The great white gay man who hates women, democracy and social good.  

Peter Thiel has no shame.  As a tech billionaire, German immigrant, gay man married to another man, raising a child, he actively supports factions of the Republican party that disavow the very life he lives.  He has put tens of millions of dollars behind wing-nut Republican candidates that are anti-gay, anti-immigration, pro-insurrection and who have thinly veiled QAnon ties.  How can a gay man, whose unobstructed life is thanks to the perseverance of big “D” democratic ideals, be such a toxic influence on today’s political landscape?  Some people say he is contrarian, others say he’s a contradiction, but he’s neither, he’s just a pompous, selfish ass who is so triggered by woke culture and being told what to do that he is trying to destroy democracy.  

This is not your typical gay man – he’s never felt marginalized, he’s never fought for his rights in an unjust society, he’s a “pull the ladder up behind you” kind of guy who never learned how to share his toys.  But his entitlement doesn’t just pertain to his toys, it extends to the toys he feels should be his by right of his superiority.  Whereas most successful leaders subscribe to the saying “greatness is in the agency of others”, Thiel takes a different approach, believing that he is the greatest and others should take note.  Merge his narcissism with a dot-com windfall (the sale of Paypal) and you create the libertarian we know as Peter Thiel. 

Peter’s libertarian mindset is simple, he believes that everyone should strive to be free, and the only way to truly be free is to live in a free market economy.  Anything that threatens the free market economy is a threat to personal freedom and will ultimately spell doom for the future of society.  In his essay,  The Education of a Libertarian, Thiel attempts to defend his myopic ideology stating that:

“Most importantly, I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.” 

Peter thiel, The education of a libertarian, 2009

In the piece he posits irrelevant historical events and causal connections in an effort to convince the reader that the libertarian mindset is the ideal, all while presenting himself as its de facto leader.  

We are all quite accustomed to the eccentricities of the billionaire class, who believe that when they put a proverbial toothpick in the sand and struck oil it was because of the billionaire’s brilliance, and not because they happened to be in the right place at the right time.  They believe that they are somehow smarter and better than everyone else and therefore entitled to more.  But Thiel takes his entitlement to a brand new level. He believes that freedom and democracy are incompatible and he has decided to take it upon himself to champion a plan for the destruction of democracy.  And, thanks to Donald Trump, populism politics and greedy Republicans, he may get what he’s after.  

Currently we are in the destruction phase of his plan, where he fans the flames of divisiveness by promoting extremist leaders who spout racist and sexist vitriol under the guise of American idealism.   These authoritarian leaders mock their adversaries like school bullies and leverage in-group bias to convert their constituents into mob-like followers whose political identity becomes inextricably tied to their personal identity.  Leveraging conspiracy theories and lies, Thiel’s Republican devotees use fear and mistrust to build hatred towards the out-group – creating an intractable fission within American culture.

A couple of his crusades not only feed his divisive goal to rip apart the fabric of American society, they also align perfectly with his beliefs.  For example, Peter Thiel thinks that women are secondary to men, and that women and the welfare state directly contradict a free society.  

Currently, as I type this, women’s rights are being fundamentally attacked by the Supreme Court’s draft decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade.  Not only will women lose the right to choose, but many States have set up cascading laws that can enforce pregnancy tests, criminalize contraception and limit a fertile woman’s ability to travel.  Effectively, women will become wards of the state, second class citizens, that are only seen as incubators for future generations of men.  These laws apparently contradict Peter’s fundamental belief in “freedom” until you realize he only means a man’s freedom.  

Thiel continues his argument in The Education of a Libertarian by lamenting a woman’s right to vote and denouncing the welfare state:

 “Since 1920, the vast increase in welfare beneficiaries and the extension of the franchise to women — two constituencies that are notoriously tough for libertarians — have rendered the notion of “capitalist democracy” into an oxymoron.”

Peter Thiel, The education of a libertarian, 2009

A hint to all women: if a man casually implies that women getting the right to vote has somehow infringed on their freedoms, they do not think of women as equals.  If the man also has billions of dollars, supports anti-abortion candidates (J.D. Vance) and funds sex offenders like Donald Trump, well, unless you want to be a ward of the State, vote Democratic.  

Capitalizing on “bro” culture, Peter Thiel’s attack on democracy aligns with many Republican figureheads.  But let’s take a look at the other thing Peter rallies against – the welfare state.  Nothing seems to trigger Peter more than people taking money that he thinks they didn’t earn.  I am gobsmacked at how many billionaires believe they “earned” every penny they made.  But that’s a secondary point.  What Peter is saying is that people who lack the ability to contribute to society shouldn’t be able to participate in society.  Does this remind you of anyone else’s philosophy? Hitler is notorious for his desire to exterminate the Jewish population but he also aimed his wrath on the disabled and mentally ill – declaring that they were “unworthy of life” and killing over 20,000 people through his euthanasia program.  Thiel seems to be making a similar assertion for anyone who requires social assistance, regardless of the circumstances.  

In Thiel’s utopic world, people with mental or physical disabilities would have to figure out a way to contribute to society – they couldn’t even rely on the government to help them find work, they would just have to figure it out.  I guess starvation may be a good motivator.  Women who are forced to have children wouldn’t get any paid time off to care for those children.  They wouldn’t be able to take them to work, so I guess all those babies are going to have to learn how to take care of themselves.  Without social assistance, poor families won’t get the luxury of eating or having a roof over their head, but let’s not worry, Peter Thiel won’t have to pay taxes.  It’s clear he has never really spent the time understanding disabilities, the poverty cycle or even the difficulty of working in a minimum wage job.  Or maybe he does and he’s planning on creating his very own human culling program as a small tribute to his homeland’s unconscionable euthanasia program during the 40’s..

The Republican party, under Thiel’s thumb, assaults women’s rights and social security which is just a happy coincidence that will lead to the outcome Thiel truly strives for, which is the destruction of democracy…because, as he has explained many times, he wants to make sure that the “libtards” and the “woke” never have enough power to make him pay his fair share…wait, no, not that, his complaint is that libtards and the woke won’t offer US citizens true freedom.  I think it’s safe to assume these citizens are male, most likely white and definitely not immigrants, but that’s besides the point.  Thiel’s rally cry is freedom and damn the people who try to censor him and damn the government for believing in the social good. 

“Democracy totally depends on honest, good faith participation by participants on both sides of the major issues of the day or it will crumble, but we are totally  lacking that right now on one side and that is very dangerous.”

Twitter @BoutrousTed

It’s time we listen to what Peter Thiel is saying – he does not believe that democracy and freedom can co-exist.  He exploited America’s liberal idealism to build his wealth and live his alternative lifestyle but now that he’s on top he aims to stay there by funding anti-establishment politicians.  He hopes to create a totalitarian state that he controls via his puppet, Donald Trump and his disciples, the Republican party.  The “new America” that he envisions will allow him to continue to grow his wealth, avoid taxes, make women a subservient class, dismantle all social safety nets and provide an endless supply of impoverished American workers to service his needs.