Wants Undreamed Of

I will use myself as an example. I am quite unhappy that I am childless, and have not been able to do much of anything. I remember a movie I saw a few years ago- it was a horrible movie, because it was about adultery, and I can't remember the name.

But movies about adultery have to have backgrounds- usually swank backgrounds. In this particular case, this was in Italy, with three generations, and a strong family business.

In other words, the sort of thing I'd like to have. Probably one of the reasons I hated the story of the movie- because, should a woman be that stupid in real life, she very well could destroy it all. Not just for her own family, but for all the families reliant on that business for jobs.

The sort of thing I'd like to have is not the business alone, nor the family alone. The sort of thing I'd like to have is a dynasty. Not one particularly interested in lording over others, but one capable of providing for itself.

Incidentally, this is one of the reasons I like permaculture. The perma part is hopeful; the reality is that you need people there on the ground who believe as you do, to keep what you put in place alive, and the most reliable way of doing this is to have a family.

It seems to me there are very few Americans who think like this. In fact, I have tried to bring up the fact that Trump has different incentives from the average politician, yet there seem to be a myopia, with people imagining that he must just want more power, money, and/or sex. I think many are the prisoners of their own desires. I suppose, I am too, at least to some extent.

But I can imagine, for instance, if I had some real money, literally building a city. This city would be integrated in a large-scale permaculture system.
This is something I want to do. And I want it run the way I think it should be run, which presents a few problems since there are governments that wouldn't like me for it.

The average D.C. politician is beholden to special interests and the power structure. A new congressman gets told he has to do fund raising. There's an amount he has to raise if he wants to get on any committee at all, so he has to hit a phone bank and ask special interests for money. He raises money for the party, and he gets feedback from the special interests on everything he does. If he goes on T.V. and says something they don't like, he's going to hear about it when he calls them again. No matter how awesome they might be, the new congressmen molded by this system, until they are only thinking about keeping these donors happy.

Trump, however, is a 70-something billionaire, and I think we can agree he has his basic needs cared for. He wants to do a good job. It will be a good job according to him, but he does have his own internal standard. And what does he want? Well, I suspect, of course, that it is something like dynasty.

I do hope some of these pundits and commentators start pondering the possibility of wants they haven't dreamed of.