We live in a time of historical Renaissance. The innovation and technology that allows you to view this document is just one miraculous manifestation in this period of expanding freedom, diverse expression, and cultural advancement. The 21st century Renaissance has succeeded most in those countries that have adopted open political systems, a free system of exchange, the rule of law (over the whim of tyrants and bureaucrats), and acceptance of diverse interests and lifestyles in human nature. Those who oppose this historically rare circumstance are among the same clique' that has always sought a return to a mythical/communal past or utopian future. They were the Jacobins of the French Revolution (and its Rein of Terror), and the Communists and Fascists of numerous 20th century nightmares. In our own time, fundamentalist-terrorists and socialist-collectivists still seek the same ultimate goals as their forebears; a rigid society under the direction and control of -- themselves -- intellectuals, bureaucrats, failed artists, and philosophers.

This site’s ultimate bias is for the free creative individual. As such, it is by default dedicated to opposing all aspects of socialist/collectivist philosophy. The most totalitarian and destructive personalities in political history have not been "greedy" businesspersons, but overwhelmingly, intellectuals, artists, and other assorted romantic idealists. It is a tragic irony that the authoritarian collectivist world view is often a stance held by many artists and intellectuals. Such perspectives ultimately stem from a psuedo-religious perspective that takes predictable stands on everything from how students should be taught in our schools, to how much CEOs "should" be paid (or if they should even be allowed to exist). Though these perspectives have traditionally been referred to as The Left, in reality they comprise a score of ideologies from Fascism to Communism. Those posing as guardians of morality, altruism, and "justice," are often mere control freaks of authoritarian ideology. They have thwarted, and would continue to restrain, the individual identity wherever its creative dynamism dared to manifest.

The stance expressed here is not a patriotic, jingoistic, Republican tirade -- as much as some may wish to pigeonhole it as such. Traditional right and left ideologies often share many common values in that they both desire a role for the state (and for themselves) to impose their moral standards and ideals regarding the way others should live.
It is easy for one to note the absurdities of the US government's abuses of power in a variety of areas. All the same, degrees of corruption or totalitarian menace lie upon a wide spectrum. George Bush is NOT Adolph Hitler. Bin Laden is NOT a "freedom fighter" promoting the "struggle of oppressed people's." The fact that the US government is, like all governments, corrupt or abusive is certainly no argument for increasing its authority, scope, and funding, as our "progressive rebels" would have it.

Who was Prometheus?

Prometheus was the Titan of Greek Mythology who stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans. As a symbolic story and archetypal image, "an allegory," the Promethean myth represents the human will’s potential for heroic defiance against arbitrary authority and the capacity of human reason to obtain knowledge from the natural world. Fire symbolizes knowledge and reason -- the divine spark of human thought and creativity. Prometheus is the archetypal revolutionary who helps to transform the human condition from one at the mercy of outside forces to one that is master of its own destiny. As a revolutionary, he represents genuine revolutionary impulses, not the contrived ideals of collectivists to squelch human autonomy for the obsessive need to impose communal equality (leveled conformity).

The Promethean archetype represents the dynamic hero figure, the catalyst to worldly advancement.
Socialists often paint their "struggle" (to use their word as well as Bin Laden’s and Hitler’s) in heroic terms, but there is nothing heroic about the socialist/collectivist worldview. Socialism has always sought to glorify weakness, suffering, victimhood, and imposed scarcity as means to justify theft from productive forces and impose even greater corruptions than the ones they claim to oppose. Its vision has always been to play upon envy and resentment. It is the antithesis of human heroism and brings with it stasis, decay, and a return to the club and the cave. Its nature is that of primitive tribalism. Its method is to cast the free mind’s achievement into the dusty file cabinets of bureaucratic incompetence.

In astrological perspectives, Prometheus is seen in the symbolism of the planet Uranus - the model of innovation, insight, individuality, and revolutionary dynamism. As the archetype of individual autonomy, it is diametrically opposed to "the Revolution" most political extremists speak of. While today’s "revolutionary" (or, "Progressive," as they often like to describe themselves) may be opposed to the powers that be,the Promethean rebel is one step ahead of the game and opposes the powers that would like to be, as well. In this regard, the businessperson and entrepreneur is not the villain portrayed by the Left, but a creative human figure as much as any artist or poet. The scorn and envy directed at societies most creative personalities has been the pathetic route used by the unproductive and incompetent (usually calling themselves "philosophers") in the guise of seeing their "spiritual" vision as a greater end than productive engagement in the real world.

A society in which individuals can freely choose to associate, trade, act, and interact openly without fear of imposed coercion, is one which has accepted the Promethean flame. The call to water down that divine spark and impose its product's distribution is a call to reject every true Renaissance in human history and place us all into blind obedience to the tribe and its corrupt leaders.

To restrict, regulate, control, and conform is to bind the Promethean free spirit.

Where one hears of envy and resentment against modernity, success, wealth, and achievement, one can be certain that it is no true "revolutionary" who is taking such a stand. Where calls are made to fortify and enhance the authority of the state over the human spirit, one can expect to move, not into the future, but back to the swamp of our cave dwelling forbearers.

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Expressions in the Promethean spirit:

Promethean Antagonist
The American College Ed School Experience
Beijing Diary-Travel log and rant
Promethean Observer - Aphorisms and Epigrams
Promethean Visions - Photos, Drawings, and Cartoons


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The Promethean worldview:

Things admired:

• Free Markets, free choice, free thought, and voluntary association.
  
• The diversity and creative dynamism of a free society.
  
• The Promethean hero figure that creates, strives, and accepts the peaceful actions and choices of others.
  
• Thinkers from Lao Tzu to Ayn Rand, who knew that self government "governs" best.
  
• Cooperation as a voluntary act for the mutual benefit of freely acting agents.
  
• The Middle class and the "materialistic," scientific world view which has led to unprecedented progress, diversity, and creative expression.

Things despised:

• Radical Socialism (Communism and Fascism), collectivism, and authoritarianism.
  
• The bureaucratic state and its minions.
  
• Those intellectuals and artists who support and defend the most ruthless of totalitarian schemes to placate their envy and satisfy their will to dominate (all in the phony guise of egalitarian morality).
  
• Philosophers from Plato and Marx to Rousseau and Chomsky, who despise the autonomous individual and a world beyond their personal control.
  
• "Cooperation" as something arbitrarily defined and imposed.
  
• The conjured "oppressed" in whose name the leftist intellectual seeks to impose their prison.
  
  
  
  

  
  
  

  …As a lazy person with a full-time job, I won't likely respond to praise or chastisements. The former are appreciated and the latter are accepted lightly with condescending laughter.
  
  

Theft of Fire. (Mezzotint Engraving by Max Klinger depicting the Titan, Prometheus, stealing fire from the gods).