Old, Are You Kidding?

 

Last week during one of my 10 mile trail runs, I stopped and talked with Chris. Chris was a long-distance runner for Sac State; a ride and tie champion; a sub 24 hour Western States competitor; my trainer and friend for my Western States run; a ride and tie and running partner. Chris asked me if I was going to run 81 miles during my birthday week. I told him, that I’m using Tony, my running partner friend, as an excuse. For most of the year Tony has been on Whidbey Island building a second home and is still there. If you want a motorcycle or kayak built or a computer or printer serviced, a running or pacing partner, or want to know where to get ice cream, Tony’s the “stud muffin.”  Tony also has completed the Tevis 10 times. This disquisition has to do with old, aging and character.

After that meeting with Chris, I thought more about my tradition of running the same number of miles per week as my age. I had an epiphany. Why not run 10 miles for six more days? Doing so, would give me 70 miles for that week.  I did just that. With more thought, I came up with the brilliant idea of using 70 as a base and then I would subtract 1 mile each year. So in 2021, I would run 69 miles in that week and so forth. By implementing this original proposal, did this mean I’m getting old? No, I’m going to differentiate between “aging” and “old.”

At one time in our history, “old” was a condition independent of years. In fact there was value in having a special category not related to aging or death. Notably, old was both an endless and ageless character. Old masters paintings and old manuscripts are viewed as illustrations that have nothing to do with dying but instead lasting. Paleontology, archaeology and geology are studies of the old. Also, the word “old” was defined as something fully nourished, grown-up and matured. Benefits of old included trustworthiness, venerability, proverbially, and value. In the poem “Beowulf,” oldness was related to virtues of nobility, mercy, esteem and power. However later, Shakespeare used old as an instrument of insult and ridicule. His examples were “old and foul,” “old and wicked,” “old and miserable,” and “old and deformed”. Since Shakespeare, the word old has negative connotations.

Why not change, reframe and return to the previous meanings of old. For instance, I like my old and comfortable shoes, my old friends - Beverly, Rita, Lorna, Gail, Ferris, Dave, Maylon, Emmett, Rick, songs like Laura Nyro’s “Eli’s Comin” and ” Silhouettes” by the Rays ,  movies like “On The Waterfront,” visiting the British Museum, the Louvre, pyramids in Cancun, Roman Coliseum, visiting Thomas Jefferson’s home in Monticello, visiting Salem Witch Village in Massachusetts, visiting Anne Frank’s home in Denmark going through checkpoint Charlie  in order to eat in East Berlin, and novels like Ernest Hemingway’s “Old Man and the Sea,” and reading history books. I like history and that would’ve been my second major. Old can be, with the importance of long term memory, a life review of imagination that brings to life the wonders of all those long-lasting, informative, special and exciting relevant emotional events. It’s the power of imagination that deepens the integrity of character.

Unfortunately our society has discredited old and aging in our capitalistic process. It’s now about youth, new and beauty. Becoming old in our society is not valued at all. For example, the following has become reality: 1. the enormous number of nonscientific supplements available at health food stores 2. Numerous nonscientific creams, salves and lotions for skincare 3. A lot of products to improve hair, hair color and to grow hair 4. Cosmetic surgery to reduce and increase breast size and shape 5. Botox and other surgeries for changing body shape 6. Many fitness centers and home products like Peloton and NordicTrack 7. Many apps and personal trainers 8. Many diet and losing weight programs 9. Many books, information and apps to increase aging, compensating for HGH, estrogen and progesterone, testosterone, antiaging tips, increasing telomeres etc. 10. Many College classes and TV programs on Well-Being.

Despite the propaganda and irrespective of this multi-billion dollar industry, we have the following facts: 1. Greater proportion of older individuals that have illness and death due to Covid-19 2. Three quarters of the population are either overweight and/or obese 3. Physical illnesses on the rise like cancer, arteriosclerosis, hypertension, heart disease, osteoporosis, depression etc. 4. Decrease in life span rates 5. Increase in convalescent centers, retirement communities, home healthcare, reverse mortgage and other insurance programs.  Something is definitely not right and amiss.

I have data to support healthy aging. In my book “It Has Nothing To Do With Age,” I interviewed athletic individuals 65 years of age and older that were still competing in extreme sports. Yes, they were not as strong, as fast, as youthful as they were in their past. However, they were involved in a personal activity that provided a sense of mastery, achievement, recognition, meaning and pleasure as well as pain. In other words, they had fire in their belly that fueled their ability to compete at extraordinary levels.  It’s simply about their character. Character doesn’t diminish, it’s only the physiology in the body that changes. Character is key.

Yes, skin sags, eyesight fails, memory plays tricks, hair turns color, physical strength changes, over use injury surfaces, and running speed slows along with other cell death physiological differences. But what doesn’t change is my character, passion, motivation and attitude about running. I continue to enjoy being outdoors with my thoughts while being with nature. I look forward to running again with Tony when he returns from Whidbey Island.

We can learn much from Greek mythology regarding the process of aging. However, our beliefs, attitudes, and in some cases wisdom seems to be set. Our good and bad behaviors seem to become more cemented with age. We tend to repeat what we think and what we do over and over. In other words, despite the physical shape of our body, the strength of good and bad character seems intact.

According to Aristotle, the body is governed by its form, the psyche by the character of the psyche. It has no cause other than itself in it  fills itself by doing what it is naturally suited to do, which is also its pleasure. It’s been stated that old women gain their power by living long. In Socrates “The Republic,” Cephalus concluded “the doleful literary of all the miseries which they blame old-age…, there is just one cause, not old-age but the character of the man.” In Cicero’s De Senec-tute, “old men are morose, troubled, fretful and hard to please;… Some of them are misers too.  However these are faults of character not of age.”   Spinoza’s definition of essence “the endeavor to persist in its own being.”

From Greek mythology, we find an acting out of human affairs dramatizing struggles in the life process. Hercules was an archetypal hero with a willful image of aging. He had many hand-to-hand struggles with death [Thanatos] and with Hades the god of the underworld. Muscled Hercules had these terrific confrontations throughout his life symbolizing unparalleled strength. He never aged. However, his curse was that he became insane. Geras was a bald bent emancipated figure with pendant and reversed genitals. You could see him leaning upon a thin crooked stick while Hercules holds a huge studded club. However we find this personified figure in geriatrics, gerontology which is the study of old age. Tithonos was a human whose wish was granted of living forever. However, he neglected to specify at his present youthful age so he was cursed to live on and on forever growing older. Sisyphus, was punished by Zeus for eternity with pushing a rock up the hill. Once Sisyphus reached the hill top, the rock rolled back down again for another do over.  Symbolizing the persistent struggle in life against the absurdity of life or the repetition of irrational behavior is obvious to all. Sisyphus persisted in his own being as defined by his character. Socrates stated “To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom.”

When I was in private psychotherapy practice, I met a number of individuals looking for assistance in knowing thyself. Unfortunately, it’s very difficult to change attitudes, beliefs, irrational thinking and self-defeating behavior let alone the emotions connected with various conflicts. With a lifetime of non-logical thinking and poor decision-making, it’s easy to find an external source or scapegoat for blame for one’s psychological and/or emotional state of being. As a result, knowing thyself and making a positive and continuous change was very difficult. I agree with Spinoza “the endeavor to persist in its own being.”

Yes, I am aging and have experienced many physiological changes over the past 8 decades. But I am not old. However, I continue to look forward, have motivation and drive to achieve, think objectively, employ wisdom, avoid self-defeating behaviors, nourish significant interpersonal relationships and continue to laugh at myself. Do I have to run 81 miles this year, 82 miles the next year etc. in a week? No, but running provides meaning, a sense of accomplishment, and good physical health which reinforces and fuels my passion which encompasses my character. Remember, reframe old, and acknowledge aging with lasting character.

Reference

Hillman, James.  The Force of Character and the Lasting life. Random House 1999

The Rise of Moral Cynicism and the Decline of Altruism

 

 

Aggression in our country continues to increase at an alarming rate as moral behavior declines. Conscience, the psychological apparatus that regulates and differentiates good from bad and right from wrong develops as the result of the various identifications with significant models in one’s life space. However, if the models exhibit amoral, narcissistic, selfish and non-altruistic behaviors a sense of morality is challenge and impaired.  Moreover, with morality behaviors on the decline, we turn to those influential models as integral components contributing to this troubling dysfunction. One factor that contributes to the increase in amoral behavior are the presidents that model and reinforce wrong and the bad behaviors of exploitation, sadistic expression, greed, power and cruelty. Their behaviors contribute to our current state of moral decline and dysfunction.  This disquisition provides examples of presidents that model, thereby sanction and give permission for many in our society to exhibit amoral and non- altruistic interactions among and between its citizens. Our norms have changed for the worse.

We can now witness the  denial , lies and cheating attempts about who won the November 3^rd election, the presidential  assassination of unarmed black men by the police; the statistical increase in citizen deaths by weapons; the ability to openly carry assault rifles to rallies and protests; the legalization, in a few states  , of marijuana; the intended kidnapping of a governor for trial and assassination-Mitt Romney’s father George, as governor of Michigan was never kidnapped; “religious” leaders going to jail; parents indicted over college admissions for their children; the excessive intentional lying and disinformation on social media; the pandering  and enabling by  Senate Republicans ;  the threat to The Affordable Care Act and Social Security; and the despicable spreading of conspiracy by “guests” on so-called” news “stations. Let’s hear from Dan Rather and Tom Brokaw. Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite are turning over in their graves.

Our country’s history has been based on amorality despite having “In God we trust” printed on money; and by referring to our country as a Christian nation. I’m going to focus only on the past 50 year or so. I am also going to use the term “moral cynicism” coined by Robert Sampson. Moral cynicism refers to the notion that laws and informal rules aren’t really and truly binding; and as a nation we lost our sense of an altruistic moral purpose which is a collective will to do what is decent and right. Sampson believed that” we have been living in a state benumbed and a benumbed state in which nihilism prevails and corruption oozes from the very top. “Further, normalized selfishness has prevailed.

Altruism, means a number of things. One important meaning relates to how to treat others. The idea of caring for, and loving others can be found as a major principle in all religious foundations. In the 10 Commandments for example, the idea of loving and honoring another are clear. In essence we are talking about the behavior or behaviors related to how we interact and move toward others as opposed to moving against others. Black skinned people read the same Bible, worship and pray to the same God as white evangelicals. Yet, these evangelicals do not treat these fellow worshipers in an altruistic manner. However, if Jesus was alive today, he would condemn them to say the least.

In 1968, Richard Nixon ran for president. Also running for president was George Wallace, the governor of Alabama. Wallace was an unapologetic defender of segregation and he reportedly promised that he’d never be “out - nigguhed again.” He pledged “segregation now, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever.” Anyone who attacked Wallace was called a “nigguh-lover, a pinko or a communist.” The governor’s goal was to destroy democracy at its best. Wallace was going to pit the white race against the minorities in this country.  Wallace also told a group of police officers in Bethany, Oklahoma “there’s nothing wrong with this country that we couldn’t cure by turning it over to the police for a couple of years. You fellas would straighten that out.” “Folks are mad about law and order and about schools … Race mixing doesn’t work. Show me a place where it worked.” Wallace gathered 13% of the popular vote and carried five states in the Electoral College.

Wallace scared Nixon and as the campaign went on, he endorsed a more and more Wallace in his core campaign. In addition to Wallace’s positions on crime, Nixon spoke out against school busing, federal enforcement of school desegregation, antiwar activists and the federal judiciary. Despite a report of National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, which concluded that structural racism was the underlying cause of the terrible riots that affected Watts and Newark. “What white Americans have never fully understood-but what the Negro can never forget-is that white society is deeply implicated in the ghetto.” Otto Koerner and John V. Lindsay said “white institutions created it, white institutions maintain it and white society condones it.”

Nixon created “The War on Drugs.” Actually, it was a war against people that used drugs. Now, the government could incarcerate them and lock them up at will. This policy was aimed at discriminating against the black community. They were sentenced differently and more severely than whites and were incarcerated differently and more severely than whites. The white majority supported this policy. His presidency added to the turbulence and he’s a good example of amoral behavior by  a Pres. His lack of altruism supported, reinforced  and embraced the existence of moral cynicism. What happened to Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew? Nixon has not  followed  the  Beatitudes of Jesus : Blessed are the poor, Blessed are they who mourn, Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, Blessed are the merciful, Blessed are the clean of heart, Blessed are the peacemakers , Blessed are they who are   persecuted for their sake of righteousness etc.

Ronald Reagan was “no ordinary political phenomena. He is, as Goldwater was, a symbol of the old values of God, Home and Country, his appeal was visceral.” “Reagan was for lean government, low taxes and flag wearing patriotism. He is against civil rights legislation, University radicals and expenditure of government funds in the ghetto.” Reagan was also for “The War on Drugs” or let’s make war against blacks.

The Congress did not go along with wanting to give Reagan funds to overthrow the government in Nicaragua. Reagan rationalized the reason for his dislike of their government. He claimed that they were communists. To make a long story short, Reagan’s national security advisor John Poindexter and Col. Oliver North secretly involved the CIA in providing weaponry for the rebels in order to overthrow the government. The CIA became buddies with the drug cartels and facilitated with American planes and American pilots bringing cocaine to Los Angeles and other communities. The distribution and selling of the drugs resulted in huge monies that purchased weaponry for the rebels. The rebels got their arms and the black community got their drugs and their addictions. Reagan was happy. He was attempting to amorally overthrow a government at the expense of addicting people, the citizens he was supposed to protect.

 The Tower Commission investigated Regan’s Iranian scandal. Reagan was found guilty and 10 officials in his administration were convicted and others forced to resign. Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger was indicted for perjury. A War on Drugs? What a joke and once again the white public went along with the propaganda message as moral cynicism conveys the absence of altruism that was continued and reinforced. What a moral and altruistic leader?

Osama bin Laden had his fellow Saudi’s fly into the World Trade Center on 9/11. Bush did not want to attack our allies [they buy our weaponry] so he went along with the phony “Weapons of Mass Destruction” scheme. Saddam bought our weapons too, but he angered some by invading Kuwait.  So we supposedly, as told by propaganda, were bringing democracy to Iraq. Our country went along with the war propaganda and our revenge was justified. We punished Saddam and in the process created more terrorists. Again, moral cynicism continued to be reinforced. War, the killing of innocent children is morally good? Not much altruism present here.

This brings us to our current state of affairs. Trump, has normalized selfishness, greed, ineptness, racism, police brutality, bigotry, racial inequality, weakening the Constitution and  our Republic, trashing the presidential election, diminishing the news except on Fox,  exploiting scapegoats, sending unidentified “agents” with tear gas to break up peaceful protests, breaking the law etc., etc. Moral cynicism gets expressed by “we love him, and you may not like his personality, but he is good for the country.” However, he’s a loser regardless of his oppositional behavior.

Laila Lalami gives a few examples of not fitting in and moral cynicism in in her book “Conditional Citizens on Belonging in America.” She’s an American citizen, Moroccan by birth and came to the United States for graduate studies in linguistics. This educated woman “I thought, somewhat naïvely, I admit that I would be treated no different than other Americans.” It didn’t take her long to grasp the yawning gap between the ideal taught and civics lessons in the reality. She argues she is a “conditional citizen.” She adds that conditional citizens are not allowed to the question the choices of their government; if they do, they are viewed with suspicion and their allegiance to the new country questioned.

In her book, she points out that immigrants built this great country! We are a nation of immigrants! Immigrants bring disease, crime and rob us of our jobs! -and conditional citizens are regarded as America’s best hope and its greatest threat. Lalami described her first interaction with the federal government after she became a citizen. A border agent at Los Angeles Airport asked her husband “how many camels did you have to trade in for her?” After 9/11 “you’re either with us or you’re against us” were comments from her colleagues who treated her with suspicion when she voiced dissent about the country’s wars in the Middle East; and questioned US exceptionalism, Then her allegiance to America was attacked. When her and her husband moved to Manhattan Beach, California 24 years ago, the local cops stopped her three times in her first year for not signaling a left turn-something her German-American husband who has white hair fails to do but for which he has never been stopped. She stated, Trumps 2016 victory  was driven less by angst over losing jobs to immigrants than fear on the part of whites that their group dominance and privileges would slip away and they would became a more demographic minority. One survey found that the white working-class voters were 3 ½ times more likely to support Trump if they felt “like a stranger in their own land.”

Our “Christian” country began over 400 years ago when English pirates captured a Portuguese ship carrying African slaves. That certainly was an amoral act by the English and the Portuguese. Whenever we have aggression toward or against another that by definition is almost always amoral as well as an absence of altruism. American amorality and lack of altruism, by the Nixon, Reagan and Bush presidencies, continues today in greater overt proportions. Over 72 million citizens voted for the greatest amoral and non-altruistic president in our short history. This president, along with his father, has amorality and a lack of altruism a built into their character. It didn’t matter to him that the office of the presidency was held in high esteem. He trashed the Constitution and the government agencies. It was disturbing that so many of his followers in and out of the government exhibit moral cynicism and non-altruistic behavior by enabling him.

We have, thanks to the current president, the worst statistics on the Covid-19 pandemic in the world. Modeling not wearing a mask is certainly non-altruistic. Moreover, it’s a passive aggressive act as well. Believing that not wearing a mask is a right of a citizen is denial and rationalization. The health of society, as expressed by public health scientists, is related to mask wearing, social distancing, washing hands etc. Not wearing a mask, puts others and our health care system at risk. The behavior of not wearing a mask is bad and wrong from a health, moral and ethical standpoint. Potentially harming another is aggressive and passive at the same time. Underlying emotional aggression is exhibited passively by not taking personal responsibility for mask wearing with defenses of denial (it’s a hoax) and rationalization (I have no symptoms). No altruism present here but plenty of moral cynicism.

 Joe Biden, the President-elect, a man of religious ethics, will provide stability, altruistic behaviors, abiding by norms, and a different moral direction. Joe Biden’s behavior will model moral decency and altruism. Remember, wearing a mask and social distancing are his health, moral and altruistic behaviors to be embraced. More than 79,000,000 citizens agree that Trump should be gone with good riddance. References for this essay are found in the November 1, 2020 edition of The New York Times. They Include the following: 1968 and 2020: Two Perilous Years; One of Us; and Our Faith.

An Absence Of Integrity

 

 

During the process of aging, one obsessively ponders about the various physiological changes that are occurring. It’s common to think about mortality as the evolution occurs. A healthier approach would be to restore the ancient link between older age and the uniqueness of character. Think of character as the distinctive qualities of an individual. Beliefs, attitude, irrationality, delusions, illusions and decision-making also enter into the equation. These qualities become a long-lasting history and define the individual, especially noticeable by others. With that being said, one important component, in a healthy character, are the behaviors of integrity. A description of integrity include: “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles, moral uprightness; and the state of being whole and undivided.” Emerson stated “Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world.” References for this essay include: John Beebe’s Integrity in Depth published by the Texas A&M University Press, College Station and Erik H. Erikson’s Childhood and Society published by W. W. Norton and Company Incorporated. This essay address the absence of integrity of Trump.

The Latin root for integrity or integrate means to combine all the elements into one harmonious entity. This makes sense as Integrity has been described as” responsibility, uprightness, standing tall, being untouched, staying intact, completeness, perfection, honesty, moral obligation,  psychological harmony, continuity, psychological and ethical eros, sincerity, chastity, rigidity, obedience, conscience, prudence, purity, constancy, immutability, and holiness. Historical and psychological examples from Cicero, Benjamin Franklin and Erik Erikson follow.

Cicero, during the Roman Republic, used the word integrity in the prosecution of the governor of Sicily. Gaius Verres misused close to $1 million in today’s money from his Sicilian people. Cicero also wrote a book that became a manual for young persons who wanted to succeed. In his De Officiis, Cicero concluded that integrity was central to success in life, it was the right way to seek personal ambition and to win approval. Cicero’s theme in his book was a moral obligation, the standard of reputation as a way of making it in the world. This book was actually written for Cicero’s 21-year-old son who, at the time, was studying philosophy in Athens.  Socrates said that there is a direct shortcut to winning a reputation “make yourself the sort of man you want people to think you are, there are certain methods of ensuring that people do in fact discover what we are like, and I will now suggest what  these methods are.”

Benjamin Franklin arrived in Philadelphia as a young man to escape an endless apprenticeship from his father’s Boston. Franklin then established a way to attain the moral perfection of virtue. He compiled a list of virtues that included: temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, and chastity. Franklin later added humility to his original list of 12 virtues. He stated “I cannot boast of much success in acquiring the reality of this virtue; but I had a good deal with regard to the appearance of.” For Franklin, his struggle with pride, enabled him to achieve a lasting success. He was able to resolve his paradox of using integrity to advance ambition.

Briefly, Erikson postulated a series of 8 crises, in his psychosocial model, that man has to resolve during his evolution in order to become emotionally healthy.  Man’s first stage was being able to develop and confront the emotional crisis of establishing a sense of Basic Trust versus Basic Mistrust. If there was successful resolution of Trust versus Mistrust, the next crisis and succeeding crises became easier to resolve. Unsuccessful resolution, in the stage, or other stages results in significant psychological difficulty and emotional impairment. To illustrate the positive, a few of the lifecycle stages relate to various conflicts and to hopefully develop the ability for mastering skills necessary for productive work in our society; the ability to develop a sense of identity necessary for human development and functioning; the ability to develop a loving union; and furthering the care, education and well-being of the young for their generation.

The task in Erikson’s last stage was to develop a sense of Ego Integrity versus Despair. In this final stage, Erikson acknowledged the various triumphs and disappointments that occur during one’s lifetime. An individual has only one shot to become a mature adult. As one ages, one establishes different ideas and recognizes his love for parents have changed. One has to resolve all the previous crises, impulses, frustrations, conflicts, with an understanding of the psychological history of man. With this ego integration, one is now able to have the wisdom and mature participation in religion, politics, economics, technology, arts, and science. When one possesses integrity, according to Erikson, one is now able to defend the dignity of his own lifestyle against the various physical, economic and societal threats. If so, human integrity now stands or falls within his unique style of integrity. If successful, the individual becomes better able to face his future death. On the other hand, with despair one realizes that his time is now too short to start another life as well as to try out alternative roads to integrity. Disgust hides despair and remorse.

In essence, ego integrity implies an emotional integration which permits participation by followership as well as the acceptance of the responsibility of leadership. Moreover, with mastery and resolution of the previous seven stages, the individual experiences harmony, strength, comfort, well-being and accepts his mortality. In Webster’s dictionary, trust the first of Erikson’s ego values was defined as the assured reliance on another’s integrity. With that being said, healthy children do not fear life if their elders have integrity enough not to fear death.

More about Donald Trump was exhibited with the November 3 presidential election. As in 2016, with the help of Russia, he stated many times that the results of the election would not be accurate if he lost.  He falsely, without a sense of morality or evidence, called the election fraudulent. Was it fraudulent in the states that he won?

During this presidential election, Donald put hobbles on the Postal Service and again with delusion lied that there was election fraud. Benjamin Ginsberg, attorney for the Republican Party and a major figure in the Bush versus Gore election stated numerous times that there was no election fraud then nor now.

On November 4, Trump claimed victory despite the fact that all the votes had not yet been counted. On November 4 and November 5 Trump wanted to stop ballot counting in Pennsylvania but wanted the counting of ballots to continue in Nevada and Arizona. Numerous lawsuits were started as well disinformation coming from Trump’s White House. This was an obvious attempt to subvert and undermine the legitimacy of the election. Somehow, vote counting in the undecided states was called illegitimate.

Mitt Romney called Trump’s election fraud claim wrong and reckless. The Democrats are not trying to steal the election. Further Trump is wrong to say the election was rigged, corrupt and stolen. These claims damage the cause of freedom here and around the world… and recklessly flame destructive and dangerous passions. GOP Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania called Trump’s claim of fraud “very disturbing. There is simply no evidence anyone has shown me of any widespread corruption or fraud. The president’s speech last night was very disturbing to me because he made very serious allegations without any evidence to support it.” Mitch McConnell added every legal vote should be counted.

In summary, clearly Trump does not embrace Cicero’s idea of morality which in part, was stealing from the people; he does not embrace Franklin’s idea of humility or the other 12 virtues; nor is he able to exhibit Erikson’s sense of Basic Trust as well a sense of Integrity. He has no opportunity for “do overs” that classic line in the City Slickers movie. This inauthentic, greedy individual’s despair will be apparent for everyone to see. By now his character traits are well-defined and he is stuck with “who he is.” He does not nor is able to modify his verbal and physical limitations. He’s a sad and mentally unstable individual that is not able to edify his moral, emotional or intellectual behaviors. Over 5,000,000 more discerning Americans voted for someone with integrity. That number is reality and a statement of fact.

It's Always about Character

 

 

Recently, on NPR, I heard this woman say “You may not like his personality, but he is good for the country.” This response suggests that she does not know what she’s talking about and is a liar as well. We are not talking about personality, we are talking more specifically about the character of this despicable individual. Character, as defined in the Psychiatric Glossary “The sum of the relatively fixed personality traits and habitual modes of response of an individual.”  Or more simply, distinctive qualities of an individual. Personality, on the other hand is defined, as the combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual’s distinctive character. This essay disputes that shallow, racist, ignorant and erroneous statement.

The character of Donald can be described as having traits similar to the following personality disorders such as narcissism, antisocial and paranoid. This means that his thinking and behavioral traits are associated with mental illness. He is self-centered which means he has a limited capacity to care about much other than the money God. He engages in antisocial and amoral behaviors related to lying, stealing, exploiting, breaking social norms as well as the rule of law. He supports conspiracy theories, hate and white racist groups. How can a mentally sick man be good for the country? If the woman was referring to a racist WASP segment of the society, then he would be good for them.

How can the following be good for our country: 1. A tax break for the upper 1%; record unemployment; and an increase in income inequality 2.  An additional trillion dollars added to the national debt 3. An emphasis on racist, discriminatory, hateful division among the inhabitants 4. A disastrous trade war with China 5.An immigration policy that separates children from parents 6. A pathological liar, a cheat, an amoral lawbreaker 7. Suppressing the vote 8.Eliminating the Affordable Care Act; and not protecting its citizens from pre-existing illness 9. Overturning Roe versus Wade 10. Not dealing scientifically with Covid-19 11. Spreading the pandemic 12. Withdrawing from the Paris Peace Accord 13. Withdrawing from the Iranian nuclear agreement 14. The Republican Senate not voting for impeachment 15. Being in personal debt for over $400 million 16. A criminal charge by federal prosecutors in New York.

The past four years of this administration has made a mockery of the Constitution; the office of the Atty. Gen.; the quid pro quo with Ukraine; the Republic and suppressing the vote by the citizens; and misinforming, intentionally lying about the scientific recommendations for dealing with the pandemic. This businessman has attempted to make money from his position. This man has diminished and made a mockery of the presidency. He has been terrible for our country. Count all the votes.