I have a degree of optimism regarding RFK Jr.’s presidential bid. I like the idea of his campaign: he says, simply, that he wants to tell the truth. That would be an experiment, not as great as total freedom, but pretty warm. Besides, I suspect that if people started hearing the truth they’d say to themselves something like, “Wow, so that’s what’s been happening? Government? Thanks but no thanks.” And be done with it. The promise of truth is appealing. But I don’t believe that even the most well-meaning politician can tell the truth. I’d prefer to have no rulers at all, whether they’re charismatic, reasonable, make the best-sounding promises or not.
Current government is directly related to capitalistic forces and its strategy, what they call the Big Chessboard. Marx pointed out that capitalism is a process that had a beginning, a middle and will have an end. Similarly, a businessman friend told me that businesses, once they’ve reached a certain size, have three ways they can go: fail, be bought out or expand through acquisition. If we look at capitalism as the sum of all the businesses on earth, according to this wisdom, it will grow into a complete monopoly where there’s just one giant corporation; having no way to expand, it’ll fail, like a monster eating itself. Supposedly there’s nothing to be done about this, it’s going to happen one day whether we like it or not, and all we can do is either try to understand it, or, if our personal interests are at stake, try to put it off as long as possible.
According to certain political scientists, that’s exactly what is happening now with the current global-world government-group think. It’s an attempt to postpone the inevitable and that’s why things are getting ugly. It would seem reasonable that for anyone with a true revolutionary spirit the thing to do would be to vote against any plan meant to make things better and instead, try to usher in the most totalitarian nightmare possible with the idea that in doing so, one is helping capitalism come to its final culmination. Because once capitalism fails, or so goes the story, come the sunny days of real communism which has nothing in common with the known Russian or Chinese models. Real communism is, according to the theorists, the realization of true human freedom: we get to be what we really are.
That type of thinking doesn’t make me feel much better. In early April I was sitting at my piano working when I suddenly stopped and thought “Enough, I can’t do this anymore. This isn’t who I am. I have to do what I’m meant to do or just give it up.” I then had a vision. A question and its answer appeared in my mind simultaneously. This question: “What are the things we learn and what are the things we take for granted?” Then, I picked up a piece of music paper, sketched five empty measures and wrote down the words “compose with units.”
A quote by Gertrude Stein came into my mind: “You look ridiculous if you dance. You look ridiculous if you don't dance. So you might as well dance.” These three events were the answer which I’ll translate as “stop doing what you’re supposed to do and do what you have to do regardless of the price.” And my musical life changed. The difficulties I had composing disappeared and I worked in a new way. Twenty-four piano pieces, two works for orchestra, a string quartet, a quintet, a duet for violin and cello, and a saxophone quartet. The only sour note was that the more one follows a solitary path, the more one can feel isolated. Am I deluding myself? Maybe. But I’ve decided that it’s okay to look ridiculous. And I’m going to vote for Kennedy. I’m staying optimistic.
