Former Political Activist's 2022 Resolution? Standup Comedy

What could be funnier than the commenters in Charles M. Blow's oped articles insisting for an 'American Revolution' led by comedian Jose Franco! The self anointed 'public intellectual's' 2022 new year's resolution enabled Mr Franco to embrace his political insignificance through laughter. With his candor and self deprecation, Jose is hoping more Americans hit the (political) reset button prompting a more civil and transparent conversation. A task so many past, future and current philosophers have failed. Yet, the Latino small business owner feels constructively pessimistic. Unfortunately, Jose is not a natural like his friend Tracy Morgan, a seasoned comedian who is able to be funny even when he’s not trying to be. Case in point, in the summer of 1987, Jose and a group of Tracy's Clinton HS (Bx) football teammates, were playing basketball on 183rd St and Ryer Ave. According to Jose, "all of us suddenly stopped mid game when we spotted Tracy across the street wearing an out of season wool blazer, (3 sizes too big) carrying a briefcase on his way to an audition. We all immediately ran up to Tracy and snatched his luggage in jest, only to find a peanut butter and jelly sandwich wrapped in aluminum foil and 3 dilapidated adult magazines". Whereas, In 1985, Jose Franco was elected Dewitt Clinton's Senior Class President, something he considered a pitstop before eventually changing the world. Instead, Jose went to Business School, became an entrepreneur, opened a juice bar. While rehearsing Jose stated, "What led me into politics? One 'too many' conscious conversations while working at my family's juice bar".

Mr Franco is most grateful for his wife of 25 years who continues to put up with him. One thing Jose hasn't figured out is when his wife tells him "You're lucky I love you" if Mrs Franco is threatening or complementing him. It takes a really brave woman to marrying a fool - For Jose's wife is not afraid to be poor. Today in America, we mostly despise any one who elects to be poor in order to simplify and save his inner life. If he does not join the 'rat race', we deem him spiritless and lacking in ambition. We have lost the power even of imagining what the ancient idealization of poverty could have meant: the liberation from material attachments, the unbribed soul, the manlier indifference, the paying our way by what we are or do and not by what we have, the right to fling away our life at any moment irresponsibly—the more athletic trim, in short, the moral fighting shape. When we of the so-called better classes are scared as men were never scared in history at material ugliness and hardship; when we put off marriage until our house can be artistic, and quake at the thought of having a child without a bank-account and doomed to manual labor, it is time for thinking men to protest against so unmanly and irreligious a state of opinion. It is true that so far as wealth gives time for ideal ends and exercise to ideal energies, wealth is better than poverty and ought to be preferred. But wealth does this in only a portion of the actual cases. More times than not, the desire to gain wealth and the fear to lose it are our chief breeders of cowardice and propagators of corruption.

The Latino's family tales make up most of his routine. He is grateful to have 'Good Times Charlie', (favorite uncle) who taught him actions based on true beliefs aren't guaranteed to go better than actions based on false ones; but they're much more likely to. Actions based on false beliefs go well only by luck. Most people can't imagine how truly altruistic Donald Trump can be. Most people aren't aware the former President has never had a drink of alcohol in his life. Before DT transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, DT attended Fordham University with Jose's uncle Samuel Torres. The uncle's nick name in college was "Good Times Charlie" which explains his drinking problem. When Mr Franco's uncle needed a liver transplant in 1986, no one in his immediate family was a match. Not only did Donald Trump give Samuel Torres a liver, He promised not to tell anyone or make any money on the deal. A day after Jose's Dominican uncle's liver transplant, he inexplicably started speaking in Russian.

How conscious or 'woke' can Mr Franco's humor make more of us when it seems less and less of us are buying into the 'American Dream'? How do we cause people to believe again in an imagined order such as the American Dream, Democracy or Capitalism? First, never admit that the order is imagined. Jose Franco considers himself blessed and more importantly, grateful. For gratitude prevents you from overvaluing what you don’t have and undervaluing what you do. We are free to hang on to negativity as long as we want. There is no law that says we have to give it up. We are free agents. But it makes a big difference in our self-concept to realize that “I won’t do something” is quite a different feeling than to think that “I’m a victim and I can’t.” For instance, we can choose to hate somebody if we want. We can choose to blame them. We can choose to blame circumstances. But being more conscious and realizing that we are freely choosing this attitude puts us in a higher state of consciousness and, therefore, closer to greater power and mastery than being the helpless victim of a feeling.

I'm grateful for Jose Franco's insatiable hunger for knowledge. When his shop wasn't busy, the Latino author read the biographies of scores of philosophers and tried to understand each philosopher's intent and processes. The more serious Jose took to being a public intellectual, the more his friends and family laughed at him - many unfriended him on Facebook. At his funniest, in 2017, Jose blamed Donald Trump of hacking his business's website - In 2018-19, Jose collected signatures to run for US President - In 2019, he wrote a free e-book dedicated to Donald Trump titled ‘How To Get Better At Things You Don't Think You're Bad At By 2020’. Mr Franco's political activism was sparked two weeks after Donald Trump's 2016 victory, where instead of complaining, Jose forced himself to self reflect on his own actions and try to articulate solutions.

Despite his failed attempt at politics, Jose still wants to help spread a message of universal love, realistic hope and awareness to anyone who will listen. Through his comedy, Jose is hoping all capable audience members look for reasons to start/continue the work of self improvement since nobody is equal to anybody. Even the same person is not equal to him/herself on different days. A key to never closing your heart to someone you don't agree with is the willingness to forgive. With forgiveness, events and people are re-contextualized as simply "limited"—not "bad" or "evil." With comedy and humility, we are willing to relinquish our perception of a past event and gain more consciousness.