Natural Rights

THINKERER believes that free-market principles remain the most effective mechanism for innovation and problem-solving; however, significant reforms are needed to ensure capitalism evolves into a sustainable and equitable system. The idea that the US government can be made more efficient and effective using the same approaches as in business is fatally flawed. Unlike successful businesses, which have clearly defined goals, our nation lacks a unified vision. This lack of shared purpose, coupled with the undue influence of corporate interests, has led to a system where profits are prioritized over people and the planet. The proposed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) stands to further exacerbate inequality and accelerate climate change, driven by these misguided priorities. Our national debt, exceeding $35 trillion, stands as stark evidence of this failure, a burden we collectively bear.

People-driven systems rely on engagement for sustainability. When people are continuously forced to do things they are not good at, they become less engaged, increasingly cynical, and flat-out mean. The majority of Americans have jobs that do not align with their best skills, particularly creative skills that are often undervalued by those in power.

We need to cultivate mindsets and skills that empower us to build better lives. We need to move beyond the constant barrage of technological "solutions" that often worsen the problems they claim to solve. I'm fed up with empty promises; it's time for real change. While technology can be a powerful tool, THINKERER does not currently have faith or trust in virtually any corporation, as they all collectively sacrifice humanity for profit.

I do, however, have faith in and trust humanity. My own ancestry—colonists, French Huguenots fleeing persecution, Italian and Sicilian migrants seeking economic opportunity—underscores my belief in the idea of America. But somewhere along the way, we lost our way. We were promised a nation where life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness were inalienable rights. Instead, we got a nation where corporate profits trump human health, where manipulative marketing undermines individual autonomy, and where consumer culture prizes materialism over meaning and purpose. The government and corporations have made us reliant on them, and then proved to us time and again that they cannot be relied upon or trusted.

In an attempt to understand where we have gone wrong, since the spring of 2023 I have built and rebuilt THINKERER. I first wondered if the spirituality of the Transcendentalist movement had taken hold, and the liberalism of the Enlightenment era that the United States was founded upon were sustained, might Earth systems that the US is namely the steward of, and systems our government is purveyors of—be sustainable?

I was delighted to find the answer: a profound, yes. We can have sustainable economies, societies, and ecosystems. We just need to all become more self-reliant and engaged in our local communities. My approach is to become increasingly self-reliant, with the goal of being 80% self-reliant in about 30 years. I aim to positioning THINKERER to support that effort. I was drawn to this notion after discovering Henry David Thoreau's Walden. From that initial inspiration, after THINKERER 2.0, I left a noisy Chicago suburb for a cottage deep in the woods on a quiet lake.

The second iteration of THINKERER was an attempt to create a unifying and integrative conceptual framework for sustainability that can help to correct course in America.

I believe we will show the world how to effectively take a nation divided and transform us into a unified People by supporting ourselves in practicing mindful consumption on our journey's of self-actualization.

But we can't have it right now, all at once. We have to go slow. The slower we go, the more we sense. The more we sense, the more we know. The more we know, the more we think. The more we think, the more we feel. The more we feel, the more we engage. The more we engage, the more we care. The more we care, the more we do the right things. The more we do the right things, the faster we reach our goal.

The United States government has allowed companies to get away with lying to the people. We were told use of our data improves the experience, but the reality is that our data has been used to bankrupt the working people that the whole economy relies on and under appreciates. The US Federal Trade Commissions (FTC) "green guides" are a joke as they have done nothing to prevent greenwashing on a scale so massive it would make the former Enron executives blush.

We as people deserve to understand the distance between the visions we voted for and the outcomes we received. If voting looked a little bit more like an engagement survey, America could learn a lot more about the will of its citizens. We don't really know what people want, because they are too trusting of politicians. Most politicians don't have experience that lends well to being President of the United States.

The People's will is significantly underrepresented in the chambers of Congress, too. "Special interests" really aren't all that special or interesting, they are people who have more power and influence than 99% of other people—and they aim to keep it that way. They look like democrats, they look like republicans, they mostly look white, they mostly look male, and they are mostly were born before 1981. Despite The population born after 1980 represents 60% of the population, and only 12% of seats in the House, and 3% of seats in the Senate.

In the United States, people’s natural rights—life, liberty, and the pursuit of [self-actualization]—are blatantly violated when corporate profits take precedence over human health, when manipulative marketing undermines individual autonomy, and when consumer culture prizes materialism over personal meaning and expression. As the Declaration of Independence reminds us:

“Governments are instituted among [People], deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, – That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness... But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

This founding principle reminds us that legitimate governance must protect each person’s right to a long and healthy life, genuine liberty, and the freedom to self-actualize. Environmental degradation made legal through corporate lobbying, and made possible through relentless consumerism—run counter to these rights and violate the spirit of the Declaration’s call to ensure the “Safety and Happiness” of the people.

THINKERER stands for a reimagined approach in which government, guided by robust guardrails, and the free market, guided by ethical and ecological imperatives, work together to safeguard humanity’s shared future. By championing sustainable capitalism, we can restore the balance between our economy, our environment, and our most fundamental human rights.

The beauty is we do not need the government to adopt new policies, we can force the hand of negative-impact businesses through mindful consumption. We have all the power. Some of us just need constant reminders.