Panel 4: ‘The Art of Optimism: Using the Classical Principle to Change the World’

Sept. 11, 2022 (EIRNS)—Dennis Speed opened the closing panel of LaRouche’s centennial program with a discussion of how, over the last three-plus centuries, the culture of North America and the “West” has fluctuated up and down. He read a 1696 statement by leader in the American colonies Cotton Mather: “We grow little.… We dwindle away to nothing.” He then showed a 1952 video of die-hard colonialist Lord Bertrand Russell, whom LaRouche had identified as the most evil person of the 20th century. In the interview on the occasion of his 80th birthday, Russell described conditions that, “Empires disappear into dust,” and calling Asia “pessimistic.”

Speed then returned to the late 17th and early 18th century to explain how the great mathematician, physicist, physical economist, philosopher, and political leader Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz had become the leader of a group of “patriots,” meaning dissenters from English Royalty, from Ireland, Scotland, and elsewhere. Leibniz he could have served as Prime Minister under Queen Anne, but on her death in 1714, George Ludwig of Hannover succeeded as King George I and cut all ties to Leibniz.

Nonetheless, Leibniz continued his development of a science of physical economy that ultimately was implemented by the United States. He was a total opponent of John Locke, who had been groomed by the Dutch monarchs of Britain, William and Mary, and is, to this day, believed by many Americans to be the brains behind the Declaration of Independence that was written more than 70 years after Locke’s death. The leading item they seized upon was Locke’s phrase, “Life, Liberty, and Property,” which is used in colonialist “constitutions” and later in the Confederacy. The signers, however, chose Leibniz’s idea, “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness,” with the understanding that “happiness” is not personal pleasure, but a continuing and improving condition that characterizes mankind’s development.

Megan Dobrodt followed with a presentation on “harmony,” based on Kepler’s understanding of the harmonics of the Solar System and its relation to the well-tempered musical scale. She explained how Kepler was able to demonstrate that planets had elliptical, not circular orbits, by measuring their angular motion. She explained that there was actually no mathematical operation that could be used to define the orbits in a linear way, but different fractional multiplications could establish varied approximations. It happens that the “math” of the orbits is the same as the math of musical scales, and that the same math adjustments used for the orbits are called “tempering,” when used musically.

Jacques Cheminade, the president of the French Solidarité et Progrès political party, provided a whimsical discussion of “optimism” starting with reference to Lazare Carnot’s poem, Ode to Enthusiasm. He described enthusiasm as the most advanced form of optimism, and pointed to NATO, Liz Truss, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President Joe Biden, and Emmanuel Macron as exemplary of pessimism.

Youth organizer Anastasia Battle, Editor in Chief of Leonore magazine, closed the presentations by asking the listeners to think carefully about what they had heard and what they think must be done to aid them in developing their happiness and abilities.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche joined the panel for a closing discussion period. Her goal is to ensure that humanity is the immortal species. She pointed to the rising of developing sector and other nations to end colonialism (slavery) forever, a new spirit of Bandung, the Non-Aligned Movement, and to do it with Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent methods.