Draft Sheen in 2016

• archive
• 2015

Draft Sheen in 2016, also known as DSI2016, was a campaign to draft actor Charlie Sheen to run for President of the United States in 2016. It ran in conjuction with the Draft Back America campaign as the anchor draft for top office. While the campaign might sound crazy, and certainly did not succeed, there was a logic behind it. Much of that logic as since proven itself in the form of Donald Trump, so it is difficult for me to accept that I was on the wrong track. But the Fates had other ideas in mind, and failed to play their part.

The choice of Charlie Sheen as the candidate may seem far-fetched until you consider the potential downsides of aiming a metaphorical rocket at The System and attempting to usurp the people controlling it. If any success was to be had, it would be a dangerous undertaking. I had seen several interviews with Mr. Sheen, and he came off as pretty fearless in those interviews. Believing that the power of celebrity would also be important, there were relatively few other choices available that fit this bill. There was, however, one additional consideration.

I had ban a non-political person most of my life, in that I did not pay attention to politics, did not vote and did not care. I had my beleifs, but did not believe that our system of politics allowed for those beliefs to find expression of any meaningful weight. There were gatekeepers, and only individuals willing to stump for a small range of meaningless changes would be allowed to gain any traction. The differences between the two parties were, for me, mere fashion. Both served the same master, and it was the master I had sights on.

One belief of mine was that a major defect in our government was non-conformance to the spirit and letter of the original Constitution. This compromise, the only basis for legitimate government in these states, has been violated and twisted so many times, for so many purposes, that it may as well lie in shreds. The country we are supposed to have, along with the freedom as individuals we are supposed to have, we do not have. One particular interview with Sheen brushed on this subject, and hearing Mr. Sheen speak on the importance of the Constitution convinced me that he was my man.

The campaign ran about 6 months, during which time my entire circle took turns trying to convince me that I was crazy. They succeeded, or rather their success was already assured, but still that did not stop me. Ads were run on several social media platforms, shirts and leaflets printed, and a (very) small army recruited. We did our best to track down addresses and contacts that might reach Mr. Sheen, and sent letters imploring Mr. Sheen to run, and outlining our campaign. We gained a few fans in the country and worldwide, and there is actually someone in Romania, probably in their early 30's, that has a DSI2016 shirt. Unless they've thrown it out.

In the end we never reached Mr. Sheen - never convinced him to run. As I was looking to wind the campaign down, it was announced that he had AIDS. I feel bad for bothering the man when he was obviously dealing with some very serious shit on his own. But we don't know what we don't know, and my intentions were benign. If he did see any of the materials we sent him, I hope he was flattered that there are people that exist who had considered him to play this important role, even if the attention was unwelcome at the time.

This campaign was actually a lot of fun, and I met some cool people doing it. More importantly, the experience gained performing tasks for the campaign helped me in later, more serious efforts (and less serious efforts). I fully understand why people look at me sideways when I mention the campaign, but I maintain that I had good reasons for it, and that the time was not wasted. There is also the fact that he had previously hinted at running, so the idea was not entirely of my design.

More satisfying is the fact that the political calculas I was using turned out to be correct. I had calculated that the power of celebrity would pay an important role in future elections. Every aspect of contemporary American society pointed to it. As the 200k political consultants, TV pundits and other politicos have tried, in the years since, to interpret events and present a coherent picture of what can be expected to happen, they have gotten it wrong time and time again by using the old, deprecated calculus.

Anyone can read my articles from the time period on this site in the Thoughts section. When you compare my predictions, my assertions and my reasoning to mainstream equivalents at the time, it is clear that I was right and they were wrong. One doesn't have to like what I'm saying to admit this reality. While few people know of it, it is personally satisfying to me to know that history has vindicated my ideas and revealed the emptiness and lack of insight in what passes for commentry in the mainstream. Maybe someday someone will notice...