About this blog

Now that the first post has been published, it's probably a good time to explain what reader might expect from this blog.


Over time, I have learnt about Ben Franklin and his pragmatic ways of living a useful life. I have found his story quite inspiring (my wife hopes that I don't take inspiration from Franklin's marriage though! :-)). Below are some questions that might arise in readers' minds:


Q: Why are you focusing on Franklin?
A: Because one can learn a lot from him. Of course, he had an important role as one of the founding fathers of the United States, and he was instrumental in getting French help that made independence for the US possible. But in addition, as Wikipedia says: "A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author and printer, satirist, political theorist, politician, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, soldier". That's a very wide range Ben had!

In addition, the story of his life is also very interesting. He was a truly self-made man, at a time when very few men were self-made. There are many aspects of his life that impress people. To me, the following are the key aspects:

a) "Doing well by doing good": He retired at the age 42, and spent remaining 42 in public service, and also enjoyed his life. Even when he was working and earning, he tended to focus on doing things that help the society and also help him. This is a very unique way of thinking, and it would help if more people think like this.

b) Self-improvement: One could argue that he was the father of self-improvement movement in the United States. Franklin is featured prominently in Dale Carnegie's and Stephen Covey's books. As Stephen Covey says in his 7 Habits book: "Benjamin Franklin's autobiography is a representative of the character ethic literature."

c) Inspiring change, but in a pragmatic way: Franklin was no ideologue. And this is very interesting aspect of his life. He was able to understand the status quo, people's point of views, and inspire or cause the change gradually, rather than taking up strong ideological positions. One could disagree with the method (as John Adams famously did), but the effectiveness of Franklin's method has to be noted. And I personally find this method very appealing.


Q: So is this blog about Franklin's life?
A: No. This blog is an attempt to use Franklin's methods and ideas, but in today's contexts. I might mention a few things about Franklin occasionally, but the goal is to think "What would Ben do" under a particular situation. For instance, how would one think dispassionately, non-ideologically about topics ranging from US-Iran affairs to US healthcare debate to India's caste system. The idea is to get away from ideology and think of pragmatic ideas for complex situations.


Q: So just to be clear, are you republican or democrat?
A: Since the blogosphere is full of political opinions, this question is natural to come up. Of course, I would tend to stick to the above mentioned rule "Don't be ideological", but given the current political climate in the United States, I have to say that, as Obama has said, my ideas would match more often with the editorial page of the New York Times than with the Wall Street Journal.


But I'm not married to liberal thinking. And if the reader assumes so, she or he might be surprised.


Q: But still, why Franklin, why not, say, Gandhi?
A: Well, I'm a big admirer of Gandhi as well. And it indeed is hard to believe a person like Gandhi was living and breathing the same air we do. But nobody would accuse Gandhi of being pragmatic! Emulating Gandhi is almost an impossible task. Whereas one can hope to emulate Franklin.


Q: Why is Franklin relevant in today's day and age?
A: In some ways, this blog is my way of making my thoughts known (which blog isn't just that?). So the topics and discussions that I'll discuss will be contemporary.

Who is Jack Galt?

It's November 2009, and one year anniversary of the liberal takeover of United States (by the Obama administration) is approaching. Jack Galt, entrepreneurial grandson of the business tycoon John Galt is very frustrated by the inability of any rational movement to stop the broad socialist policies of the government - healthcare, automobiles, banks. Where would it stop? Grandpa John would surely be rolling in his grave.

What is the grandson of the Atlas who shrugged to do under such circumstances? Of course, go on creative strike! So Jack goes to Colorado, reclaims Galt's Gulch and starts convincing other creative businesspeople like himself to go on strike - Atlas's Shrug 2.0.

First came the investment bankers. "We are doing God's work and are getting no credit for it. We're going on strike and we'll see how this world functions without us!". The ignorant common man took a sigh of relief, and thought "good riddance!". But surely soon the society would pay for this. But the Shrug 2.0 did not go according to the plan. The mathematicians, with no way to go to wall street to make quick bucks, were left with no choice but to do actual mathematics. This led to dramatic improvements in the mathematically intensive fields such as genetics, weather prediction, computer algorithms, astronomy, oil exploration, and many other. Strangely, these new mathematicians did not hate these jobs, and since they somehow liked the notion of helping the society that helped them, they reported deeper satisfaction compared with the earlier cohort that went into investment banking. On the other hand, the bankers were getting frustrated in the Gulch, because Jack Galt wouldn't let any laborers near the Gulch. Accustomed to having the butler put on the suit jackets on them, bankers had to learn to how to do even that. Imagine that!

Then came the technology entrepreneurs from silicon valley. Jack had problems convincing them to join the Creative Strike, but after making several passionate speeches, he was finally able to convince few of them to join the strike. One entrepreneur among them had already taken $50 million VC (Venture Capital) funding for his location aware, social networking site, mySoNe.com (short for My Social Network), and had to keep the site going from the Gulch. He recruited nearly all 1500 residents of the Gulch to use his website. But the VCs, unaware of the disastrous effects of socialist system Obama was imposing on the country, were insisting on matching the Twitter and Facebook growth, to a few million users in a few months. The entrepreneur struggled to show the growth, after all, he had already recruited every single resident at the Gulch!

Slowly all the residents of The Gulch started revolting to Jack Galt that they can't run their business without the common man. Warren Buffett, the socialist businessman who had donated nearly all his fortune to the society, was at the forefront of the criticism of Galt. He wrote an Op-Ed in the New York Times, suggesting that the businessman owes his success, not only to his own efforts and his intelligence, but many other factors. He owes his success to the society which provided the infrastructure and resources which are needed to run a business. He owes his success to the customers who patronize his business. He owes his success to government for maintaining law and order, which makes the business possible. He also owes his success to government for free public education which allows a very poor but brilliant student to get education and work in entrepreneur's business and contribute towards his profits. In other words, Buffett claimed, entrepreneur is gaining much from the society and owes a debt to the society.

By now the bankers and the silicon valley entrepreneurs had had it in the Gulch. They couldn't take it anymore. They had been humiliated by Buffett and were living very uncomfortable life in the Gulch, with no butlers or drivers. And the fact that society didn't completely break down added insult to the injury. It seemed as if the society would just go on without them. Without them!

Thus the strike ended one year after it had started.

But why did Shrug 2.0 not succeed as spectacularly as his grandpa's Shrug 1.0, superbly documented by Ayn Rand in her book? Jack Galt is still wondering ... You can watch him debate this point on Fox News Network, twice a week.

p.s.: Reader might wonder: what the heck does this story have to do with Ben Franklin? :-) Well, one word: Satire. Franklin thought of satire as the best tool to question absurdities, and so does this humble student of his. I hope the reader enjoyed this "tribute" to Atlas Shrugged!

Why Franklin? Isn't he dead for over 200 years?

I admire Benjamin Franklin, and this blog is my attempt to view the world from the perspective of "What would Ben do?" or "What would Ben think?". 

Why start this blog? 

Well, I see very widespread cynicism across United States. But I feel we all can learn a thing or two from good ol' Ben - his writings, and his life. His immense contribution to the country and his humble roots have been inspiring to me, and I hope they inspire you, the reader, too! 

Happy reading!

p.s. No blog about Franklin should ever start without a mention of his pithy quotes! Here's one of my favorite ones:  

If you would persuade, you must appeal to interest rather than intellect.