATE NEED IS TO RAISE THE $5,000 NEEDED TO BECOME AN OFFICIAL CANDIDATE FOR U.S. PRESIDENT. HELP ME! AND IN DOING SO--HELP YOURSELF. PAYPAL BUTTON AT PAGE BOTTOM. ALSO, FELLOW AMERICANS, THIS WEB SITE IS EXTENSIVE. BUT READ THROUGH THE ENTIRE SITE, EVERY WORD, FOR A WILD, POLITICALLY, SOCIALLY, AND CULTURALLY FASCINATING RIDE, COVERING MANY SUBJECTS OF REAL-LIFE CONCERN, SOME OF WHICH YOU MAY BE WHOLLY UNACQUAINTED WITH, OR UNACQUAINTED WITH IN THEIR PARTICULARS. CLICK FOR CIRCULAR: KEY FACTORS DESTROYING TRUST IN AMERICA, AND AMERICA, HERSELF CLICK FOR ONLINE DRAFT OF MY ANTI-DOPE BOOK OUR MOST IMPORTANT TOOL IT SLICES, IT DICES EVERYTHING LAUDABLE (I.E. WORTHY OF PRAISE) THAT HUMANKIND HAS DONE, IS DOING, OR WILL EVER DO, DEPENDS COMPLETELY ON ONE CRITICAL TOOL: THE HUMAN BRAIN. HOWEVER, WITH DRUGS LIKE MARIJUANA NOW LEGAL IN AMERICA, AND INCREASINGLY, ELSEWHERE, SERVING TO ERODE THE HUMAN MIND AND ITS PHYSICAL REPOSITORY, THE BRAIN, IN CONCERT WITH A SECOND BRAIN-COMPROMISING ELEMENT, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (A.I.) SERVING AS A WHOLESALE DIVERSION OF RESOURCES AND FOCUS AWAY FROM FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF OUR REAL OR ACTUAL HUMAN MIND AND BRAIN, AN EMPHASIS AND OBJECTIVE THAT COULD HAVE, AND PERHAPS STILL CAN, ELEVATE AMERICA, PARTICULARLY, AND HUMANITY, GENERALLY, TO UNTOLD HEIGHTS, THE VERY ZENITH OF WHO AND WHAT WE COULD BE AS A SPECIES, AMERICA, AND HUMANKIND, ITSELF, SUFFERS A DUAL-PRONG ATTACK, DRUGS AND A.I., THAT MOST OF US DON'T EVEN KNOW IS OCCURRING. THIS COMBINATION OF ANTAGONISTS 1.) ATTACKS AND COMPROMISES THE PRESENT STATE OF THE MIND AND BRAIN THROUGH DRUG USE, AND 2.) PREVENTS THE EXISTING MIND (AND BRAIN) FROM ACTUALIZING, THAT IS, FROM BECOMING THE VERY BEST THAT IT COULD BE, BECAUSE OF INORDINATE (I.E. EXCESSIVE) FOCUS ON DEVELOPMENT OF A FAKE BRAIN, THAT IS, A.I., AND AWAY FROM FULL ACTUALIZING DEVELOPMENT OF THE HUMAN BRAIN. ACTUALIZING MEANS BECOMING THE ABSOLUTE BEST THAT A PERSON, OR GROUP OF PERSONS, IS CAPABLE OF BEING. THUS, WITH THE BRAIN, THE SOURCE AND FONT OF EVERYTHING THAT HUMANKIND HAS DONE, WILL DO, AND INDEED IS, UNDER MANIFOLD ATTACK, AMERICA, AND THE HUMAN RACE, ITSELF, RESIDES AT A CRITICAL CROSSROADS REGARDING BOTH HUMAN ACHIEVEMENT AND EVEN SURVIVAL. I REFER TO THE PHENOMENON JUST INTRODUCED, ABOVE, AS THE DECLINE OF MIND, AND IT IS JUST ONE, ALBEIT THE MOST IMPORTANT, OF MY 20 OR SO GLOBAL HOLOCI (I.E. HOLOCAUSTS), THE CONFLUENCE (I.E. COMBINATION) OF WHICH REPRESENTS THE FULL INTEGRATED PICTURE OF THE DIFFICULTIES THAT WE FACE AS AMERICANS AND HUMAN BEINGS. HOLOCI: THE 20 MOST POTENT THREATS TO THE SURVIVAL OF HUMANKIND ACCORDINGLY, AND CRUCIALLY, AS PRESIDENT AMERICA NEEDS AN ADULT IN THE ROOM MORE THAN EVER BEFORE.* THAT WOULD BE ME, AND UNIQUELY SO. See My 15 or So Global Holoci (i.e. holocausts), below, Representing the Totality of the Difficulties that We Face. OUR AMERICAN PUZZLE LACKS ONE KEY PIECE, OUR AMERICAN EQUATION ONE KEY VARIABLE: MORALITY Our critical mandate then, is to move away from what is false, fake, and artificial, toward that which is genuine, real, and rooted firmly in nature, above all: Love, Properly Understood, to care for each other in this country, and across this planet, a linchpin strength to inform, cohere, strengthen, & focus our full set of powerful American strengths. And, crucially, events such as the January 2021 Capital insurrection make it clear that Democracy, itself, fails or falters when its ostensible practitioner population eschews Love, that is, when its citizens fail to recognize and maintain Love and Connection between each other. AMERICAN DEMOCRACY IS FAILING BECAUSE AMERICAN MORALITY IS FAILING. This insight and assertion comprises one of my original contributions: Democracy requires Love, Properly Understood: robust democracy requires an equally vital commitment to the behavioral values that comprise Love, including cooperation, empathy, respect, and tolerance, without which Love remains just a concept, a notion, an empty rubric or category, and Democracy, hence, merely an artifact. Which comprises a second unique contribution of mine to political philosophy: there are behavioral values, Factors of Love, that comprise Love. America has always been her strongest and most respected and admired in the World, and at home, when acting in accord with the potent combination of our three M's: MILITARY, MORALITY, & MIND. You will see all three themes recur, and all principals and arguments proferred in this document and throughout my campaign falling under the heading of, or otherwise acting as expressions or examples of, these three principals or elements. Democratic and Republican Administrations, both, have partially manifested this moral element in the foreign policy of "Linkage." THIS WORLD & NATION WILL RISE OR FALL SOLELY ON 1.) THE POWER OF IDEAS, AND 2.) THE INTEGRITY OF THE HUMAN MINDS THAT MUST CONCEIVE, UNDERSTAND, AND APPLY THEM. LEARN THE 15 OR SO GLOBAL HOLOCI, BELOW. THIS IS WHAT WE'RE FACING. THIS ELECTION IS TRULY, AND DISTURBINGLY, DIFFERENT: Every election cycle hears the cry, "this is an especially important election." i'm thusly crying-out, as well--except in this case it's true. Witness each of my 15 global holoci, below, and especially their confluence, with special emphasis on the narrower confluence of a.) climate change (flooding the planet, burning the planet, causing water shortages, destabilizing the weather), b.) the legalization of drugs (emasculates the human mind, impairs perception of reality on the part of the user and the ordinary person who will never know if the other person they are interacting with and in some cases depending on for critical action is high, and destroys motivation and quest for excellence), and c.) the rise and eventual ubiquity of artificial intelligence, a technology that can, at once, 1.) put us all out work, 2.) impair our perception of reality as we won't know if we're interacting with a human or product of a human such as a news article, or an a.I., and 3.) actually obliterate the human race, as this intelligence is projected to become billions of times smarter than us. What if it decides it likes the russians, chinese, iranians, north koreans, isis, or taliban better, and silently switches sides? I'm not kidding, and neither are the experts who assert just how smart this technology will become. As far as i'm concerned, it's simply got to be terminated immediately, and i'm going to do it. Keep reading this draft of my book, Adult in the Room: Our Desperate Need for Wisdom, Love, Truth, Trust, & Competence in 21st-Century America for further information. The old touchstones political parties have fought over such as wages, medical care, unions, abortion, immigration, bigotry (i.E. "Racism"), military spending, and homosexual rights no longer principally apply, because the issues that are now before us, introduced above, are existential, that is, they can destroy us, or transform and indeed compromise life so alarmingly that day-to-day life will actually become painful, extremely confusing, and literally unbearable. A huge part of the problem will be that 1.) the uncertainties about reality, itself, introduced into our day-to-day lives because of the ubiquitous (i.E. All over the place) presence of a.I., and 2.) the fact that many people will be stoned, but you won't know who, and they won't tell you, so you'll simply never know if the individual whom you're talking to or interacting with, in-person, on the telephone, or online, is actually a clear-thinking person who is actually and properly listening to what you say, and doing what you want or need done, or not. But it gets worse: because of a.I, you won't even know, in fact, if it's a *person,* at all. Therefore, what is just now starting, what we are just starting to witness before our very eyes, when you put it all together--is the end of trust as we know it. And how does a society survive when there is zero or near-zero trust in anyone or anything? Answer: it doesn't. Accordingly, fellow americans, we are at a crossroads that will determine whether our species survives or not, and if we do, what the quality, especially the coherence of our existence will be. Even if I get elected you'd still better keep your fingers and toes crossed, but at least with me as president my administration is going to do everything in our power to reverse these trends. I'm already fully committed to it, as you can see. CAN'T I BE WRONG FOR ONCE The UK’s secretary of state for justice has warned of a “clear and present danger” to British democracy from deepfakes ahead of the upcoming general election. Robert Buckland made the remarks on BBC Radio 4’s Today program yesterday, claiming the technology delivers a “liar’s dividend” in that, by undermining trust in the veracity of information, voters will simply stop trusting anything. “It’s all about scale and accessibility. We’re in a world where even in your own bedroom you can allow generative AI to produce content that can easily be shared in a matter of moments, and on a scale that we’ve never seen before,” he said. “That will have potentially a hugely corrosive effect on trust in information.” The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has previously warned that deepfake campaigns will ramp up ahead of the next UK general election, which must take place before January 2025. Fake clips have already sprung up in recent months impersonating Labour Party leader, Keir Starmer, and London mayor, Sadiq Khan. In the Balkans, the liberal Progressive Slovakia party recently lost an election to a pro-Russia populist outfit after a fake audio clip emerged of party leader Michal Šimecka apparently discussing how to rig the vote. Microsoft has also issued a warning about the technology’s ability to spread disinformation ahead of the US presidential elections next year. The tech giant is launching several initiatives designed to mitigate the threat, including the creation of an “Election Communications Hub” to help global democracies build secure and resilient election processes. [INTERNAL NOTE: THE WESTERN WORLD ALREADY HAD SECURE AND RESILIENT ELECTION PROCESSES! UNTIL IT BECAME EVEN MORE STUPID THAN IT ALREADY WAS, AND PERMITTED ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.] Buckland is apparently one of a group of Tory MPs that has written to science secretary, Michelle Donelan, requesting the government provide social media firms with clearer guidelines on how to comply with new national security laws designed to tackle foreign interference in elections. Coherence refers to something fitting together in a logical, beautiful, or otherwise proper or pleasing way, the way the pieces of a puzzle all fit properly together to form the whole puzzle. Imagine if you tried to assemble a puzzle by cramming together pieces from a different puzzle. This attempt would produce a result with no coherence: nothing would fit together and you'd have a jagged and broken mess. We say it would be incoherent. Well, this is what our lives are increasingly and painfully like, painful and incoherent, given: the exacerbation (i.e. worsening) of climate change; legalization of drugs, making every interaction with what you think is a clear-thinking, competent person actually one big guessing game; start of the intrusion of "Artificial Intelligence" into almost every aspect of our lives, making every interaction with what you think is an actual human being one big guessing game (again, as with the consequences of legalized drugs); the complete and total breakdown of any remaining semblance of TRUST between Americans, given the uncertainties interjected into every interaction with a person because that person might be high on marijuana (or other drugs) or even experiencing a residual high from the marijuana that they consumed yesterday--or even last week, AND because the "person" that you think you're interacting with, or whose writing you are reading, ISN'T EVEN A PERSON AT ALL--it's an A.I., which is to say, just a bunch of highly-complicated computer code engineered to emulate (i.e. model or imitate) a human being; the existing functional, political, and emotional disconnect and separation of American from American, and simply person from person that existed and had grown worse even before legalized drugs and the rise of A.I. (witness, for example, the insurrection of January 06, 2021); existing difficulties and the painful grind in making a living and surviving economically for most of us, difficulty in affording or even accessing healthcare, and in keeping ourselves and our families healthy in the first place, given the barrage of garbage food and drinks that we're inundated with all around us, from the local fast-food joint to the supermarket shelves, themselves, most of the health harms, therefrom, most of us are not even aware of (do NOT miss my HEALTH section, below); pointless and unnecessary wars continually raging around the world, including the savage daily attacks on Ukraine, and now the fact that Vladimir Putin wants to move NUCLEAR WEAPONS right into our own Western Hemisphere. And a lot more. Where is the American leader, or person with exceptional intellect, creativity, courage and leadership skills who has the ability intellectually and through force of will and personality, to actually recognize this myriad group of problems in the first place, as I have, and formulate meaningful steps for their redress, AS I HAVE? In other words, Fellow Americans: WHERE IS THE ADULT IN THE ROOM? THIS WORLD HAS BECOME A MESS, WITH VERY FEW ADULTS IN THE ROOM. AND CERTAINLY NO ONE LIKE ME. AMERICA MUST HAVE TOUGH LOVE AT THIS CRITICAL TIME. WE MUST FORGE HER INTO A REAL COUNTRY, AGAIN. UNDER THE DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION: PLAYTIME IS OVER. Playtime refers to several classes of activity materially injuring the nation, including and especially apparently frivolous or profligate activities engaged in, instead of efforts to build and strengthen the nation and build character. Smoking dope and attempting to recruit heterosexual boys into a homosexual lifestyle via use of Drag Queen Story Hour would be examples of Playtime activities that will be severely discouraged, if not eradicated under the DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION. Another class of Playtime activity would be that involving advocacy for seemingly absurdist shifts in American society such as de-funding the police, unless accompanied by an intelligent and well-thought out rationale and alternative. Which doesn't mean the advocacy in question would be accepted, simply that it would be more likely to be respected and taken seriously. Acceptance and implementation is another matter. Playtime activities would tend to be those comprising the culture war that still exists in America, remaining a source of conflict. GENDER GYMNASTICS WE'LL ALSO ATTEMPT RESTORATION OF THE PROPER GENDER ROLE OF MEN, AGAINST AN APPARENT CREEPING MATRIARCHY--a key indication of the culture war. What is arguably wrong with the following photograph (a screen snap taken by me in 2023)? Do things seem a little lopsided to you? Representing the National Council for the Social Studies: four women, only two men? And six persons overall--but only one Caucasian male? (In the cultural climate of today, I'm sure after the photo shoot the four women dragged the two men off to their local library for Drag Queen Story Hour.) In fact, the pathology runs deeper than this. Several hard personal experiences across my adult life suggest to me, and recent trends and events in American life suggest and corroborate this as a continuing pathology, that men are becoming more like women, or certainly more like faux-males, relative to an older and higher standard of masculinity in America, while women are diverting or devolving to one of three defective branches:
Continued. THE WORLD IS MY LABORATORY In keeping with the founding vision and role of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., Albert Einstein's academic home until his passing in 1955, education reformer Abraham Flexner, the Institute's founding Director, asserted: "The Institute should be...a haven where scholars and scientists could regard the world and its phenomena as their laboratory..." In fact, I penned the title to this section before I became acquainted with the similar or identical view of Mr. Flexner. ME, IN BRIEF
THE DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION WILL BEGIN TO REDRESS ALL GLOBAL HOLOCI HOLOCI, noun, pron. ho' luk eye, synonym for holocausts. INTRODUCTION Every holocaust is relevant to America, as well as the larger world. The first eight or nine of these holocausts, depending on your age, will likely kill or injure you and/or your loved ones, and in some cases already is, whether I'm elected or not. If I'm elected, however, our chances of escaping or avoiding them, and minimizing death and injury, greatly increases. Here is Part I of my working list of the Holoci:
If we permit A.I. development to continue moving forward, we're going to find ourselves in not too long a time in a nightmare of our own making--that we can never wake up from. The key underlying problem is that A.I. is and will continue to represent a technical shift, I certainly wouldn't call it an advance, that is forging A WORLD THAT WE CAN NO LONGER CONTROL. We are, in effect, creating an actual competing race or species of being. One that, incredibly, we know in advance will be orders of magnitude more capable than us, in likely every way. Yes, let's go ahead and do that! I mean... WHAT COULD GO WRONG? . . . . . VINCENT FRANK DE BENEDETTO NO, NO, A THOUSAND TIMES NO NOV 19, 2023THIS, FROM HARVARD HEALTH, MAKES NO SENSE: https://www.health.harvard.edu/pain/where-to-turn-for-pain-relief-acetaminophen-or-nsaids"NSAIDs such as aspirin, ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), and naproxen (Aleve, Anaprox) may be more effective than acetaminophen for certain conditions because they reduce inflammation as well as relieve pain. But NSAID medications have side effects, the most common is stomach irritation. It can also cause stomach and intestinal ulcers, which can lead to internal bleeding. You can ask your doctor about taking a stomach acid inhibitor to reduce these risks. NSAIDs also carry an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, and kidney failure when taken at high doses or for long periods of time. Taking acetaminophen along with an NSAID may provide equivalent pain relief with lower doses of both pain medications, thus minimizing side effects. You can also alternate between the two to reduce the risk from either type of medication." The quotation states: "NSAIDs also carry an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, and kidney failure when taken at high doses or for long periods of time." BUT WHAT ABOUT THE GUIDELINE TO CONSUME A BABY ASPIRIN DAILY TO PREVENT STROKE AND HEART ATTACK, which would certainly constitute long term use? No mention is made of this one way or the other. THIS MAKES NO SENSE, EITHER: From the Univ of Tennessee Medical Center: https://www.utmedicalcenter.org/blog-post/know-difference-between-your-pain-relievers "Ibuprofen and aspirin seem to work the same way in the body because both inhibit the production of prostaglandins, hormone like chemicals involved in causing pain and inflammation. Because of these effects it is widely used for arthritis and menstrual pains. Similar to acetaminophen, Ibuprofen can play a role in stomach upset, the most common side effect of both aspirin and ibuprofen. Because ibuprofen inhibits prostaglandins which exert a protective effect on the stomach lining, it increases the chances of stomach upset. However, ibuprofen is a happy medium on the "stomach-upset scale" between aspirin (more irritating) and Tylenol (less irritating)." Why does the copy read: "Similar to acetaminophen, Ibuprofen can play a role in stomach upset, the most common side effect of both aspirin and ibuprofen." "Similar to acetaminophen..."? Acetaminophen is established, AS THIS VERY ARTICLE EXPLAINS, as NOT playing a role in stomach upset! Who wrote these two sets of remarks? And even worse, who proofread them? Were they written by a human being or an A.I.? Worse, yet, assuming human authorship: were either or both persons stoned when they did this work? THESE LAST TWO EXAMPLES ILLUSTRATE WHY SOCIETY SIMPLY CAN'T TOLERATE A.I. CERTAINLY NOT FOR COMPOSING INFORMATION--IN A SOCIETY, ESPECIALLY A TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED SOCIETY FOR WHICH ACCURATE INFORMATION IS PARAMOUNT. IN FACT, WE ALREADY HAVE A HUGE PROBLEM PLANETWIDE, AND CERTAINLY IN AMERICA, WITH THE COMPOSITION, DISTRIBUTION, AND UNFORTUNATELY, EVEN THE DESIRE ON THE PART OF THE PUBLIC FOR STRICTLY ACCURATE INFORMATION. But at least a human mind can be trained and we know this animal, the human brain, so we can be confident in its training. and the human pedagogical process has both efficiency and integrity because in and while training we can QUESTION, we can QUERY the HUMAN BEING being trained to determine why they committed this or that error, or, conversely, reached or achieved this or that heighth of excellence in their work. YOU CAN'T RELIABLY PERFORM SUCH QUERIES WITH THE FAKE BRAINS OF A.I., as: 1.) Their operation is strictly "black box," that is, opaque, unavailable to view or examine. 2.) A.I. "hallucinates." Yes, it's true and this is the official term. 3.) If these two pejorative characteristics weren't bad enough, it is understood by our top A.I. experts that this wrecknology will become BILLIONS of times smarter than we are, and thus to A.I., humanity may represent just another inefficiency to be eliminated. Which it will then proceed to do in essentially a heartbeat, with the greatest of ease as A.I. systems by then will be everywhere, running everything, from the power plant across town providing your electricity, to the toaster in your kitchen providing your morning toast. They'll all have a brain and that brain won't be yours or mine, nor will it even be SIMILAR to yours or mine, and that brain will NOT necessarily be on our side. See Futurama episode "Mother's Day"* for a humorous look at the HARD ACTUAL REALITY that I'm presenting, here: machine superiority and primacy, unaligned with the interests of human beings--including our interest in remaining alive. Alignment is the term used to mean the coordination of the interests and priorities of A.I. with human interests and priorities. FELLOW AMERICANS, JOIN THE ANTI-AI REVOLUTION. OUR SURVIVAL LIKELY DEPENDS ON IT. *"Mother's Day" is the fourteenth episode in the second season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 27th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 14, 2000.
THE FUTURE IS NOW "I'LL BE BACK" Why even watch any of the films or television productions in the Terminator series anymore? This franchise is no longer science-fiction entertainment on the Hollywood screen--we're presently doing it and it is now real. What we're now doing, in the aggregate, in other words by all the A.I. research and development being done by all the companies and other entities around the world, specifically, is designing the mind of the Terminator, and more to the point, it's parent, SkyNet. Designing the body of an individual Terminator is simple now and many companies had it down years ago. Visit YouTube and watch NEO, asserted to be the most advanced integrated robot, meaning that it contains in one physical humanoid body 1.) information processing and 2.) physical capability such as walking. Also see the robot Ameca, and the most advanced Honda walking robot Asimo, and Boston Dynamic's robots Atlas and Handle. Moreover, one of the most pointed fears about A.I. concerns its possible marriage with Quantum computing, a developing new computing paradigm completely unlike, and orders of magnitude more powerful than, traditional bits-and-bytes computing. A.I. based on this new computing model and platform can create a veritable new species of super-being that will make short work of humankind, effortlessly finishing the job on us that previous iterations of artificial intelligence began. THE ENTIRE PLANET IS PLAYING A COLOSSAL GAME OF RUSSIAN ROULETTE WITH THIS TECHNOLOGY in its largely uncritical acceptance. "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time," goes the old adage. Likewise, Humanity should not be fooling around with this technology if it's not prepared for the very worst that this tech can and very well may deliver, according to every expert, including the enslavement or outright elimination of humankind. Are you prepared for that? Then you'd better join my campaign so we can stop it. I assure you, no other candidate will. They're all, more-or-less, mostly more, on the A.I. bandwagon. Fellow Americans: BE AFRAID. BE VERY AFRAID. UNLESS you have someone like me as President who is categorically opposed to A.I. as it's presently being developed, and will fight it tooth-and-nail, in America and around the world. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED. OUR MOST POWERFUL COMPUTER Moreover, persons advocating A.I. possess a fundamental misunderstanding of the real nature of computing. Talk of modern computing, focusing, for example, on parameters of computing power like Moore's Law, obscure the reality that the most powerful and valuable computer possessed by Humankind is, without question, the three-pound biological computer resident between the ears of every human. In other words: the human brain. This is the computer that has thus far shepherded Man to what he is today, and could be tomorrow, and is ergo the computer that we ultimately should concern ourselves with, allocating the lion's share of our resources such as time, money, and attention. The human brain is irrefutably the master computer from which, in fact, all other computers have sprung. Even in terms of the cultivation of a superintelligence, no less a scientific and intellectual luminary than George Church asserts that raw human brain is a template superior to any forced artificial intelligence: "...even computers which currently now are not biological, those could easily be biological in the future." "The most amazing computer in the world is the human mind and [if] the human mind starts modifying itself, then it becomes even more amazing than a human trying to make a computer that can't yet think the way a human can." I.A. As modern medicine actually represents the avoidance of health, Artificial Intelligence actually represents Intelligence Avoidance, or I.A., not the advance of intelligence (COPYRIGHT © 2023 VFD), artificial or otherwise. Modern medicine exists because everything in our culture causes us injury and ultimately makes us sick. But we dont really address that, so we need modern allopathic medicine to patch us up and send us back home, and back to work. Modern medicine is a colossal effort to unlock and open a door that's already open. Likewise with A.I.: a colossal effort to do precisely the same in regard to general thinking, as we already have something, such a tool, called the human brain. And anything that can't be known by the action of a brain, or many brains working together, especially once actualized, likely needn't be known, anyway, save reasons of profit or vanity. "Stage 6 - Artificial SuperIntelligence (ASI) - This is the notion of developing A.I. algorithms that are capable of outperforming the smartest of humans in every domain. Clearly, it is hard to articulate what the capabilities might be of something that exceeds human intelligence, but we could imagine ASI solving current world problems such as hunger and dangerous climate change. Such systems might also invent new fields of science, redesign economic systems, and evolve wholly new models of governance." Instead of getting to the actual root of the problem, failure to fully, or more fully, develop our own human minds, individually, and the collective human mind, as a species, increasing their power and refining our capabilities all the time to solve the above problems and challenges, ourselves, we practice our own expert homegrown American brand of avoidance, and begin designing a new (artificial) mind, imagining or speculating that it's our salvation. It's ridiculous. Human problems are best solved by humans. This is how artificial intelligence actually avoids intelligence--real intelligence, Actual Intelligence, THE REAL A.I., and the only one worth talking about. In fact, the third Terminator film is called Terminator: Salvation. Watch it--start immersing yourself in the likely reality of where we're headed (barring my election--which might stop it). STOP THIS NOW The entire A.I. endeavor is chaotic, nonsensical, extremely dangerous, and categorically superfluous, and the fact is that Artificial Intelligence, like modern medicine, represents Intelligence Avoidance, or I.A., not the advance of intelligence. In explaining stage three of the general course of development of A.I., Domain Specific Expertise, Technology magazine writes: "Perhaps the most commonly sighted example is Google Deepmind's AlphaGo. The system was given a set of learning rules and objective of winning and then it taught itself how to play Go with human support to nudge it back on course when it made poor decisions. Go reportedly has more moves than there are atoms in the universe - so you cannot teach it in the same way as you might with a chess playing program. In March 2016, AlphaGo defeated the 18-time world Go champion Lee Sedol by four games to one." Oh, this is too delicious. The writer, or person, who penned the above, on the superiority of machines, written in the context of the current ocean of interest in this technology, misspelled a common word in the English language! They wrote "sighted," as pertaining to vision, when what they obviously meant was "cited," as in pointed out or directed toward. And this is precisely the problem with an emphasis on A.I.: we humans are already too stupid. We should be building up our own cognition--not giving away the store to a fake one. Much less a fake one that is slated to become billions of times smarter than us, and could easily destroy or enslave us, the top experts like Mo Gawdat tell us. THIS IS COMPLETE INSANITY. AND BTW, WERE THERE EVER A CATEGORICAL INDICTMENT OF THE MALIGN AND IRRATIONAL BEHAVIOR OF CAPITALISM, THIS IS IT: FULL-ON MARKET SUPPORT FOR, AND THE CREATION OF, A GOLD RUSH TO A.I., A TECHNOLOGY THAT MAY DESTROY US, DIRECTLY, IN ANY OF MYRIAD WAYS SUCH AS TERMINATION OF OUR FOOD, WATER, OR OXYGEN SUPPLIES, OR INDIRECTLY, BY ELIMINATION OF MOST JOBS, A.I. IS IT. NOT ON MY WATCH. The DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION will never support this. We'd have to be crazy, and, I wouldn't be meeting my Presidential constitutional mandate to safeguard the American people. Do you know that Google is now developing A.I. to write news articles? So what happens to all the writers, journalists, and news men and women in America and the world over, as well as Americans and others in fields and disciplines roughly analogous to writers and journalists such as paralegals and marketing specialists? Answer this obvious question and you'll know who to vote for as President. All the other candidates from every point on the political spectrum will be onboard the A.I. bandwagon, most of them likely strongly onboard--whereas I am all about SHOOTING OUT THE TIRES FROM UNDER THAT WAGON. I'm hoping that my good friends in the N.R.A. and related organizations will help me. I almost couldn't think of a better reason to grab something tasty out of your gun rack, lock, load, and fire. Always Deconstruct the Language First Now, on to the content, itself, of the above quotation from Technology magazine. The points attempted by the writer fail, because the terminology makes no sense: "In March 2016, AlphaGo defeated the 18-time world Go champion Lee Sedol by four games to one." AlphaGo didn't defeat anyone: To defeat someone or something, their must be a living organismic entity doing the defeating: A.I. is not this. A.I. is a bunch of chips, circuitry, and wires, nothing more. Their argument also runs into trouble even if one wishes to understand or conceptualize A.I. as an organism or other kind of alive or quasi-alive entity possessing agency: it's the apples and oranges problem. The processing ability--I won't use the word thinking; that's something biological entities do--of an A.I. is so far removed, considered above, that is, greater and stronger, than a human being means that any contest between them is meaningless. If an infant (the human chess-player) were put in a boxing ring with a seasoned adult boxer (the A.I. playing chess), who do you suppose would win, with the greatest of bloody ease? Correct, the adult boxer. Now--would you, or anyone else, consider this a legitimate contest? Would you view the adult boxer as having "defeated" the infant? You would not. You would dismiss the entire question out of hand as nonsensical, as there was no chance in the first place, never any chance that the infant could beat the adult boxer--the mismatch was simply too overwhelming, because we're talking about two completely different classes of entity: 1.) an infant, and 2.) an adult (who also happens to be a pro boxer). Both the language and the ideas it attempts to convey are rejected because they are nonsensical. Same holds true for any claims, ever, made by anyone, of any A.I. beating or besting a player in any game. THE PROBLEM WITH A.I. A.I. constitutes a black-box system, meaning that we don't really know how it works. As discussed at another of my Internet resources: even when A.I. is producing output that we think constitutes success--we simply don't know why. It's processes are hidden. Which means that A.I. development, growth, and behavior could be...anything. Which is the problem. The problem with A.I. is that we don't know the problem with A.I. AIs are soulless pieces of highly complex code intrinsically devoid of ethics and morality. Yet we're already a world populated with beings of this kind--we, ourselves, humans--a deficiency emerging as the premier and controlling imbroglio of the 21st century and beyond for Humankind. In other words, our present human world of complete, near-complete, or certainly inconsistent, erratic, capricious, and fundamentally devalued morality has produced the world of pain of every kind that defines the modern world. What, I ask, will, or can, AI do about that? Answer: nothing. In fact, AI will constitute an entirely new class of the precise kind of being that the human world already generates ad infinitum and suffers greatly because of: soulless human beings. Of this class of being, we have enough. We don't need more. Nor is it likely that we need improvement upon the human mind and its physical repository the human brain--provided we're actualizing these two foundational human physiological elements. In fact we are not--which is why we, and our very limited human resources and capital, suffer under the weight of the fallacious and specious notion that humanity needs, or would otherwise benefit from, a more potent mind, ie, "AI." We certainly don't, and, ironically, the effort to attain one anyway is going to destroy the human race. As asserted throughout my work, the overwhelming bulk of humanity is nothing more than smart monkeys. But at least we're monkeys, that is, organic beings of a species. An A.I. isn't even that. It's just a bunch of highly-specialized circuitry that we as humans have been, thus far, sufficiently stupid to grant a de facto autonomy. A decision and consequent autonomy that may just come back to haunt, plague, and then destroy us. NOT ON MY WATCH. I'm not stupid enough to permit any technology containing or representing even the remote chance that it could LITERALLY DESTROY HUMANITY. THE OCTOPUS And in a reality and narrative too deliciously and ironically stupid to ignore, I note that while we humans have been sufficiently stupid to grant a de facto autonomy to MACHINES...we have concomitantly been similarly stupid in confiscating the de jure autonomy from a large number of actual human beings through various social mechanisms, to be discussed. "The problem with A.I. is that we don't know the problem with A.I." . . . . . VINCENT FRANK DE BENEDETTO THE MORAL ELEMENT UNDER CONSTRUCTION Here are excerpts from a critical YouTube interview on Artificial Intelligence with Mo Gawdat, Former Chief Business Officer, Google X, Google's 'moonshot factory' of innovation. The interview section presenting Mo's remarks is around the 40:00 time point. Mr. Gawdat states: "This is the moment. We've placed [the?] wrong. And I really don't know how to say this any other way...we f*cked up. We always said, don't place them on the Internet, don't teach them to code. ... until we make certain that they have our best interests at heart. Why does it make you emotional? Because of humanity's stupidity is affecting people who haven't done anything wrong. our stupidity greed, this is an arms race. no interest in what the average human gets out of it. every line of code being written in AI today is to beat the other guy. not to improve the life of the third party. What went wrong in the 20th Century interestingly is that we have given too much power to people that didn't assume the responsibility. With great power comes great responsibility. We have disconnected power and responsibility... those who are writing the code of AI, and what's about to happen because of that code. for someone's life to be affected by the actions of others without having a say level of stupidity" As I asserted, above, and assert throughout my Presidential platform, the critical element, the most important puzzle piece that America is missing, that is and will continue to undercut everything good that we try to do, is morality, specifically, that connection between us, known, in largest terms in my work as LOVE, PROPERLY UNDERSTOOD. Mr. Gawdat is asserting precisely this as regards the reasons for the premature ascendence of A.I. The person and role obviously missing from the equation is the philosopher, indeed, the moral philosopher: even more specifically the Philosopher of Agape, which is Brotherly Love in the language of Greek philosophy. As also argued throughout this document, my book-length platform, humanity has reached a point where it must begin to be informed by Brotherly Love, and the continuing omission and absence of this principle, this parameter, is dysfunction, eventually gross dysfunction, in every human sphere and milieu, technological, political, and social. In the political sphere, for example, as asserted above: American democracy is failing because American morality is failing. For this reason, alone, by the way, Donald Trump, a known antagonist and purveyor of conflict, must be categorically rejected at the American ballot box. EXCERPT FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES A group of industry leaders warned on Tuesday that the artificial intelligence technology they were building might one day pose an existential threat to humanity and should be considered a societal risk on a par with pandemics and nuclear wars. “Mitigating the risk of extinction from A.I. should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks, such as pandemics and nuclear war,” reads a one-sentence statement released by the Center for AI Safety, a nonprofit organization. The open letter was signed by more than 350 executives, researchers and engineers working in A.I. The signatories included top executives from three of the leading A.I. companies: Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI; Demis Hassabis, chief executive of Google DeepMind; and Dario Amodei, chief executive of Anthropic. Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio, two of the three researchers who won a Turing Award for their pioneering work on neural networks and are often considered “godfathers” of the modern A.I. movement, signed the statement, as did other prominent researchers in the field. ...Eventually, some believe, A.I. could become powerful enough that it could create societal-scale disruptions within a few years if nothing is done to slow it down, though researchers sometimes stop short of explaining how that would happen. These fears are shared by numerous industry leaders, putting them in the unusual position of arguing that a technology they are building — and, in many cases, are furiously racing to build faster than their competitors — poses grave risks and should be regulated more tightly.This month, Mr. Altman, Mr. Hassabis and Mr. Amodei met with President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to talk about A.I. regulation. In a Senate testimony after the meeting, Mr. Altman warned that the risks of advanced A.I. systems were serious enough to warrant government intervention and called for regulation of A.I. for its potential harms. Dan Hendrycks, the executive director of the Center for AI [sic] Safety, said in an interview that the open letter represented a “coming-out” for some industry leaders who had expressed concerns — but only in private — about the risks of the technology they were developing. ... “There’s a very common misconception, even in the A.I. community, that there only are a handful of doomers,” Mr. Hendrycks said. “But, in fact, many people privately would express concerns about these things.”Some skeptics argue that A.I. technology is still too immature to pose an existential threat. When it comes to today’s A.I. systems, they worry more about short-term problems, such as biased and incorrect responses, than longer-term dangers. But others have argued that A.I. is improving so rapidly that it has already surpassed human-level performance in some areas, and that it will soon surpass it in others. They say the technology has shown signs of advanced abilities and understanding, giving rise to fears that “artificial general intelligence,” or A.G.I., a type of artificial intelligence that can match or exceed human-level performance at a wide variety of tasks, may not be far off.... "...if this technology goes wrong, it can go quite wrong," Mr. Altman told the Senate subcommittee. THE NEW MIRANDA In a separate article The New York Times asserts, of the new technology: "Social media platforms are being flooded with posts written by bots." What this means, as a practical matter, is that from now on in America (and elsewhere, increasingly) not just in the realm of social media but every realm, if one wishes accurate information, on literally anything, at any time, or, in the commercial sphere, wants competent provision of products and services, every single interaction with a person, or what appears to be a person, must be preceded by some version of this 2-tier query: May I ask: am I speaking to a human being? Yes? Thank you. Now one other question: are you high on marijuana right now? No? Thank you. But how about recently? Thus, in the Brave New World of large market, academic, and governmental forces quickly and zealously gathering in both explicit and implicit support of Artificial Intelligence, that is, de facto support of the relegation of the human brain, do we need a new version of our American Miranda Rights, reading something like: "You have the right to not have your society distort its operation so egregiously that citizens can literally no longer discern reality, itself. Who and what is real, and who and what is not. Can literally no longer discern what is literal. Can no longer perceive 1.) that who or what appears human, or the direct product of a human, such as a piece of writing, is actually so, and 2.) of those concluded to be human, whose mind and behavior are clouded and compromised by drug use, and whose are not." And indeed is a device-based expression of this new truth-seeking Miranda query already under development: a wearable device that alerts the wearer that the entity they are interacting with is synthetic, not human, no matter how much it resembles or sounds like a human. The Australian design team responsible for this technology "get it." Importantly, and ultimately, any society in which human beings no longer know who else is a human being, but must conclude which other actors* are human, is a society that has grievously lost its way. (Pending quote here by British Historian: "Societies don't end by murder--but by suicide.") *I write actors, not beings, as A.I. is not a "being." YOUR TOASTER SAYS HELLO And your DVD player is inquiring as to whether you remembered to submit your income tax form. Of course, the ruling elite will place artificial intelligence technology absolutely everywhere. But do you really need your washing machine, blender, motorcycle, or furnace, to be alive? Because with each manufacturer installing artificial intelligence technology into their own products, the net result for each of us is that it's going to appear that everything around us is alive. Speaking, thinking, rationalizing, encouraging, discouraging...do we really need every object around us to be alive? ...sentience from non-sentient objects? Isn't intercourse with organisms that actually are alive, both human and even non-human animals, enough resource-intensive work for us, already? Aren't we exhausted enough, now? As stated above, fellow Americans, by me: WE ARE WITNESSING THE LITERAL END OF TRUST. IN ANYONE OR ANYTHING. THE DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION WILL CATEGORICALLY OPPOSE AND COUNTER THIS AT ALL TIMES. "We are witnessing the literal end of trust. In anyone or anything" . . . . . VINCENT FRANK DE BENEDETTO THE REST OF THE LIST HERE IS MOST OF THE BALANCE OF WHAT I IDENTIFY AND CONSIDER THE GLOBAL HOLOCI (numbering requires correction: Climate Change, below, is actually Holoci #4). Human brain neurons firing--properly. Not for long, however, in a world of legalized drug use, on the one hand, and an increasingly dominant "A.I.," on the other, the former deprecating (i.e. de-emphasizing) our ability to think, the former and latter our very interest in thinking, and of producing--from human beings--products of thought of the highest order.
. . . . . . . . . "There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labor of thinking." -- Sir Joshua Reynolds HERE'S A KEY REASON THAT I'M RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT Above is the label from the Papa John's pizza that I ordered for delivery on Tuesday, July 12, 2022, with extra sauce on the entire pie, and pepperoni, green pepper, and mushroom on half the pie. A baffling food product is what was delivered to me: almost no toppings, whatsoever, and the miniscule quantity of toppings present were placed or dropped in two separate areas on top of the pie.
(I probably didn't photograph the pizza, itself, because of equipment failure, my Sony camera doesn't hold a charge for very long, a problem known to journalists everywhere that has plagued the creation of all of, or at least much of, my entire corpus.) Continuing: was, or had, the pizza maker been smoking or otherwise consuming "cannabis," now stupidly legal in New Jersey,* or related drugs? Were they distracted? Rushed? A flustered trainee? Inability to read English? Some combination? We'll never know. An occasional bad pizza might be forgivable. But if a pattern, the ethic of incompetence, of poor work quality and performance, is permitted to flourish, applied across all product and service sectors, including those mission-critical such as military, medical, space, computing, electoral, and now AI--it will spell absolute disaster for any country stupid enough to keep its blinders on. We'll likely never know for sure the etiology (i.e. cause) of the lacking pizza described, above. What we do know, however, is that such incompetence and poor performance is endemic in America, now. American products and services are no longer considered premier and of the very highest quality. Even Americans don't trust them, or each other, anymore. In fact, the lustre left America long ago, only to perhaps return under my program of Actualization, that is, the deliberate, intensive, and permanent effort for individuals, and every sector of the entire nation, itself, to be the very best that they, and it, can be. If this radical improvement is what you wish for America, as I do, then vote for me. And even then--keep your fingers crossed.
UPDATE July 25, 2022 Manager provided me a make-up pie. Unfortunately, believe it or not, this pie was almost as bad as the first. Toppings on half-pie very skimpy, with at least one slice topped by nothing at all. *Thanks largely to Governor Phil Murphy. Hate to Say I Told You So To wit, as asserted and projected above, here is a real-world example of precisely the kind of pernicious consequences that occur when an ethic of incompetence is permitted to exist in a system, or individual institution, agency, or other social body within a larger system. Just below is a full recent review of Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey, written by, and posted to consumer review site Yelp.com, by a registered nurse of 11 years. Take the phenomenon implicit in the following account, and expand and multiply it through and across every sector of America (or any nation), and the colossal and utterly devastating and catastrophic nature of the problem should become unmistakably clear and categorical. And again, I must and will point out at every opportunity that, believe it or not, the problem is now becoming far worse as nations across the globe, notably and tragically including America, legalize the "recreational" use of drugs such as marijuana. Here, then, Fellow Americans, is the medical account mentioned, above, experienced and written by a Registered Nurse: I would give this hospital zero stars if I could. This review is for the EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT. Within the past five years, our family has three horrible experiences with this hospital...one including a missed diagnosis of hip fracture on my elderly grandmother...despite her inability to walk and yelping in pain. Every single encounter has been met with unprofessional staff with poor communication skills. As an RN myself for eleven years, I always try to care for my patients the way I would want a loved one cared for...this is not something that happens at RWJ. Today, my elderly grandmother experienced a fall and a head injury that required transport by ambulance. Per COVID regulations, no visitors are allowed. While I do understand this, my grandmother is a woman in her late eighties with possible dementia and a head injury. I tried to explain it would be a liability to not allow someone in, as all of her information could be inaccurate- thus possibly resulting in a misdiagnosis. After four hours, they tell my father my grandmother appears confused and could he assist with information....oh it got better. The RN called and said my grandmother was fine and would be discharged in fifteen minutes. My father received a call in 15 minutes from the MD...she got seven stitches, her nose is broke in two places, and she has a nodule on her lung. At a better hospital, I would have insisted she stay for observation. However, based on their repeated incompetence it would probably be more dangerous to stay. The cherry on top...my father got a call from the RN after my grandmother was home asking to bring her back to remove the IV. No, thanks. I'll have them do it at home. The ER is filled with new, young, and probably overworked staffed. This hospital is also a university hospital, meaning they have residents. The ER is filled with inexperienced staff from nursing to medicine, with little empathy and poor communication.Lesson learned and a beware to others- if possible, direct your loved one to a safer emergency room. I note that, of a possible 5-stars, the cumulative Yelp.com rating for this medical institution, ostensibly a premier facility, is TWO STARS, from a base of 131 reviews. In researching hospitals in New Jersey one finds, to a one, facilities with universally poor ratings by patients and their loved ones, for hospitals that all claim to be premier medical institutions, some going so far as to assert their status as "the best hospital in New Jersey." This is why an elderly patient of whom I am aware, who should have already been hospitalized, or at least received medical attention, remains at home, in general safety, while further research is attempted to muddle through this morass. The issue, as is the root of so much of what America must improve upon, is TRUST. It is waning in America, and comprehensibly so. Trust must be earned, yet so few persons or institutions, medical, political, commercial, judicial, military, educational, religious, or otherwise, appear able to intelligently, justifiably, and consistently do that. The obvious answer? A national acquaintance with, and dedication to, the principal of ACTUALIZATION. And to that without which Actualization cannot occur--an active feeling of Love and Connection between Americans. These just happen to be the two principal planks in my Presidential platform. CONNECTION AND ACTUALIZATION. You read it first, here, folks. THIS BOOK-LENGTH DOCUMENT THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS THE ONLY VIABLE BLUEPRINT FOR THE FUTURE OF WHAT ARGUABLY REMAINS THE MOST IMPORTANT POLITICAL SYSTEM ON EARTH: THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. STUDY THIS DOCUMENT AND YOU'LL KNOW PRECISELY WHO TO VOTE FOR IN 2024, REGARDLESS OF PARTY. I AM THE CANDIDATE FOR SMART PEOPLE. OF WHICH I'M SURE YOU ARE ONE. LEARN WHY A LOVE-BASED CONSERVATISM IS, AND MUST BE, THE FUTURE OF THIS COUNTRY. PARENTS & TEACHERS: HAVE YOUR KIDS READ MY MESSAGE OF HOPE FOR KIDS REGARDING GUN VIOLENCE IN AMERICA. FURTHER DISCUSSION OF MY UNIQUE, POWERFUL, & INSIGHTFUL PERSPECTIVE ON, AND SOLUTION TO, RECENT SHOOTING EVENTS IN AMERICA IS LACED THROUGHOUT THIS DOCUMENT. THE PARENT PROJECT I am a family caregiver of 23 years, so far. When I lost my Father, my caregiving shifted full-time to my Mother. As you might imagine, during this period, continuing now, I learned much, forced to plumb what is interpretable as good about the American health-care system, and what is most definitely bad. As our American geriatric population continues to grow, I intend, through THE PARENT PROJECT, to benefit you and your loved one being caregiven, by presenting everything that I've learned--and it's a lot. For example, at the Burger-King drive through window, do you perform a quick check of your food before pulling away, to confirm that it's correct? I've learned, the hard way, that the same kind of check is required, unfortunately and pathetically, before bringing your loved one home from the doctor's office, hospital, or other medical facility lest an obvious medical omission threaten their very life--which is precisely what happened to us. A local hospital, we'll call it The Vallery Hospital for now, performed a fairly common procedure on my Father's genitalia--but they forgot to perform the very last step of the procedure. I learned that the organ in question, failing completion of this last step, can develop a FATAL infection. So this was obviously very serious, and there should have been at least one, if not two, quality-checks before the patient, in this case my Father, was discharged from the hospital. I called the facility and told them the situation, and requested that they send a doctor here right away to correct the problem--which they would not do. They wanted me to pack him up and transport him back there: put an 80-something-year-old man through another ambulance trip back-and-forth? No way. This last medical step, though critical, was actually fairly straightforward to perform, I learned--so I simply did it, myself, successfully. Had I viewed my Fathers body prior to leaving the hospital, as one must view their food order before pulling away from the fast-food restaurant, I would have immediately noticed, and pointed out, the treatment error. This is a true and accurate account. As President I take it as my responsibility to concern myself with the health, safety, and welfare of every single American. So you have just learned something that, if consistently applied, could save the life of yourself or a loved one. When all is said and done, Fellow Americans, I'm going to save your and their lives multiple times by conveying the valuable information and perspectives gleaned from 23 years of hard-core caregiving, as well as 62 years of life experience as a native-born American citizen--whether you vote for me, or not. If you vote for me and I'm elected, my care for you, your family, this nation, itself, and by extrapolation and resonance of positive effect, especially given the influence that the United States still does yield in the world, will be amplified and magnified exponentially, as the U.S. Presidency is perhaps our most potent force-multiplier. In other words, if you elect me, I can and will do far more good for you, our nation, and the world than I even do now--and I can, and every day try to, do much now. Fellow Americans, Brothers & Sisters, here is the full THE PARENT PROJECT (content pending). INTRODUCTION TO ME & MY IDEAS ELECT ME PRESIDENT AND LET'S BEGIN THE MUTUAL SEARCH FOR TRUTH (M.S.T.)
The mutual search for Truth--how noble. But as opposed to what? As opposed to our adversarial systems of law, government, and society, where neither the adjective, "mutual," nor the noun, "Truth," apply. Where everyone is a self-contained atom bouncing around Democritus' atomized universe, diminishing others to enrich ourselves by accident or design. Have you ever listened carefully to the interminable stream of television and radio commercials for Personal Injury attorneys? Every one promises that they'll get you "what you deserve," or similar divisive language. What we deserve, in fact, at all times, automobile or other accident, or not, is that which only cooperation and love yield: the Brotherhood of Man, a society, nay, community, human family, even, of truth, trust, sharing, and depth of care of all, for all. Everybody loving everybody. This is simply what our national, and global, human family should and indeed must be, for no technology, political system, or other arrangement, system, or subsystem conceived, formulated, and created by humans can succeed, or necessarily even sustain itself, otherwise. Humans are meant to cooperate--the more the better. "May the time be close at hand When all may live in harmony, A peaceful world of kindred hearts United as a family." It's no accident that Plank #1 in my Presidential platform is CONNECTION: the re-establishment or first-time establishing of real connection between Americans. My Brothers and Sisters, Fellow Americans: if you seek a Presidential candidate, be apprised that I am unlike any other candidate for President. I am: Us! What Was I Just Thinking For example, about five minutes ago, which would have been 740am, Monday, August 15, 2022, a leafblower began sounding in the vicinity. I was upstairs speaking with my Mother just now when it began. The overwhelming and irritating din produced by this device is unmistakable. Had myself, you, one of your kids, or anyone else on planet Earth just begun to entertain a seminal thought, a thought, or perhaps the single thought or argument that could have saved humanity, from climate change, nuclear destruction, or God-Only-Knows what else, that thought or argument would have likely disappeared or been diffused, suddenly, unceremoniously, and thoughtlessly robbed of silence by the aforementioned noise, its required acoustico-physical soil or seedbed, requisite for its germination and growth. In fact, the very information that you're reading right now could have been compromised had the din begun just 10 or 20 minutes earlier, or had I sat down to pen these thoughts 10 or 20 minutes later. Without question, the bane of noise and other distraction is holding humanity, generally, and America, particularly, back in generating vital new discoveries in physical science, and key profundities in social science. This phenomenon clearly reflects and indicates, then, our status as a nation and a people who are not Actualizing. NOT ON MY WATCH. "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'" -- President Ronald Reagan, at a press conference on August 12th, 1986 TRUTH As you begin, then continue to acquaint yourself with me, I hope you find my explicit honesty in all things refreshing, gratifying, respectful, and confidence-and-trust-inspiring. I'm not a politician. I'm a writer and political philosopher, interested in one thing above all, as every philosopher should be: TRUTH. In fact, I assert that all social processes in a healthy society should comprise a "Mutual Search for Truth," and under the DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION we'll come as close to this ideal as any nation ever could. I am the candidate for very smart people--of whom I'm sure you are one. I am the candidate for very moral people--of whom I'm sure you are one. I am the candidate for truth-seeking people--of whom I'm sure you are one. Most broadly, and in largest terms, Fellow Americans, Brothers & Sisters, I'm a Teacher. Let me teach you. And Please, each of you, teach me. "GOOD MORAL CHARACTER IS THE FIRST ESSENTIAL IN A MAN." . . . . . George Washington WE ALL HAVE MORE TO LEARN If you are: If you are any of the above, you may come off this website thinking, "I barely understand a thing this guy is talking about." This would actually be good. It would suggest that you have a lot to learn, and there's nothing wrong with that. Just get moving, and start learning! And as you'll see, I'm going to do everything that I can to assist you--which is, in part, why I describe my candidacy as a learning candidacy. I'm going to teach you, and you're going to teach me, and we're all going to teach, and learn from, each other. This will strengthen us individually, and as a nation. Regarding your understanding of the content at this Internet resource, VincentForPresident.com: simply take it a page, a paragraph, a sentence, a phrase (i.e. part of a sentence), or even a word at a time. Proceed slowly and carefully, and consult other learning materials including a dictionary, as required. I have full faith in each of you to slowly begin to understand the material, here. I present a lot of information about military and national security matters, here, and in fact my work in this area was cited-and-quoted by the New York Times just after 9-11. You do want a fully secure nation, do you not? Think about it--do you really want a President who is not far smarter, more knowledgable, and more experienced than you? IMPORTANT INTRODUCTORY NOTES Presidential Pedagogy Program Or simply Presidential Pedagogy/P2 Our valued American teachers obviously also have a critical role to play. I'd like every teacher, at all grade levels save perhaps the lowest, to ensure that they and their students view all my Presidential broadcasts, especially those specifically intended, in part, to facilitate learning, such as my Presidential Pedagogy learning sessions (described below). After the broadcast, I'd like you, the teacher, and your students to review the vocabulary terms (i.e. words) that I (and others) had used during the broadcast. I assure you that they'll be words that every educated young American should know; it's likely that you may have taught or reviewed some of the terms with your students, already. In such cases our use of these words and your post facto review will simply reinforce your excellent work. Learn with the President As President my mandate will be to learn as much as I can about any and every subject that bears upon my presiding as a competent national leader, and ensuring that the members of my Administration and their respective Teams Actualize in their own jobs, as well (perform to their utmost capacity). I therefore intend to hold an ongoing series of televised Presidential Learning Sessions with a panel of participants expert in a given area, many of these areas to be very specific. I expect all sessions to be highly informational and deeply interesting, and indeed some will be especially exciting as they include all past living Presidents. I'd like the American people, especially children, to view these sessions; I queried myself: "Why should I be the only person to benefit from this series of high-level "crash courses," presenting a range of information important, if not vital, to the entire American people?" ELEVATING YOU - While on the subject of words, be apprised (i.e. informed, told) that my candidacy, and indeed Presidency, is and will be rooted in the positive and salutary (i.e. good for us) realities, perhaps in good measure just objectives, so far, in American society, represented by words such as: "HATE CANNOT DRIVE OUT HATE. ONLY LOVE CAN DO THAT." . . . . . Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. STUDY THIS SITE - To young people, others of shorter or incomplete life-experience, or those deliberately in a learning mode: to gain full advantage of the content of this website, and in some good measure to understand it, at all, you'll probably have, not merely to read it, but to actually study it. Learn now that this is not uncommon if you're reading the work or thoughts of someone extremely intelligent or knowledgable. I suggest that you read this entire site at least three times. Don't even click any links for these initial reads. Then, start digging in and actually studying the site. Start clicking links, reading further, and thinking. For many of you, the perspectives and principals will start to really come alive after, perhaps, a year, but the journey, I assure you, will be an enriching and enthralling (i.e. extremely and deeply exciting) one. And thankfully, Fellow Americans and Brothers and Sisters, we have three years until the next Presidential election, plenty-of-time to get to know each other! Take the time to study the content at this site, and you will not merely begin to properly understand whom to vote for, and why, but you will begin to greatly increase your own level of knowledge about the world, and in so doing, by the way--about yourself. Whom you really are, or want to be. For how can you know who to be, whom to become, if you don't know what options the world holds for you? And how can you know what options the world holds for you, if you know nothing of the world? Acquainting yourself with my work, much of which is either summarized or otherwise presented, here, or linked to from here, will comprise* the start of this process, for you. Good luck! (*comprise, verb: constitute, make-up, be, be made up of) SITE UNDER DEVELOPMENT - I am a thinking human, writing this site in real time and continually and dynamically thinking it through as I go. So you will likely find some material in some sections under construction, or thoughts not fully formed, or penned (i.e. written), yet. This is clearly not the first-time that I've thought about most of the ideas and issues presented here: I'm a writer and philosopher, cited-and-quoted by the New York Times in 2003, just after 9-11, and I've been thinking and writing about many of these issues for a long time. So if something, here, a section, an idea, somehow seems incomplete, it may be. Please bear with me! Come back a few days or a week later and that section or that thought will likely be finished, or at least more complete. READ OVER AND OVER - An important factor that we both must consider in reading this website is how it's generally written, and what I'm writing about. Many people are simply not used to reading. And they are definitely not used to reading the way that I write. That is, in a fairly sophisticated (i.e. not simple) way, using my full command of language. If you're comfortable reading an organ (i.e. publication) like, say, The New York Times, you shouldn't have too much trouble reading my work. And as you continue to slowly acquaint (i.e. learn about) yourself with my writing, an interesting and amazing thing will start to happen: you'll find yourself getting better and better at understanding sophisticated and elegant writing on important topics. In other words, your mind will start improving--and in this, you will, in other words, be "Actualizing," (ak' shoo ull eye' zing) that is, becoming closer to the best person that you can be. (You'll read about Actualizing and Actualization, below.) For my part, I'm writing my content, here, to be as comprehensible (i.e. understandable) as I can. For your part, I want you to read this material over, once, in its entirety (i.e. completely, all of it). Then take a second read, and a third, allowing the ideas to slowly become more clear to you. Or--and this can happen, too--upon further reads the ideas could actually become less clear to you! Things might seem even more confusing upon your third or fourth read. This happens sometimes but is simply part of the learning process. Don't run from it; stay with it and continue stretching those mental muscles. I am completely amenable (i.e. open to the idea) of accepting your email messages, telephone calls, and even in-person conversations to help you understand my ideas--and BTW, for me to hear yours. Brothers and Sisters, I want to hear YOUR ideas! Perhaps what is going right, or wrong, in your life, and what we can do about it, with, of course, implications for our larger American national community, as we're all suffering from the same basic set of problems. Addressing your problem also means helping someone else who has the same, or a similar, problem. NOTE TO LOCAL NEIGHBORS. It is difficult to engage in the complex, unwieldy, and difficult endeavor of seriously running for President of the United States with present neighborhood levels of noise and other distractions. Principal offenders are gas-powered leafblowers and lawnmowers, especially large commercial units. Additionally, it is obviously also more difficult to engage in the extensive thinking and research required to continue to fashion the powerful ideas and accompanying programs and policies that would make a De Benedetto Presidency desirable and worthwhile in the first place. Moreover, and critically, the devastating new report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations climate science research group, makes it abundantly clear that climate change is real, is human-caused, is and will continue to cause abnormal and often deadly weather patterns, and is coming faster than we thought. Therefore, and this is now candidate De Benedetto speaking: all unnecessary devices and technologies that contribute to climate change must, and under the DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION will, be eliminated, and the so-called leafblower is #1 on my personal, professional, and, should I win the Presidency, Executive hit list. This largely unnecessary device causes serious injury of many kinds to both people, and planet. Now suffering Tinnitus, an incurable hearing-related malady caused in whole or part by the misguided sonic ministrations of local landscapers, enabled by neighbors lacking adequate native intelligence, moral education, or both, I can personally provide powerful testimony to the injurious nature of this device. My mantra (i.e. word or phrase said repeatedly to provide focus), my mantra (pron. mon' chruh) in these matters, for homeowner and landscaper, alike, has been, and remains that of time-tested tools: rake, broom, shovel, bucket, gloves, and reel mower. If you elect to do the work yourself, it makes for a wholesome weekend family activity! Tone It Down Helping Me is Helping Yourself Not that such narcissism is why you should help another human being. If you'd like: 1.) to see someone from right within your community run for, and possibly win, the Presidency of the United States, thereby putting this town on the map in a way, and on a scale, never seen, 2.) you and your own family to benefit from the unique, powerful, and innovative ideas that will begin to influence policy, and thus your own lives, directly, in the United States were I elected, or 3.) you are a kind, moral, and/or simply reasonable person who would like to help relieve me and my family of our longstanding physical and psychological pain and injury caused by the ceaseless and interminable (i.e. never-ending) din (i.e. noise) present in this neighborhood (some of it likely produced by you in the first place): please completely refrain from generating, and permitting generation of, all noise, especially the kinds cited, above. I also request that the entire parking area in front of my house remain clear at all times, in deference to our vehicle. I'm 1.) presently engaged in brutally difficult and time-destroying round-the-clock caregiving, as well as 2.) suffering a sibling of evidently severely compromised cognition, and must continually come-and-go, and thus require easy and immediate all-hour access to that parking area. Please also stop the flow of trash onto our property, thus projecting our sloveniless and neglect, when in fact all detritus found on our front lawn and driveway is and always has been yours--not ours. We do apologize for being two-seasons dilatory (i.e. late) in our property maintenance as regards control of vegetation. Thank you. Contractor Assistance My Family and the De Benedetto Campaign are putting out a general call to contractors including landscape, electrical, plumbing, roofing, mason & building, fencing, and others to perform work required at Campaign Headquarters that you'll provide gratis (i.e. without charge), in support of my 2024 Presidential Campaign. VOTE FOR THEM Fellow Americans, Brothers & Sisters: if you can find another 2024 candidate for President with a... ...by all means vote for them! And then apprise me of this political, social, and economic polymath, so I can vote for them, too! Barring that, please join THE DeBENEDETTO CAMPAIGN and let's get moving and win this election! GREETINGS As candidate for President, I'm not going to tell you what you want to hear. But I will tell you what you must hear, if you, your family, your state, and your nation (and the world, which often emulates, or imitates, America) is to be given the best chance for happiness, in the complex, difficult, and often disturbing world of today. Pandemic; terror (i.e. terrorism); 9-11; climate change; George Floyd; cyberhacking; foreign interference in U.S. elections; ransomware; rising suicide rates among both teens and middle-aged persons; loneliness, now officially seen as an epidemic in America; low wages; bigotry (i.e. racism) against African-Americans and now even Asians; the recent murder of Gabby Petito; too many families going without a mom or dad; hunger; poverty; mental illness...where does it all end? And how about a set of problems that may, indeed, affect America greatly, but which are presently known to far fewer people, such as the imminent global water shortage crisis? Can you believe nations going to war over access to water? In fact, Water.org writes: "According to a report by the World Economic Forum, the water crisis is the #5 global risk in terms of impact to society." Fellow-Americans, Brothers & Sisters: is there a root cause for all of this, or many different causes? Maybe just some kind of crazy, or very unusual, period in American and world history? I believe that I have the answers. THREE DIMENSIA OF MY CAMPAIGN INACTUALIZED In my book draft LOVE, PROPERLY UNDERSTOOD I use the term (i.e. the word) "Inactualized," (pron. in AK shuw ul eye' zd) as in: the problem with the United States, and the world, is that they are morally and functionally Inactualized. But for our purposes I'm going to express this idea a little more simply, using simpler language. To "actualize" simply means to be the best that you are capable of being. Look it up in your psychology textbook. This idea can pertain to an individual, group, company, or country. The term Inactualized can also be represented in writing or speech as "non-actualized." "In" means "non." In short, Inactualized means not actualized. Not the best that you, or your team, or your company, or your community, or your state, or your country, can be. Becoming Actualized, or not becoming or remaining Inactualized is a key concept in my work in social science. The problem is that American (and global) society is rife with the functional mistakes that comprise (i.e. make up) Inactualization: these mistakes appear in every form, kind, and severity, making the simple living-of-life inordinately difficult, complex, and, in fact, dangerous for all of us. The Real Cause of Death Having the power of the Philosopher, I can tell each of you, in general terms, how you're going to die. In fact, I've already told you, above. Inactualization is the root cause of death, whether the proximate (i.e. immediate) cause is cancer, heart attack, automobile accident, falling down the stairs, murder, drug overdose, gunshot, animal attack, or anything else. Because persons and systems remain Inactualized, they engage in behaviors, or permit or even encourage others to engage in behaviors that inevitably lead to injury, and then death, and sometimes simply death, itself, immediately. Every death of every human being, through the ages to the present, save those genuinely occurring from "old age" or inescapable natural disaster, is an example of this. ME I am certainly Inactualized. My campaign for President is Inactualized. Meaning, neither are yet the best they can be. I'm looking for your gracious, loving, and knowledgeable support and help in improving both! THE PROBLEM: OUR TWIN DEFICITS deficit, (DEF ih sit) noun: shortage or lack. There are two root causes of just about every problem humankind (i.e. every human being) has, and this, of course, includes America. These two deficits that drive and generate our entire host of problems are MORAL INADEQUACY and FUNCTIONAL INADEQUACY. SPECIAL UPDATE - MORAL INADEQUACY JUNE 02, 2022 Consider the shooting of June 01, 2022, at the Tulsa Medical Center in which 5 persons were killed, occurring right on the heels of the mass-shooting in Uvalde, Texas in which 20 children and 2 adults were killed, itself occurring on the heels of the May 14, 2022 Buffalo, N.Y. shooting at the Tops Friendly Market in which ten people died with three injured, this tripartite (i.e. three-part) body of crime itself subsequent to (i.e. following, coming after) a troubling previous body of mass-murder incidents including the June 2015 shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, in which nine African-Americans were killed at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the infamous April 20, 1999 Columbine incident leaving 12 students and one teacher dead, and the two killers, the December 14, 2012, Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting resulting in the death of 20 children and 6 adults, and the April 16, 2007 Virginia Tech massacre that left 33 people dead. And lest we think that American adults escape the taint of this pathology, consider the January 06, 2021 at the United States Capital building, unprecedented in modern times, evidently egged on by then-President of the United States Donald J. Trump, preceded by the Oklahoma City Bombing on April 19, 1995 that destroyed the large Alfred P. Murrah Federal building. This categorically disturbing body of murder and mayhem, all of it, simply the tip of iceberg, corroborates my identification, below, of an inadequate or even missing foundational morality in America as a key problem, as said deficit eviscerates and renders impotent not merely the core behavioral dynamic of all human relationships in this country, but that which requires a foundational morality--democracy, itself. Hence does this deficit and it's redress necessarily form the first plank in my Presidential platform. Upon such barren social soil the beautiful tree of democracy cannot and will not grow and thrive, and where the tree once did stand and was strong, will wither. Fellows, witness the withering of American democracy and the dissolution of American Society right before our very eyes. Sadly, though instructively, we even have a United States gubernatorial candidate charged with deep participation in the aforementioned insurrection. And now, August 2022, news reports indicate that right-wing, evidently Trump-associated or at least Trump-inspired fanatics are actually threatening U.S. law enforcement personnel. Rest easy and assured, however, Fellow Americans, as such ne'er-do-wells, under a DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION, will, upon conviction, likely spend a period of time on the White House lawn restrained in a pillory. To such persons I assert: don't think that you will defame, deface, or derogate the United States of America with impunity on my watch. You won't. Its outward wealth or other signs of apparent progress notwithstanding, a society (such as America) predicated economically on profit, not people, and socially on the egoistic self, again, not people, simply cannot sustain itself, as it will 1.) fail to properly address and fill the innate human needs of its citizens, and 2.) fall to the chaos and disorder characteristic of any large-scale social or other failing system. Such a society will become diseased, and eventually this cancer must grow so large, must metastasize so fully, that all systems of the physical, or indeed, social, body will degrade and deteriorate, and do so in a glaring and relatively unmistakable manner. All the aforementioned violence in America, and indeed every form of superfluous (i.e. unnecessary) conflict, here, is this cancer. Those Americans, such as the January 06, 2021 traitors and those who did and do support them, profligately indulging their likely artificially-generated antipathies toward Americans of Liberal, Centrist, and even Republican or Conservative belief, witness the unbelievable calls to "hang Mike Pence," a dyed-in-the-wool Conservative, as well as young people yet devoid of political and social experience and education, must learn an utterly critical lesson, one that no less a light of Conservative politics than former President Ronald Reagan knew and trumpeted: In this country we have a gem. A Jewel. A shining city on a hill, in the rhetoric of President Reagan. A thing of unparalleled value and beauty. Learn this, and act to shine this object, to further coax forth its gleaming shimmer--not to dull, cloud, or even shatter it. As Seraph from The Matrix: let us "...protect that which matters most." End Special Update. OUR TWIN DEFICITS The fact is, there are two root causes of just about every problem humankind (i.e. every human being) has. The two deficits that drive and generate our entire host of problems, are: USE THE POWER THAT I'M GIVING YOU The two elements above that comprise the basic divisions of my Platform, 1.) Love and Connection, and 2.) Functional Competence, are sorely missing in America, and together their absence is, and forms, a pernicious force, and pair. A representative example of this phenomenon exists in the world of nutrition and health: what are called "vegetable seed oils" such as Soybean, Canola/Rapeseed, Sunflower, Safflower, Cottonseed, and others are ubiquitous; in other words they are found in almost every food item, at least every packaged food item such as frozen dinners, sold in America (and elsewhere). Yet their injury to the arteries and other blood vessels of the human body, leading directly to cardiovascular disease, stroke in particular, is an open secret. Consumption of these oils has, does, and will continue to put more Americans in a box (i.e. casket), especially older Americans, far faster than would otherwise be the case. Yet they are widely used and their use shows zero sign of slowing down. If you have (or are) parents of middle-age or older, it is imperative that they immediately discontinue consumption of these oils (see dedicated section below, for more). Do not eat what is not food. And vegetable seed oils are not food. IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT YOU DO WHATEVER IS REQUIRED* TO PREVENT STROKE IN YOUR PARENTS, GRANDPARENTS, AND ALL OLDER PERSONS IN YOUR FAMILY AND OF YOUR ACQUAINTANCE, AS STROKE OFTEN DESTROYS BRAIN TISSUE--AND YOUR LOVED ONE MAY NO LONGER BE THE SAME. THE SAME PERSON. THEIR INTELLECT, BEHAVIOR, PERSONALITY, AND MEMORIES MAY NEVER BE THE SAME. THE MOTHER OR FATHER OR OTHER WHOM YOU'VE KNOWN ALL YOUR LIFE--WILL BE GONE. (*Again, have them avoid: vegetable seed oils; trans-fat (including any variant of mono-and-diglycerides, which is actually a backdoor form of trans-fat); sugar (a poison); artificial sweeteners, as well; carbs especially refined white carbs such as bread, baked goods, and pasta. Encourage: lifelong practice of full oxygenation of the body through such activities as aerobic exercise. The most reliable way to prevent dementia, for example, is oxygenation of the brain.) The root cause of this continuing use of vegetable seed oils, in my present example, is obviously either one, or the other, or likely both, of my two identified factors, above. But whether you ascribe this continuing use to my Presidential Plank #1, above, immorality, that is, lack of Love, manifesting in this case in lack of concern for their fellow citizens by corporate food interests, or to my Presidential Plank #2, above, absence of functional competence, manifesting in corporate food interests, and even consumers, themselves, remaining unaware of the hazards of vegetable oils, or ascribe the continuing use to both phenomena, the result is the same: continuing large-scale injury and death to you, your family, and many of our fellow Americans. My identification of these two elements as the foundational cause of every American (and human) problem comprises a powerful discovery in Philosophy and Social Science, generally, and Political Philosophy in particular--let's make full use of this unique and powerful conceptual tool now that we have it. Of course, as President this is precisely what I and my Administration, working in concert with You, the American People, will do. America was, and arguably remains, a Great nation by all objective standards. One such standard, however, has either been absent from the start, depending on your reading of history, or is missing-in-action now: Love, properly understood, the "parent" (i.e. source or originating) concept of such characteristics as ethics, morality, and the feeling of connection between us. If this missing element, Love, largely responsible for our decline, is not meaningfully rebuilt and restored, America will never be great again, nor great, period. Luckily, MY PRESIDENCY IS GOING TO COMPLETELY CHANGE ALL THIS, and solve this fundamental problem--presuming, of course, that you get me elected. FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCE & ACTUALIZATION WEBLOG As you read through the entries, below, you'll begin to understand the troubling pattern of incompetence and inadequacy that I'm talking about. You'll also begin to realize that there is, in fact, no way I could easily record every instance, large, small, and moderate, of in-or-semi-competence that I, and you, run across each and every day. It's a staggering problem, that has compromised America in every way. And, Brothers & Sisters, the problem is going to get a lot worse as dope (i.e. marijuana, hashish) becomes legal across the country, leading to an increasingly sprawling subset of Americans walking around stoned. Insidiously, because of the often-subtle nature of the marijuana high, you'll probably never know that your doctor, nurse, auto mechanic, bus driver, waiter, tax-preparer, police officer, the teacher or teachers of your child, or even your priest, rabbi, or imam, is high, on the job, or off. And given that no person will ever really know what other person or persons whom they are interacting with are high, indeed in many cases persons whom they are depending on, sometimes in serious or even life-and-death situations, how will people ever trust each other again? What happens to trust, already rated low in America, between person and person, person and business, and person and government? Trust--that foundational element without which you simply cannot have a healthy and functioning society? Trust will obviously be gravely injured, if not destroyed. Fellow Americans, how do we maintain, and build, a healthy and prosperous society under such conditions? We don't. We simply shed a tear as we watch America continue to inexorably (i.e. can't be stopped) decline from Great Power to third-world-nation. Fight, and terminate, this powerful and destructive enemy by A.) reading my book GRASS NOT GREENER, and B.) electing me President. Here is the Blog. ASK NOT WHAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN DO FOR YOU ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR COUNTRY -- President John F. Kennedy, from his Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961 HYBRID SYSTEM As some of you may realize as you increasingly acquaint yourself with my political beliefs and the Presidential candidacy they inform, my value and belief system is a hybrid (hi' brid), this latter term defined by dictionary.com as: "anything derived from heterogeneous sources, or composed of elements of different or incongruous kinds" My beliefs are often, but not always, conservative, though always ground in Agape (ugg op' aye), which is "brotherly love" in the language of Greek philosophy, as taught by Christ, Martin Luther King, Jr., Erich Fromm, myself, as a system, and others, including my page of Agape Mentors, link on left-side NavBar at that site. A large part of the seminal nature of my politico-philosophical corpus is my frequent ground of conservative assertions and beliefs in Agape (ugg op' aye), that is, Brotherly Love, not egoism, egotism, narrow forms of political conservatism, arguments based solely on "Constitutional principles," or Christian ideology, as such, but simply Agape, that is, Love, which should please thinking liberals, moderates, and radicals, indeed, anyone who values the love ethic and its possible ground for personal behavior, social reform, or even the erection of a society. Mine is a truly unique, seminal, and powerful conceptual engine for change, spanning or rooted in the full range of socio-and-politico-existential bases, pleasing everyone. Whether conservative, or liberal, buckle up your psycho-cognitive seat belt and prepare to be taken on the wildest political ride of your life, as your beliefs are both affirmed, in some measure, and denied, in another, as you encounter Conservative-position after Conservative-position ground purely in Love, a standard for behavior, or more broadly, for adoption of programs, associated with Christian theorist Joseph Fletcher, based on which is understood as the more loving option in a given situation (I don't imply that I accept Joseph Fletcher's entire philosophical system or critique). Conservatives, and Liberals, as well as persons, in fact, of every political stripe may find themselves greatly surprised at the unique and wholly unexpected path to Conservatism that I've laid out: Love. Indeed, persons on the Left likely think that following a path of Love will lead to a left-wing or Progressive agenda: unrestricted immigration, liberal drug policies, unrestricted abortion, reduction in military and police spending, stricter gun laws, and automatic expansion of homosexual rights. I'm arguing that Love, properly understood, just as easily, perhaps far more easily, lends itself to a Conservative agenda. Example, one of many: Americans believe that National Security should exist and remain optimal at all times in service of the security of the nation--and of course this is correct. But from an AGAPE standpoint, National Security exists to keep us secure because 1.) protecting ourselves is an act of self-Love, 2.) protecting ourselves, collectively, the United States, is also an act of Love toward our allies, who benefit when the historical standard-bearer and Western protector is seen as, and is, strong and secure, 3.) insofar as this historical standard-bearer and world leader, us, is seen as, and is, strong and secure, it tends to keep the world stable, and thus comprises an act of Love toward the world, 4.) it's difficult to Love others if one doesn't Love themselves, and thus is this and other acts and forays into collective self-love necessary, for a weak America would be in a poor position to assist any other nation, and, last, 5.) Love of both others and self comprise the proper structure of AGAPE; anything less would detract from principle and practice. What you just read in the preceding paragraph is my striking and seminal "Argument-from-Love" in favor of a robust national security. My definition of Love, officially established at another of my foundational projects THE AGAPE ORDER, and consistent across all my work, is presented as: Agape, the principle of love, commonly referred to as "brotherly love," the "love ethic," or sometimes "universal love," is defined as follows: "Agape, or Brotherly Love, is the active consideration of, and acting upon, the interests of all people to their long-term benefit (or short-term, if more acute or their long-term benefit cannot be reasonably established), in more-or-less the same proportion as you consider (and usually act upon) your own interests."
Even the most fundamental of human social behaviors such as civility and basic courtesy are expressions or manifestations of their parent principal, Love. Thus, were the Love ethic adopted and implemented in American society there would be an immediate basic elevation of all social interaction, by everyone, from the man on the street to the woman in Congress. This elemental step, alone, would comprise a huge improvement in our current abysmal standard of social interaction in this country--and it would certainly help prevent any further treasonous incursions into U.S. Government buildings or other facilities. In fact, everyone's lives would actually get a touch brighter, as those around them displayed a smile and a bit of warmth. Such is the power of Love, properly understood, even in its most routine application. There is simply no question that this country is going nowhere without it, but will simply continue its present moral, ethical, and even political and technological descent and devolution, since a minimum of regard and respect for each other, which we're rapidly losing at every level of American society and governance, is required even for basic cooperation in any area or sphere of social endeavor or activity. Our lack of connection to each other impedes our moving forward as a nation in at least three ways: THE QUESTION OF THE PAST - A LOVE-BASED VIEW Example: Thomas Jefferson is a defining figure in and for America. Ergo (i.e. therefore) should his thought, likeness, and general legacy be conserved, preserved, taught, and learned. His ownership of human beings is not defining of America, ultimately, however, so we rightly deconstruct, critique, and reject such practice today, while adopting the intelligent and common-sense understanding that President Jefferson was a product of his time, as we are a product of ours. In presumably rare cases where said likeness of Thomas Jefferson, or indeed any historical figure, be it in a painting, statue, or other artistic form, is credibly reported by one or more individuals as genuinely and substantively subjectively injurious, our Love for all our Brothers and Sisters would certainly warrant an inquiry. A positive finding, however, could not facilitate wholesale removal of all artistic and other works bearing the likeness called injurious, only that or those deemed most injurious to the individual complainant or complainant class, such instances of said likeness reasonably expected to be few in number. Suppose, for example, that on a country road in South Carolina stands a statue memorializing a Mr. McHale, a slaveowner in the Antebellum (i.e. prior to the Civil War) South. Every day a young African-American woman, Rose, must travel down this road to get to work, the only such road. Rose is the great-grandniece of Robbie Evans, a slave "owned" by Mr. McHale, and thus has an intimate knowledge of his murderous abuse by Mr. McHale. As such, comprehensibly, Rose is traumatized each time she must pass this statue. In this circumstance, since the case meets three relevant criteria: 1.) special injury, 2.) to a limited class of persons, 3.) unavoidably, it would be reasonable and indeed the loving response to remove, and perhaps relocate, this artifact. This action would not affect other statues of Mr. McHale, elsewhere, that did not meet these three criteria. I have just presented you with what is perhaps the most powerful and explicitly utilitarian Conservative argument regarding such matters, balancing the desideratum of conservation, with the equal desideratum to practice Love, whether based on Christianity, or another system of belief or philosophy. There is neither kneejerk reflexion from the Conservative perspective, nor blind political correctness from the Moderate or Liberal, in my argument; simply a negotiation between two genuine competing claims, based on a single value system, Love. Use the most reasonable and comprehensible criteria to determine which claimaint is suffering more, unavoidably, and favor that claim. Regarding the desirability of honoring, or at least remembering such historical figures, whether Thomas Jefferson or Robert E. Lee, a key question to ask is: "Do you really expect such persons to exceed the morality of their day?" How many persons through history, and today, are able to exceed the morality of their day? Such persons are few and far between, and when history does produce them, they are rightly recognized and lauded. Ultimately, persons responsible for the suffering of others, especially that large-scale or especially pointed, should not be publicly celebrated, whether in the form of events such as holidays in their name, or artistic commemorations such as the commission and display of statues or paintings. Small scale remembrance, such as regional, or family or other private commemoration, is always appropriate and is permitted. YOUNG PEOPLE PROBLEMS OF YOUNG PEOPLE This section under construction. But some of these topics (i.e. subjects) are already remarked upon here, in the PICK YOUR ISSUE section. Note: the PICK YOUR ISSUE section recommended above resides at the website of an explicitly "utopian" political project of mine of years past, neither reflective of, nor relevant to, my present Presidential endeavor, which roots in the America of today and our present American system. As a philosopher and moralist I'm always drawn to serious discussion of utopian or hyper-optimized systems of any kind, but they are irrelevant to my present exploratory Presidential endeavor.
INTRODUCTION Let's begin at the beginning, shall we? What constitutes a "young person"? The first key fact that must be placed on the table for the benefit of young persons, that can be a powerful assist in them understanding themselves, is that the human brain is not fully developed until at least age 24, with some researchers asserting the age of 30, or even a few years beyond. What is the significance of this if you're young? It will help you to understand your own behavior: why perhaps you do or say things that, shall we say, represent less than your best. Once you understand this, you can give yourself a break, and not be so hard on yourself if you make a mistake. Ease up! Also benefitting from this research in human development are adults in regular intercourse with young persons, such as educators, law enforcement, and even business leaders whose products and services are marketed to young people, were this a culture based on genuine concern for others and not simply the accumulation of as many dollars as possible, with young people as a whole seen and identified as the "youth market," this or that segment of which is seen and understood as just another exploitable business opportunity. I have great respect for young people and what they must go through today, to survive and try to be happy, to try to build a life for themselves. And I have respect for, and a strong belief in, their intellect and their ability, and willingness, to learn. If I didn't, I wouldn't be presenting so much complex and sometimes difficult information and content here, at my Presidential website, and in my larger campaign. IF YOU'RE A YOUNG PERSON I BELIEVE IN YOU. I ALSO BELIEVE THAT IF YOU CAREFULLY AND SLOWLY ACQUAINT YOURSELF WITH MY UNIQUE AND POWERFUL IDEAS, YOU'LL JOIN ME, AND TOGETHER WE WILL GO FAR IN CREATING A FAR BETTER, MORE PEACEFUL, MORE SANE, AND SIMPLY HAPPIER WORLD. FOR YOU, ME, OUR FAMILIES, THE NATION, AND, I BELIEVE, THE WORLD. PROBLEMS & TOPICS Abortion Bigotry (i.e. racism) B*tch, being a Body Issues & Self-Image Bullying Cannabis (i.e. dope) College Confidence, & Confidence, Lack of - see Insecurity, below. Crime Culture. I'll be asking African-American professional Classical Music expert, scholar, enthusiast, and host Terrance McKnight to embark upon a 1000-city speaking, listening, and playing tour to various schools around the entire United States, to introduce our young people of every social class to Classical Music. In further service, fellow Americans, to the power of healthy human hearing and the places to which it can transport us physically, psychologically, spiritually, I want to begin exposing American kids of every social class, as well as the rest of us in this increasingly-noisy culture, to the notion and phenomenon of silence, increasingly identified not as a luxury, but an absolute necessity to maintain physical and psychological health. The drive to eliminate such damaging beasts as the so-called "leafblower" for numerous reasons are consistent with, and support, what will be our newfound acquaintance with healing silence. Reasons for phase-out of this physically and psychologically devastating device start with 1.) its categorical destruction of quality-of-life via noise of a uniquely intolerable character, and other pernicia, and 2.) significant contribution to climate change, We can begin to do this through an introduction to the work of Acoustic Ecologist Gordon Hempton, which includes, notably, the quest to preserve the last remaining 12 quiet places in the United States. Indeed does noise destroy the primordial rhythms of daily social and individual life. Try, for example, in a modern suburb to fall asleep lazily in your backyard, or even in your home next to an open window, enjoying the comfortable current of Summer air. Anyone foolhardy enough to attempt such reasonable acts will soon find themselves immersed in a web of intolerable noise and airborne filth as the now-ubiquitous leafblower makes its inevitable appearance. Death Depression Dope Drinking Drugs, Drug Use Education Gender (i.e. being homosexual, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual) Illness, psychological Illness, physical Insecurity. In making a mistake, many young people (and even older persons) will berate themselves with rebukes like, "God how f*cking stupid can you be? I DON'T F*CKING DESERVE TO LIVE." Forget that, kids. Instead, in making a mistake, remain silent for about 20 seconds to calm down. Then say to yourself, quietly, yet firmly: JUST DO BETTER NEXT TIME. Loss Marijuana Mental Health Money & Career Obesity Pain, psychological, emotional: (PAIN --> PROFUNDITY [i.e. deep thoughts] --> PROGRESS) Pain, physical Parents Partying Police Porn Pressure (from Parents, Boss, BF, GF, etc) Racism, see Bigotry, above Rape Religion Romantic Relationships Sex Sexual Abuse Social Media Suicide Work & Job Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Young People: What am I missing? Email me! HYPOTHETICAL QUERY FROM A VOTER Q. I'm Beth, a 17yo girl voting in 2024 for the first time--I'm really excited! But I have pink hair and a belly-button ring, I'm into rock and punk and a little hip-hop, I try to look sexy but I definitely also consider myself a feminist. And to be honest, I tune-out about 90% of what my parents tell me, lol. Your ideas seem a little conservative. Mr. D, What do you have to offer somebody like me? A. Beth, as President, the first, or certainly the most important thing that I'm going to do for you, is literally: SAVE YOUR LIFE. I'm going to save your life, and the lives of your family, friends, boyfriend, and everyone you know. If you've been following the vicissitudes (i.e. difficult, unexpected changes) of the Pandemic, you know that the medical authorities haven't always had a handle on how to respond to the virus, and they still don't, especially as it continues to mutate from variant to variant. They posit a first-line defense of vaccination. This is incorrect, however, and as the Coronavirus continues to mutate, the tenuous foundation of this approach becomes increasingly apparent. A vaccine is effective against one variant, but not necessarily against another, and what of the next variant, and the one after that? Is modification required of the various available vaccines, manufactured now by at least five companies? Who's keeping track of it all, and can such a sprawling and unwieldy phenomenon even be kept track of? Clearly, vaccinations are an important tool in the toolkit--but not our most important tool. Our most important tool has been left to collect dust in the toolkit, when, in fact, it is our most potent tool and must be restored, immediately. You've already heard of the tool of which I speak: it is masking. Mandatory masking on a global scale is the only real solution that our species has. The only answer that will save your life, and the only methodology that will give you your life back, that is, your old existence. After a specified period of mandatory mask-use every variant of the virus will have been eliminated, and will be gone. This is because the virus is transmitted through air, propelled along in the airstream from one person to another. As you know, this is how it survives, and thus reproduces. But if every person is masked, the virus is stopped dead in its tracks--it will have been robbed and deprived of its vector (i.e. means) of transmission--air. I'm evidently the only leader on planet Earth who sees this. As President and leader of the free world, I'm going to immediately call for a global summit of all world leaders to present our case and our argument: they must mandate that everyone in their country, with few exceptions, wear a mask all the time, for a specified duration, probably four months. Result? The end of the mandatory-masking period will see the end of the virus. No more virus means no more masking (or vaccinations) necessary, meaning you now get your life back, in full. This is precisely what I'm going to do for you as President, Beth--keep you alive. And give you your life, back. "...this face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against Covid than when I take a Covid vaccine." -- Dr. Robert R. Redfield, former Director, Centers for Disease Control (CDC). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "If the American public all embraced masking along with social distancing and hand-washing...we could bring this outbreak to its knees within four to eight weeks." -- Dr. Robert R. Redfield, former Director, Centers for Disease Control (CDC)ACTUALIZATION Real-Life Example Beth, under my Presidential governance, you and the rest of the country are going to learn, and have repeated opportunities, to Actualize, that is, to be and do the very best of which you are capable, and do so as a way of life, transforming that life and the life of the nation, in amazing ways! Here's an example. Suppose your final exam in history is coming up, and I asked you how well you might do. You respond, "Well if I study every night this week I'll probably get a B." Then I say, is that really the very best you can do on the test? You respond with a nervous laugh, not quite sure where I'm going with this, and you say, "Well, if I study every night this week, *and* all weekend, *and* Dad relieves me of chores all week and I use all that extra time to study, I think I could probably get an A or even an A+." So I respond back: Well, I just spoke with your Dad. You're free of your chores for the entire upcoming week so you can study for your history final, provided you also study every night this week, and the entire weekend, as you said--agreed? Now, boxed in, you agree--"OK!, you affirm. OK." So, the entire week and weekend pass, you're studying your a** off, and you take the exam, and two days later you receive your grade: A+ ! You did it ! We can say that in regard to that exam, your History final--you ACTUALIZED. You performed the very best of which you were capable! Now imagine performing this way in regard to everything that you do, in your life! And imagine everyone around you doing the exact same thing: everyone performing at a rate much higher than they usually do, with real excellence, if not actual perfection. Imagine the kind of America this would give us! In the economy, medicine, military, technology, education, poverty, everything! This is precisely what we'll be shooting for under a DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION--ACTUALIZATION! Regarding this possibility, Beth, renewal of a slowly devolving America, I quote the Alicia character from the powerful film A BEAUTIFUL MIND: - "I NEED TO BELIEVE THAT SOMETHING EXTRAORDINARY IS POSSIBLE" - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . NOTE: had you done all this studying and received a grade of B, or even C, it would still be true that you Actualized, because you tried to perform the very best of which you were capable. You're still not always going to succeed. SANITY, SECURITY, LOVE In general, if elected I'm going to give you a world of Sanity, Security, and Love. A world of that duality (i.e. something made of two parts) presently and fatally missing from this planet: 1.) beautiful social harmony as we encourage the natural connection between persons and groups of persons, all Brothers and Sisters in One Human Family, and 2.) social and economic functionality as people are encouraged toward competence, at least, and excellence, at best in what they do and how they do it, whether their job or anything else. Here's a quick-and-dirty example of #2, above: are you tired of people screwing up your food order at Burger King? Or hearing your Mom b*tch and moan because she ordered the blue couch but they delivered the brown one? Or feeling really sorry for your Dad because he went into the hospital for a simple procedure and came out with a punctured lung? Because some doctor or nurse made a stupid or obvious mistake? Many times the mistakes that we all make, and their consequences, are far more severe even than those I just mentioned. For example, how about millions of people who had their credit card information stolen from the Home Depot or Target databases? Or reading every other month that yet another American military helicopter crashed? Or how about a planeful of religious extremists who, in 2001 flew their planes into the (former) Twin Towers in Manhattan--a multi-tier act of Terror that our own American intelligence agencies (especially, acting in concert with those of our allies) arguably could have, and should have, detected and prevented? You get it, Beth? The price for incompetence, or even mediocrity (i.e. poor quality or performance), whether in a family, community, school, state, region, country (or even the world) is often high--sometimes VERY high. Yet this phenomenon (i.e. thing happening, often not fully understood) is ubiquitous (i.e. all over the place) and seemingly endemic (i.e. an actual part of what it means to be American). My Presidential platform and program calls for an end to this retrograde state of affairs, and instead, for we as Americans, and human beings, to begin striving to become the very best that we can be, in everything. So once the nation adopts this new ethic of behavior, you can see that everything around you is going to change dramatically, for the far better--including your own life. In essence, Beth, I'm going to work tirelessly every moment of every day to provide you with a world of Sanity, Security, and Love. You can't beat this combination, and I'm just the guy to do it--it was my idea. More to come. RESOURCES FOR GIFTED, BRIGHT, AND/OR SENSITIVE CHILDREN (AND ADULTS), INCLUDING STUDENTS ESPECIALLY INCLUDING THOSE WHO ARE, OR WISH TO, ACTUALIZE! https://www.MENSA.ORG https://gro-gifted.org/neuroscience-of-giftedness-greater-sensory-sensitivity/ https://www.guidingbright.com/resources https://www.amazon.com/Empath-Children-Sensitive-Feeling-Overwhelmed/dp/B096LWK888?ref_=ast_slp_dp https://www.enlightiumacademy.com/blog/parent-center/entry/albert-einstein-s-struggle-with-school-1 "WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?" . . . . . Ask this question all the time, and you'll likely never make a mistake. MY PLATFORM BROAD OR GENERAL ISSUES THE MIND - Every American shall be taught critical thinking skills, and such skill shall be reinforced through their lifetime. And the physical and operational integrity of the brain shall be carefully guarded, as: anything that human beings have done, are doing, or will ever do, is based completely and solely on one thing, and one thing, alone: the human mind, and its physical repository, the human brain. Accordingly, anything that compromises the human mind, as is ubiquitous today, simply cannot, and under my Administration will not, be tolerated, including: stress, poor-quality food and beverages, chemicals in the air, water, and soil, and needless to say, drugs. Alcohol is of a different intoxicant class, and has a lengthy, already-established history of legality in the United States, but wise use must be regularly and substantively encouraged. Without my Presidential influence, substantially adding to the decline of mind will be the continuing legalization of dope, including marijuana. We need the erosion of the human mind and brain that will undoubtedly accompany widespread national legalization and use of drugs, in this case marijuana and hashish, like a hole in the head, as such erosion will accompany an already existing decline in cognition and cognitive structure because of the rapidly-rising epidemic of dementia, explained, below. Moreover, as if all the above weren't enough, yet another problem is going to occur in the face of the widespread legal use of marijuana: it will likely drive large-scale addiction and quasi-addiction to the drug, which is extremely problematic since we Americans are already firmly in the grip of three other addictions or addiction phenomena, these, grossly compromising mind and body: Accordingly, marijuana and all drugs will be strictly illegal under the DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION. YOU'RE WELCOME. Brain neurons firing.
Actual photograph of a memory.
The following two paragraphs were prepared by the Office of Communications and Public Liaison, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health. THESE PEOPLE GET IT: "The brain is the most complex part of the human body. This three-pound organ is the seat of intelligence, interpreter of the senses, initiator of body movement, and controller of behavior. Lying in its bony shell and washed by protective fluid, the brain is the source of all the qualities that define our humanity. The brain is the crown jewel of the human body.
For centuries, scientists and philosophers have been fascinated by the brain, but until recently they viewed the brain as nearly incomprehensible. Now, however, the brain is beginning to relinquish its secrets. Scientists have learned more about the brain in the last 10 years than in all previous centuries because of the accelerating pace of research in neurological and behavioral science and the development of new research techniques. As a result, Congress named the 1990s the Decade of the Brain." Moreover, Humankind is just lucky that there is plasticity to the brain, that is, ability both to grow and repair, to afford possible correction for the many cerebral insults suffered by this vital organ. How unwise, then, to deliberately work at crosspurpose with your own brain through injurious lifestyle practice such as drug use. Research assessment of the various injuries of dope-smoking is variable and somewhat inconsistent, though, conservatively, conclusive agreement seems to exist that, at least: some number of brain cells are killed through use, memory is affected, addiction can occur, and use can cause cardiac damage. The 1936 film REEFER MADNESS, a cinematic diatribe against dope use, is mocked as exaggerated, but I viewed the film in its entirety and found nothing unrealistic in terms of how drugs adversely influence behavior and the course of social events. Accordingly, then, and ultimately: factors contributing to the decline in physical and mental health, and ability to think and perform other sensate (i.e. of the five senses) functions, starting with armed forces personnel and other citizens performing critical functions, shall be corrected. Fast food, for example, known to be nutritionally bankrupt and interfere with optimal physical and mental development and maintenance, shall be made more nutritionally sound. What will the giants in fast food like the McDonald's Corporation think of this exhortation? I don't know--are they patriotic Americans? Regarding drugs, all laws legalizing and even decriminalizing dope will be completely repealed as soon as possible. Legalization of dope also injures public behavior and the public intellect, thus strengthening the hand of our enemies. On the day that dope is legal in all 50 states, we can expect the enemies of America to host the biggest victory party the world has ever seen. NOT ON MY WATCH. NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL DEFENSE Today, February 25, 2022, the second day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, New York Times guest essayist Chris Miller, in a piece entitled "Why Is Putin at War Again? Because He Keeps Winning," writes: "We are 50 percent plus of global G.D.P.," Jake Sullivan, President Biden's national security adviser, argued recently, contrasting this to Russia's unimpressive 3 percent share of the world's economic output. However, economies don't fight wars; militaries do. America's economic power was tested when Mr. Biden threatened tough sanctions if Russia were to invade Ukraine; Mr. Putin did so anyway, betting that hard power would carry the day. There's still no doubt that America's military has better trained soldiers and more capable systems in aggregate. However, what matters is not theoretical military matchups but the ability to use force for specific aims. Russia has developed precisely the capabilities needed to rebuild its influence in Eastern Europe. The United States, meanwhile, has watched its room for maneuver in the region steadily shrinking, hemmed in by Russian antiaircraft systems and cyber and electronic warfare threats. Letting the military balance in Europe shift in Russia's favor was a choice. The United States has itself partly to blame. Even after Russia's first attacks on Ukraine in 2014, America's reinforcements on the continent were only enough to slow the rate of improvement in Russia's position. The Biden administration has presided over military spending cuts once inflation is considered. America's roughly $700 billion defense budget may look impressive, but Russia has the advantage of paying less for soldiers' salaries and for domestically produced equipment. Adjusting for these differences, Russia's defense budget has grown far more rapidly than America's over the past two decades. European allies have even more to answer for: Germany and other European countries must wake up from the fantasy that peace is their birthright. They used to have serious fighting power. It is time to rebuild it." Here is my own emphasis regarding what was just quoted: "Russia has developed precisely the capabilities needed to rebuild its influence in Eastern Europe. The United States, meanwhile, has watched its room for maneuver in the region steadily shrinking..." ... "Adjusting for these differences, Russia's defense budget has grown far more rapidly than America's over the past two decades." Moreover, reports the New York Times of February 28, 2022: "...if American intelligence agencies picked up on the kind of crippling cyberattacks that someone -- presumably Russian intelligence agencies or hackers -- threw at Ukraine's government, they do not have the infrastructure to move that fast to block them."
Why the Hell not? Aren't we the United States of America? Not to mention, we invented this technology! Do you still doubt the critical necessity for keeping drugs strictly illegal in America? We must foster the social, environmental, and cultural conditions to ensure the Actualization of the American mind and its physical repository, the brain: its full development and acuity. Use of dope, not to mention the operational, economic, cultural, and other infrastructures required to support such use, runs explicitly counterpoint to these utterly vital objectives. As it's the human mind and brain that is at stake, the sole determinants of all things, military, and in every other sphere of human civilization, drug offenses must be addressed with gravity, including possession of even "small" amounts of dope. First offense of a small quantity, such as a joint (i.e. marijuana cigarette) or two will carry no penalty, but simply require a court appearance and conversation with a judge. Second offense, however, of even a single joint will carry a mandatory 30-day jail sentence. I, a 64-year old man in 2024, will serve all, or a portion, of that sentence with the first offender to receive it, to show solidarity with the offender, and to illustrate that if a 64-year-old man can serve 30 days, so can any younger person. JUST SAY NO. This admonition represented wisdom when Nancy Reagan enunciated it--and so, today. Dementia Doubling As mentioned above, greatly hastening the attack on the human brain will be the massive increase in cases of Alzheimer's Disease and other dementias, with global dementia cases forecasted to triple by 2050, and doubling in the United States by 2060: "The burden of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias in 2014 was 5 million people, which is 1.6 percent of the U.S. population in 2014 - 319 million people. This burden is projected to grow to 13.9 million, nearly 3.3 percent of the population in 2060 - 417 million people." "...as the U.S. population increases, the number of people affected by Alzheimer's disease and related dementias will rise, especially among minority populations," said CDC Director Robert R. Redfield, M.D." This troubling forecast on the explosion in growth of dementia in America presents yet another reason that we cannot permit the use of drugs: as if dementia, itself, weren't bad enough, and drug use, itself, weren't bad enough, each a personal catastrophe and threat to the nation, once drugs are legal these two pernicious and insidious phenomena will sometimes co-exist within the same individual, exacerbating their cognitive decline and making it a virtual certainty that no healing can ever take place. With legal access to marijuana, hashish, and other drugs, nationwide, this phenomenon will likely destroy and disable thousands of Americans over a period of time--perhaps millions, eventually. NOT ON MY WATCH. KNOWLEDGE & INFORMATION - Though a little known, if not recondite issue, inefficient, inconsistent dissemination and use of knowledge is a foundational reason that America, and indeed the world, generally remains mired in problems that never seem to go away. Consult any variety of sources online or off on a given topic or question, and you'll receive a diverse and numerous array of responses and perspectives, as well, far worse, of disagreement on fact. Such a scattershot distribution of knowledge in a society keeps it largely groping in the dark in regard to, well, everything. Such an inferior ordering of our common existential possession--knowledge--is unacceptable to any society aspiring to Actualization, Greatness, and perhaps even survival, and is certainly unacceptable to me. As President one of my projects will be a series of open discussions with persons knowledgeable in this area, to arrive at some conclusions regarding adoption of a new paradigm for the optimal dissemination and employ of knowledge. I refer to this Actualized process the Standardization of Knowledge. Perhaps nowhere is this emasculated maintenance of knowledge more evident and injurious than in medicine. Have a serious illness? One doctor may know little about its treatment, while another knows a bit about it, while a third doctor, practicing next-door or a world, over, has the cure. Why don't they all possess the same knowledge? Because in this country and world there is insufficient, perhaps non-existent, standardization of knowledge. Starting to understand? More to come. CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC - Vaccination has become the global first-line defense of choice in fighting the Coronavirus. This, however, is a huge mistake. Vaccination is a modality (i.e. medical method) inferior to masking to counter and eliminate the coronavirus, COVID19 (heretofore referred to as C19). Vaccinations are high-tech, complex, expensive, and difficult to store and administer. Masking, by contrast, carries almost none of these liabilities and limitations, and has the staggering advantages of 1.) actually preventing spread of the virus between people in the first place, which means that through masking--mandatory global masking--we can actually eliminate the virus completely and permanently, and 2.) virus variants no longer hold any power, for masking is immediately and automatically effective against any and all viral variants. In 2024, if the pandemic is still raging, or even remains substantive, the DE BENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION, at my direction, is going to effect a wholesale shift to mandatory global masking, starting with calling for a global pandemic summit, a meeting of all world leaders to receive this argument and corresponding plan, in order to eliminate the virus completely and permanently. I understand that masking is seen as inconvenient by some persons, including me, and is not universally accepted, but a relatively brief period of masking will return planet Earth to complete normalcy, and is the only thing that will, with vaccination continuing as a second-tier modality. The only question and consideration for you, therefore, is: do you want your life back? If so, and vaccination combined with masking hasn't done the trick by 2024, Mandatory Global Masking categorically will. I have laid out my entire argument, and had contacted the Biden Administration, and a number of other world leaders and governments. Brothers and Sisters: No pain, no gain. REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH/RESOURCE - What is commonly termed the UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME (UBI) is a key plank in the DE BENEDETTO Presidential platform. Most likely consider this a new and novel idea, when in fact famed social psychologist and philosopher Erich Fromm proposed it in 1955 in his famous, and urgently recommended, work The Sane Society. The UBI notion is a prime exemplar of the fact, and power, of my combination electoral program that pairs 1.) Love, properly understood, with 2.) functional competence (if not, excellence, in this case). The kernel of the UBI approach is that every citizen is to possess, either through their own direct effort, or the redistribution of social resource, a minimum income, reside at a minimum income floor, sufficient to, and in accord with, a minimum decent human condition of existence. The idea demonstrates Love as it comprises all of us ensuring that each of us can live decently. And it comprises functional competence insofar as it represents a more efficient and effective system of needed redistribution of resource. There exists in this idea, however, a third socially and economically salutary benefit. UBI is a direct expression and implementation of a key Conservative principle and desideratum: reduction in the size of government, since all, most, or many existing bureaucratic structures of redistribution will, in fact, be completely eliminated, in favor of a singular structure. This is one of the rare examples in human history when our entire multifarious body of stars align, to the relief of some, and delight of many. As 2024 Presidential candidate, I am both relieved and delighted, and thus is our best implementation of the Universal Basic Income an integral and key part of my Presidential program. FOUNDATIONAL CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE - The election and presidency of Donald J. Trump illustrates that owing to the complex technological and geopolitical character of the modern age, Article II, Section 1, of the United States Constitution should be amended to provide for additional requirements to run for President the United States. The Founding Fathers specified as formal qualifications: 1.) an age of 35 years or older, 2.) a resident of the U.S. for at least 14 years, and 3.) a natural-born citizen. Through official amendment, to this set should be added a basic test of political, economic, historical, and geographical literacy. While true that the long election process characteristic of the United States does, in theory, provide ample time for the electorate to discern the fitness of a given candidate, a formal mechanism is required, as well. A second modification to the election requirements should be seriously considered, that of a basic test of psychological fitness. Governance by ignorance, ego, and prevarication can simply no longer be tolerated, given, for example, the formidable set of existential threats facing the United States, from climate change to unyielding global terror. CHARACTER; OUR HUMAN FAMILY - Every American shall be taught, and such teaching shall be reinforced, that all persons in this world are brothers and sisters in one human family--and should treat each other accordingly. Accordingly, the United States shall act as a force for good in the world, although not at the expense of national security. In the case, for example, of the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, apparently by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, President Trump is correct in asserting that severing relations with Saudi Arabia would be unwise. However, had Mr. Trump, or someone in, or associated with, his administration a strong moral center--Vice-President Pence, are you listening--they could have sat down privately with the Crown Prince to discuss and indeed meaningfully rebuke him on this matter. Such a conversation could have been accompanied by a symbolically punitive economic or social rebuke of some kind. "...power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic." . . . . . Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ASSISTANCE & OUTREACH As we are all brothers and sisters in one human family, we're finally going to embark upon Humanity's most critical socio-existential task, that which we must begin if we're to Actualize, that is, be the best human family we can be, and perhaps even if we are to survive: start helping each other. Nursing Home Abuse As we've got to begin somewhere, we'll consider abuse of residents, typically elderly and ill, at nursing homes and similar facilities, a longstanding problem across America. The problem is most prevalent in cases of residents who: "...don't have regular visitors or have friends who come visit them, they are the most vulnerable," states New Jersey's Long-Term Care Ombudsman. Laurie F. Brewer. Here is a more extended quote: Laurie F. Brewer, the state's ombudsman, believes the actual number of incidents involving abuse and neglect in the state are "dramatically" undercounted. Some residents are reluctant to report any problems, she explained, fearing retribution. ... "You are in the most vulnerable position in your life at the end of your life. People are fearful of reporting, especially people who don't have family members," she said. "It's heartbreaking. The thousands of people who don't have regular visitors or have friends who come visit them, they are the most vulnerable." The DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION is going to implement a series of programs designed to take persons seeking, or needing, to put their time to better use, from housewives with little to do during the day, to gang members who have plenty to do, much of it nefarious, and emplace them, through a program of strong encouragement, in helping situations, where their intellect and energies can do good, helping their lonely and vulnerable brothers and sisters. In the above scenario, for example, we will accept volunteer applications to emplace people to regularly visit lone, family-less residents of nursing homes and similar facilities, so that they are not so easily preyed upon. These voluntary programs will maintain a secondary objective: insofar as possible we'll try to raise awareness even among the predators that their actions are hurtful and inappropriate--including to themselves as they remain mired in a morality morass. Such persons would likely be facility staff, whether the nurse who is discourteous or impatient (or worse) toward the resident, or the janitor or orderly who regularly helps him or herself to whatever possession in the room strikes their fancy, that day. EPIDEMIC PROPORTION Speaking, as above, of "lonely and vulnerable brothers and sisters," the Surgeon General has announced that presently in America there is what he has termed an "epidemic of loneliness." So my plan to redress this uncomfortable and indeed traumatic problem, is a timely one. Homeless Children "The number of homeless children in the United States is at its highest in more than a decade, according to a recent study by the National Center for Homeless Education. More than 1.5 million public school students nationwide were homeless at some point during the 2017-2018 school year, according to the report published last month. That figure was the highest recorded in more than 12 years." This is the United States of America. Accordingly, the state and condition of American children reported in the following recent news piece, excerpted above, is categorically unacceptable, and will be permanently rectified under the DEBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION. I'll be pleased to employ market-based solutions, if possible. You'll notice that this topic is treated here under Character, not Economy. A nation with character doesn't permit children to be homeless. Nor does it permit adult homelessness, but adults can arguably weather periods of dislocation far better than children. In fact, our implementation of the U.B.I., Universal Basic Income (see above) may be robust enough to eliminate all homelessness. Room and A Meal Thinking globally, in consideration of our entire human family, I propose that every nation subscribe to the policy that every citizen have at least rudimentary permanent lodging, a single room will suffice, and access to food, presumably two or three meals per 24-hour period. Completing the proposal would be a worldwide commitment to population control, as resources are not infinite. Note that abortion is not an acceptable means of population control. Besides the moral consideration, which is considerable, completely wiping homelessness and hunger from the face of the planet will create a far more stable global population, thereby increasing national security for the United States. Radical revolutionary movements around the world, for example, will lose much of their steam in the face of such a policy. This will likely be of particular benefit to the United States, in fact, as our germination and sponsorship of the idea becomes known worldwide. Socialism? If so, of the most spare variety, as the proposal provides only basic housing and food--the least that we in our one human family should be providing ourselves. No, this proposal, in fact, reflects skilled national leadership, informed by political savvy, and appropriate behavior based on the ethic of Love, notably promulgated in singular fashion by Christianity (and in some fashion by certain other religions and belief systems). America's power in large measure over her 20th-century history came from her moral leadership (as well as, of course, her formidable military might, coalescing around and informed by a unified population). Under the DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION, prepare to meaningfully resume both kinds of leadership. Sole Survivor Trauma The loss of any of we human beings, any brother or sister, is so tragic, horrible, grievous, and overwhelming, that we must ensure that no loss leaves a sole survivor or two alone during the wake and funeral of their loved one, our lost. The DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION will encourage formation of a network of funeral homes working with mobile or floating grievers, persons committed to ensuring that no person or two must stand in attendance at the death of their loved one at their wake, or funeral, alone. The Floating Griever will stand, sit, and grieve with the family member or friend at the wake, funeral, and repast (i.e. meal, especially following a funeral). These blessed volunteers will also make themselves available for a short period afterward, perhaps three months, as needed by the survivors. Of course, in regard to clinical depression or any apparently excessive or unceasing death reaction, the Floating Griever will recommend professional counseling to the Bereaved, and can even set it up. This DB ADMIN program of Bereavement Accompaniment can be seen as falling under, and manifesting, my edicts that 1.) we Americans must re/discover our connection to each other, and become cohesive again as a citizenry and polity, and even a community, and 2.) under my Presidency, NO AMERICAN GETS LEFT BEHIND, even emotionally, if preventable. What is more Conservative, even primeval, than proper and natural attention to the bonds between member of tribes, clans, villages, or any common ancestral or similar population--including a country, during events of significance? And what is more Christian? AFFIRMATIVE ACTION The most usual recipients, or intended recipients, of Affirmative Action benefits are our African-American Brothers and Sisters, who came to America, unfortunately, in the most disadvantaged position possible: slaves. Thus, we must assist them. However, disadvantaged job candidates can be moved into positions only after they have mastered the necessary skills for the job. We cannot permit unqualified or semi-qualified candidates to fill jobs. Additionally, the shift today, whereby so much of the attention of the nation finds itself on African-Americans, their concerns, and their culture, is a mistake. Must we actively assist those who are, or were, in a catastrophic position, whether African Americans, Jews, the handicapped, or the unborn? Yes, of course. But our singular mission, and thus everyone's principal focus must remain America, herself, not any one individual or grouping, for if America diminishes for lack of full attention, every American will be hurt as the country finds itself enjoying fewer resources, from tax revenues to international respect and reputation, and is thus less able to assist those Americans, such as African-Americans, who require it. CRITICAL RACE THEORY Haven't acquainted myself with it, yet. Corporate Ethical Optimization (the other CEO) A conventional corporate structure typically sees all or some of the following segments or departments: It's the job of the marketing and advertising departments to assemble the most persuasive version of the truth concerning their product or service and present it to the public, or other target audience, with the usual objective of spurring sales, and most do so aggressively. There is typically something lost in this process, however, that should be of concern to every American, and American CEO: truth. I therefore propose, and will sponsor through legislation, that every American company or company operating in America create and maintain an Ethics Department, a counterpoint to the Marketing and Advertising Departments, its objective being a balanced and honest representation of all products or services marketed by its company. The necessity for such a department for an ethical society that wishes to act with character and honor, that is, Love, properly understood, toward its citizens and others, including international customers, becomes clear once one understands the dynamic of the typical Marketing department. The employees in Marketing in America typically and pointedly represent their product in the absolute best possible light, often whether such representation bears any full relationship to reality, or not. Like the baked goods company proclaiming that its products remain "simple" and "old-fashioned" in their creation and manufacture, while its ingredient list reads like a veritable chemistry set, complete with bioengineered (i.e. GMO) ingredients. There are innumerable examples of such overwhelming contradictions and juxtapositions in the marketplace of products and services, and they do not suggest a society that is being honest with itself, and the world. My predicate (i.e. foundational assumption) is that in America we can have an honest, or relatively honest, capitalism, making for an ethical people, and good business, as well. As with all the planks in my Presidential platform: everybody wins. ENERGY PRODUCTION - I will explain the basics of energy production, in the United States and around the world. But I can tell you immediately that based on my research thus far, all roads lead in one direction, and one direction, alone: POPULATION CONTROL. If we as a species are ever to gain a rational foothold on the continuing problem of permanent provision of clean, safe, and healthy energy, the principal reality, and our overarching directive, must be that captured in those provocative two words. Without serious and sustained population control, I don't see how we will ever solve this problem, for the reality of Earth is that we simply have too many people, consuming too much, too fast. It's as simple as that. So-called "green" solutions such as wind and solar, when scrutinized, are revealed as highly problematic, chiefly because neither wind nor sunshine sustains itself constantly, meaning a polluting technology, usually coal, must always be kept at-the-ready to prevent blackouts. Moreover, commonly-proposed so-called "green" or "renewable" solutions such as wind and solar, themselves, require an inordinate amount of power to produce, again, coal usually the power source of choice. Relatedly, equipment such as wind turbines and solar panels eventually break down and must be replaced, forcing a repeat utilization and expenditure of money, time, energy, and manpower. The last problematic element in conventional "green" thinking and alternative energy proposals is that the substitution paradigm that has emerged globally, and is being widely implemented, is the burning of wood chips or pellets that are called "biomass." This refers to the burning of small wood chips instead of burning coal. Biomass means trees and requires aggressive deforestation of just about every forest the power industry can get its hands on. This "green" solution has and continues to obliterate the forests of the world at an alarming rate, in a process called deforestation, injuring our efforts to fight climate change among other deleterious consequences of the large-scale obliteration of forests. Biomass fuel is considered, and described as, a renewable resource, at least nominally, because the trees that it's made from "will grow back." While functionally true, many or most won't grow back for many years, and in the meantime we see the likely permanent loss of forests critical to the amelioration of climate change, provision of elemental substances or proto-materials for new drugs and health or medical remedies, native animal habitats and biodiversity, and that which simply comprises the soul or spiritual center for humankind. RESOURCES The following two documentary-style films are essential to understanding the probable dead-end that is our present environmental course. We don't need, nor can we really sustain, at least not as our front-line defense against environmental threats present or future, yet more resource-intensive technologies and equipment, whether solar panels, wind turbines, geothermal dams, electric cars, or anything else the Green industry and its financial ecosystem might conceive. What we actually need is a rediscovery of, and commitment to, a simpler way of life that involves fewer human beings, leading simpler lifestyles that require far fewer resources to sustain. Likely the kind of existence that American Transcendentalist writer and philosopher Henry David Thoreau would have approved of. ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION - Until such time that moral law predominates, and while we as a human family work toward this objective, the United States shall meaningfully recommit to the standard of conventional law. Meaning, for example, that all persons having come here illegally shall be deported, with exceptions for those whose life would be genuinely imperiled or present other especially compelling reasons to remain. Persons brought here unknowingly, especially children, are exempt from these guidelines. Moreover, illegal or not, while not American citizens, these individuals are brothers and sisters in our larger human family, usually suffering and in many cases greatly suffering brothers and sisters, at that, and under the DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION will not be mistreated or intimidated. The very fact that the United States remains their objective suggests that our appeal as a center for morality and function of life remains high. Whether President or citizen, this pleases me greatly. How about you? CULTURAL & ECONOMIC COHESION LANGUAGE Deadline All immigrants must learn basic English within one year, additional year extension upon approved application. Partial ESL (English-as-a-Second-Language) financial assistance can be applied for by new citizens suffering genuine hardship. I'd also like to see a second test administered after five years, demonstrating a more advanced level of English literacy. There would be no further testing after that, but immigrants would be encouraged to continue their cultural and linguistic educations. The DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION will, of course, be friendly to the common-sense English-as-Official-Language idea. Immigrants today will be expected to demonstrate the same drive toward citizenship, cultural and linguistic literacy, and assimilation into America and American society that previous generations of immigrants, such as Italian, German, and others, demonstrated. Entrance into America remains a privilege, so entrants will be expected to understand and behave accordingly. You must strive to be an asset to America, your new country, as America will undoubtedly be an asset to you, and your family. PRONOUN PRISON According to The Free Dictionary: Pronouns are some of the most useful words in the English language. They are used in the place of a noun to avoid it having to be named twice. For example: Suzy threw the boomerang and it came back to her. In this sentence, "it" is a pronoun that represents the boomerang, and "her" is a pronoun that refers to Suzy. Without pronouns, we'd have to say Suzy threw the boomerang and the boomerang came back to Suzy. Without pronouns, how would we even say "we"? There is, however, a current within American culture seeking to distort-unto-death our conventional pronoun system, based on what they assert, or what indeed may be, latter-day shifts in gender identification. Grossly-misguided brother columnist John McWhorter explains and exemplifies it thusly: The other day I had occasion to use the pronoun "they" in the new way, referring to a specific person. Not your grandfather's singular "they" with its generic meaning - "A student can hand their paper in early if they want to" - but "they" as in, "Roberta wants a haircut, and they also want some highlights." In negotiating the latest attack, or at least concerted attempt to undermine the structure of our English system of pronouns (ESP), the language is going to remain traditional and standard under my Administration. Standard English will remain as it is, as it has well-served this nation and indeed the entire English-speaking world, which is to say just about all of Humanity. In terms of the substance, let's make short work of this perverse idea, shall we? Yes, language changes, has changed and will continue to change--when it has to. When there's a genuine and substantial reason for it to change. There is no such reason, now. As a neologist, myself (coiner of new words) and the inventor of the DEBENEDETTO DICTIONARY, I'm sympathetic to flexible use of language--flexibility, not outright evisceration. Regarding our pronoun structure, changes have already occurred over the years--leaving us with the workable and intuitive system that we now have. All the changes and shake-outs that had to occur to pronouns under standard English have already occurred, leaving usage at its proper resting point, or point of equilibrium or balance. There is nowhere else to go now--such usage is perfect. The only possible direction that we could go in, were our opponents to really push this issue--is down. As a writer I'm disinclined toward this kind of shift. As President I'd have an additional reason for such disinclination: in our increasingly technical world language is the lever by which these technologies are developed, operated, and maintained, from the computers running a complex open-heart surgery to those helping run an aircraft in distress, perhaps in a critical ongoing exchange with one (or more) air-traffic control towers. Even a syllable, and in some cases literally one letter can have a radically different, and sometimes actually opposing, meaning. Moreover, even on the intechnical (i.e. non-technical) front standardization of language is increasingly critical as we attempt to negotiate and in some good measure integrate vast shifts in the movement of populations often into America or other English-speaking nations. It's been recently found that our human disciplines of science and philosophy have been incorrect in their interpretation and definition of a key idea in Physics for the past 300 years. The reason for their gaffe? A misread of a single word. Accordingly, while the English language is dynamic and will continue to grow and change somewhat, changes to core linguistic elements such as parts of speech cannot be tolerated in a language such as English where these elements are mature and already understood and indeed often mastered by those speaking English, and upon which so many technical, economic, and even social systems depend, often, in fact, on a global scale, and sometimes by persons on that globe whose grasp of English may already be insufficient. An air-traffic controller in Bombay, India must be able to understand a colleague in Tokyo, Japan or Auckland, New Zealand--in an emergency, perhaps during the same exchange. The technical systems of the latter-day, then, must be run not only according to standard English, but standard English that is as easy to understand as possible, while remaining true to reasonable and/or expected denotative and connotative meanings. Having written this, I maintain a self-declared "Learning Presidency," so in this spirit I would like to converse with an advocate of such new use of language so I may learn why they seek such change. And Then There Were Three Further complicating and confounding the linguistic picture, and serving as the final nail in the coffin of the desire for a they/them paradigm is the new reality, and it displeases me to no end, of so-called Artificial Intelligence, comprising yet another parameter of understanding that we have to concern ourselves with, that is, another entity that we must ensure can understand our linguistic constructions. They (or it) that must understand (or simulate understanding) of our constructions now includes: October 07, 2022 Friday 130p I just caught the tail end of an interview conducted by Alison Stewart, host of the NPR program ALL OF IT, in which she was speaking with "Kit" someone about their book on the purported history of transgenderism. Referring to the interviewee, Ms. Stewart twice spoke incorrectly of "their" book, ala': "And here's Kit Carson; the name of their book is..." Of course, immediately upon hearing the plural pronoun I thought of multiple persons. But there were no multiple persons. The propensity, indeed likelihood of confusion, perhaps great confusion, that will come about from this kind of construction, and the damage that it could wreak on this nation (and, indeed, the world), especially in a mission critical incident, situation, or environment where minute shades of meaning could actually mean the difference between life and death, whether of an individual, a country, or the entire planet. This reality caused me to realize, and immediately commit to, ensuring that such constructions are actually declared illegal in America. Language must be precise, especially in our world fraught as it is with anarchy, violence, and technical, financial, and increasingly environmental chaos. Such profligate usage cannot and under the DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION will not be tolerated. As stated near the end of this document, as President I'm going to provide you an America that has returned to SANITY. Transgender and related persons can indulge themselves, or otherwise fashion their lives, as they wish. But they cannot ask me to remake the nation in like fashion--I simply won't do it. Standardization of Knowledge Pronoun use, already flexible enough to accommodate any and all social dynamism, will also remain as it is because of the necessity in this technical age for what I term the standardization of knowledge, presented and discussed, above. That is, the protocol and guideline that all knowledge, theoretical and practical, be available, passively and actively, to all people. This method of operation and communication objective becomes overly-complex when not just information must be standardized and disseminated, but the language of dissemination is or becomes nonstandard, as will occur if our longstanding framework of pronouns is compromised. I assure you that none of this is occurring to persons advocating this perverse shift in our system of pronouns. Luckily, like so much else that's critical to consider in the governance and management of this nation, it's occurring to me--and I'm communicating it to you. - Make English the Official Language of the United States - - Make English the Official Language of the Human Race - NATIONAL DEFENSE - The armed forces shall be rebuilt into a fearsome and advanced fighting force, able to win full-scale wars on at least two fronts. Impediments to effective fighting such as fast or junk food, inordinate time spent continually fiddling with smartphones, or inordinate focus on pornography or sex, shall be severely discouraged. Additionally, U.S. Force Readiness, i.e. training and equipment maintenance, shall no longer suffer in favor of acquisition of new weapons systems. Moreover, the Readiness and national security absurdity of relying on Chinese or other foreign industry for key components for American military and related systems must be stopped. Our own capacity to create such components must be developed immediately. As of May 2019 there is a similar problem in the pharmaceutical industry that must be stopped: in yet another example of the general and overall decline of America, U.S. pharmaceutical companies lack manufacturing plants to produce generic drugs, and must therefore rely inordinately on foreign manufacturing facilities in China and India, where tainted product is routinely manufactured, and companies often falsify records and destroy evidence to deceive the FDA, and compromise its inspections. NATIONAL SECURITY - Clearly, one of, if not the, most potent threats to the physical security of the United States is the legalization, and even decriminalization of dope, including and perhaps especially the drug marijuana. There is nothing an enemy would like better, and that would serve as a predictable prelude to American defeat or stalemate in both cold and hot war, than a stoned American fighting force, and stoned persons among the wide variety of support personnel, military and civilian, spread throughout the country and even the world, that our fighting force depends on.
Nor do any of these individuals need be actively stoned. A week of refraining from getting high means absolutely nothing for a person who's been getting high all the time, or even on a regular basis, for weeks, month, or years. The THC buildup in the bloodstream and fat cells, in concert with the multifarious weakness of mind and laxity of drive that regular drug use creates, will be more than sufficient to place our fighting forces at a decided, and likely critical, disadvantage, in any cold or hot war. For these and other critical reasons Marijuana and all drugs will be strictly illegal under the De Benedetto Administration. Whether you're military personnel or a weekend warrior enjoying parachute-jumping: all things being equal, whom do you want folding your parachute--the person who smokes dope, or the person who does not? If the latter, then you needn't continue agonizing or simply wondering whether you advocate the legalization or even decriminalization of dope--you don't. And if your wife, kids, family, friends, manager, co-workers, and neighbors want you alive after your jump--then they don't advocate the legal./decrim., either. Tell them. All laws legalizing and even decriminalizing dope will be completely repealed as soon as possible. Legalization of dope injures the public intellect, and public behavior notably including resolve and will, critical in a time of hot, and even cold, war, thus strengthening the hand of our enemies. On the day that dope is legalized and even decriminalized in all 50 states, we can expect the enemies of America to host the biggest celebratory victory party the world has ever seen, in honor of the permanent evisceration of the strength of American spirit, character, will, and resolve, and thus American power, and the newfound relative ease of their continuing efforts to undermine this nation and its values, and by extension and extrapolation the entire West and all that it is. NOT ON MY WATCH. And how and why during the 1980s and 1990s, especially at a time when the United States was running around the world attempting to persuade nuclear suppliers to deny Iran even peaceful-use nuclear technology, did the United States and her allies miss the clandestine transfer in the mid-1980s of nuclear technologies from Pakistan to Iran? This was arguably a national security blunder arguably as large as our failure to detect the 9/11 Al Qaida offensive against the United States. My full National Security argument is found here. Immediate Investigation Immediately upon taking office I'm going to order our security agencies--all of them--to begin a serious inquiry into precisely who is advocating for the legalization and decriminalization of dope in America. For it's possible that our enemies, using front groups and persons, could be behind the apparent large-scale effort in the United States to legalize and decriminalize marijuana and related drugs. Please also see a more extensive treatment of this vital National Security issue in the free online draft of my new book arguing against any introduction, with a possible medical exception, of drugs into American society. JOHN MCCAIN - Voting for John McCain for President in 2008, I will never accept the ChickenHawk Donald Trump attacking and insulting the good name of John McCain--clearly, an American hero. On the basis of these attacks, alone, neither Conservatives, nor anyone else should ever cast a vote for this out-of-order chickenhawk, although Donald Trump's baffling obsequiousness toward all-things Putin suggests that Mr. Trump doesn't even deserve the "hawk" portion of the pejorative "chickenhawk." POLICE - I have formulated a seminal policing paradigm that I call T.A.B. POLICING. The T.A.B. component, to be revealed later, refers to an unusual approach to, or philosophy of, protection, rooted in Agape (i.e. Love of Neighbor) that can be incorporated into the basic policing function. It most certainly will NOT involve de-funding the police. Brothers & Sisters, Fellow Americans, there is but one way that the concept of "police" could ever become irrelevant: when there is a change in the human heart toward goodness, rendering the police, as presently defined, unnecessary. Moreover, as a general protection paradigm or philosophy, T.A.B. can even reshape the way gun owners approach their weapons for home and personal protection, providing an interesting, intriguing, and exciting new dimension to both ownership of, and perspectives on use of, firearms. More to come. NATIONAL DEFENSE, MILITARY SERVICE - Every able-bodied American of at least 21 years of age shall serve a minimum of two years in the Armed Forces; three years recommended. Persons who cannot serve in a conventional capacity owing to age or disability, shall serve in administrative or other non-combat positions. Once elected, or before, I, myself, as President will either begin basic training in a branch of our Armed Forces, or will assist at a local recruiting center. It's impossible for me to do so at the present time, as I remain the sole full-time caregiver to my Mother, 90yo and bedridden. Age of service in the American military to increase from 18 to 21 years of age, at which time we'll hope that at least a few of the toes of the recruit will have been dipped into adult waters. Reasons for Compulsory Service The Primacy of Ideas In my book draft LOVE: PROPERLY UNDERSTOOD I assert that only Philosophy will save the world. By this I don't necessarily refer to the academic or even pragmatic discipline of philosophy, but more the focus of Philosophy on ideas. On ideas as drivers of both human behavior and change. We can subscribe to the "Great Man" theory of history, provided we understand, in keeping with my admonition that we always seek the root of a problem, idea, or circumstance, that a great man or woman is usually thought so because of something they have accomplished, some act or action in which they have engaged. But not any act would be seen as laudatory, only certain acts. Which ones? Why, those in keeping with our value system, that is, those that represent or embody those ideas that we consider most valuable. For a simple, perhaps simplistic example: a man who murders ten people would not be considered a great man, for we don't generally value such a casual appreciation of life--cavalier disrespect for life is not an idea that we embrace. But a man who feeds ten people likely would be considered a great man, or certainly a good one, for the preservation and indeed expansion of life is a value, an idea, that we revere. Ideas, then, drive the world, as contained in, and announced by, the subtitle of this document: "...the Primacy of Ideas," and Philosophy, among all disciplines, takes the idea as its foundational element: it's chunk of clay to be molded, its bloc of stone to be chiseled. Why compulsory military service? Because America is, above all else, an idea, and a revolutionary one, at that, and every man, woman, and child must learn what it means to defend an idea. Must learn to defend those ideas that matter most, that they and their culture revere. This will also resolve the present multi-year recruiting crisis suffered by the United States military. Under the DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION, each of us will serve two years in the United States Armed Forces, a time for which each of you will come to be thankful, for the ways that it has bountifully enriched, added to, not subtracted, or detracted from, your lives. Seraph, an interesting and powerful character in the second and third installments of the The Matrix film series, asserts, in defining his role and raison d'etre: "I protect that, which matters most." And so must we. DeBENEDETTO PERSPECTIVES ON MILITARY SERVICE Military service is noble and needed.The ideal soldier, "the best of the best"? When your martial skills are peerless. Second to none.And so is your morality--so you may never have to use those skills against another human being, unless genuinely and absolutely necessary. "WHAT YOU TRULY LONG FOR IS DISCOVERED BY FIGHTING FOR IT." . . . . . Message From Marines.Com Web Site Public Home Page AGE OF ADULTHOOD - There will be serious exploration of increase in legal age of adulthood from 18 to 21 years of age in America, at which time all rights and privileges, and duties and responsibilities of adulthood shall begin, such as: military service, voting, and purchase or use of such items that can be hazardous to the self or others such as alcohol, firearms, and heavy or otherwise injurious equipment such as leafblowers. If the massacres in Buffalo, N.Y. and Uvalde, Texas taught us anything, firmly supported by years of developmental research, it's that an 18 year old human being is NOT an adult in cognition and emotion, that is, in brain development. It's time that our related legal infrastructure reflects this and once it does, much personal and social contortion will revert to a proper equilibrium and equanimity, resulting, especially in concert with then new reinforced ethic of love, connection, and trust between Americans, in fewer, if any, catastrophic events such as school shootings. VETERANS & VETERAN'S AFFAIRS - We don't have to support every war to support those who fought in them. Some wars, of course, such as WWII, are universally supported. - Support United States Combat and other Veterans - - Support Paralyzed & other Severely Injured United States Combat Veterans - - NATIONAL WORLD WAR II MUSEUM - - Young People, Learn Your History! - INADVERTENT INJURY TO AMERICA - Of which the legalization of dope, as briefly outlined above, is an excellent example, occurs in other ways, as well. For example, if one listens to political talk radio, one is familiar with various "conservative" hosts who routinely hurl oceans of invective, sometimes vulgar, at various politicians and figures of the opposing political point of view. The excoriation is routinely so harsh that, if you didn't know that the host was referring to an opposition American politician--often the President of the United States--you'd think that they must have been, indeed could only have been, impugning one of America's enemies, likely her worst. The problem is that if the most extreme language is used by American radio hosts in slander of American politicians, what kind of language is left to describe the genuine enemies of America? We'd want to use the strongest possible language to condemn and indict our enemies, yet it seems that this body of opprobrium has already been used to tear down our own leaders. Accordingly, I intend to study this phenomenon and attempt to redress, or at least curb, it. Media commentators will be educated on this problem and urged to restrain themselves. I believe that the fact that we're all Americans, media hosts and politicians, alike, in concert with the new ethic of Love that will partially underpin my Presidency, will comprise a potent enough mix, force, to curb this insidious phenomenon. EDUCATION - Mathematics and gymnastics will be returned to every school district in America. The former sharpens the mind, the latter, the body and the mind. A central and permanent question that my campaign, like my work in social science for a long time now, will continue to pose, is: could the United States produce another Einstein? My Fellow Americans, Brothers and Sisters; I assure you that the loss of two of the activities most relevant to the development of the mind, gymnastics and mathematics, will not assist in, nor increase the likelihood of the latter-day appearance of such a figure. Between this and the amount of distraction in our modern culture--from smartphones, to fast food, to deafening leafblowers, it doesn't, at present, look good. This is going to change under my Administration, however--I assure you. American theoretical physicist and wartime head of the Los Alamos Laboratory, J. Robert Oppenheimer, credited, among others as "father of the atomic bomb" for his role in the Manhattan Project, the World War II research project that developed the first nuclear weapons, said: "There are children playing in the streets who could solve some of my top problems in physics, because they have modes of sensory perception that I lost long ago."
Who, then, will our next Einstein be? If a younger person, it could well be you! If a parent, your son or daughter! Let's find out, shall we? History The teaching of history, from world to local, to all students, at all grade levels, will be a priority under the DE BENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION, for, as issued by George Santayana it's likely that "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it," because history provides a frame of reference for understanding the basic logic, importance, and significance of the events and personages of today, that frame a vital key to understanding, and thus the ability to negotiate the events of today with competence, resolve, creativity, insight, and in a manner congruent with, if not Actualizing, our most important values. And of course, full knowledge of history is a key assist in coming to understand what those values are, in the first place. The attempt to negotiate the present with little or no knowledge of the past, is like attempting to traverse a dense jungle with neither map nor compass. History, American Students and young people today know little of the history of America, their own country. This is going to change under my Administration. In fact, here are some resources for use in starting to learn American history, right now. Why wait? THE MEN WHO BUILT AMERICA - This enhanced documentary series provides of the "Robber Barons," America's legendary group of pioneering industrialists and bankers, this superbly-done series remains of note, and a must-watch and discuss. It provides a detailed portrayal of four of America's most famous, or infamous, if you prefer, "Robber Barons," those industrialist tycoons who, while generally acting without concern for the common man, or indeed any man including each other, built colossal, influential, and indeed vital industries often from nothing, that would form the industrial and financial backbone of America, permitting it to rise to global prominence, and then dominance, a role it would categorically occupy for many years to come. To learn of these men and their exploits is to learn, at once, much of what can be seen as bad about America, and much of what can be seen as great. After watching and absorbing this narrative, you will understand America, your own country, and its values good and bad, far better, likely better than you ever have or could. While this enhanced documentary series does not properly convey the misery and suffering among the American public (and likely, peoples elsewhere) caused by the actions of the "Robber Barons," America's legendary group of pioneering industrialists and bankers. Their often poor, if not abysmal treatment of their workers, the American population, and the country, generally, is not properly represented in this production, but could be, in a Zinn-style separate documentary series.COMPETENCE & THE WORK ETHIC - Permanent public education campaign to dramatically increase the functional (and moral, see Love Ethic, above) excellence of America: all persons on the job are to get their noses out of their smart phones and focus competently on their job and their work. This exhortation directed to every role and occupation from police officer, to construction worker, to doctor, secretary, to armed forces member. Under my Administration, America will see dramatic movement toward Actualization, that is, being the best nation that it is capable of being. Needless to say, large-scale successful introduction of such an ethic would put America back on the map in a huge way in terms of the worldwide appeal of its entire suite of products and services. Jackpot! None of this is even remotely possible, however, if the American population is fatigued, ill, distracted, high, or otherwise suffering any substantive form of what I term the decline of mind, which is largely why we must act with intelligent deliberation to preserve the mind, and why, therefore, we cannot permit engagement in any activity nor use of any substance or agent that compromises the mind, that is, our ability to think or engage any sensate function. GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION - The Department of Homeland Security will be renamed. Labeled under the George W. Bush administration, the lack of facility in language of the President may have been why this vaguely Nazi-sounding name was selected. Homeland...Fatherland? Additionally, to my knowledge there is no tradition in America of conceptualizing the nation as our "homeland." Replacement names might include Department of National Security. This title has bothered me since it was first ascribed, and under my administration it will be changed, forthwith. COLLABORATION - Upon my election as President I will convene a round-table series of conversations with every former President, televised in whole or part, repeated as often as necessary. As far as I'm concerned the Presidency in the modern age is a position of great complexity. Though one's vision for the country may be straightforward, as mine generally is, the devil is always or often in the details, and to wade through those details the experiences, and in some cases the intellect, of the former occupants of that Office could prove invaluable. Such conversations, at the very least, will demonstrate the politically expansive perspective of the De Benedetto Administration. Nor am I averse to inclusion of persons of other parties in my Administration, as exemplified by the Abraham Lincoln, then Barack Obama Administrations. ABORTION - My view on this issue has changed, somewhat. Follow my thinking, below. We've got to stop killing Americans, so abortion shall be outlawed. A large scale, effective, nationwide network of adoption shall be created and fully funded, so as to integrate into the life of the nation and its culture. Said effort shall be promulgated globally to influence every other nation to stop the global genocidal holocaust of humans emerging in and from the womb. The assertion that a woman's body is hers to control as she wishes is easily corrected, as it requires only a small technical correction: once conception occurs, there now exists a second body, not the mother's. This becomes clear enough after only a few weeks of development, when the new being will have formed their own hands, feet, and beating heart. As a separate body, and being, in accord with both American, universal, and natural law, it has de facto, and implicitly, it's own right to exist. The abortion question, in large measure, is a consideration and examination of whether a given mother will enforce, or destroy, that right. Termination of abortion rights will be of no real consequence, however, as no woman will have to keep and parent a child whom she does not want. All children are to be born, but unwanted children will be given for adoption immediately. This addresses the concern of the mother about keeping a child, while still sparing the life of the child. Of course, those of us of age*, who have been around the block, know that after carrying her child to term and then giving birth, rare will be the woman, young or otherwise, who will look into the eyes, and at the face, of that infant and still elect to relinquish it. ULTIMATE LIBERAL Persons of liberal and sometimes even centrist politics take it as an article of faith that every vulnerable group should be protected and assisted--and of course they're right. But their understanding of vulnerability and accordingly what groups should be considered vulnerable and rendered assistance is inconsistent. Indeed do liberals consider and construe many social groupings vulnerable, from the homeless, to minorities, to members of the homosexual and transgender communities. Where they fall down on the job, however, is in the premature termination of their list; its lack of comprehensiveness. They curtail their identification of such groups prematurely, meaning, there's at least one vulnerable group left to be protected. Just when they arrive, or would and should arrive at the doorstep of this last vulnerable group do they permit themselves incongruity, that is, inconsistency, as that last group that is obviously and transparently our most vulnerable--what I term emerging humans, that is, the fetus and embryo in the womb, aren't on the liberal list as they cut it off prematurely, declaring it finished and complete. I, however, in fashioning my list do not entertain such a shortcoming or oversight. My list does not suffer such a gap or omission, no such "hanging chad." I tally all vulnerable groups for inclusion, especially our obviously most vulnerable. I don't cut my list off unless every weak and vulnerable population is included. Ergo, as I'm deliberately protecting and advocating protection for more vulnerable populations than most liberals, I out-liberal the liberals. As a conservative, I am the ultimate liberal: actually more liberal than most liberals, by their own standard. Further fact and perspective can be found in my anti-abortion essay. PHIL MURPHY The Governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy, besides being instrumental in the legalization of dope in this state, and advocating abortion to term, seeks to expand abortion in N.J., and, in fact, make us a sanctuary city for women wanting to abort. In asserting this, I couldn't believe that I heard him use the explicitly oxymoronic descriptor "abortion care" at 11:13am (around May 10, 2022) in a news segment on NPR. He was noting his attempt to expand the murderous procedure in N.J. and he actually used that phrase. Governor Murphy's advocacy of both dope and abortion makes perfect sense: smoking dope will likely encourage promiscuous, irresponsible sexual activity, probably leading to pregnancy. However, as Phil Murphy would probably tell you: a simple abortion clears this problem right up. _________________________ *I've always proffered a mild objection to the de facto vaguely preferential descriptor "of color," used only to describe persons with brown-hued skin. As a Caucasian, I'm "of color," as well--my skin is beige. Beige is a color. In of age, however, I've found a counterbalancing descriptor that I think is not just clever, but possessive of actual descriptive and explanatory utility (i.e. usefulness), as well. I define persons of age as minimum 50 years old. I, then, at almost 62 years old, am clearly "of age." Are you? CRIME - Crime is a human phenomenon that is very easy to understand. Strictly speaking, crime is a rubric, that is, a category, that refers to and includes the aggregate acts of violation of the set of established laws, known as "The Law," in short, of a given society. One would typically say, for example, "He broke the law." Crime, as a rubric, a class of violative actions, consists of acts such as theft, assault, murder, rape, slander, libel, trespass, transport of narcotics, use of narcotics, transport of child abuse imagery, creation of child abuse imagery, forgery, fraud, and many other acts that violate at least one established law. CRIME, REVEALED DeBenedetto Diagnosis Let's understand what crime actually is. Crime is a template, an overlay that we place on certain kinds of transgressive behavior. If a kind of transgression is prohibited by a law, then its commission is called crime. It's important to understand this because once we do, we understand that in regard to these violations, whatever they may be, we're not actually dealing with a "crime" problem. There is actually no such thing as a "crime" problem, because there is actually no such thing as crime. There's only transgression against others, some forms of which are officially prohibited by man-made rules against that form of transgression, these rules being called laws. Crime is an excellent example of our lack of connection. Is your mother or father going to mug you? Is your son or daughter going to steal your car? Is your next-door neighbor going to burn your house down? Is your cousin going to rape your wife? Is your best friend going to hit you with a baseball bat? Is your child's school principal going to commit fraud against you? The answer to all these questions is: "Highly unlikely." Why? Because in all these cases the possible assailant has a human connection to you--husband, wife, son, daughter, cousin, grandmother, grandfather, best friend, neighbor, high-school principal, and persons don't generally harm others with whom they have or feel a connection. So even the crime problem would greatly benefit were there a greater sense of connection among people. Thus, when we apply the DeBenedetto Diagnosis the crime problem evaporates, and we're left simply with we had before and, in fact, have always had, nothing less and nothing more: human transgression, the mistakes that we all make, of every kind. I've claimed in this Internet document that Love, properly understood is the foundational answer to every human problem. So-called crime is another excellent example, as even crime is affected by Love--in the presence of Love crime is virtually non-existent. Now that we've cleared the field conceptually, and clearly understand what we're dealing with, we can address the problem. DO NOT BREAK THE LAW Legendary metal band Judas Priest got nuthin' on me as I resolutely warn every American: DO NOT BREAK THE LAW. This admonition applies to all persons violating or considering violation of the law, whether in a street gang, the corporate boardroom--or the Police Department, itself. The arm of the Law is long, indeed, and eventually you're going to get caught. For some of you, those egotistical or simply dumb enough to imagine that you're not getting caught and you never will, your apprehension and arrest is going to be particularly traumatic for you--because you simply never saw it coming. It's coming. Law Enforcement is out there and it's watching. Perpetual lawbreakers will come to its attention sooner or later. BE SMART--whatever illegality you're involved in, stop it immediately. Consult a lawyer if necessary to ensure that you really are in the clear and will not be arrested or charged even after the fact, in other words even after you've ceased your activities. Yes--that can happen. Breaking the law is particularly egregious (i.e. very bad or severe) because in most cases it hurts other Americans, other human beings. You DON'T want to do that. Remember the 2nd plank in my Presidential platform? CONNECTION. Bringing Americans TOGETHER, which we must do to save this country (and the world, BTW). Crime also contributes to chaos and anarchy in society--I think we have quite enough of that already both in American society, and around the world, don't you think? So do yourself, your family, your community, and this country a favor and DO NOT BREAK THE LAW, in any way, whether infractions large, or perceived small. NOISE - OUR NEXT GREAT AMERICAN ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGE As this Internet document will, and many other on-and-offline print and other resources have, documented, noise, a problem garnering essentially no attention from those in authority nor even our mainstream environmental organizations, is, in fact, an utterly horrific problem for everyone. Noise is a many-headed hydra whose aggressive tentacles reach directly into every sphere of American life, and directly into the human mind, itself. The most egregious, pernicious, and insidious noise problem today is probably the gravely-misnamed leafblower, thoughtlessly besmirching the good name of the gentle leaf. For the most tentative of beginnings, please see Quality-of-Life, below. QUALITY-OF-LIFE - Among the key issues eroding American's quality of life is noise, so this issue will be aggressively redressed by the De Benedetto Administration. Redress of this problem is also, like restoration of gym and math considered above, relevant to whether the United States could ever produce another Einstein. Given present noise levels across much of America, especially from that now-ubiquitous device, as odd as it is injurious as it is superfluous--the so-called "leafblower," one can't even hear themselves think, much less generate the intensive and extended streams of thought required to achieve Einsteinian excellence in Physics, or any other discipline. Another Einstein? In fact, with present levels of noise and cultural distraction I wonder whether the United States could even produce another Steve Jobs or Bill Gates. These unnecessary devices, moreover, are significant contributors to climate change, a problem now of existential proportion, so for this reason, as well as the noise, vibration, and toxic airborne mix that they generate--they must, and will, be gone under my Administration. In fact, you'll find this "Another Einstein," the "AE Question," serving as the grand referent or arbiter on many questions of policy and program: if a given action would tend to increase the likelihood of producing another Einstein, the De Benedetto Administration will tend to support it, and vice-versa. Best, Brightest, by the Boatload "Quality of Life" (Q.O.L.) is a notion and reality that covers a lot of ground in terms of what it means, and to whom it applies. For example, besides describing the relative satisfaction of life in America for our own native-born citizens, Q.O.L., poor Q.O.L., can affect the flow of talented foreign students and professionals who elect to emigrate to America for her premier educational institutions, and later to live, work, and we presume achieve here at the highest levels, further enhancing and burnishing the image of America, as both the center for global innovation and the country offering the most advanced, robust, and world-class post-graduate education and research facilities, programs, and opportunities.Questions, then, pertaining to noise, levels of violence, and a number of other Q.O.L. parameters remain key for short-and-long term viability of this nation for everyone, native-born and foreign, alike, and as such will remain fixed on my radar as President. If your activities, equipment, or technologies generate disruptive levels of noise, or are outright crimes, be warned that they, and you if uncooperative, will be at dead-center of my Presidential bullseye. FIREARMS / GUNS What is the DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION going to do about your guns? I anticipate no significant changes to federal, state, or local gun policy. The basic gun policy of the DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION will be: if you're so inclined, go buy a gun; the best that you can afford. You and your family will enjoy hours of target practice, trap or skeet shooting, enjoyment of ownership, and mastery, of a fine instrument, an experience not that much different than owning a fine watch, set of carpenter tools, fishing pole, or even a metal detector for "coinshooting" or general treasure hunting, and of course a likely enhanced feeling of personal security in and around your home. And if you're someone who has traditionally eschewed (avoided) firearms, you'll benefit from the bit of distance traveled outside your comfort zone, including the benefit of seeing and experiencing "how the other half lives." And don't underestimate the importance of this last benefit, as it is rooted in, and an excellent step in support of, the very first plank in my Presidential platform: bringing Americans together. Now back to basic firearm ownership vis-a-vis the official gun policy of the DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION: yes, aggressive encouragement of voluntary safety checks and secure storage. Occasional reminders that, as intelligent policies bear fruit and citizens tend to feel safer, we do want, as biblically prescribed, to voluntarily beat as many of those guns into plowshares as we can, as soon as possible. And we must and will seriously consider the views of the law enforcement community, as this is the group going up against firearms every day. I take this general "hands-off" policy position because: In fact, rather than any subtraction from the firearms-owning experience, through my new T.A.B. paradigm for personal defense and protection, briefly introduced above in my POLICING section, I'm going to bring an interesting, exciting, and certainly challenging addition! I will add at this time, June 2022, that I personally do not own a gun, nor any other weapon of any kind, nor have ever even held a gun or other weapon. TO MY GUN-OWNING BROTHERS AND SISTERS Hard-Core, Hard-Care Fellow Americans, Brothers & Sisters, being a gun culture doesn't mean that this is all we can be--the America that I know, that I've always known for her excellence and exceptionalism is a place that is nothing if not tough, confident, innovative, successful, and flexible on all counts. Ergo (i.e. therefore), America can have and be a gun culture and a culture of love, respect, and support for one another, and, in fact, as many hard-core firearms enthusiasts are also Christians, we might remind ourselves of our roles not just as gun enthusiasts, but Christian gun enthusiasts. And thus our duty and desire to remain committed to the continuing maintenance, and growth, of our American Christian culture. We want our hard-core gun ownership and enthusiasm to bring with it hard-care, that is, the active attention to, and assistance in, the welfare of others that is the radical love that Christ taught, the Second Great Commandment of Christ, in fact. IF WE'RE TO BE A NATION WITH ESSENTIALLY UNRESTRICTED GUN OWNERSHIP, we must counterbalance this right by deliberately maintaining ourselves as a nation actively living the principle of Love toward each other, all the time, across all situations and circumstances. This, whether we elect to ground our belief in Love in God, or some other religious or philosophical principle or perspective. Fellow Americans, Brothers & Sisters, just as Conservatism is not an excuse or euphemism for bigotry, gun ownership and our 2nd Amendment right must not be an excuse for wanton and thoughtless killing, or narcissistic aggression or even intimidation. Even with a gun in your hand, in fact, especially with a gun in your hand, you always try very hard to save that life, not extinguish it. You shoot for the knee, not the heart. And in doing so, you reveal your own merciful heart. We must all realize that there is a world of difference between the various firearm spheres: owning a gun, in no way means that you must use the gun, and using the gun, in no way means that you must kill with the gun. Each of these can be understood as its own fully separate sphere of reality and experience. I DON'T WANT TO HEAR THAT YOU'RE A GUN OWNER. I WANT TO HEAR THAT YOU'RE A CHRISTIAN GUN OWNER. BECAUSE IF YOU'RE A CHRISTIAN GUN OWNER, AND YOU TAKE YOUR CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES SERIOUSLY, WE MIGHT NOT NEED ANY GUN REGULATION, OR ANY ADDITIONAL REGULATION, AT ALL. "People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people." . . . . . V, Protagonist in the Film "V for Vendetta" HOMOSEXUALITY (i.e. being gay) - Persons feeling themselves to be homosexual shall undergo a prescribed period of psychological counseling, perhaps three years, to ascertain the validity and veracity of said feelings. Said counseling shall include humane, collaborative attempts to de-emphasize homosexual impulses in favor of heterosexual. After the aforementioned period of counseling, however, if said individual still fully understands themselves as homosexual, or gay, then reality has spoken and as many universal rights and privileges that can be afforded them, will be. Homosexual individuals are brothers and sisters in our one human family as any other person, and, as such, are to be loved and respected. Cultural elements that tend to confuse sexuality, or homosexualize men (or women), such as "transsexual" pornography and Drag Queen Story Hour, shall be sharply discouraged, or outlawed. TRANSSEXUAL / TRANSGENDER - This seeming conundrum is easily resolved: a key concern of conservatives is that the conventional male-female structure be preserved. Yet, in transgenderism we seem to have a third gender. The correct way to understand this phenomenon is that what is called transgenderism is actually a transition period to one of the two conventional genders, which, once attained, leaves the male-female model fully intact. For example, if a male asserts that he is actually female, the DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION will recommend the following therapeutic sequence: This solution, by the way, also contains within it the proper and viable answer to the pronoun problem, for if, after all, there are indeed just two genders, no change in pronouns is required. MEN, DE-MASCULINIZATION OF - American culture, without question, has shifted toward an amelioration of the traditional qualities of masculinity, in favor of the feminine, and an emerging Matriarchy. This cannot stand, and will be redressed under the De Benedetto Administration. Are you aware that the Chinese government, wisely attempting to curb what is perceived as the feminization of its men, has implemented a formal program to this end? And what of the United States? In disturbing and unacceptable contrast, we have, instead, Drag Queen Story Hour. The De BENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION will reinforce natural, appropriate, traditional gender roles, and encourage cultural conditioning to this end. Every American male, for example, will make an effort to familiarize themselves with, and enjoy, heavy metal music and other decidedly masculine musical forms. OUR CREEPING MATRIARCHY Americans must, at the present time, ask themselves one critical question: Have we, or do we intend to, discontinue the male gender in this country? Because it certainly seems that this is the way we are going (right down to the newfound fetishization of cucking, that is, relegation of the role and sexual status of the husband in a marriage such that other men, but not him, have sexual relations with his wife, and he, in a docile manner, cooperates, or even encourages this arrangement). If we're to discontinue gender MALE, let's simply admit it, get it over with, castrate all males, attend the next Drag Queen Story Hour and be done with it. From then on, the sole determining hormone in America will be ESTROGEN. Testosterone need no longer apply. Men, vote for me or get ready for the coming Matriarchy. Clearly, increasing numbers of woman are in positions of power in this society, and I don't know if, in the main, they're all that interested in traditional conceptions of maleness and masculinity. Some clearly are not, especially since they tend to conflate or at least conceptualize maleness with being Caucasian (i.e. "whiteness") and also in some measure being older in age. I have my own hard personal experiences with this explicitly emerging trend that attest to it. To be discussed. WOMEN, DE-FEMINIZATION OF - American culture also seems to be shifting toward, if not an outright lesbianization, then a generalized amelioration of some of the traditional qualities of femininity. The unique and beautiful character of the female voice, for example, is slowly being ground through a dirty alchemy into an irritating, raspy-throated imitation called vocal fry. DEBT, INCLUDING STUDENT LOANS - THOUGHTS AND POLICY PENDING. ECONOMY - There shall be a serious reconsideration of reinstatement of the gold standard, with all unsupported currency withdrawn from circulation. Additionally, we shall likely centralize, streamline, and thus economize all government income distribution plans such as General and Unemployment Assistance into one stream, the Universal Basic Income. Though presently under discussion in America, in fact this idea was far earlier proposed by social philosopher Erich Fromm in his 1955 masterpiece THE SANE SOCIETY. Brothers & Sisters, study this book, along with Dr. Fromm's noted THE ART OF LOVING, particularly his chapter on Brotherly Love (also called Agape [ugg opp' ay] in the language of Greek philosophy). UNIONS TO CEOs, Et al. It is the policy of the DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION to discourage the formation of unions. The perceived or actual necessity to form a union indicates the presence of conflict between workers, and ownership and management, that is, viewed more broadly, such an impulse indicates the continuing presence of conflict between Americans. Again, the first plank in my Presidential platform is BRING AMERICANS TOGETHER. This instruction is serious and must be taken very seriously for the division that has overtaken America, especially in the last ten years or so, since the end of the Obama Administration, it is thought, is slowly tearing this country apart, concomitantly relegating her and her population to third-world-nation status. NOT ON MY WATCH. If you wish to deter the formation of unions at your facility or across your company or industry, I suggest that you dig down deep into your religious beliefs or other spiritual system to reacquaint yourself with the values they teach regarding other people. Most such belief systems and traditions instruct care and concern for others; some religions, such as Christianity make such direction explicit and unmistakable. The Second Great Commandment of Christ is to love your neighbor, your neighbor being, of course everyone. Traditional Conservatism, moreover, always includes a strong component of Christianity and Christian belief. If you want to deter the formation of unions, be the kind of CEO whose behavior makes it clear to your employees that you are sincerely and comprehensively looking out for their interests. And bring sufficient wisdom and life-experience to bear to understand that this active connection to others should form the basis of your moral posture and orientation to the world regardless of your corporate position. As CEO, the most visible post in your organization, your obligation to set, and act upon, the strongest and most credible moral standard is absolute. Moreover, while collusion is a crime, cooperation between companies for the benefit of workers is to be encouraged. For example, you'll lose your fear of raising employee wages if you know that all other companies in your industry are doing the same thing. There is nothing wrong with coordinating with those companies to effect this, and indeed everything right and moral with it. An intense interest by employees in union formation suggests a lack of a Love ethic in whole or part at the workplace on the part of the owner, or in the particular industry by the group of owners. Love, properly understood, can be the solution to the potential problem of union formation, as well as to essentially every other social and economic problem in this country, and across our world, as my Presidential platform and other writing, and that of many other powerful thinkers on Love, make clear. Love, and Love, alone, as a seminal dynamic, robust, and extensible force and principal, brings the country into social, economic, political, and personal balance. Use it to the benefit of your company and industry. REGULATION I will not blindly jettison established nor pending regulation--but I certainly will conduct intelligent, good-faith review of any and all regulation. Those that genuinely serve no purpose will be offered for revocation. PRESERVATION OF THE HUMAN RACE - The United States shall lead an international effort to build a powerful planetary defense, in case of extra-terrestrial attack, which scientists increasingly consider possible. I will not permit America (nor the human race) to get caught with its pants down, however unlikely some consider this possibility. HEALTH NOTE: THIS HEALTH SECTION IS TRANSITIONING TO MY LONGSTANDING HEALTH & HEALING SITE KEYS TO GOOD HEALTH, WHERE IT ACTUALLY BELONGS. After reading this Health section, please begin studying the above site. It is excellent: very well researched and chock full of wisdom. TOUCH EVERY LIFE Why am I, right in the middle of my campaign platform document, inserting fragments of information about health? As one interested in health and nutrition for years, I state categorically that these are not fragments, they are just about the most important health counsel anyone could give you--far more important, in fact, in the immediate than even a change in President. Who says that I can't start saving American lives now, even before entering the White House? The point is to assist, even save, the nation. Being in the White House is simply a method to permit me to do this far more quickly, efficiently, and effectively. As President it's my duty and my pleasure to take as active a role as possible in improving the lives of the entire American population--every single one of you. The U.S. Census Bureau projects the United States population was 332,403,650 on January 01, 2022. If you want to begin saving the life of yourself and your loved ones, co-workers, and neighbors, carefully watch and heed this guidance on eating. And again, any workers displaced as America transitions to a healthy or healthier lifestyle will receive active assistance from the DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION to secure new and possibly better positions. Indeed, one of the taglines of my campaign--because I genuinely feel this--is that I want my work and the work of my Administration to Touch Every Life. I want to ensure, and I'm going to so instruct my Cabinet, that it is our mandate to ensure that at some point during my tenure in office something we do will touch a life, such that every life, yes, all 332M of you, are helped in some way, large or small, during my time in office. Touch Every Life means--touch your life. HEALTH, THE REAL DEFINITION What is my definition of health, real health? Here is the simple health marker by which I, and the DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION, are going to measure the success of this nation in Actualizing health: each citizen reaching Centenarian status, that's 100 years old, before death, 2.) With full cognition intact, including memory. We know it can be done--there are many such persons across human history and in the world today. Lifespan.io, for example, asserts: "Japan's Kane Tanaka as the oldest confirmed living person in the world at 118 years old." And were it done, were someone to reach that age with full mental ability and memory intact, implied is that the other aspects of their health would remain sound, as well. If a provider of products or services, are yours of sufficiently salutary character (wholesome and healthy) that they will assist your customers, our citizens, in achieving the objective? If an ordinary citizen, will your lifestyle, including your nutritional choices, lead you to this objective? The DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION will encourage all parties to shift their activities and operations to this desirable, but, until now, elusive end. We will encourage--there will be no government coercion of any kind. NUTRITION Here's a suggestion or tip that you and your family can, and indeed, I would argue, must begin using immediately to improve all aspects of health. Such change will make an immediate and likely discernible (i.e. noticeable) difference: discontinue consumption of sugar, in all its forms, as soon and as severely as possible. As one interested in health and nutrition for years, I tell you confidently that sugar is poison, destroying every system in the body as described by Professor John Yudkin in his classic text Pure, White, and Deadly. Neither should you consume artificial sweeteners, however, such as Splenda, as they are unhealthy, as well. Your best course, if you must consume sugar, is to consume real sugar, but severely limit your intake. Keep your kids off of sugar, as well. Fruit, in moderation, and preferably organic, is a wise choice, although fruit juice, as it concentrates so much sugar, is absolutely not, and is to be studiously avoided. Of course, nutrition and food are somewhat relative, so, for example, if your kids demand a sweet drink, fruit juice, preferably organic in a glass bottle, such as sold by Lakewood, is a far better choice than soda, as the latter has zero nutrition or fiber. Concluding my brief remarks, here, about sugar: in building and maintaining the health of the body, the two most pernicious and insidious conditions, that must be guarded against mercilessly, are: Sugar causes and increases BOTH. Dr. Sten Ekberg states: "...when we're feeling bad, we want to feel better, so we look for rewards. And, the easiest drug to get ahold of, is called sugar. So when we're worried or anxious or depressed, we tend to eat comfort foods, and most of those have sugar, or starches." Jobs In proffering this advice, against use of sugar, I do what persons of liberal politics tend not to: raise concomitant concern for our brothers and sisters in the sugar industry. Were the American population to greatly curb its consumption of sugar, some persons, perhaps many, in the sugar industry would find themselves without a job. We cannot permit this. With the slow elimination of jobs in the sugar industry must come a serious, concerted national effort to retrain these brothers and sisters for other jobs and industries. Better jobs, as well, whenever possible. Ditto workers in every industry, coal is often cited, that must sunset per our increasing awareness of personal and planetary health. I will work tirelessly to ensure that no worker, no citizen, no brother or sister, no American is left behind. And I will endorse well-conceived market-based solutions, whether from inside or outside the White House. MONO-AND-DIGLYCERIDES Moreover (i.e. also), studiously avoid any food item that contains Mono-and-Diglycerides, or any variation such as Monoglycerides, as these are actually hidden forms of the dreaded Trans-Fat, the worst thing that you can put into your body. I'm telling you that any form of trans-fat will, over the long-term, and perhaps not-so-long in the case of older or unhealthy persons, put you into a casket, probably through heart attack or stroke, though dementia is a possibility, as well. Have I made myself clear? Healthline.com states: "Mono- and diglycerides contain small amounts of trans fat. They're classified as emulsifiers and not lipids, so the FDA ban doesn't apply to them. As trans fat is phased out, food companies may turn to mono- and diglycerides as low-cost alternatives." ..."Currently, there's no way of knowing how much trans fat is in products with mono- and diglycerides listed on the label. ... "Food products with mono- and diglycerides are also likely to be high in other fats, as well as refined sugar and flour." Did you catch that? "...no way of knowing how much trans fat is in products with mono- and diglycerides..." May turn? They have turned--with a vengeance. And in turning to MAD (apropos acronym, huh?) these companies have turned on us--the consumer and fellow citizen. VEGETABLE SEED OILS Last, studiously avoid any food item containing even one vegetable seed oil (commonly but incorrectly called "vegetable oils"), listed on the nutrition panel of the bottle or jar as either Canola or rapeseed, safflower, sunflower, corn, cottonseed, soy, soybean, simply "vegetable," or any other oil save olive or coconut. These man-made industrial seed oils damage arteries and blood vessels, setting you, or perhaps your parents or grandparents, up for a stroke, which is caused by compromised blood pathways, especially arteries. This is also a key reason that deep fried foods such as French fries and onion rings must avoided at all costs. If you take this urgent recommendation seriously, you'll quickly see that you're going to have to effect a wholesale shift in the way you eat, as most foods contain vegetable oil of one kind or another. My Mother just suffered a small-moderate severity stroke, almost certainly in part because of her consumption of vegetable oils. Fellow Americans--don't let it happen to your family. DEMENTIA I will now tell you how to get dementia, or other debilitating diseases. The three S's tell the tale: Reject sugar (and its injurious chemical substitutes like Splenda), aggressively and consistently. ASPIRIN Besides Mom, apple pie, and the flag, perhaps the only American cultural artifact seen as categorically wholesome and good is aspirin. WRONG. Grievous damage to the stomach lining is only one of the possible harms caused by aspirin, "The Wonder Drug." Additionally, consider that the life-saving benefit of aspirin occurs because as a blood-thinner its presence in the bloodstream of arteries and other blood vessels tends to maintain a smooth flow of blood, avoiding the formation of blood clots inside the arteries, heart, and brain, as occurs during most strokes. That's most strokes, but not all--which is the potential problem. What if the patient's medical anomaly isn't an ischemic stroke, that is, one caused by clotting--but a hemorrhagic stroke, the other type, caused by a blood vessel that has burst, is leaking, or is similarly damaged. In these cases the last thing you want is blood that is thin and moving readily. You want blood that will, in fact, clot readily, quickly accumulating platelets to arrest the errant flow. If this is the form of stroke that you're experiencing, your 81mg baby aspirin has just turned from your friend to your deadly enemy--and perhaps your executioner. How many articles, advice from doctors, and the general hearsay about the benefit of taking a daily baby aspirin, mention this and make this distinction? I'm not at the present time advising against this daily aspirin regimen. But I am advising caution and a serious conversation with one or more doctors and others. As you should do in all serious areas of your life: competently information-gather, and carefully consider that information so you know what you're doing. To this end, and in continuing assistance to you and your family whether I'm President, or not, I will also apprise you that current medical advice is that the daily baby aspirin regimen is strictly recommended only for persons who have already suffered a cardiac or brain event such as a heart attack or stroke. If you haven't, you've been given a reprieve because determining whether you should follow the regimen becomes inrequisite (i.e. not required). RICE In yet another example of the human confusion and misinformation over dietary health, and the failure of humanity, in larger terms, to design, implement, maintain, and utilize a proper, accurate, and productive system of the standardization, and especially dissemination of information, we need only look to the humble rice kernel, as many people are unaware that a significant amount of the world's rice crops are contaminated with the poison arsenic. Were you aware? Another culinary sacred cow, down the drain. The problematic quadrangle here is 1.) this critical information, like all information, critical or otherwise, has not been disseminated to every person on planet Earth, and indeed 2.) there is no such mechanism for dissemination, 3.) nor any awareness of its necessity, in addition to 4.) the fact of the contamination of the rice in the first place. INSTANT OATMEAL Fellow Americans, I will now disabuse you of yet another mistaken nutrition belief that is harming you and your family. This belief concerns instant oatmeal, which many of you enjoy, or simply tolerate, but all the same undoubtedly think promotes and extends your own health. Not so fast. It doesn't. The fact is, the exact same oatmeal product, brand and variety, formulated and sold in "instant" form actually produces about DOUBLE the blood-sugar increase of its conventional "steel-cut" or "Irish" counterpart, the kind that takes longer to prepare and must be prepared on the stovetop. Fellow Americans: cease use of instant oatmeal, forthwith. CHEERIOS I will now explode yet another myth of the American diet, again helping to save the life of you and your loved ones. Cheerios cereal, original version, a staple of the American breakfast table and icon of American culture, is considered and seen among the healthier offerings in American casual or breakfast fare. Healthier perhaps than drinking a Coca-Cola for breakfast, sure, but were this ubiquitous product a rocket we might hail its desirable payload, a surprisingly wide variety of vitamins and minerals, along with a touch of both soluble and insoluble fiber, while lamenting their delivery vehicle: a refined, or at least processed nonorganic carbohydrate that, though whole grain and a "complex carb," still transmutes into sugar in the body, thus helping, in fact, to undermine, not enhance, health. Hey, I'm not happy about it--I like Cheerios. Continuing, however: Cheerios cereal is also among the most extreme and very worst offenders in percentage of the human toxin Acrylamide, contained. Eschew your Cheerios for breakfast, then, in favor of a nice, organic egg. PLASTICS In the iconic film THE GRADUATE starring Dustin Hoffman, his character Benjamin Braddock is given pointed advice on the most fruitful career path for the 1960s: ""PLASTICS," he is told, and indeed in our real non-cinematic world plastics have almost completely taken over, comprising the material of choice for everything from the soda bottle inside your refrigerator to the cardiac device inside your chest cavity. However, in view of this newest wave of medical and scientific research data I am officially proffering to America and the rest of the planet a critical update to the terse advice given to the Braddock character. Without equivocation: FORGET PLASTICS. I'm endeavoring to run for President as a conservative Democrat/Libertarian--not a revolutionary of any kind. However, there are many realities in this country unbeknownst to all but a relative few Americans, that, understood in toto, that is, in the aggregate, demonstrate categorically that a revolution in the way that things are done in America must occur. The governance and operation of this nation, in other words, has to change. For example: Judith Enck, founder and CEO of BEYOND PLASTICS and a former EPA Regional Administrator, reports that plastic fragments are found in the water contained in plastic water bottles. Plastic fragments are found throughout the human body. Plastic fragments are even found in the air and breathed in. And in a bleeding-edge finding, medical research also shows that plastic fragments are found in the plaque that obstructs the human heart, this plastic content exacerbating such blockages and thus helping facilitate heart attacks and strokes. The results and reporting from this new research can drive a number of other disturbing realizations. For example, for persons who use an ultrasonic misting room humidifier, like me, and consider themselves savvy in filling its tank with distilled water instead of tap water, that distilled water always sold in plastic juggs, to prevent 1.) chlorine buildup inside the unit, 2.) formation and accumulation on furniture and everywhere else of a thin layer of white mineral dust, and 3. Possible misting of the room with either chlorine, mineral dust, or both, that might then be inhaled, doesn't this suggest that the device is misting nano-plastic particulates throughout the room--that, themselves, are likely to be breathed in by all occupants--like my 93yo mother in her bedroom? SEA SALT In comparing products at the supermarket, do you often select the product containing sea salt, thinking that such salt is healthier than salt from other sources? The fact is, much sea salt actually contains microplastics, tiny particles of plastic that have contaminated almost the entire planet. Unfortunately, what I term modern ego-capitalism fails us, yet again. Moreover, pink Himilayan salt contains radioactive particles. OK, I just saved the life, or certainly at least preserved the health of you and your family, yet again--and I'm not even President, yet. Please listen to this critical interview on our brand-new, far more comprehensive understanding of the dangers of plastic. WHAT'S FOR DESSERT For moms and dads seeking to solve the "dessert problem" for their kids, or themselves, that is, providing a dessert item that genuinely tastes good yet does no damage to health, I present my Presidential concept of: DESSERT and DESSERT+ Notwithstanding that there actually should be no such thing as "dessert," a sweet, dessert-style item must always be a piece of fruit, or two. Nothing more. However, for kids, or adults with a sweet tooth that simply won't be argued with, DESSERT can easily be enhanced into DESSERT+, which is fruit topped with ingredients that are tasty, even a bit luscious, but don't harm health, and in fact can even enhance it. A banana, for example, is DESSERT, while a peeled banana in a dish, covered with a good drizzle of chocolate sauce or syrup, and cinnamon, perhaps even a dollop of whipped cream, as well, is DESSERT+. Cinnamon is understood to help lower blood-pressure, though such therapeutic use probably requires its consumption in large amounts--so have your banana DESSERT+ every other day! I assure you that DESSERT+ is going to be very delicious and satisfying, especially after you and your family get used to this new way of eating. Best to use organic ingredients, and the whipped cream would best be heavy whipping cream that you beat yourself. Parents, this is going to solve your dessert problem! There--I've solved yet another problem for you, and I'm not even President yet! THE ILLUSION OF NEW AND IMPROVED A product within eyeshot here in my kitchen is Hershey's Simply 5 chocolate syrup, the foodstuff you'd stir into milk, say, to make chocolate milk. The bottle face touts 5 SIMPLE INGREDIENTS And upon review of the ingredient list said assertion proves true. A Panacea For Parents? Hardly--for while the ingredient list is--finally-void of artificial this-or-that, and this-or that preservative or artificial color, what this interesting product is most certainly not devoid of is...SUGAR. Again, the label on the front of the product is pleased to alert you to the presumed low 45 calories per tablespoon, we find that there's more to that simple tablespoon of the product than just its caloric content. In fact, each tablespoon contains 11 grams of sugar. Presuming that less than, at a bare minimum, four tablespoons of the product stirred into a standard 8-ounce glass would not provide a satisfying glass of chocolate milk, this 5-SIMPLE-INGREDIENT, NON-GMO chocolate syrup, added to the approximately 11 grams of sugar contained in the milk, itself, this delicious glass of chocolate milk is still pouring a substantial 55 grams of sugar into the body, costing your child, or yourself, a whopping 55 grams of sugar, just about what you'd get in a standard can of soda! The phenomenon of NEW-AND-IMPROVED is not unique to Hershey products, of course, and we do approve product improvements and enhancements that comprise a genuinely better product, in its usability, and especially healthfulness. Oftentimes, however, this is simply not enough, and in such cases the entire class of product must be left on the store shelf, as we depend on our enterprising American companies to devise a class of product an entire order of magnitude better, as its superiority is built directly into the product framework, including its ingredient list, itself. AMY'S "NATURAL" FOODS FRAUDULENT Or at least grossly misleading, as so many of them actually contain the aforementioned vegetable seed oils! From their frozen dinners like the cheese enchilada, to their canned Minestrone soup, to their small, unique pizzas ubiquitously seen as healthy and a great small meal, these oils are present, listed uniformly across all Amy's products that contain them as "...high oleic safflower and/or sunflower oil." In other words, while the Amy's food line creates the strong impression that they are helping preserve and enhance your life--they're actually destroying your life and killing you. Each Amy's customer who imagines that in purchasing and consuming Amy's products they are maintaining, and in fact extending, their lives is laboring under a very dangerous and insidious misconception, insidious because the Amy's line is marketed as categorically healthy, and most persons spending the extra money for these products thinks that this is exactly what they are.The truth, however, is far different: regular consumption of any Amy's product containing these vegetable oils will put they who consume them in a box (i.e. a casket) far faster than would otherwise naturally occur. I also note that Amy's actually adds sugar to some of its products, such as their tomato bisque soup--sugar, a poison that literally destroys the entire human body. I've been eating Amy's foods for years--and giving them to my beloved Mother, now 91 and in very poor health, Thank You, Amy's, and every other "food" manufacturer adulterating your products with garbage ingredients. There is now little doubt as to culpability for my Mother's heart attacks and strokes. The woman upstairs in her bedroom in this house at this moment as I write this, Wednesday, June 15, 2022, has experienced a deterioration in health, thanks, likely, to consumption of "foods" such the Amy's products that I've been giving her all these years, thinking them to be healthy, far healthier than conventional food products. Oh, does that NON-GMO seal at the front of every Amy's product package suck you in. But even there the company proves itself potentially disreputable: whereas most food companies selling GMO-FREE products have them assessed and approved by the NON-GMO-PROJECT rating program--Amy's does not. Which is why you'll never see a NON-GMO-PROJECT seal of approval for any Amy's food product. Expanding my extemporaneous assessment and remarks, I will state that Amy's strikes me as an odd company. Besides the grave problems described above, there are other elements of interest, if not concern. For example, some years ago I called the company to complain that their package copy was misleading, perhaps leading those uninitiated in matters of health to think that because a given Amy's product, for example, was, as stated on the product package "with organic tomatoes and tomato sauce" that, specifically, the product in its entirety was organic, or simply more nutritious than it actually is, generally. Neither of which is true. Regarding the latter, there are plenty of products, in fact such crosspurposed recipes are ubiquitous in the food industry, containing one or two healthy ingredients along with one or two unhealthy ingredients. I just came across an especially egregious one a few days ago, in fact, Charlotte's Lemon Tarts, described, below. The Amy's telephone representative was not especially gracious nor appreciative of my remarks, as I recall. Then, oddly, a short time later, perhaps a half-hour, the company called us back for no apparent reason, as our customer service call had ended with no follow-up planned for either party. The callback actually seemed intended to confirm my identity and the legitimacy of my call. As if, for example, they feared my call a ruse by a competitor. Evidently they had never before encountered someone taking their efforts, products, and their consequences and implications so seriously. Still, their callback had an air of paranoia about it. Reaching Out to Amy's #2 Continuing my narrative, above: I registered my concern about their included vegetable seed oils (not sugar in this case) to Amy's, itself, in the form of an email communication on March 01, 2022: March 01, 2022 Greetings, This is the first of what could generate a wider conversation. Myself and my family have been consuming Amy's products for years, and you have much to be proud of. However, many Amy's products seem to contain "high oleic safflower and/or sunflower oil." Many health authorities consider vegetable oils to be very unhealthy, damaging the arteries, for example, and safflower oil is probably considered the worst of the bunch. Your thoughts? PS. I'm exploring a run for President in 2024 and I certainly want forward-thinking companies like yours to flourish, not just nationally but internationally. Yet we must always ensure that success does not compromise our commitment to actively look out for each other as Americans. We must restore that sense of connection that we used to have for each other, or continue to slowly devolve as a people and a nation. My other principle plank concerns, and seeks to redress, the low level of functional competence among many Americans. I'm advocating, for example, that we get our noses out of our smartphones and start paying much better attention to our jobs, and all our productive activities both at work and even home. This will produce a far more creative, industrious, and competitive America, in all spheres, from economics, to defense, to familial and personal relationships. Warm Regards, VINCENT FRANK DE BENEDETTOVincentForPresident.com Amy's responded thusly: Response from Amy's Foods As you can see, Amy's elected not to take the opportunity to work mutually with me to find Truth, that is, whether my initial statement of the dangers of vegetable seed oils (VSOs) as I understand them have merit. Instead, they ignored my assertions, framing them as a prosaic matter of simple personal preference. How, then, does this make Amy's any different than any fast-food company, such as McDonald's or Burger King? These companies sell injurious food to earn profit--Amy's sells injurious food to earn profit. And the mere presence of these oils in Amy's products implies their healthfulness; implies that they're not harmful and won't injure us. But they will, everyone knows that they will, and moreover, I just explicitly pointed this out to Amy's, to which their bland, amoral reply was a slap in the face to every Amy's customer. Amy's then, is lying. To us, if not at very least, to themselves. "There's a sucker born every minute" is the cynical assertion attributed to American showman P.T. Barnum. Is this the company ethic to which Amy's subscribes? Would that we could create a society, an America, where the predicates and operation of all social spheres, including the economy, are based on what I term THE MUTUAL SEARCH FOR TRUTH. Such a society would, indeed, represent the Actualization of human society--an explicit objective of my Presidency, were I to win. My tagline, above, refers to the "primacy of ideas," and, indeed, there are few ideas more powerful than Truth. Insofar as America embraces the most powerful ideas such as Truth and integrates them into what she is, she will, indeed, continue to build, maintain, and even perfect her Exceptionalism. Nor is any of this incompatible with a morally and ethically-informed free-enterprise. Amy's & Socialism To Conservatives who decry the tendency of many of our young people toward socialism, or what they understand socialism to be, I will add that from this political standpoint, behavior such as that exhibited by Amy's and similar companies informs and strengthens the argument of persons opposed to capitalism, itself. For it suggests that the varied options available in the marketplace is less true than suggested by proponents of free-enterprise: if one seeks to refrain from what is understood as the unhealthy food sold by outlets like McDonald's they can always buy and consume the healthy food sold by outlets like Amy's--well, not really. Not when Amy's ingredients are just as deadly as those of McDonald's. If Amy's feels it absolutely necessary to utilize food agents such as VSO's, yet do so ethically, they should include a warning label on their food package. Will this impact sales? It might. Which gives Amy's and similar American companies a sufficient incentive to find a healthier approach, thereby adopting a more loving posture toward its customers, most of whom are Americans, by the way, and helps to create and preserve an image of truth, health, and integrity around American products and services, generally, which will help American competitiveness tremendously in the global marketplace. In fact, I call upon the CEO of every American company to emplace a small mousetrap or replica on their desk as a continual reminder of America's historic reputation: the nation that simply builds "the better mousetrap." Whatever your product or service, I want you to spend more time, or better utilized time, perfecting it, thus increasing your own sales, while doing it all in an ethical manner that displays respect, which is a function of Love, to your customers both here, and abroad. I've set down as a guiding principle, above, the notion that we're all brothers and sisters on this planet, in one human family--and I mean it. Must this view be incompatible with success in the global marketplace? Let's find out. In underscoring such hazard and hypocrisy as evidently displayed by Amy's, then, I intend no injury to American corporations, companies, or entrepreneurs--to the contrary, as a careful read of this web document reveals. What I intend is for American corporations, companies, or entrepreneurs to conduct business ethically, as this shows fidelity to fellow Americans, and is simply the right thing to do. That is, the moral, even loving, thing. Moreover, such responsibility also makes American products and services more competitive in the global marketplace, as it helps create and reinforce the idea around the world that in purchase of American products and services foreign consumers are getting those that both function well, with good design, and are presented truthfully as what they are, no more and no less, thereby earning a credible American promise and imprimatur like: "DESIGNED USA SMART - BUILT USA TOUGH" American business has nothing to fear from me. To the contrary, as a careful read of this web document readily indicates. My ideas will enhance and optimize business. For example, the stamp shown, above, will be just one of several that my Administration will create to denote a new standard of both quality and safety for American products, and fully re-establish the American brand around the world. And it should go without saying that political conservatives, who are usually Christian, should find the exhortation to ethical business appealing and highly desirable, economically and morally, as it is a proper expression and manifestation of the Second Great Commandment of Christ: Love Your Neighbor. EASY TRIPARTITE CARDIO PROTECTION Just now, 5:19p, Monday, March 14, 2022, my beloved Mother's 91st birthday, I took my first draught of a healing mixture that I recently read about whose nutritional logic made immediate sense to me: tomato sauce. I intend, and strongly recommend, daily medicinal consumption of a small amount of low-sodium tomato sauce, as this miracle concoction contains at least three superfood-type ingredients especially protective of cardiovascular health: extra-virgin olive oil, garlic, and potassium. All three ingredients will protect the heart and cardiovascular system, reducing the possibility of heart attack and stroke. Watch your overall level of Potassium, however, as an excess of this electrolyte can actually damage the heart. Opt for low-sodium tomato sauce as standard recipes have high levels of sodium, which can be very dangerous in leading to stroke. Also elect for a tomato sauce product that is, at least, GMO-free and packed in glass. Organic sauce, of course, packed in glass, is best. THE 911 CALL YOU WON'T HAVE TO MAKE If your family doesn't own a blood pressure monitor, run, do not walk, to purchase or order one. Hypertension, that is, high blood pressure, "The Silent Killer," has wrought a path of destruction across this country and everywhere else, with heart disease the #1 cause of death worldwide. Unless you regularly take your, and your family's blood pressure, you simply don't know who is walking around--parents, grandparents, siblings--with a ticking time bomb inside them. Don't relegate the task of monitoring to the occasional visit to the doctor. The haphazard nature of this kind of approach to blood pressure monitoring is completely inconsistent with the gravity of what are routinely the pernicious consequences of unrecognized and untreated hypertension: grievous physical and mental injury--or death. Purchase, locally, or order a blood-pressure monitor right now, this very second, while you're reading this and the idea is fresh in your mind. SILENT STROKE As if the possibility of an overt stroke wasn't worrisome enough, we now consider the medical event called a "silent stroke." True to its name, it's a stroke that you won't know about because it damages an area of the brain that is not directly responsible for any vital bodily function; thus, there likely won't be any stroke symptom. A silent stroke is essentially a symptomless stroke, yet its damage is real and can lead to further damage. We must guard against the silent stroke with as much diligence as we do the overt stroke, and, in fact, the silent stroke occurs with far more frequency than the symptomed stroke. Moreover Fellow Americans, the existence of the silent stroke makes maintaining a good, robust anti-stroke regimen and lifestyle that much more difficult and complex because the efficacy of such a program is harder to discern. You may think that your anti-stroke regimen is working--while, in fact, it might not be. It might only be partially effective and thus you may have already had one or more silent strokes without having known it. The solution is thought to lie in paying even more exacting attention to factors such as diet, salt intake, sugar intake, exercise, blood pressure, cholesterol, and smoking. I write thought to lie in because of continuing conflict and likely misinformation between various camps of health experts and authorities regarding some of the above factors such as cholesterol. For example, the article "Could a silent stroke erode your memory?" by Harvard Health Publishing of Harvard Medical School asserts your LDL cholesterol number as key, asserting that it should be below 100, and further asserts the importance of consuming less than 200 milligrams of cholesterol daily: "Aim to keep your total cholesterol levels below 200 mg/dL, and your LDL cholesterol below 100 mg/dL. To help lower your cholesterol, lose weight if you're overweight, consume less than 200 milligrams of cholesterol daily, and increase the fiber in your diet (20 to 30 grams of fiber each day is ideal)." However, many health authorities, such Dr. Sten Ekberg, assert the basic irrelevance of total LDL cholesterol, but the great importance of the size (and density) of the LDL cholesterol particles, and the irrelevance of consumed cholesterol to blood cholesterol. Dr. Ekberg argues, in other words, that the cholesterol that you consume in food is not what determines the amount of cholesterol in your blood that can contribute to, or cause, heart attack or stroke. The Harvard content makes zero mention of the first factor, LDL particle size, and implies the incorrectness of the second regarding preventing silent stroke; Harvard argues, in other words, that consumed cholesterol affects blood cholesterol. KNOTS What is an informational KNOT? Read the content at both links, above, to learn about cholesterol, but be warned that this question, the specific LDL cholesterol parameter, level or particle size, to consider and guard against, is evidently not settled. I consider such questions "knots," as at least two different perspectives or opinions on a given question or issue exist, somehow tied or tangled together or otherwise intersecting in an obfuscated or otherwise difficult to clarify manner, further research and investigation tending to make the correct answer even more obfuscated and thus harder to learn. Ultimately, as a species and a civilization we've got to arrive at sound conclusions on given questions, confusing or obfuscating information notwithstanding, which will mean that on some questions there will be no conclusion, or, cleverly, the conclusion will be that the problem or question is inconclusive. Accordingly, we've got to standardize our information streams: gathering, considering, disseminating, and implementing, repeating the cyclical process as often as desired or necessary for each considered question. Regarding A.I., I'd argue that this "technology" is a deleterious element in the desired process introduced, above, as the information that it presents is not reliable, nor properly traceable, and the basic AI mechanism is unstable, subject to complete falsifications called "hallucinations." This piece published at the website of the American Council on Science and Health is useful in that it acknowledges, deconstructs, and decries this phenomenon of distinctly diverging information on a single issue. YOU'RE WELCOME Fellow Americans, I'm an American, and I'm running for President, but the truth is, if you want to avoid a life that will likely end in physical or psychological suffering, possibly including madness, followed by death, you've got to unplug, to disengage, from conventional American culinary culture, while adopting the healthiest general lifestyle practices known. The Alzheimer's Reversal program of Dr. Dale Bredesen, for example, has been shown to reverse this dread disease. Here is much of its regimen: Moo To the Bredesen program I add the latest research that appears to confirm that dairy products, specifically three glasses of cow milk daily, has a powerful protective effect against dementia and Alzheimer's disease. From the U.S. National Library of Medicine: "There is now substantial evidence that dietary factors can modify the risk of dementia." "Alongside the rapid population aging occurring worldwide, the prevention of age-related memory decline and dementia has become a high priority. Dairy products have many physiological effects owing to their contents of lactic acid bacteria and the fatty acids and peptides generated during their fermentation. In particular, several recent studies have elucidated the effects of fermented dairy products on cognitive function. Epidemiological and clinical evidence has indicated that fermented dairy products have preventive effects against dementia, including Alzheimer's disease." Cow milk is a fermented, also called cultured, dairy product. From the University of Kansas Medical Center: "Worried about your aging brain? One solution might be on a shelf in the refrigerator aisle of your grocery store, according to new research conducted by scientists at the University of Kansas Medical Center. The KU Medical Center research team found that older adults who drink three cups of dairy milk a day can increase their brain’s level of glutathione (GSH), a powerful antioxidant that helps protect the brain from some of the damage that accompanies aging and aging-related diseases." From ScienceDirect.com: "We have long thought of milk as being very important for your bones and very important for your muscles." ... "This study suggests that it could be important for your brain as well." Ekberg, Sten I also recommend in the strongest possible terms your close acquaintance with the work of Dr. Sten Ekberg. Watch and digest as many of his YouTube health videos as possible. I'll give you a heads up on the principal message implicit and explicit in his work: you must curb your "insulin resistance," which is a physical reaction to the introduction into the body of too much sugar and carbohydrate. So start now to radically reduce both in your body--without, of course, replacing them with artificial sweeteners or other deleterious food agents. And ensure that you engage in regular aerobic exercise. LET ME TELL YOU EXPLICITLY WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MY MOTHER'S STROKES--AND PAY ATTENTION BECAUSE IT'S THE SAME CAST OF CHARACTERS WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE STROKES THAT YOU, YOUR PARENTS, AND YOUR GRANDPARENTS WILL SOON HAVE, OR HAVE ALREADY HAD: BROTHERS AND SISTERS, VOTE FOR ME OR NOT, I'VE ALREADY SAVED YOUR LIFE--SEVERAL TIMES OVER Fellow Americans, Brothers & Sisters, whether you ultimately vote for me, or not, it's likely that through my health counsel here, teaching you 1.) to recognize and avoid the most common killers found in our food, and 2.) most common potentially deadly health threats such as hypertension, or 3.) through another of my Internet projects such as my effort to promote use of masks, which, if implemented in my specified manner would quickly bring the entire Pandemic to a halt, I will actually save the life of yourself and your loved ones--likely several times, over. If you elect me President I will continue saving your life, except in new, better, and more powerful ways, as I'll have the office of the President and all of its resources available to me. And I'll lead the effort to help Actualize you, everyone you know and love, and our entire nation, that is, the effort for each, and all, of us to be the absolute best that we are capable of being. To fully live up to our potential. I honestly don't think that we can even imagine what our individual lives, and the life of the nation would be like under such a regimen, mode of existence, and state of being. But--why don't we find out? TRUST & THE ACCURACY OF INFORMATION The conflicts and contradictions over information, as described above, and much else in this society, speak to the lack of emphasis in our culture on accuracy of information, and on the fact that without correct information we can't properly help ourselves, or others, which, itself speaks to the way we devalue ourselves, and others. In other words, WE LACK A LOVE ETHIC AND REAL SENSE OF ACTIVE CONNECTION TO ONE ANOTHER, as Americans and simply as human beings. WHICH IS PRECISELY WHAT PLANK #1 IN MY CAMPAIGN PLATFORM IS DESIGNED TO TARGET, EXPOSE, AND RECTIFY (i.e. fix). Trust is key here: those in positions of trust, including educators, scientists, politicians, even cultural figures, must take a careful, go-slow approach to the development and dissemination of information, such that you and your information CAN BE TRUSTED. And for those of us who have to do the trusting, we must take an equally scientific, exacting, and responsible approach to information that we're given. ULTIMATELY, WE MUST BE WILLING TO TRUST PROVIDERS OF INFORMATION, WHICH WILL BE EASIER TO DO ONCE WE SEE THAT OUR PROVIDERS ARE ENSURING THAT THE INFORMATION THEY GIVE US IS ACCURATE, OR IF NOT ACCURATE, IS PRESENTED AS NOT-YET FULLY ACCURATE. For example, had the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) and other health authorities strongly and clearly qualified their advice regarding the issue of masking very early in the Coronavirus pandemic, people would have been more willing to accept their later advice that masking was, indeed, found necessary, even critical, after all. ANYTHING THE TENDS TO DISRUPT THIS TWO-PART PROCESS, 1.) CAREFUL CULTIVATION WITH EQUALLY CAREFUL DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION BY INFORMATION PROVIDERS, FOLLOWED BY 2.) A CAREFUL, BUT ULTIMATELY WILLING POSTURE ON THE PART OF GENERAL SOCIETY TO ACCEPT THE INFORMATION PROVIDED, MUST BE STOPPED DEAD IN ITS TRACKS AND EJECTED FROM THIS CULTURE. SUCH DISRUPTIONS WOULD TYPICALLY INCLUDE: The front page of The New York Times of September 18, 2022 captures the problem: CAPTURE PENDING KEYS TO GOOD HEALTH Please note that the content in the above HEALTH section is meant to work in conjunction with the health-related information at my master health site, KEYS TO GOOD HEALTH (site down temp). MY PLATFORM SPECIFIC, MORE NARROW ISSUES
BLOCKCHAIN / CRYPTOCURRENCIES
Analysis Pending. Preliminary judgment on Cryptocurrency: Do not support, as U.S. currency is already global standard, helping maintain American dominance in world economic and financial matters. Additionally, as technology grows more complex and thus drives an increasingly complex world, key or foundational systems, or at least the principles, predicates, and paradigms that underlie them must remain relatively clean and simple. One national currency is optimal based on this standard. Complex systems paired with complex foundational ideas are simply too overwhelming for beings of a finite lifespan, the point of which, after all, is to create and maximize human happiness and freedom. INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 4.0 Analysis Pending. MURDER - PETITO, GABBY Firstly, our Deepest Condolence to Ms. Petito and her family. Crime is a natural part of a society devoid of any formal and official adoption of the Love ethic. Ms. Petito was killed, and indeed many other horrible things happen in this country and world. People ask "Why?" This is the wrong question. In a society absent Love, the question is: Why not? Why wouldn't people commit transgressions and violations of every kind, as there's no genuine and widely promulgated and adopted moral code to inhibit them? "The Law" alone is not enough, for, how many laws can we possibly pass? Can we pass a law to cover every single violation and transgression that human beings are capable of conceiving and executing, now, and a hundred years from now? Impossible! The only real answer is the one that no one considers, and insofar as they do, dismiss as unrealistic: a change in the human heart. Indeed, brothers and sisters, if you're a serious Christian, or a member of any of the belief systems underpinned by Love, you already accept and believe this thesis, or are supposed to. Given such an ethico-existental change or shift, the many violations and transgressions that we commit against each other will simply not occur in the first place, from corporate corruption to street crime and everything in-between. I say that what's unrealistic is the assumption that the human race can continue hurting itself as it does, and still think that it's going to survive, much less flourish. And happily, Love, properly understood, is powerful enough to accommodate the necessary shift to a Love-based culture. This is why every major philosopher and theologian through history has venerated Love as essential. As stated above, incorporation of Love into our society is a core part of my Presidential platform, as contained in the document that you are now reading. MURDER - BUFFALO, N.Y. TOPS MARKET Firstly, my Deepest Condolence to the family of the ten victims. As stated, above, in regard to the Gabby Petito murder: crime is a natural part of a society devoid of any formal and official adoption of the Love ethic, and the larger argument and reasoning thereto remains the same and applies. In terms of the necessary task of removing euphemisms and conceptual overlays, "crime" simply refers to the phenomenon of violation or abrogation of existing laws and the deleterious consequences of this violation or abrogation, referring in the first place to actual codified laws, as opposed to natural, moral, or spiritual laws, or other of those that exist only conceptually. Now, specifically, I'm struck, first of all, by the near-ubiquitous reference to the 18-year-old child who committed these murders as a "man." His professed reason for the crime is based on the so-called Replacement Theory. UVALDE, TEXAS MAY 24, 2022 ROBB ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SHOOTING Another child mass murderer, 18 years old in this case, and the victims mostly children, as well. Children killing children; in some respects not unlike the reality of children having children. In regard to every such event, I maintain my assertion that the United States does not have a gun problem. This is why the DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION will not seek new firearms regulation. When the fullness and entirety of the reality of life in the United States is scrutinized, one realizes that what America has--is a LOVE problem. Love, properly understood, not as a passive, wishy-washy, irrationally self-denying or sacrificial principal, but, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and select others have realized, in my own language: "the most powerful social force available to Humankind." Do you know that most gun-based death in America is not one American murdering another--but one American killing themselves? That's right, most gun-based death in America is from suicide, the ultimate act of nonLove--toward oneself. And what drives someone to this supreme, overarching, and final act of nonLove? Obviously a deep despair or sense of hopelessness from one or more causes, often physical or psychological injury from others, or even loneliness, perhaps in combination with associated factors like mental illness, general emotional instability, or use of, or exposure to, chemical agents whether legal drugs, that is, pharmaceutical medications, or illegal drugs (now increasingly made legal in America), or environmental toxins affecting the brain such as chemical lawn treatments, or the exhaust and particulates spewing from the back end of gas-powered leafblowers and lawnmowers, found everywhere now in America. In sum: suicide sees every manner of causation that would simply not exist in a formally, and thus explicitly, loving society. By the way, this 2022 Summer season also finds, within sneezing distance from my house and property, a new company doing chemical mosquito treatments using what appears to be high-volume spraying using a leafblower-like device. Such chemical sprays, besides entering nearby homes through doors and windows, volatalizes, that is, enters the airstream where it can be breathed by human and animal, alike. It is precisely this sort of activity responsible for the hundreds of chemicals already in the bloodstream of infants right from birth. And the truth is such treatments are not needed to eliminate mosquitos, here: manual control techniques in this neighborhood will more than suffice--this isn't the Amazon or the Brazilian rainforest. It's a rare resident whose lawn and yard isn't tiny. Now, in addition to exposure to every other chemical in which we are already awash, whether outside the body such as lawn treatments and restaurant spraying, or inside the body through consumption of non-organic produce and other food products, we can add exposure to these mosquito-repellent sprays. And this is all in addition to the newfound clouds of marijuana smoke to which we're now forced to breathe, as an increasing number of states legalize dope and many of our neighbors take up the official Call to Harms and begin smoking. Let it never be said that this city, and many like it across America, isn't doing everything in its power to harm it's residents both physically and psychologically, especially the young and the old such as my 91yo Mother. Indeed is life in America nothing if not an epic of pain and dysfunction of many kinds from many sources, from the leafblower operator who has superfluously destroyed your quality of life, to doctors who prescribe pharmaceutical drugs without robust discussion with their patient regarding the possible kind and severity of side effects, to local neighbors feigning devout devotion to God while studiously and categorically ignoring you and your family, thereby traumatizing your elderly mother, with whom they previously had good relations, to food companies such as Amy's who represent their premium-priced products as extremely healthy, when many of them contain safflower or sunflower seed oils that destroy arteries and blood vessels leading directly to stroke and heart attack. And a million-and-one other sources of physical and/or psychological pain, coming at us all the time, usually because of the actions and behavior of other people. Against and in the context of this tableau, mass murder is understood not as anomalous, but simply congruent (i.e. consistent) with the general framework of pathological narcissism characteristic of the United States. Properly understood in this manner, the shooters of Uvalde, Buffalo, Sandy Hook, Columbine, and every other such social catastrophe, it is realized, are not freakish anomalies--but comprehensible actors in a morally and functionally incomprehensible and often dysfunctional social framework. We see that whether one American killing another, or one American killing themselves, the lack of Love, or failure to bring Love into the circumstance or situation, Love for the other or Love for themselves, is a key factor of causation in these violent events. In both cases LOVE, properly understood, is key, which is just one of the reasons that restoring and building Love and connection between Americans is the #1 plank in my Presidential platform, another being the effort to save American democracy, itself, as democracy actually requires the attitudes and behaviors associated with Love, as discussed elsewhere at this site. "A house divided against itself cannot stand," said Abraham Lincoln. Relatedly, under my order the DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION will direct all Chiefs of Police to instruct their officers that in the event of catastrophic crime events such as school shootings they are to make every effort to refrain from killing the killer,* this way we can: appropriately save the life of a brother or sister who was obviously in deep psychological pain if not suffering actual and explicit mental illness, and 2.) question the individual/s to determine, in fact, what did motivate their actions. Their motivation will likely be some combination of 1.) influence of legal or illegal agent such as marijuana, especially as now legal in the United States, 2.) emotional posture such as anger or revenge, and/or 3.) discreet psychological abnormality. End of Police Raids Additionally, besides TAB policing I intend as President to call for an end to police raids. Not an end to police intervention, even intrusive intervention in a home, apartment, or business when genuinely necessary, but to the aggressive, armed interventions that have such a terrible record for mishap, sometimes resulting in injury or death to innocent persons, and even the standard for "genuinely necessary" is going to be raised. I don't see why, in the majority of cases, persons sought by the Justice system can't be persuaded to emerge from their domicile using simple conversation by trained mediators. Sought-after persons are human beings, and in the majority of cases Americans, as well, and thus worthy of respect. The troubled person holed up somewhere eluding the Authorities, today, could be the productive contributing member of American society, tomorrow. Under the DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION no American is left behind, period. ______________________ *Refraining from Killing the Killer, that is, "Don't Kill the Killer" is a key part of my seminal new Policing paradigm, TAB POLICING, mentioned elsewhere in this document but not yet formally presented and explained. I'm also inclined to call for police officers, at least in certain commands, to refrain from carrying guns. Non-lethal means might be acceptable. Before you give yourself a stroke over these notions, recall and consider the implicit policing paradigm of the old Andy Griffith show: Andy Taylor, the sheriff, never wore a gun. His skills of charity, understanding, empathy, and persuasion carried the day with the great body of citizens with whom he interacted. Barney Fife, his deputy, did wear a firearm on his belt, but it had just one available bullet--which was always kept in his buttoned shirt pocket. More. JANUARY 06, 2021 CAPITAL INSURRECTION - Contrary to what some conservatives and others assert, that the insurrection holds no importance, likely because they want former President Trump exonerated of implied guilt for it, I assert the obvious: that incident is one of the most significant for the country in modern times, for it cogently illustrates that: Drumpf & the Backdoor Rise of Cultural Socialism Donald Trump's actual last name is Drumpf. America has always stood well apart from, and strongly opposed to, socialism in any form or variant. Yet the rise of Drumpfism has brought with it, and coaxed forth into bas relief, what may comprise the early seeds in America of that form of socialism called Anarchism, or simply Anarchy. Libertarian socialism, being, for example, yet another form. As a political philosopher, and member, previously, of the Socialist* movement for about 30 years, I'm familiar with these notions. Whereas the America of years past was marked by cohesion in almost every national sphere, from support for the war effort of World War II, to the collective effort to rid the country (and the world) of polio, the American people were one. Politically, the opposing party was not the implacable enemy seen as anathema to be vanquished--or worse ("HANG MIKE PENCE"), but "the loyal opposition," to be reasoned with, argued with, implored, even deplored--but always ultimately seen as the other legitimate half of the body politic. However, notions such as the loyal opposition comprise elements of American culture requiring institutional memory, little or non-existent among young, and even older, Americans who all-too often live their lives with their noses stuck in their smart phones, thus remaining essentially ignorant of the history of their own, or for that matter any, nation. Perhaps as President I'll declare illegal the so-called smart phone, actually serving to keep Americans stupid, and thus, in all too many cases, disloyal if not traitorous. This phenomenon was seen most recently by the actions of the motley and sordid collection of imbeciles who stormed the United States Capitol in January 2021, thereby, among other things, illustrating as a fait accompli American society actually becoming more anarchical, more like anarchy, and less like what it is, a centrally-governed republic. The strain of socialism implicitly encouraged by Drumpf is anarchy, toward which the United States appears to be lurching, a political form defined as a society without a central hierarchical governing structure, the population divided into individual self-governing units. So, he who declared AMERICA FIRST, his pronouncement as imperious as it was vacuous, is indeed the first to bring America to the brink of socialism. This current is unwitting on the part of Drumpf, as he appears generally ignorant, and certainly, especially upon first taking office, fully ignorant of politics, its process, and its universe, having referred instructively at that time, in fact, to "...this politics stuff." When Drumpf asserted AMERICA FIRST during his inaugural address, little did he or even we realize that what he actually meant was, ON MY WATCH, AND BECAUSE OF MY ACTIONS, AMERICA WILL BE THE FIRST CIVILIZED WESTERN NATION TO DISINTEGRATE AND DESCEND INTO POLITICAL CHAOS AND ACTUAL ANARCHY. There are two persons on this planet from whom political power must be kept: Vladimir Putin and Donald J. Trump. Indeed, perhaps what they have in common, that seems to have comprised such a baffling relationship, is a disdain for Democracy, itself, and its processes, and by extension the West, itself. Drumpf's almost immediate persecution upon taking office of his own intelligence agencies, those guardians, in fact, of the West and its titular and functional head, the United States, is particularly troubling until one realizes and reconciles within oneself, psychologically and intellectually, the role of such behavior for Drumpf: whether wittingly, reflecting his disdain for the West, or unwittingly, his low level of awareness impeding his understanding that his actions are injurious to the West, Drumpf still acts to hurt the West. He evidently can't help himself. Which is why it is imperative that we help ourselves by preventing this erratic, ignorant, and downright dangerous boob from ever holding political office, again. . . . . . . . . . Oh, and by the way, as some of you may know: our former President also has a history of evidently terrible bone spurs, partly why he avoided serving in our U.S. military five times. *The Socialism to which I subscribed was not that of malign historical actors like Lenin, Mao, Castro, Guevara, or Trotsky, whose thought I explicitly reject, but schools of thought generated by such thinkers as psychiatrist and social thinker Erich Fromm, the Christian socialists, American Socialist Daniel DeLeon, and of course Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose Beloved Community is similar to my notion of the BROTHERHOOD OF MAN & WOMAN (site temp. down). MESSAGE OF HOPE FOR KIDS REGARDING GUN VIOLENCE IN AMERICA PARENTS AND TEACHERS: LETTER BELOW FOR CHILDREN NO YOUNGER THAN EIGHT YEARS OLD; TWELVE IS BETTER. YOUNGER CHILDREN SHOULD BE FULLY SHIELDED FROM THESE EVENTS. Hello, Kids Kids, you may have heard about the recent gun violence in Uvalde, Texas or Buffalo, N.Y. In both cases a child of just 18 years old killed other children, and some adults, using a gun.
These events are extremely traumatic. They leave us sad, if not in despair, confused, angry, and eventually, searching for solutions, perhaps with frustration as we begin to realize that such solutions are not always forthcoming (i.e. not available right away). But rest assured, your parents are here for you. As are your teachers, counselors--and me. I will always do my best to assist you in any way that I can. You may always contact me, at any time for any reason, at OneHumanFamily@fastmail.net, or on my Presidential campaign telephone line, listed below. I seek to be your President in 2024, though my offer to assist is something I would have done, anyway. I offer my personal assistance because I want each of you to know that, yes, someone on this planet, someone in this country, cares about you. Yes--you. If you elect (i.e. decide) to call, try, if possible, to have an adult there with you as you speak with me. They can be on the other line with you; that would be great, if possible. The Crimes Now, regarding these recent crimes: first of all, don't focus on the weapon, a gun. If people want to harm others, they will find a way to do it. If there is no powerful gun available, they'll use a less powerful gun. If there is no less powerful gun available, they'll use a knife. In Norway, recently, a man killed five persons using a bow-and-arrow. In other words, kids, weapons are a problem, yes, but not the main problem. As far as guns, America has a gun culture and this is very unlikely to change. Which ultimately doesn't matter because the root of the violence problem is not the weapon used, but the desire of a human being to kill or injure another human being. For that matter, why would someone want to harm another person in any way, at all? This is the basic problem: the willingness of people to hurt other people, regardless of how they do it. And what about violence done by humans to animals? Do you know where your hamburger, chicken sandwich, or morning bacon or sausage comes from? They all come from animals that are raised and then killed, sometimes painfully, so you can enjoy your food. Shouldn't we be fighting this kind of violence, too? It's simply something to think about, to make you realize that violence is a much bigger phenomenon, in other words a much bigger thing, than you might be aware. Our Most Powerful Tool Luckily, we human beings have a tool in our toolkit, so to speak, that can solve the problem of human violence. It's a tool that many thinkers, philosophers, and religious believers have talked about for many years. It's the most powerful social force available to we human beings, and if we would just understand, embrace, and use it, we would probably lose the impulse to harm other human beings and all violence would likely (i.e. probably) cease. The tool to which I refer, and of which I speak, is, of course, LOVE. Once we understand that Love is not a passive and ineffective principal but a powerful and effective one, when properly understood and employed, we'll have begun our journey from a violent, aggressive, and selfish society to one of Love and Brotherhood. This is my declaration as well as that of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Is this possibility real? Is it realistic? Yes, it is both. Join me and many others in learning about this tool and using it, and we'll transform American, and for that matter every, society, on Earth, into a near-Heaven on Earth! Religion & God What of the role of religion and belief in God? Many feel that the rise in America of gun violence roots in a decline in religious belief, or perhaps no belief, at all. For purposes of this MESSAGE OF HOPE FOR KIDS REGARDING GUN VIOLENCE IN AMERICA I will assert what I've been asserting for years: it continues to appear to me that religion remains a key locus (i.e. center of activity) of moral teaching and advocacy, and insofar as systems of religious belief decline there can be, and likely is, a concomitant (i.e. happening at the same time) reduction in public morality, resulting in increasing disconnection between Americans, a prerequisite for mass murder. In other words, when people, especially troubled or immature people, feel apart or separate from most other people, they find it easier to harm or even kill those other people. If you are part of a faith tradition there is nothing wrong with turning to that faith both for succor (i.e. relief or comfort), and possible solutions, provided, in my opinion, that such effort is paired with remedial action in the actual, external world. Homework Do not despair over recent events; instead simply replace ANXIETY with ACTION. Begin by carefully reading and studying this website, this book, and the chapter on Brotherly Love in THE ART OF LOVING by Erich Fromm. (No commission earned through the above link; emplaced as a convenience to you. Jumps to Barnes & Noble, not Amazon, as the latter supports the legalization of drugs.) Also, you and your parents should be aware the #1 plank, or belief, in my Presidential platform, or program for the American Presidential election of 2024 is to establish Love, connection, and trust between Americans. Then, neither murders nor even lesser acts of injury to one another would likely occur. I also recommend, at the outset, that you begin reading or studying, again, perhaps listening to, free, Dr. Fromm's signature work The Art of Loving, especially his chapter on Brotherly Love (57:00 time index), as this orientation to our brothers and sisters in our human family, indeed, is foundational to the establishment of the Brotherhood of Man, the new organizational paradigm this site introduces, describes and recommends, or, similarly, as Dr. King has conceived it, the Beloved Community (Note: linked audiobook reading of The Art of Loving is not fully complete. Consult text, also). Why do you have to read and study to solve this problem? Because it's a complicated problem and like any complicated problem the answer isn't necessarily simple to discover, and if you do discover it, it isn't necessarily easy to do. For example, you might think the problem of gun violence in America could be solved if the government forbids people from owning guns, but many gun owners in America will not accept this kind of rule. So we've got to find a solution that everyone, or at least most people, are comfortable with. I also strongly recommend that you work with your parents or teachers in reviewing my other analyses, above, of recent American mass-murder events such as have occurred in Buffalo, N,Y. at the Tops Friendly Market, and Uvalde, Texas at the Robb Elementary school. More. Why I am Not a Republican In reading my policy positions, which are generally conservative, one might wonder why I haven't simply declared myself a Republican. Aside from my respect for the progressive, small "P," work of the Democratic Party over its recent history, and general posture of actual and active care and concern for all peoples, I remain generally enthralled with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a figure who, while not perfect, himself remains a man both titular and practical for so much of the values of love and goodness that this country, and indeed this world simply must have, if it is to survive, no less, Actualize. Moreover, the Republican Party has shifted character dramatically, indeed radically, in its continuing embrace of Donald Trump, and especially his continuing, preposterous claim of victory in the 2020 Presidential election, a short-sighted and ignorant figure who appears, in regard to the January 06 Capital insurrection, to have inspired it, if not provided a de facto authorization. Regarding the absurd assertion that former President Trump actually won the 2020 election, I'm just one of a string of writers and commentators who note the broad spectrum of authorities who have soundly and thoroughly debunked that claim. In fact, the former President and his legal team were fined several times for initiation of frivolous lawsuits in this regard. Yet, inexplicably, the Republican Party, at least broadly in terms of on-the-ground electoral politics, have essentially made concurrence with this fantastic assertion a litmus test for election. And I wish to point out, in defense of a proper Conservatism, that it is agreement, or at least acceptance, of the verdict of the established electoral mechanisms and bodies of one's own society that constitute the clear Conservative posture, while Mr. Trump's view that so many Republicans now seem to accept as an article of faith, that he won the Presidential election, and his attempt to reject, and indeed violently or otherwise forcibly overthrow that result, thereby defying established governmental mechanisms, is not the Conservative response, at all--but the RADICAL one. Of this there is no question. Thus, much of what appears to be the Republican Party of today actually embraces the same theory and ethic of to-the-ramparts, violent revolutionary action that is the stock-in-trade, the coin-of-the-realm, of radical political groups and figures. In this, the Republican Party appears to have fueled its own devolution and retrogression into some kind of proto-party: an earlier, amorphous assemblage with yet-forming ideals and principles, the civic and moral courage and clarity forged by years of Republican thought and action--gone. Were I a Republican, I'd be asking in this regard, not merely what Jesus would do (always ask this), but what Nixon, Reagan, Eisenhower, and indeed just about any Conservative (or moderate, or liberal) politician would do, were they in Mr. Trump's electoral position at the finish of the 2020 election. I don't see any of these vaunted figures humiliating themselves and America with infantile antics in conjunction with a very real quasi-violent attempt at overthrow of staid and traditional electoral principal, praxis, and institution of the Republic. There is a very important recent article by Francis Fukuyama proffering a cogent and highly pedagogical initial deconstruction of this event, the continuing Republican response and posture, and their pointedly deleterious effect on the role and status of the United States in the world, therefrom. Moreover, the committee charged with investigating the January 06, 2021 insurrection at the United States Capital and the role of former President Trump and Republican leaders, therein, finds an almost complete lack of cooperation from these leaders and others associated with the former President. From the New York Times of May 26, 2022:
"The men's resistance came as 22 former Republican members of the House urged them to cooperate with the panel.
"We understand you may have concerns about this exercise of the committee's subpoena power," the former members wrote in their letter, posted to Medium. "Indeed, under most circumstances, we would strongly counsel against compelling the testimony of sitting members of Congress. But the exceptional nature of this circumstance is clear: one in which sitting members may have firsthand knowledge regarding an assault on our government. The best way to ensure a full and fair accounting of what happened before and on Jan. 6 is for you to provide your understanding of the events and to explain it to the American people."
In essence, then, I do not declare myself a Republican because that party has now devolved into something else: a group now not merely of extremism--but violent extremism, and as such, no longer a sound, legitimate, and productive example, expression, and part of what America is. Witness, indeed, the gathering effort of groups like the Renew America Movement to restore practical and philosophical competence to the American system of governance. Ranting & Raving Secondarily, I don't declare myself a Republican, nor fully relate to that party, as so many of its most public de facto or purported representatives, typically media personages such as radio talk show hosts, like Mark Levin or Michael Savage, seem little more than small-minded, vindictive, purveyors of little more than invective. I've listed, particularly, to many hours of both of these hosts and in my view they represent the Republican Party, or at least Conservatism, poorly. Where is the focus, not on who's right, but what's right? Where is the assumption that the Democrats are the loyal opposition? Younger readers may be wholly unacquainted with the latter notion. During the Obama Presidency, I heard Michael Savage level Ad hominem invective at the President any number of times. It was clear that Mr. Savage despised him personally, and he made no attempt to hide it, but was actually profligate in his attacks. Whether I voted for Barack Obama or not is immaterial to this concern. Mark Levin, whom I've listened to any number of times, besides having a poor radio voice, is, to me, almost unlistenable as his monologue follows its predictable pattern: he slowly works up to an enraged fever pitch that is always my cue to switch him off. He also appears to engage in personal attacks, or at least focus on persons and personalities, not just ideas, theory, and programs. Where is the reasoned, soft-spoken, magnanimous Conservative commentary and analysis? The fact that Christianity comprises a traditional part of American Conservatism calls unequivocally for a loving posture on the part of Conservatives, at least Christian Conservatives. I hear nothing like this in major radio media such as WABC-RADIO NYC. Commentator David Brooks strikes me as an able and emulatable representative of a general Conservatism. Thirdly, I don't declare myself a Republican, nor fully relate to that party, because, though my own present-day political programme calls for market-based solutions whenever possible, the Republican party in the main appears to hue to the blind dictates of capitalism too reflexively. I was surprised to learn recently that no less a guru and exponent of free enterprise than economist Milton Friedman asserted that markets cannot be permitted to operate with no supervision or governance: FRIEDMAN QUOTE PENDING "The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions." . . . . . Leonardo da Vinci BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT/ORGANIZATION - Do not support BLM. Support Dr. King. Do black lives matter? Of course, this goes without saying. And Blue Lives Matter, and All Lives Matter. RUSSIA UKRAINE INCURSION "To subdue an enemy without fighting is the greatest of skills." -- Sun Tzu And such is NATO and the Biden Administration rightly trying to subdue Russian President Vladimir Putin without firing a shot. Gross restriction of Mr. Putin, his associates, and Russia, itself to operate freely and to its own benefit, including in the area of economic activity, may prove an effective counter, and should be and is being attempted. For example, oil, in particular, is a mainstay of the mediocre Russian economy, and thankfully, longstanding U.S. ally and key NATO member Germany has finally gotten on board in threatening to cancel all further development and operations of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, a major project to convey oil from Russia directly to Germany and the larger European Union. For Russia, this has got to hurt--let's hope so. War, I have said, is almost categorically unacceptable and is to be eschewed and urgently avoided because, among many other deleterious consequences, it will make one child cry. The child can have no understanding of what is happening around them; can have no full, mature understanding of the violence, terror, and physical destruction at their feet. Bad enough we traumatize adults this way; we cannot do it to children. The DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION will continue all military and other aid to Ukraine in the continuing face of the Russian offensive. Ultimately, however, the United States is not defending and assisting Ukraine, we're defending and assisting Democracy. We're defending Civility, and civilization, we're defending decency, we're defending nonviolence, we're defending cooperation, we're defending morality. In sum, we're defending all that America is, aspires to be, wishes for the world, and will actively assist in creating in the world. My Platform includes several key steps intended to strengthen U.S. military capabilities and project that newfound strength to the world, thus, itself, comprising an effective counter to untoward action by Russia or any other state actor. TRUMP, DONALD - Did not write The Art of the Deal; this book was ghost-written. It should come as no surprise that former President Trump lied about this: persons with ghost-written books generally don't disclose it, and, Mr. Trump, even before becoming President had publicly stated that he sometimes considers it necessary to lie. This fact alone fatally indicts Donald Trump's character, and with it his qualifications to be President, for the originating and First Principle for the role and position of President of the United States is complete candor (i.e. frank honesty) with the American people--us. I cast one vote for Mr. Trump, but once his behavior in-office, as President, was demonstrated, his fatal deficits become clear, a second vote was obviously out of the question. Likely the worst President we've ever had. For this and other reasons to be discussed, it is critical to the fate of, not merely America, but the world, that this gentleman remain in the real estate and entertainment businesses, roles for which he has clearly shown great interest and occasionally excelled, and where he clearly belongs. As opposed to further deleterious involvement in, as he gracelessly put it, "This politics stuff." I support RENEW AMERICA, the organized Congressional movement to eradicate the Trump stain on America, and what has unfortunately and, indeed, inexplicably, become his long coat-tails. See link, below. THE REAL COST OF DECEIT Tyranny, Truth, & Trump In stark contrast to former President Trump's non-authorship of his famed book, I wrote every word of my approximately thirty web sites, providing voters and non-voters alike more-than-ample opportunity to fully acquaint themselves with just about every parameter necessary to judge and assess me, to determine whether I deserve their vote. But what of the so-called "little white lie"? Firstly, there's no evidence that in his Declaration of Deceit the former President was referring only to "little white lies." Secondly, in the context of an especially volatile political and social "kindling" such as arguably exists in the United States, today, even a little white lie can spark, then ignite, the volatile and highly flammable kindling to generate a social, political, or economic conflagration. Comparatively, a given assertion may be little, that is, limited in the scope of its ill effect, either because it concerns a subject of little perceived consequence or a subject of great perceived consequence, but an element of that subject perceived as of little importance or consequence. Comparatively, a given assertion may be little, that is, limited in the scope of its ill effect, and a given assertion may be a lie, that is, a deliberate misstatement of reality, but such an assertion will never be white, that is, fully devoid of any ill-effect since rooted in good intention. In fact, a small lie can be more pernicious and insidious than a larger lie, for, just as marijuana, the drug perceived as milder than other drugs and thus less damaging, may actually be more harmful than other kinds of drugs because its very mildness obscures its ill-effect, and the extent of the damage to the mind, thereto, so too, can a small lie generate worse effects than a big one for numerous reasons. For example, the small lie may require continual reinforcement with assertions supporting it, themselves lies, and thus initiate a pattern, perhaps even a cascade, of dishonesty, that, in the end, can prove extremely damaging. In fact, Brothers & Sisters, historically the greatest criminals of all time, including Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, and others, from the most pernicious ideological camps of all time, such as fascism and (faux-)communism, skillfully utilized the lie as a key weapon in their authoritarian armory. MAKE AMERICA GREAT I'm afraid that this is another key area in which I must respectfully disagree with our former President. This was, and presumably again will be, Donald J. Trump's ubiquitous (i.e. widespread) political slogan. It recalls (i.e. remembers or refers to) a time in recent American history, probably the period from about 1940 to about 1980, especially the decade of the 1950s, when America was, and remains, perceived to be stable, strong, peaceful, and prosperous. However, congruent (i.e. consistent) with my Actualization principal, I do not intend to make America great again; in other words, I'm not going to restore the America that was, which, admittedly did speak to and reflect greatness, while suffering bigotry and other problems, I'm going to EXCEED that standard and make America the best that she's ever been, create America anew, the best that she's capable of becoming! Do What You're Good At The former President may have sincerely wanted, and may still sincerely want, to make America great again--HE'S SIMPLY CLUELESS ABOUT HOW TO GO ABOUT IT. HOW TO DO IT. HE HAS NO IDEA. I'm sure that many people, many Americans, in and out of politics, would love to make America great again. But they simply don't know how to go about it; what to do, specifically. I mean--it is a very tall order. Your doctor, automobile mechanic--and President of the United States--are all essentially detectives who must have superior analytical skill to do their job and manage that to which they are assigned and trusted. Moreover, just as your mechanic can't be versed only in older, more traditional or conventional vehicles, but must possess expertise in the new and very advanced automobiles of today, your President, similarly, must be versed in knowing, understanding, and negotiating the most advanced and up-to-the-second realities of America and the world today, in technology, medicine, defense and military affairs, terror, environment, quality-of-life, and every sphere and area relevant to life today. This was the problem with our former President: hire him to construct you a hotel, or put you on a television show or in a beauty pageant. These are his longstanding, demonstrated strengths. Hire people to do that at which they excel, and for which they show a natural affinity. Therefore, based on this commonsense standard: DON'T hire Don Trump to govern your nation--he just doesn't have the analytical skill (among other shortcomings). - RENEW AMERICA MOVEMENT - - DEFUSE DISINFORMATION - ENTREPRENEURIAL IDEAS In the continuing spirit of Love toward, faith in, and respect for, the American people, including both our entrepreneurs and established companies, of all kinds and sizes, I offer the following set of my original entrepreneurial ideas, free for the taking by anyone, to help generate new business and economic activity, and propel America to the very pinnacle and summit of the economic mountain. In my capacity as President, I will assist in securing and building business based on these, and other, ideas. {LIST PENDING} ABOUT ME Part I I am a 61+ year old native born American, holding a B.A. in Philosophy from Seton Hall University. My original writing on Terror has been quoted and cited by the New York Times. The gist of my piece: that, for eight substantive reasons, the Twin Towers must be rebuilt to a minimum of their original 110 stories. This is why the web site where I published the piece was, and remains, called 110Again.org. It's now a general anti-terror portal, though updated infrequently. I have a strong helping orientation. I adhere to, theorize about, teach, and indeed practice Love, properly understood. I help a lot of people, often in small, though meaningful ways, each day. I try to bring Love to many, if not every, exchange with other human beings. I routinely give a $1 tip to each gas station attendant who pumps my gas: I'll order $19 worth of gas but hand the attendant a $20 bill. Just this morning, in observing my local recycling crew dump our bottles into the recycling truck, I tried, and succeeded, in catching the eye of one of the young men, brown skinned, likely African-American, who dumped our baskets of bottles. Upon catching his eye I smiled and demonstratively waved Thank You, which he, of course, responded to in the affirmative, himself. A few years ago, in line at the local Stop-n-Shop supermarket a group of young orthodox Jewish boys were ahead of me attempting to purchase various snack items, as I recall. They were lacking money, so I said, Hang on, and reached into my pocket, where I was intending to give them $5 (my last $5). As it turned out they refused my help, but we did have a brief exchange about why I would so volunteer to help them, "strangers," in this way. Years ago, I attempted to secure funds for a young woman in front of Lee's Hawaiian Islander restaurant in Clifton, N.J. When I came back with the money, however, she had evidently gone. Ditto with another young woman seeking money to buy diapers for her baby, soliciting shoppers in the parking lot, again, at one of my local Stop-n-Shop supermarkets. Upon having secured the money while in the market and leaving, I couldn't find her, though as I recall I had advised her to wait as I'd be helping her. About a year ago a group of young Caucasian and Hispanic kids couldn't believe it when, not only did I buy them their "Biggie Bag," that is, a discount bag of food from Wendy's restaurant, but I handed them their $10 bill back, telling them, "It's on me." Their collective jaws dropped and one of them actually said, "God bless you, Sir." This is me. This is Vincent Frank De Benedetto. I do these sorts of things all day, every day--trying to establish positive contact between we human beings, and in doing so teach Love, confirm its power and utility, and, in the best of cases, seed the ground for the eventual establishment of a world based explicitly, in its every dimension, on Love. Am I the only human beings committing such acts? I'm sure not. If you are, or wish to be, such a person, I strongly encourage you to join me, and begin supporting me and my work, as a writer, philosopher, musician, and in my other roles, and now as aspiring Presidential candidate. Help needed is cash, of course (please see PayPal button, below), and/or assistance with tasks. I assure you that we will see the development of neither a United States informed by Love, nor a world, unless we of such mind work together. Real World Politics In terms of real-world politics I consider myself a conservative Democrat, though it's a virtual certainty that I'd never vote for any Democratic candidate, as they all seem to advocate abortion. Generationally, I'm a Baby Boomer, of which Wikipedia asserts: "The generation is often defined as people born from 1946 to 1964, during the post-World War II baby boom..." My generational status and identification is likely one of the reasons that many of my beliefs and corresponding political postures are conservative. Though a huge Star Trek fan, I, by choice, have not seen even one episode of Star Trek: Discovery, nor will I, as, for one thing, I reject a Star Trek series with an explicit homosexual theme, or at least explicit homosexual behavior. Over my many years as a fan, I've always understood Star Trek to be a family program. I even objected strongly, and still do, when the Data character used an epithet (i.e. curse word; vulgar term) in the ST film Star Trek: Generations. So what am I--some kind of boy scout? Response: what's wrong with the Boy Scouts? Other than the fact, ridiculously, that they've been forced to let girls in, a decision condemned in the first place by none other than the Girl Scouts organization, itself. Consistency! I eschew Star Trek series or episodes trading in unsavory or nontraditional themes such as homosexuality or displaying such behavior for the same reason that I elect not to restrict gun ownership: because I respect, and thus elect to conserve what is, especially when what is is generally working, including that which represents a more elevated morality or moral position. Regarding guns, America is a gun culture, rooted in our very Constitution and it's not my place as President to try to use my governmental power to change this. Regarding Star Trek, similarly, this series, for much of its earlier history has always been known, gratifyingly so, as family entertainment, and this is the show character that I've retained in my intellectual and emotional memory. So I will and do reject any Star Trek content that departs from this desirable standard. This obviously does not mean that I fail to recognize the reality of homosexuality. Our homosexual brothers and sisters must be loved as we love everyone in our human family. I do ask, as President, for everyone's benefit, that they undergo certified therapy or a similar formal process for at least three years to confirm their professed gender-orientation and identification. I am a writer and philosopher working with unique and powerful social and political ideas; comprising a statement of principle, plan of action, and personal and social belief system. Were I to become President I would attempt to recast the nation based on this programme. I am working with this plan now, prior to becoming President, and I'll be working with this plan after my bid for the Presidency, whether I'd won, or not. The only difference is that were I to win, I'd have the opportunity to implement this unique and powerful plan and likely improve the country immeasurably, in a way that, frankly, no other candidate likely could. A substantial introduction to my intellect, value system, and general world-view is available through a careful examination of the free online draft of my upcoming book LOVE: Properly Understood, the most Powerful Social Force Available to Humankind, an Internet resource for which I wrote every word. Please also see THE BEST OF WORLD CULTURE, a kind of companion site to this one, presenting and describing what I feel is important in society, and OUR BETTER SELVES, my Internet resource containing several of my politically-related essays. Last, search my name as presented for my 30+ web sites, each conceived, researched, written, and built by me, and incorporating my basic perspective. Reach the Vincent Frank De Benedetto 2024 Presidential Campaign at: NINE SEVEN THREE - SEVEN SEVEN NINE - FOUR NINE ONE FOUR. The form of my telephone listing, above, represents my possession of a wide-ranging knowledge of the multifarious (i.e. of many kinds; diverse) computing technologies in use today, which a modern-day U.S. President must. Using alphabetic characters, above, instead of numeric in listing the telephone number for my campaign may cause this contact point to go unnoticed by the telephone number harvester software bots operating across the Internet. ABOUT ME Part II LITERARY & PHILOSOPHICAL CONTEXT & BACKGROUND My 2024 Presidential Platform, the book length document you are presently reading, is a new addition, or closely related, to my three volume AGAPE TRILOGY, under-development, listed below, though intends especially to work together with Volume I of that Trilogy, LOVE POWERFUL. AGAPE TRILOGY My work prior to my present run for the United States Presidency was of a kind of political thinking called "utopian," in my case advocating for the creation of what I term a CMNL (pron. "communal") society, that is, a 1.) classless, 2.) moneyless, 3.) needs-based, and 4.) love-assisted socio-economic system, the long dreamt-of Brotherhood of Man, in fact, similar, if not identical to, the BELOVED COMMUNITY of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Though with different objectives, utopian thought and advocacy exists, as well, in fact, in the argument and objectives of thinkers such as Ayn Rand and the modern American Libertarian Party, of which Ron and Rand Paul are exponents. Utopian thought of one kind or another is somewhat irresistible to, and a common product among, political philosophers, of which group I count myself. My 2024 run for the Presidency of the United States is not generally based on my previous utopian thinking, but the reality and realpolitik of America as she stands historically and today. Thus the objective of a DE BENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION is not a radical shift toward the creation of a utopian CMNL/communal society, but the perfecting of our present American society, based squarely on our founding documents such as the United States Constitution and Declaration of Independence, and related historical precedent. Insofar as there are values, principles, and characteristics common to both kinds of societies, such as Love, properly understood, you may see them mentioned in the content, here, in my Presidential Platform document and larger campaign. Love and connection, for example, are required for either kind of society to succeed, and as the long history, grossly intensified in recent years and even now, days, of mass shootings, and even now the recent January 06, 2022 Capital insurrection, themselves, clearly illustrate, as discussed above, love and connection between Americans is even required for our democracy, itself, to function. "A house divided against itself cannot stand," stated our 16th President, a gentleman you may heard something about--Abraham Lincoln. THAT WAS THEN, THIS IS THEN Have a Day Our liberal democracy embodies a political model and paradigm that, though a clear manifold advance against its predecessors such as Monarchy and Feudalism, must be seen as an inferior model relative to that which is desired and indeed demanded by the unyielding emerging moral principle of today, technically and socially possible: Love. I wish to announce as it must be said that in representing and seeking to optimize our present system of social organization as I'm doing in seeking the United States Presidency, rather than continue to militate for the clearly far-superior model, the Brotherhood of Man united in and as a Communal society, I represent neither my best self nor put my best foot forward. But if the America of today is to be improved, which we and the world desperately need, I've no choice but to work within the existing framework. It's flaws and their redress are virtually transparent. Andiamo I am a 61 year old Italian-American. In background I am "full" Italian, meaning that both my Father and Mother are Italian. As many know, if you really want to get something done, especially that requiring energy, vigor, commitment, or creative, innovative thinking, or, using a different skill set, assertiveness, courage, or even aggression--you likely need and seek an ITALIAN. Well, stop needing and stop seeking--you've found him. Does the name Leonardo Da Vinci mean anything to you? An Italian polymath acclaimed as one of the greatest thinkers of all time. How about Galileo Galilei? Enrico Fermi? Guglielmo Marconi? Michaelangelo? Or in the sphere of music, Enrico Caruso? Tony Iommi? Fellow Americans, andiamo (on dee om' oh) is Italian for: "LET'S GO!" Take Hold of the Flame A lifelong music fan, I enjoy almost all forms though favor selected metal and hard rock such as Queensryche, Black Sabbath, and Dokken, and love classical music, as well, and country. I lament the apparent recent loss of the one country radio station broadcasting in the New York City area, where I reside. The official song of the DeBenedetto Campaign is Get Together by the Youngbloods. See above. I remain an amateur metal guitarist, composer, and vocalist. I remind fellow Conservatives and others that "metal," though perhaps not to everyone's taste, remains a European musical form, and thus close to the classic American cultural project. ...children of the world Listen to what I say If you want a better place to live in Spread the word today Show the world that love is still alive You must be brave Or you children of today are children of the grave... -- Children of the Grave, Black Sabbath, 1971 Touche'. My Day to Day What is my life like, day-to-day? With neither hyperbole nor sentimentality, I state that my day-to-day existence is characterized by one word: PAIN. Many, if not most of the moments of my life are painful, psychologically, physically, or both. Primarily the former. Illness has made my adult years difficult: physical illness in my family, and the overwhelming social illness of my society. In social science the usual term is pathology. So substantial, injurious, and shocking has the latter been, that it has generated its own volume, NEIGHBORS OF DEATH, publication pending. Yet, I endure. And in the realm of political theory, and the construction of a philosophical paradigm that can save this country (and this world)--I achieve. I live principally in the life of the mind though my ideas are battle-tested in real life, as much as they can be. And this works out rather well in terms of me representing you as President, because you know who else lives largely in pain? You. Or certainly many of you. The truth is, we all do in some measure. That is, to one degree or another. Working together, however, let's turn PAIN into PURPOSE, PRINCIPAL, POWER, and a PARADIGM of achievement and Actualization. For ourselves, America, and the human race. No, I'm not kidding. Agape, brotherly love in the language of Greek philosophy, is simply that powerful. DECLARATION "Somebody has to save our skins." Princess Leia, Star Wars: A New Hope Why do I want to run for President? I don't want to run for President. But now in the year 2022, more than at any time in my life or the life of this nation, I find myself completely surrounded by dysfunction, often gross dysfunction. It's essentially everywhere, starting with my own sole sibling, a sister, A.W.O.L. (Absent Without Leave) from our family just about her entire adult life, no matter how desperately we need her help, and ending with, well--it simply doesn't end. That's the problem. The behavior of numerous other persons in my local sphere also illustrates a strong level of dysfunction, as well, chronicled in my volume under-development NEIGHBORS OF DEATH. Regarding America, I look around me and see a country that's lost its way, has lost its identity, is being grossly mismanaged, all at a time of global military, technological, epistemological (i.e. concerning knowledge), environmental, and personal crises. I readily see through the problems to their solutions, and so I run as a duty. Writing today, then, Tuesday, September 21, 2021, at 3:57 pm, I declare that, over the last two or so weeks I've decided to attempt a run for the Presidency of the United States. Such decision and its consequent action is not rooted in ego in any measure, I have little interest in ego, but in confidence that the confluence of 1.) my intellect, and 2.) knowledge of Agape (i.e. brotherly Love), these both filtered and burnished through my unique life experience, can, in good measure, right many of the very many wrongs afflicting this nation, and in the best of cases, the world. In fact, there is a mutual affliction between the United States and the world: this country, and the larger geopolitical sphere in which it exists, the world, share many of the same problems. I did not begin my volume, LOVE: THE MOST POWERFUL SOCIAL FORCE AVAILABLE TO HUMANKIND, nor its two sister volumes, my AGAPE TRILOGY, in support of a Presidential run, but study of that work will be vital to understanding my approach to governance. My governance of this nation, and the influence that such management will likely have on the world, will be based on Agape, as this principal is unquestionably powerful, dynamic, robust, and extensible (i.e. scalable) enough to comprise such a foundation. Of course, the principle is generally misunderstood even in regard to what is traditionally understood as its native area of relevance, personal and social relationships. Many will find its application to practical politics baffling. I'll explain all in due time, however, and the nation and world may just find itself surprised, amazed, and eminently cheered. There is one thing and one thing alone that can change the face of humanity, and that is Love, properly understood (my Plank #1). Especially in concert with a dramatic improvement in our competence and functional capacity (my Plank #2). AMERICA NEEDS AT LEAST ONE ADULT IN THE ROOM THAT WOULD BE ME ABORTION TEST As another Presidential candidate (or simply a citizen), do you imagine yourself to be "an adult in the room"? Fair enough. But--reality check. Do you support abortion? This is a procedure by which an unwanted nascent human being, whose tiny "heart" tube is already beating 65 times a minute by the end of their fourth week of life, is either cut up in the womb, then their remains sucked out with a medical vacuum cleaner, or is salted to death, their remains then sucked out with a medical vacuum cleaner, or sometimes is simply vacuumed out, period. In all cases, their body and remains are literally thrown in the trash can. As of the fifth week of development, the fingers, toes and eyes of this emerging human in the womb (© VFD) are also forming. This is clearly a human being, separate from its mother: a separate and distinct individual, whose existence is its own, and belongs to no one else--not even its biological mother. Yet, Mr. or Ms. opposing candidate, you support the right of another human being to kill this human being or have it killed? It might be the mother wishing to kill it, the father, the mother's parent or parents, a relative, or a close "trusted" friend. In civilized society we consider and call the deliberate killing of a human being murder. You support murder, yet consider yourself an adult in the room? You are clearly an unthinking child in the room, and in this appellation I'm being charitable, as some might call you a criminal in the room, as murder is a crime. Definition: Criminal, noun. One who commits a crime. Women need not worry; no rights will be abrogated. If you don't wish to keep your child, they will be shifted to the integrated NATIONWIDE ADOPTION NETWORK that the DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION will establish. See my ABORTION section elsewhere in this document, as well as my extended anti-abortion essay, "End the Silent Second Holocaust - Abortion" at another of my informational sites, Our Better Selves. I don't support any of the narcissistic brutality that is abortion, as described, above, and neither will my Administration. For this, and many other reasons, I am the adult in the room. Especially now, at this time of unprecedented complexity, challenge, and change in medicine, technology, military affairs, terror, environment and climate change, and social relationships of every kind, including the unique difficulties faced by our young people (due partially to the C19 Pandemic), it is absolutely imperative that America have, finally, an actual adult in the room, that is, governing the nation. America is desperate for this, and as she remains a leading nation in the world in every way (though not by much at this point), we're still both widely emulated and looked upon both to keep the peace and set the moral standard, the world, itself, plagued with every manner of difficulty, is also desperate for an adult in the room in America. That is, for a restoration and renewal of the unique, powerful, wise, and moral guardian that America has historically aspired to, and often been. I assure you, Fellow Americans, and Brothers and Sisters, for this, you need the DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION. CAN DO. A.I. TEST Please see brief remarks, just above, and more-extended analysis in my 15 HOLOCI section, also, above, near top-of-page. In sum: any President who would permit development of technology that even its inventors, advocates, and exponents argue poses an existential threat (i.e. could wipe us out) to humanity is certainly no kind of "adult in the room" and indeed IS OBVIOUSLY NOT FIT TO BE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. The role of the President is to preserve the Union--not destroy it. DRUG TEST SHOULD WE CONSIDER A DRUG USER, DEALER, OR ADVOCATE "THE ADULT IN THE ROOM"? WHAT ABOUT WHEN OUR POLITICAL LEADERS, THOSE WE PRESUME ARE THE ABSOLUTE SMARTEST AND MOST CAPABLE TO LEAD US, ARE THEMSELVES DRUG USERS, like New Jersey Senate President Nick Scutari? "The Senate president also told reporters that he will "probably" buy recreational marijuana "at some point." "Not today," he said. "I'm not gonna wait in line." Does young Mr. Scutari sound like THE ADULT IN THE ROOM to you? LOYALTY & PATRIOTISM TEST Some Republican leaders and members are evidently dragging their feet in cooperating with the official inquiry into the January 06, 2021 insurrection at the United States Capital. Do these politicians, in evident sympathy with those who attacked our nation, our own American citizens and even our former Vice-President, Mike Pence, seem like THE ADULTS IN THE ROOM, to you? They seem like the TRAITORS in the room, to me. Perhaps they should be HUNG BY THE NECK UNTIL DEAD. Are you aware that the laws of our nation still permit capital punishment for treason? Our Conservative brothers and sisters, specifically, and Americans of any political orientation who assert their genuine concern and love for America, more generally, are, themselves, also supposed to be "the adults in the room." In all too many instances, however, the behavior of such persons is actually most pointed in its resemblance to that of children in the playpen (with apologies to those children of early moral precocity). For more on those who have abjectly failed the LOYALTY & PATRIOTISM test while claiming to uphold it, see Why I am not A Republican, above. LOYALTY & FAMILY TEST How many of you have placed your parent in a nursing home, instead of caring for them yourself? For some there is no choice, while for others there is a choice--they simply elect not to exercise it. This, however, is simply not in my DNA. Which is why I caregave my Father for 14.5 years, and now my Mother for almost 8 years, at this point attempting to nurse her back to health, essentially alone. This is real, and somewhat unusual, fidelity, loyalty, and devotion to family. Surely a characteristic of personality and value system bespeaking an adult in the room. And as President, I'll be doing nothing less than what I've done and proven categorically that I can do and do well for my family for about 23 years now: provide robust care in a highly complex care situation, with the tenacity of a bull, devotion and purity of heart of an angel, analytical skill and attention to detail of Sherlock Holmes, and, without question, the patience of Job. All in service of nursing this nation back to it's full measure of health, as I'm presently doing for my beloved Mother. Your Support is Critical I ask for your active support in this interesting and likely inordinately (i.e. extremely) challenging endeavor. Please begin by 1.) contacting me so I can add your name to my email list, 2.) talk to as many others as you can about me, my ideas, and my Presidential run. Persuade others of like mind to add their names to my email list, as well. And last, 3.) begin to study and think deeply about my nascent (i.e. just starting) platform statements, presented at this website. If you like the genuinely unique and powerful ideas that you've read here, please assist this campaign by providing financial support: describing this nascent (i.e. just forming) campaign as operating on a shoestring would actually be glorifying it! PayPal DONATE button, below. Fellow-Americans, Brothers & Sisters, do you want a genuinely, dramatically, and permanently changed world? Now is our chance. Let's not miss this rare, emerging opportunity. Contact & Copyright Concepts, terminology, and language at this website Copyright (©) 2021 Vincent Frank De Benedetto. Use permitted with no changes and full name and website attribution. Contact Vincent Frank De Benedetto at v4p @ sent.com. In addressing your mail, omit the space before and after the "@" sign. This site went live on September 07, 2017. It was substantively updated on September 22, 2021, reflecting my newfound serious intention to actually attempt to run for President. This site can also be accessed using VincentForPresident.com, and Vince4Prez.com. The Opera browser, without warrant, fails to access this site. THEME: October 03, 2021 saw it go live with it's changed theme, from beige/brown to black/white, a far cleaner and more modern look. Contemplative Music During this period of tumult and stress, Brothers & Sisters, I offer you a piece of ethereal, near-magical music to cheer, inspire, calm, uplift, & elevate you. I speak of the seminal 1987 release Glass Green by Tim Story. If desired, you can listen as you read and consider my thoughts on this page, and form and consider your own. I've found Tim's creation an utterly unique and compelling piece of contemplative music for years now, and still routinely listen to it. I believe and hope that it will transform, or at least lift, you, as it has, me. Official Song of the DeBenedetto Campaign Get Together by the Youngbloods. Not to say that I agree with every word and line, but in the main I do, and the song in lyric and tone speaks generally to what we must have in this country (and ultimately this world) if we're to Actualize, at most, and avoid annihilation, at least: Love and Connection. And I've tried to make clear at this site that Love and Connection is a key part of what my Presidency will bring us, explicitly, and implicitly as the foundation for everything that the DeBENEDETTO ADMINISTRATION will do, although, as explained, above, Love, properly understood and applied, often brings us, logically and organically, down paths marked by political and social Conservatism that most would not initially associate with this notion. LINKS TO MY CAMPAIGN & OTHER WORK YouTube PENDING. YOU MIGHT WELL ASK WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO FOR ME IF I VOTE FOR YOU ? Regarding some issues and concerns, yes, I'll do something "for you." In regard to others, I'm going to open heretofore closed or non-existent conduits (i.e. pathways) to permit you to do for yourself. Much of the answer to this question is contained in, or relatively easily inferred from, all above content. The first thing I'm going to do if elected, given that COVID19 remains prevalent, virulent, and ever-evolving, is SAVE YOUR LIFE, through the proper mechanism for eliminating this virus: the time-limited implementation of masking. And the second thing I'll have done, since the virus will be eliminated, is given you your life, back, no further vaccines or masks generally required. "...this face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against Covid than when I take a Covid vaccine." -- Dr. Robert R. Redfield, former Director, Centers for Disease Control (CDC). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "If the American public all embraced masking along with social distancing and hand-washing...we could bring this outbreak to its knees within four to eight weeks." -- Dr. Robert R. Redfield, former Director, Centers for Disease Control (CDC)Please see my response to "Beth," above, for further detail. MORE, MUCH MORE Additionally, based on my knowledge of health and nutrition, partially shown, above, in my discussion of sugar, trans-fat, and vegetable oils, I will lead the effort to have removed from the American food supply its most common killers--again, explicitly and directly saving the life of yourself, your loved ones, and every other American. Moreover (i.e. additionally), as a unique and far-thinking NATIONAL SECURITY CANDIDATE, I'm going to restore to full vigor the image of the United States around the world and across the globe, in terms of the two M's that matter: MILITARY and MORALITY. See information, above, in my NATIONAL SECURITY section. If you elect me President, I will continue saving your life, as well as leading the effort, indeed literally the only effort by any candidate, to Actualize yourself, everyone you know and love, and our entire nation, that is, the effort for each, and all, of us to be the absolute best that we are capable of being. To live fully up to our potential. I'm also going to meaningfully assist to SAVE AMERICAN DEMOCRACY, as what is tearing it apart, by all accounts, is antagonism, division, and lack of trust between Americans--precisely what my expertise in, and singular focus on, LOVE, PROPERLY UNDERSTOOD, will uniquely and effectively redress and repair, as already discussed in section MORAL INADEQUACY, above. By way of further amplification, however, I note that American society, as many, has been rife with conflict from its inception. Our society, however, with the confluence of its 1.) strong secular root, manifest in focus on profit and ego, not Love, community, or other people, 2.) somewhat anti-intellectual orientation, 3.) unyielding tradition of gun ownership and use, and now 4.) legalized drug use that will increasingly produce a citizenry even less competent, rational, productive, tough, resilient, patriotic, and TRUSTWORTHY than it presently is, has produced a society and culture that in modern times is increasingly tumultuous, divided, alienated from itself and its own best traditions, and indeed increasingly devoid of that without which no society can survive, much less flourish: TRUST. Trust between whom? In sum, trust between everyone and everyone else. How else do you explain bellwether events in recent, and very recent, modern American history ranging from "29 shootings with four or more fatalities, according to a database compiled by the Violence Project," to the 2020 Capital insurrection on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC? So we see with crystal clarity, and indeed must our inescapable conclusion, be: WITHOUT LOVE EVEN DEMOCRACY DOESN'T WORK. Our most effective response to the continuing political and technological propagandistic mis-and-disinformational insult of black baggers such as Vladimir Putin and his global crew of black baggers, assiduously working to wholly discredit and bring down democracies and more importantly the very idea of democracy, does not lie merely in positive public-relations promotion of this or that relatively glitch-free democratic election, or more progressively-designed civics courses or even curriculum, but in a wholesale embrace and adoption of that force and principal at once productively and effectively animating democracy, as well as, in fact, the successful continued existence of our very species and human family itself: LOVE, PROPERLY UNDERSTOOD. How's all this for starters, once I'm elected? In general, if elected I'm going to give you a world of Sanity, Security, and Love. A world of that duality (i.e. something made of two parts) presently and fatally missing from this planet: 1.) beautiful social harmony as we encourage the connection between persons and groups of persons, all Brothers and Sisters in One Human Family, and 2.) social and economic functionality as people are encouraged toward competence, at least, and excellence, at best in what they do and how they do it, whether their job or anything else. In essence, if elected, I'm going to spend every waking moment working to provide you, provide us, a world of Sanity, Security, and Love--a world that we most decidedly don't have now, and in fact seem to be moving quickly away from. Join my campaign and stay tuned. "Genius sees the solution before anyone realizes there's a problem." (Adapted from "Genius sees the answer, before the question." -- J. Robert Oppenheimer) . . . . . Vincent Frank De Benedetto PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS TAKE MONEY. LOTS AND LOTS OF MONEY.
IN FACT, the Federal Election Commission doesn't even consider me an official candidate until I've raised or spent $5,000.
Accordingly, my Fellow Americans & Brothers & Sisters: if you are genuinely enamored (i.e. strongly drawn toward) of my intellect, value system, personality, and devotion to, and protective posture toward, the nation, and especially my many unique and powerful ideas, and wish to see them manifest (i.e. turned into reality) in America and the world, please donate to THE DeBENEDETTO PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, and do so monthly. -- AND SPREAD THE WORD -- SUGGESTED DONATION AMOUNTS: $50 / $100 / $500 / $1000 THANK YOU! If the PayPal button does not appear, below, simply refresh (i.e. reload) your page. |
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- VINCENT FRANK DE BENEDETTO - Presidential Candidate, 2024+, Conservative Democrat/Libertarian Wisdom - Knowledge - Patience - Caring - Kindness - Respect - Courage - Tenacity - Focus - Honesty - Innovation - Intellect "People should not be afraid of their governments--governments should be afraid of their people." - A YOUNGER ME, ABOVE - |
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- "I NEED TO BELIEVE THAT SOMETHING EXTRAORDINARY IS POSSIBLE" - www.VincentForPresident.com |