Jack Wheeler, creator of the "Reagan Doctrine", visits the university.

Who was that 12-year-old Boy Scout whom President Eisenhower honored at the White House? Is he the same one who, two years later, would stand before Mount Cervino, probably the most famous mountain in the Alps? Yes, and his life is a chain of amazing stories. Like the time when, during a summer vacation and still underage, he ventured deep into the Amazon rainforest to befriend the Jibaros, who as a sign of esteem gave him a shrunken head. We are talking about Jack Wheeler, someone who has made adventure their way of life and has just passed through the University of the Hesperides, where they had three meetings with students, professors, and the general public.

"Jack Wheeler has been to every country in the world, and many of them multiple times. He's explored the globe, and once you talk to him, you realize it's not just that because he's considered the father of the 'Reagan doctrine.' And this is due to a dream he had when he was 14: that if different communities and very dissatisfied people were empowered so they could fight against the Soviets, the empire of evil could implode. Years later, it became the famous Reagan doctrine," said Gabriel Calzada, rector of the University of Las Hespérides at the time of presenting him.

In his quest to fulfill that dream by globe-trotting, Jack Wheeler reached out to Abdul Rahim, one of the leaders of the main fighting group in Afghanistan, who operated from Pakistan. "I told him, I'm American and I want to help people who are fighting against the Soviets all over the world," he explained to Professor Will Ogilvie at his first presentation. "The Soviets have taken your country, but not just yours, they have an empire. And in many parts of that empire, there are other people like you who are fighting. I want to see where the fight is, take me there." He said the same thing in Angola and Mozambique, during a six-month tour. "I also worked with the Sandinista resistance leader Enrique Bermúdez in Nicaragua," he continued. "When Enrique finally understood what I meant, he looked at me in amazement and asked: 'Do you mean we're not alone?' I told him, no friend, you're not alone, this isn't inevitable, let's get rid of it.' And that's exactly what happened - we got rid of the entire Soviet Union, that evil empire in the world."

When exploring the human soul, Jack Wheeler devoted a significant portion of his third lecture at the University of Las Hespérides (titled "Do humans share some values?") to envy. "Envy is deeply present in the human psyche. It's a universal human trait that's always there. Both Hesiod and Aristotle mentioned it, pointing out that in its worst form, characterized by masochism, people are willing to harm themselves as long as they're also causing harm to the person they envy," he explained. "And that's the left's masochism. If you think about it, everything they do is masochistic because they just ruin everything, look at schools, education in general, anything they touch goes downhill."

As examples of envy in the social and political sphere, he cited the case of class struggle, which "is a class envy where it promotes that proletarians hate the bourgeoisie." He also mentioned the movement "Black Lives Matter", to which "many whites join out of fear of envy". He recalled Susan Sontag's phrase critically about how "white race is the cancer of human history." Against this, he showed himself convinced that people should be taught "not to worry about others' envy, not to fear being envied."

When asked about the current state of freedom ideas, he considered that we live in very polarized societies, especially due to the actions of the far left, which promote confrontation. However, he highlighted a glimmer of hope by mentioning the case of Argentina, where after so many years of Peronism they now vote for a libertarian candidate like Javier Milei. "It's surprising that this happens because Peronism only has one purpose: making people dependent on the government. And this is the most addictive drug in the world, because when you stop injecting the drug of subsidies, the situation can become dangerous. Fighting against the idea that the government has to make your life easier is difficult. Understanding the benefits of personal responsibility and freedom requires more work. It will always be a struggle, but I think we're on the right side."