AUTHOR’S NOTES:

The most perfect society is that whose purpose is the universal and supreme happiness.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, On Natural Law, c.1690

In reflecting upon the incongruence between the philosophy implicated above, and our current political orientation, I began researching the philosophical underpinnings of my adopted country, the United States. I was intrigued especially by what I discovered was the core meaning of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, and how this meaning has been misinterpreted. It is not as much that we have been sold “a pack of lies” as many of the resources below would indicate, but that we have never bothered to examine our true origin, and what our course should be. It is not effective to blame the ruling classes for actions that we have failed to take. Democracy is not a spectator sport; we are not watching a television serial. This stuff is real. We are at war. Poverty and depression are increasing at alarming rates. The middle class (you and me) are being eliminated. 

Positive Spin prefers reflection to rancor, suggestion to cynicism. The misinterpretation of the American Founding Fathers’ intention has led to a country filled with false expectations and unrealistic attitudes toward success and happiness. In our efforts to achieve the impossible American dream, we are exhausting ourselves, ignoring our children, and allowing the ruling classes free reign to do with us whatever they wish. It is as if Disney, the Media, Madison Avenue, the Political Machine and our Major Institutions have created for us a parallel universe, in which our needs can never be met, and wherein the ruling class becomes stronger and we, the passive and manipulated masses, become weaker and weaker. 1984 has arrived.

Vision without action is hallucination; so too, anger without expression is self-destructive. The worst thing that we can do is to use anger to divide ourselves as a nation; that would be exactly what would lead to our destruction. 

“A house divided against itself cannot stand.” I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved–I do not expect the house to fall–but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new, North as well as South. Abraham Lincoln, 1858

Positive Spin is a straightforward, hard-hitting account of where we are now, and what we need to do to join together and turn things around. We still have the power to make a positive and lasting difference in our own lives, in our communities, and in the world at large. This power derives firstly, from knowledge, an awareness of the truth of our current situation, and how futile is our present course. Secondly, our power derives from the concerted and deliberate actions we take each day, as we re-evaluate our thinking, our interactions with others, and the changes needed in our social and political systems. 

In Positive Spin you will explore the root causes of our current unhappiness, and the research supporting the nature of genuine happiness. Part One examines the true intent of our founding fathers’ declaration for the freedom to pursue happiness, andtakes a close look at what we hold as most valuable and important in our day to day lives.

Part Two exposes the reality of our situation, including the ills of society, the state of our mental and physical health, and the role that the pursuit of money has played in our relentless pursuit of pleasure. It also discusses how our current global conflict has derived from this same basic irrational foundation to our belief system. 

Part Three offers evidence on what does make us happy, and why happiness–in the truest, deepest sense of the word–is worth creating in our lives. It examines the role that the African concept of Ubuntu can have in our western lives, how it can eventually lead to world peace, and how we can be part of that creation. Positive Spin is not about positive thinking. It is a re-evaluation of evidence, and about the hope and optimism that emanates from knowledge, truth, and right action.