The Philosopher-Senator: Mr. Fruhling Goes to Washington

Anyone who knows me knows that I have hitherto been relatively apolitical—both in terms of my interest in current events and in my philosophical interests. However, I can no longer sit idly by in light of the defilement of the seat of American liberty in the form of this week’s insurrectionist attack on the United States Capitol.

In a recent article I entertained the question of whether philosophers are cowards: Are Philosophers Cowards? Lucian on the Cowardice of Philosophy. We philosophers, who are best prepared to find the philosophical and practical balance between individual liberty and the common good, and to consider every decision in the light of the various approaches to the role and purpose of government, are somehow the ones who seem most content to hide behind the walls of our ivory tower academic institutions without ever going out on a neck and throwing our own hats into the ring politically—by literally running for political office.

We are in the midst of our country’s greatest political and cultural divide since the Civil War. And we are witnessing outright cowardice on the part of many, but thankfully not all, Republican members of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate in their unwillingness to stand up and proclaim that Donald Trump’s behavior as President of the United States over the past four years, and on that fateful day this week—January 6th, 2021—is reprehensible and unacceptable in the the supposed leader of the free world.

Have we all become so cowardly that we are afraid to let our common decency as Americans shine through in these dark times, regardless of party or faction, the dangers of which we were warned about by James Madison in Federalist No. 10 (cf. The Federalist Papers) and which have never been more relevant in the entire history of the United States from then to now? Have Republican so-called public servants become so beholden to their increasingly anti-American base, to Donald Trump, to their financial backers, and to their own political gain that they are willing to stand by and watch the 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump, dismantle our nation and its political and civil values while spitting on the legacy of every single one of his predecessors, every former President of the United States before him, and presumably of all those who will come after him?

Plato’s Paradox of the Philosopher-King (Republic, Book V) is well-known: the people who are best prepared to serve the public good because they understand justice and goodness are the least likely to be involved politically because they lack the personal drive and ambition necessary to achieve success in politics or in the public arena. Today I am challenging my fellow philosophers, myself included, to muscle up some courage within ourselves—and some ambition—and to actually run for political office.

We cannot stand behind our classroom lecterns, however outspokenly, and watch our nation be torn apart by violent insurrectionists or their savior-in-chief, Donald Trump, who don’t have the faintest idea what the United States Constitution and the United States in general are really about. We cannot be philosophical cowards any longer, and we can no longer pretend that it’s enough to think and write, and even merely to teach, without ourselves being willing to jump into the political arena, to run for office, and to put our proverbial money and political action where so far only our philosophical mouths have been, creating the Dorian harmony of words and deeds that Plato spoke of in his Laches dialogue.

The events have made me want to walk into the Men’s Wearhouse, buy a spiffy new suit, get my hair coiffed, and announce my bid for congress. Why aim low or start small when I could run for United States Senator straightaway? Senator Fruhling, the “Philosopher-Senator”—I like the sound of that. I could set aside my own philosophical idealism for a time for the sake of immersing myself in the minutiae and pragmatism of the political machinery involved in running for political office.

If anyone wants to become my campaign manager to make it happen, I’ll gladly accept your application and your support. 😉