Ralph Nader becomes a kind of Johnny Appleseed with his novel "Only the Super Rich Can Save Us". He plants subliminal "seeds" of hope for a world where love and humor and transcendent truth replace money, fame, and power. Nader sees how money, fame, and power, are mere limitations to be transcended. He reveals how we all PERFORM in limited life "fashion", and he gives strategies for achieving ABSOLUTE transcendent limitless love, humor and truth, instead of SETTLING for RELATIVE competitions of consuming. He writes about how in consuming sports, and by consuming all material goods, beyond what is needed for basic survival, we consume OURSELVES in a porngraphy of force and power that extends from war to family and to a sexual "olympics" that is mistaken for love.
Ralph Nader's novel "Only the Super Rich Can Save Us" is a book, but it is also a flashing neon warning "sign". With this novel, Nader is telling us to take our "blinders" off, so we can see the dangers that lie ahead. He "calls them as he sees them": top corporate CEO's are called "Welfare Kings" (Pg. 232) for the subsidies, entitlements, the corporations get, and for the out of proportion salaries, bonuses, etc., the CEO's negotiate.
He implies that there may soon be an austerity authority take over, that will replace US counties, districts, states, and even whole countries may be at risk. There seems to be a trend of failed states, failed countries, too. Nader is prescient because his novel was published prior to the recent Middle East uprisings. Imagine if what we are seeing in the Middle East IS just the "tip of the iceberg"? What if different authorities, like the IMF (International Money Fund) or oil cartels, and/or other energy, transportation, utility, etc., conglomerates, conspire to use an economic crisis to take over governments? Even worse, what if they ENGINEER the failing of states and countries, to justify taking over? What if these authorities HAVE already taken over, i.e., what if our governments are governments, in name, and image, only?
Nader's novel provides a strategy that could result in a kind of non-violent, almost subliminal communication revolution, where the poorest play an important role in such a communication revolution's success. For instance, he gives examples of how the underclasses and sub-underclasses could become aware of the power of public opinion. He notes that the poorest are hardly considered human by the "powers that be" let alone are they even considered, or counted AS the public in the term public opinion. Instead, the poorest are treated more like a shadow existence. In an ideal world "(T)he various parts of this sub-economy would support each other, convert positive human values into economic delivery systems, and enlarge perceived possibilities for a better, happier life." (Pg. 25) And "...the people's power, if awakened, could effect...change." (Pg. 44)
Nader motivates the reader's imagination to be limitless in this novel, and he generates hopefulness even when he is pointing out that all of society, all of culture, and all of law is flawed. Nader's cheerleading inspires me, at least, and I hope others, too, to believe we can all generate an imaginative possibility that can intuitively sense that all human flaw, all EMOTIONAL limitation, at least, is part of our addiction to an un-imaginative status quo.
We can all become free from the slippery slope of relative existence along the dominance to subservience range, or what is known as the human "rat race". We need philosopher kings and philosopher queens to "lead" us to our own, unique choices. Nader's "royal" philosophers are recruited, groomed, and vetted. They are millionaires, some are billionaires. Nader makes these characters fictional, by enhancing their qualities, although he uses their real names. In other words, all the "Dramatis Personae" are ego-free and drama-free and they are almost totally spontaneous and agenda-free.
These paradoxically real, yet simultaneously fictional, "Nader's Raider's" are people like Warren Buffett and Yoko Ono. These people become, in effect, the "trustees" for all of us. They act like a "Citizen Holding Company." We are asked by Nader to trust them to "hold" all of our collective ego and drama. They will AUTHENTICALLY represent us, (as opposed to the false political images that "represent" us now), until we all become aware of, and know (i.e., are all able to come out of our robotic, consumer frenzy, our stupor-like trances) what an authentically liberating government is. Then, citizens WOULD be able to create a congress (perhaps even a world congress?) that would have TRANSCENDENCE, LOVE AND HUMOR be goals. Property, land, and material property, even our intellectual property and our personalities, too would be seen as owning us, and that we are property, and personality slaves. His novel details ways to be free through the transcendence of love, and humor.
By Barbara Todish www.flyinginplace.com www.powerplayradiorantz.com (scroll down to "Listen to Barbara Todish Here"
