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.

The Experiment

 

Last week’s essay “Three White Women” ended with my statement “The experiment of the United States continues.” My friend Paul Klentos replied and provided numerous facts that the experiment had ended. This essay tests 6 hypothesis for our experiment

In this experiment, our research design includes variables and operational definitions of terms. Briefly, the slave trade began in the United States in 1619. As a result, we will use 1619 as a starting point for our study of the history the United States.  The Preamble of our Constitution states “We the people of the United States, in order form a more perfect Union, establish Justice ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity   ..… We the people is defined as White, Anglo-Saxon, and Protestant Men. All other groups such as women and people of color Native Americans etc. are excluded. Liberty, the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority were for the WASP men only

The Preamble of the Constitution are the variables for hypotheses. Our 6 hypotheses: 1. The United States is a perfect union 2. All  citizens receive equal justice under the law 3. The United States has a common defense 4. The citizen’s economic welfare is important 5. The citizens have liberty 6. The US government meets the needs of all the citizens.

In this next section, Paul’s findings are stated and include the following: 1. One would think that after 400 years it is no longer an experiment, it’s the norm 2. If it takes 400 years to develop a vaccine, the company that is leading the project will lose financing 3. If it takes 400 for a football coach to turn a losing team around, he’ll be fired 4. If it takes 400 years to write a newspaper article the subject will no longer be relevant 5. If it takes 400 years to train a racehorse, it will never be worth anything 6. The behavior of the extreme right wing Republicans has become the norm and very predictable. It has become more obvious now due to the media availability. The only thing missing is 10 foot of chain and auctioneer. Hyp: 2, 4, 6. 7. We have driven the majority of people to extreme poverty where they are forced to work two jobs for peanuts, in jobs with no future, no benefits and no hope Hyp: 4, 6. 8. We have enslaved them financially, driven them into crime while we have privatized incarceration facilities. Hyp: 2, 4, 6. if you make the investment you need the customers-build it and they will come 9. We suppress their voting rights and reduce their education to absolute minimum. All that while the 90% of the wealth is in the hands of 51 families Hip: 1, 2,4,5,6. 10. Dark money in politics has reached the Supreme Court. Senatorial integrity is the thing of the past. Any attempt at change has been met with extreme propaganda of anti-socialist ideas.  Hip: 1, 2, 3,4,5,6.  11. They have denied public health insurance while they and their families are taxing the public to enjoy the greatest insurance in the world 12. Hip: 2, 4, 6. Has become a calculated takeover of people’s lives while in return all they have to offer is snake oil.Hyp:1, 2,4,5,6.

Findings for our hypotheses: 1. The United States is a perfect union 2. All citizens receive equal treatment under the law 3.The citizens economic welfare is considered 4. The US government meets the needs of all citizens 5. The citizens have liberty. Paul’s comments suggest that none of these hypotheses were supported.  The Preamble are only words. There is no evidence to support any other conclusion.  The failure is clear. The other hypothesis that the United States has a common defense was not identified in Paul’s research.

In conclusion, I agree the United States Republic is not a democracy and is a failed experiment. The current two-party system does not work and neoliberalism economics has contributed with a major negative impact on the majority of its citizens. A true democracy, allows all people to vote and gives the power in its citizens, has been discouraged by the wealthy ruling class per Adam Smith.  We vote for unknown individuals who vote for President. Small populated states have the same number of Senators as the larger states. Supreme Court nominees are confirmed by party majority. There are not three equal branches of government at the moment .The November 3 election results will provide more data as to the severity of disease that currently controls our form of government. Can the United States be saved?

The Experiment

 

Last week’s essay “Three White Women” ended with my statement “The experiment of the United States continues.” My friend Paul Klentos replied and provided numerous facts that the experiment had ended. This essay tests 6 hypothesis for our experiment

In this experiment, our research design includes variables and operational definitions of terms. Briefly, the slave trade began in the United States in 1619. As a result, we will use 1619 as a starting point for our study of the history the United States.  The Preamble of our Constitution states “We the people of the United States, in order form a more perfect Union, establish Justice ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity   ..… We the people is defined as White, Anglo-Saxon, and Protestant Men. All other groups such as women and people of color Native Americans etc. are excluded. Liberty, the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority were for the WASP men only

The Preamble of the Constitution are the variables for hypotheses. Our 6 hypotheses: 1. The United States is a perfect union 2. All  citizens receive equal justice under the law 3. The United States has a common defense 4. The citizen’s economic welfare is important 5. The citizens have liberty 6. The US government meets the needs of all the citizens.

In this next section, Paul’s findings are stated and include the following: 1. One would think that after 400 years it is no longer an experiment, it’s the norm 2. If it takes 400 years to develop a vaccine, the company that is leading the project will lose financing 3. If it takes 400 for a football coach to turn a losing team around, he’ll be fired 4. If it takes 400 years to write a newspaper article the subject will no longer be relevant 5. If it takes 400 years to train a racehorse, it will never be worth anything 6. The behavior of the extreme right wing Republicans has become the norm and very predictable. It has become more obvious now due to the media availability. The only thing missing is 10 foot of chain and auctioneer. Hyp: 2, 4, 6. 7. We have driven the majority of people to extreme poverty where they are forced to work two jobs for peanuts, in jobs with no future, no benefits and no hope Hyp: 4, 6. 8. We have enslaved them financially, driven them into crime while we have privatized incarceration facilities. Hyp: 2, 4, 6. if you make the investment you need the customers-build it and they will come 9. We suppress their voting rights and reduce their education to absolute minimum. All that while the 90% of the wealth is in the hands of 51 families Hip: 1, 2,4,5,6. 10. Dark money in politics has reached the Supreme Court. Senatorial integrity is the thing of the past. Any attempt at change has been met with extreme propaganda of anti-socialist ideas.  Hip: 1, 2, 3,4,5,6.  11. They have denied public health insurance while they and their families are taxing the public to enjoy the greatest insurance in the world 12. Hip: 2, 4, 6. Has become a calculated takeover of people’s lives while in return all they have to offer is snake oil.Hyp:1, 2,4,5,6.

Findings for our hypotheses: 1. The United States is a perfect union 2. All citizens receive equal treatment under the law 3.The citizens economic welfare is considered 4. The US government meets the needs of all citizens 5. The citizens have liberty. Paul’s comments suggest that none of these hypotheses were supported.  The Preamble are only words. There is no evidence to support any other conclusion.  The failure is clear. The other hypothesis that the United States has a common defense was not identified in Paul’s research.

In conclusion, I agree the United States Republic is not a democracy and is a failed experiment. The current two-party system does not work and neoliberalism economics has contributed with a major negative impact on the majority of its citizens. A true democracy, allows all people to vote and gives the power in its citizens, has been discouraged by the wealthy ruling class per Adam Smith.  We vote for unknown individuals who vote for President. Small populated states have the same number of Senators as the larger states. Supreme Court nominees are confirmed by party majority. There are not three equal branches of government at the moment .The November 3 election results will provide more data as to the severity of disease that currently controls our form of government. Can the United States be saved?

Three White Women

 

 

A book titled “Sisters in Hate- American Women on the Front Lines of White Nationalism” in the September 6, 2020 of The New York Times received my attention. According to the article, 47% of white women voted for Trump in 2016 suggesting the influence of women. Further, it was the women of the Confederacy that organized to build the various monuments in the South. Could white women be the driving forces of white nationalist-Supremacist hatred? These white women supported the belief that the country should remain predominately white and governed by white people. This essay addresses the book review.

The author interviewed 3 women, born in 1979. Corina, from Oregon, worked as a porn star, bodybuilder and a professional embalmer. Ayla grew up in Las Vegas, was a stay-at-home mother of six. She became known online as the “Wife with the Purpose” who spewed hatred toward anyone whose life choices were different. She flirted with the feminist version of New Age culture that included pagan goddess worship and veganism. The third woman Lena, once a self-described grunge puppy from the Pacific Northwest now lives in Charleston, South Carolina where she and her Swedish husband run a popular website radio show that promotes apocalyptic racist propaganda.

The review highlighted that the following as important aspects of these 3 racist women: 1. The importance of repetition: the more you hear something repeated with conviction, the harder it is to believe that it is not true. 2. Contemporary America may be enough to incline a person towards conspiracies. 3.  Americans take for granted what Americans are lacking: universal healthcare, paid sick leave, parental leave, guaranteed vacations and other benefits. These are rights in the Scandinavian countries .In our country they are privileges to be granted or denied by an employer’s whims. The absence of these benefits or rights increases one’s anxiety, social instability, and a fleeting resentment that easily turns violent. An 18-year-old can buy an assault weapon but not a bottle of beer. 4. White nationalists however own houses, have average incomes, are employed and identify as middle-class 4. These three women were influenced by the lies ingested on right wing radio and websites. 5. These three women denied they hated black people, Jews or Latinos. If other groups can rally around their history, why not white people?

If I were interviewing these three women, I would’ve focused on their childhood history with parents. The character structure of their parents provides insight regarding their attitudes toward others different than them. Prejudice and hostile attitudes in children are learned and developed by kindergarten age. Later on their attitudes, as a result of experiences and interactions, become more crystallized and conform to the prejudice of parents. Learning is paramount for the developing prejudice. Parental verbalizations come from the direct and indirect teachings and reflect negative attitudes. In other words, children learn about hate, discrimination and prejudice through the statements made by parents. These parents often have little insight into their underlying feelings toward minority groups. They also teach discrimination by restricting social relationships and by approving or disapproving of friendships. Of course children also acquire prejudice when they identify with various adults and with their peer groups. We also know these prejudiced parents are highly authoritarian in their parenting practices and have a we or good versus them or bad conception of right and wrong mentality.

Knowing more about their childhood and their parents would provide a more detailed picture regarding their hatred beliefs. I also would’ve focused on self-esteem, interpersonal relationships, school achievement, the displacement of their anger in finding a scapegoat, and the relationship with their parents and siblings would also be examined as they are important factors that contribute to the development of prejudice.

Personality development and intellectual capacity also are clues into the development of prejudice. For instance, these three women listened to right-wing radio and frequented right-wing websites to gain information. Of course they were easily manipulated by listening to and reading information that was consonant with their beliefs that was presented over and over. Hearing the same lies over and over became their reality. Intellectually, they were rigid in approaching complex problems and did not seek out contrary information. They were looking for simple solutions and had difficulty challenging those ideas. They were unable to structure and use rational thought and wisdom in assessing the hate in which they heard and read. Their ignorance was reinforced.

 

We are not born with prejudice but quickly learn about it through our upbringing. We also don’t wake up in our 40s and then initially realize that we hate. Very early in life, because of our design, we express our aggression toward others that we love and others that we don’t love. Often when were not allowed to express our aggression, against our parents, we displace that anger or aggression towards another. Hate, prejudice, and anger are all major components. Find someone that hates and you’ll find aggression. Find someone that’s prejudiced and you’ll find aggression. Find someone that’s aggressive and look for the human targets. Moving toward somebody in a negative way as in hate, prejudice and aggression are apparent in our current state of affairs.

We must not forget that the first slaves were brought to our country over 400 years ago. We had a Civil War over the emancipation of blacks roughly 160 years ago and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln followed. With Johnson’s Great Society, the South went from Democrat to Republican. In the 1990s, the political process with Newt Gingrich became more toxic and stagnant. Historically, our country elected Barack Obama as president. The backlash happened and we now have the openly white racist in the White House. Moreover, the FBI has to deal with the overwhelming increase of domestic violence white militia hate and conspiracy groups. This is history.

There are many contributing societal factors and influences regarding racism. With the population changing from white to black and Brown, is threatening for some and increases the potential for more division in this country. We’re certainly not the United States of America but the polarized states of America when it comes to race. The separation is apparent and concrete in terms of social justice, law enforcement, economic and educational opportunity. Blacks are okay and can get ahead in the entertainment and sports milieu. We cheer for them but do not want them to move next door. Will property values go down? Athletically, blacks  become superstars as in Steph Curry, James Harden  and Lebron James in the NBA; Barry Bonds, Ricky Henderson, Dave Stewart, Marcus Semien in the MLB ; Russell Wilson  and Patrick Mahone in the NFL;  Denzel Washington ,  Morgan Freeman, Beyoncé and John legend in entertainment industry to name a few. Perhaps, Kamala Harris will become the next black superstar. That would bring a smile to John Lewis and Martin Luther King Jr. The experiment of the United States continues.

The Trouble with Evangelicals

 

Sigmund Freud provided insight into the origins of religion in “The Future of an Illusion.” In his book, he stated that religious precepts were man’s illusions as well as his wish fulfillments. Moses, according to the Old Testament, brought down the 10 Commandments after his interaction with God. These 10 commandments in Exodus and Deuteronomy depicted significant moral behaviors for man.  Unfortunately, these 10 commandments are rarely followed today. This essay addresses the moral behavior of the Evangelicals.

Some of the 10 Commandments include: 1. Thou shall not murder 2. Thou shall not commit adultery 3. Thou shall not steal 4. Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor 5. Thou shall not covet-neighbor’s house, neighbor’s wife, neighbor’s slaves, animals or anything else. If one broke any these commandments, it would be a sin and they would have to answer to God. When religion and/or the church failed to control moral behavior, society enacted their own rules, laws and punishments.

Thou shall not murder is a major moral principle. For example, our society has created the largest and most dominant military murder machine in history. We train our soldiers well. They’ve been called the best military killers in the world. They are referred to as heroes and we should be proud of them? Supposedly, they protect our democracy. How do they do that in Afghanistan? Don’t they just create more aggression, a revenge motive and make people angry with us?

 We also have well-trained police that also are efficient at murdering other human beings. Don’t they shoot unarmed blacks in the back?  Why don’t these expert marksmen shoot to wound instead?  Our military provides them with their discards for a more efficient killing. Individuals in our country have more guns than anyone else including assault rifles. We are a nation of killers. These facts say a lot about our “morality.” Unfortunately, under Donald’s inept and political watch, we have had over 212,000 individuals that have died and over 7 ½ million infected from the virus and rising. His Whitehouse is now a hot spot.

Abortion, was a no-no according to early Christian “Do not murder a child. Abortion is killing a newborn infant.” St. Augustine believed that abortion of the fetus with human limbs and shape was murder.  He couldn’t deny or affirm whether such partially formed fetuses would be resurrected as full people at the time of the second coming. Earlier, the Stoics believed the fetus was natures plan with the moment of birth was when it finally breathed air. Aristotle wrote “The line between lawful and unlawful abortion will be marked by the fact of having sensation and being alive.”

Were the Greeks more knowledgeable, practical and humanistic regarding abortion than the Catholic power structure? Perhaps, the motivation to label abortion as a sin and for punishment was more about maintaining a stern, and rigid father figure exhibiting control over a woman’s sexual behavior. If a woman chooses to abort, should she be sentenced for murder? Currently, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Evangelical Protestant and some mainline Protestant churches oppose abortion in varying degrees. Other mainline Protestant churches favor, in varying degrees, practice abortion. I choose not to explain the rationalizations.

There are many reasons for abortion. A mothers and child’s health and well-being are concerns. A mother’s body and her motivation to provide care and nurturance for child should outweigh any antiquated religious idea regarding sin and/or government rule or regulation. The irrationality of attempting to harm or kill a doctor performing an abortion suggests mental sickness by their perpetrators.  Who is moral? It’s clearly a woman’s choice to abort or not to abort and she should be provided with the best medical care available. We have more than enough inept parenting that has resulted in too many mentally ill antisocial personality disorders. Our statistics on drugs, alcohol, suicide and homicide bear that out. Moreover, Freud, Moses and Christ do not equate abortion with murder.

Thou shall not bear false witness is another principle that’s not adhered to very well except with young children. Parents frequently tell their children to tell the truth with their parenting. Sometimes lying can be innocuous as in stretching the truth like a wish fulfillment. It can also be more symptomatic of some mental disturbance. Persistent lying reflects more deep rooted problems and means a more severe disturbance in conscience development and/or the capacity for distinguishing reality from fantasy. Consistent lying results in an absence of trust and credibility of the liar. Today, how much credibility does Donald have?

Thou shall not steal is another moral commandment. Stealing can be a rather thoughtless giving into an impulse at the moment or going along with the persistent behavior. Stealing also serves as a symbolic substitute for a significant lack of love and attention. Further it’s a violation of moral and cultural standards and embarrassment. Stealing and getting caught also can serve as an unconscious way to call attention to oneself. It can be a cry for help or a self-punishment for real or imagined transgressions. Donald has a history of tax evasions, not paying workers properly, operating a fraudulent University and foundation are obvious as well as a likelihood of money laundering, loans and numerous other schemes of stealing and exploiting others.  Being bankruptcy six times is just another example of his lack of moral conduct.

Thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s wife is another 10 commandment example of morality. Donald has a history of being intimately involved with 26 other women while being single and being married. He has even paid off a number women to remain silent regarding his involvements.

Evangelicalism is the belief in the conversion of being “born again.” It’s a receiving of salvation, and the authority of the Bible .It’s God’s revelation to humanity in spreading the Christian message. Salvation is the deliverance from sin or saving the soul and its consequences that’s to be brought about by faith in Christ. It’s been said that unforgivable sins include murder, torture and abuse of any human being. Particularly the murder, torture and abuse of children and animals is sinful. Does the 14 million children in our country that are starving under Donald’s watch count? Beliefs are easier than behavior.

The Evangelicals believe that there is going to be a second coming for Christ. One of the things that Christ’s is supposed to accomplish is “cleansing the earth.” When that happens “the wicked will be destroyed. All things that are corrupt will be burned, and the earth will be cleansed by fire.” Jesus will also judge his people. “He will judge the nations and will divide the righteous from the wicked.” I liked the first Jesus better. This Jesus is too cruel.

Do Evangelicals practice what they preach? Is their behavior consistent with what they say? Clearly, Donald is not righteous. Righteous is defined as “a person or conduct that is morally right or justifiable.” Synonyms of righteous include worthy, decent, upstanding, good, law-abiding, Honorable, irreproachable, ethical, principled, moral, uncorrupted, and sinless to name a few. It’s clear how Jesus would judge Donald.

What about the Evangelicals?  By supporting Donald they are disrespecting Jesus and the 10 Commandments. Supporting Donald could be their most egregious sin. If so, how would Jesus evaluate or judge these Evangelicals who support Donald? Jesus has been described as caring about others especially the poor. He rode on a donkey, not on a horse. He even cared about his enemies. Jesus was moral as he didn’t lie, cheat, steal, chase women, or commit murder.

The hypocrisy of the Evangelicals is clear and obvious. Following Christ means behavior should be consonant with his moral teachings. Supporting Trump is not consonant with Christ’s teachings.

On the other hand, one could argue that the 10 Commandments are illusions and not applicable to current man? Are the 10 Commandments too impossible and impractical to maintain in our capitalistic society? Do we need or require additional realistic moral principles in how man treats man? So far, man has exhibited too much narcissistic, sadistic aggression, murder and prejudice toward fellow man. Religion has failed to tame man’s needs and drives.

PS

Freud, Moses Christ did not have histories of lying, stealing, murdering and coveting other women. Under no conditions, would they support this amoral narcissist. I’m with them.

The GOP Has Died

 

The Republican Party has been around since 1864. At that time, the party supported classical liberalism, opposed the expansion of slavery and supported economic reform. The 21^st century Republican Party supposedly has an ideology that’s based on American conservatism which incorporates both economic policies and social values. It’ s been stated that the GOP supports lower taxes, free market capitalism, restrictions on immigration, increased military spending, gun rights, restrictions on abortion, the regulation and restrictions on labor unions. What about their social values for WASP power, slavery, hate and racism? This essay takes a look at the so-called conservative behavior and policies of this group.

As an adjective, conservative is defined as “holding to traditional attitudes and values, cautious about change renovation, typically in relation to politics or religion.” Right away, I asked the question “When did their traditional attitudes and values begin?” Did they begin in 1864 with the start of the Republican Party; did they begin in 1619, with the start of slavery, in  1776,  or should we go back to the 10 Commandments of Moses or the birth of Christ for moral and religious value beginnings? Are slavery and prejudice traditional social values?

It’s important to consider neoliberalism policies and the presidency of Richard Nixon and his vice president Spiro Agnew. Both corrupt politicians left office in disgrace.  Neoliberalism perpetuates free market capitalism, corporate control, privatization, and curtailing the power for a diminished federal government.  President Nixon created a war on drugs which was actually a war on blacks. Blacks could be easily incarcerated and discriminated against compared to whites under the umbrella of drugs and the racist laws. They could be and were placed in the privatization prisons by the racist criminal justice system.

Ronald Reagan, their next elected President, supposedly was for anti-apartheid. However Desmond Tutu, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, said on Capitol Hill “in my view, the Reagan administration’s support and collaboration with its equally immoral, evil and totally unchristian…. You are either for or against apartheid and not by rhetoric. You are either in favor of evil or in favor of good. You are either in the side of the oppressed or on the side of the oppressor. You can’t be neutral.”

Reagan supported anti-Communist regimes in Latin America but was criticized for his support of the Contras in Nicaragua. The rebels had poor human rights record. Reagan’s support for the governments of Guatemala and El Salvador were also controversial due to the oppressive nature of those governments. It was later determined there was a genocide in Guatemala.

Two members of Reagan’s administration, national security advisor John Poindexter and Col. Oliver North worked through CIA and military channels to sell arms to the Iranian government and give profits to the Contra guerrillas in Nicaragua. Both actions were contrary to Congress. Reagan professed ignorance but admitted that he had supported  initial sale of arms to Iran  on the grounds of that sales were supposed to help secure the release of Americans being held hostage by the Iranian backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Tower Commission found the president guilty in the scandal. 10 officials in the administration were convicted and others were forced to resign. Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger was indicted for perjury. Historians ranked the Iran-Contra affair as the ninth worst mistake by a US Pres.

William Rehnquist was named to the Supreme Court in 1972. It has been said that he revived the principle that the Constitution limits federal government power. He wrote a majority opinion that invalidated a federal law extending minimum wage. He also voted against the expansion of school desegregation plans and the establishment of legalized abortions dissenting in Roe versus Wade.  He joined the majority in denying a private right to sue for discrimination based on race or national origin.

Presidents Bush placed us in a war in the Middle East. We formerly armed Saddam against Iran and then we attacked him. We are still at war in the Middle East. Moreover, the younger Bush, with the Republican court became president. He was responsible for terrorists supported uprisings backed by Iran when he overthrew Saddam. He was at the helm during the greatest economic collapse in our history at the time. He also created the department of Homeland Security there by increasing the size of the federal government.

Currently, the GOP was supposed to be champions of tax cuts. Well, that’s true if you’re in the top 1%. The GOP was supposed to be for reduced government and limited spending. However, we now have an additional federal department called Homeland Security. These GOP tax and trade war policies have created the largest government deficit in our history.

The GOP is positioned to eliminate the Affordable Care Act which will affect thousands and give the privatized insurance companies control to eliminate pre-existing health issues. The GOP is positioned to eliminate Roe versus Wade which will affect the choice of so many women. Save the fetus so that later you can deny mother and child healthcare; eliminate food stamps; and keep mother and child poor. Traditionally, St. Augustine had his views regarding abortion. It can be said that the abortion view was made by ignorant, using today’s standards of knowledge, by sexually repressed male church leaders’ centuries ago. Then, it was more about keeping the male’s property under his control. It was not about the welfare of the fetus either. A conservative position should be at the center of this Roe versus Wade decision? It’s about traditional male power.

Labor unions are under attack and their viability is at issue. There were 14.6 million union members in 2019. 1983 there were 17.7 million. Over half of all unit members in United States live in just seven states-California , New York, Illinois , Pennsylvania , New Jersey, Ohio and Washington. The Global perspective for 2016 placed the US in the fifth lowest trade union density of 36 OECD member unions.

Immigration has been a travesty. Even though research suggests that immigration is beneficial to both to the receiving and sending countries; and importantly reducing barriers to labor mobility between developing countries. Research suggests that favorable immigration policies would be one of the most efficient tools of poverty reduction. But there is discrimination against foreign-born and minority populations in criminal justice, business, economy, housing, healthcare, media and politics in the United States and Europe. We have cages to separate parents from their children.

Yes, we have the biggest military in the world and we have more guns per capita than any other country. However, this doesn’t make us safer. This fact illustrates how fearful we are. When there is propaganda or lies about the government taking away guns, we have an increase in the sale of ammunition. We have political rallies and people have their guns. Some are concealed. We have peaceful protest and others bring their guns. We have more hate groups than ever before and a president that is consumed with hate.

I see nothing conservative about the WASP party. They certainly don’t espouse 10 commandment values or a democracy of voting values.   As Donald said “we want to have …get rid of the ballots and you’ll have a very trans-will have a very peaceful- there won’t be a transfer, frankly there be a continuation. The ballots are out-of-control. You know it.”  This party favors the 1% of white wealthy people and Wall Street. This party moves against, discriminates and exploits people of color and the rest in every way possible-socially, economically, politically and legally. With their exploiting the earth and their denial of climate change places all of us at risk. The white GOP is about wealth and power. They don’t represent the majority of people living United States and make sure to suppress voting to keep the power. The GOP is no longer the Grand Old Party. The Republican Party has become a terrorist organization “person who uses unlawful violence and intimidation, especially against citizens in the pursuit of political aims.”    Further, a main reason for a government is that it is supposed to protect the population. With Covid-19, this white Republican government has placed us all at risk and doesn’t care how many die in the process. Bring back Abe and Ike.

Donald's Followers

 

Recently, Paul was driving in Nevada. He commented that he saw a number of trucks with guns and with designed Trump flags on their way to a rally. He also saw a Trump-Rambo type flag with Sylvester Stallone muscles and guns with a Trump head. This essay addresses the psychological characteristics of these followers.

After four years, we have a good idea of what the money driven TV star Trump projects and/or represents. 1. He’s a racist as evident by his “building the wall” to keep out the brown  murderers and rapists; he displays no empathy for the police killings of the black skinned people; he’s commented about shit- hold African countries; he’s called the  white supremacists” good people” 2. He’s sadistically hateful toward others as evidenced by putting asylum-seekers in cages while separating over 1000 of  their children; recent reports of women receiving unauthorized hysterectomies in the Georgia facility; and Mike Pence staffer reported him saying he’s glad  of the Coved -19 epidemic so he doesn’t  have to shake hands ; he’s called servicemen losers and suckers 3. He’s a pathological liar as evidenced by his 2000 lies, daily tweets and his so-called press conferences; his acknowledgment of the dangers of Covid- 19 while telling the country otherwise; his countering Dr. Redfield’s message regarding a vaccine and mask wearing 4. His cheating and exploitation of others with his phony foundation and college; his numerous lawsuits regarding not paying employees fairly 5. His antisocial personality tendencies of persistent lying. Using Russian interference for the 2016 and currently in the 2020 election. He doesn’t function as a responsible president that accepts social norms with respect to lawful behavior 6. Irritability and aggressiveness, disregard for the truth and putting down others.

 Bill Gates, with his assessment, stated that the Covid -19 pandemic was mismanaged. A recent Pew research poll ranked leaders like Merkel, Macron, Johnson, Putin and Xi for their handling of Covid -19. These presidents received the highest marks. Donald was dead last and received the highest negative for his handling of Covid 19. The ineptness of Trump is obvious to all.  Donald is not the right person for the job of president. Yet, he has number of sycophants. Let’s employ research findings to illustrate the makeup of these young people.  

How many young people, in their right mind, take a gun to a rally, sit close to one another, not wear a mask and say lock her up? As a contrast, we witnessed many young individuals protesting, a First Amendment right, in the streets and wearing face coverings as well. How can we account for the behavioral differences in aggression and taking responsibility for the two groups? Certainly these Rambo type young did not become this aggressive and violent all at once. Let’s go back to parenting styles and adolescent acting out behaviors. We know that aggression depends primarily on social experiences, including reinforcement received for such behavior, observation and imitation of aggressive models, and the degree of anxiety or guilt associated with aggressive expression. The displacement of aggression on a scapegoat is another example. Frustration often produces increased aggression.  Individuals differ widely in their ability to tolerate frustration and the intensity of the reactions. Aggressiveness is fairly consistent especially with boys.  If they are highly aggressive in preschool we can expect the same in childhood, adolescence and adulthood.

Peers are also frequent sources of reinforcement for aggressive behavior too. Not surprisingly, parental use of physical punishment for aggressive behavior may actually enhance rather than inhibit aggression because the parent serves as a model for aggression.

The following section sites research findings on parenting styles, prejudice, and juvenile delinquency. Findings by the Fells Research Institute found the children growing up in authoritarian homes tend to be punished for manifesting curiosity, spontaneity or self-assertion; they’re rewarded for obedience to parents, conformity with parental standards, and support for compliance and conformity. Therefore these traits become strong habits and are generalized to the social world outside the home. These children were the most immature, highly dependent, with less self-control and less self-reliance. There were withdrawn and tended to retreat from novel or stressful experiences. In their households, the parents were lax both in disciplining and rewarding the child. They exhibited relatively few and only weak demands for mature behavior and paid little attention to training for independence and self-reliance.  These authoritarian parents did not practice what they preach. They were more concerned with their own ideas and standards and not with the child’s interest and welfare.

 Permissive parents do not demand much of their children as far as rewarding for self-reliance, and responsible behavior. The do not discourage immature behavior, and are lacking in responsible achievement orientation. With a lack of control, the child is at loss with the knowledge and experience and unable to act in independent and self-reliance ways.

The hostile authoritarian parent with low permissiveness and excessive punishment leads to self-punishment, suicidal tendencies and accident proneness for the child. These children also have social withdrawal difficulties with the peer group, little confidence and motivation toward adult role taking responsibility. Parents that were rejecting and neglectful are likely to have their children engage in aggressive acting out behavior. Lack of parental warmth engenders hostile feelings while lax arbitrary inconsistent use of controls encourages the expression of those feelings. It appears that a consistent erratic discipline may be as harmful as too little or too much discipline.  Inconsistency may stem from parental hostility or indifference, from parental uncertainty, lack of confidence or from simple mood swings. Parenting styles and inconsistent parental discipline often leads to and contributes to maladjustment, conflict and/or aggression in the child.

We are not born with prejudice. Prejudice is learned in the family by the direct and indirect teachings of adults; the prejudices of the various identifications; and with the adults who tend to be rigid, authoritarian, highly conforming and overly moralistic. Yes the adults are prejudiced, hateful and discriminatory. Prejudice is related to personality structure. Research findings by Else Frenkel- Brunswik, Theodor W. Adorno and others found that these prejudiced have a selfish orientation toward America and are indifferent toward other countries. They agreed with generally intolerant statements such as “only people who are like myself have the right to be happy.” Other generalized attitudes of the prejudiced include rejection of all that is weaker, different; together with admiration of the strong, tough and powerful. They despise weakness in themselves, are rigidly conforming, condemn others, and exhibit feelings of helplessness in the world thought to be full of chaos and destruction. This suggests a narrow and rigid personality.

These prejudiced children complained of a lack of affection, and submission to stern harsh punishment treatment at home. Prejudice individuals have significantly poor self-concepts and less satisfaction with their mental abilities; impaired social relations with members the same sex; greater dissatisfaction with parents and teachers, and over concerned with their own personality and school subjects. Prejudice children favor their own immediate group over any larger societal group.  They do not trust and are suspicious of the integrity of others. They are distressed and lack confidence in self with feelings of guilt and uneasiness.

Research findings by John C. Conger and others found the following related to delinquent boys:  1.In kindergarten years they were more poorly adjusted, did not relate well to peers and were inconsiderate and not fair in dealing with others, less friendly, less responsible, more impulsive, and more antagonistic to authority. They were also less liked and accepted by their peers 2. By the fourth to the six grade, they were viewed as underachievers, showed poor work habits, demonstrated less leadership ability, with a narrow range of general interests, became more and more attention seeking 3. By the end of ninth grade, the boys displayed significantly less respect and consideration for the rights of others, they were less cooperative in observing school rules and regulations, and failed in meeting their responsibilities as members of the social group 4. The boys were less friendly and less pleasant. They were less likely accepted by their peers 5. These individuals were also defiant, resentful, hostile, and destructive with a low self-concept and feelings of inadequacy. They had a need for self-expression and they didn’t value others. 6. They were less well-adjusted and were lacking in self-confidence and/or respect. They were not cheerful or happy. They were incapable of establishing close personal relationships with peers or adults.

 Intellectually, their work habits demonstrated carelessness in their school work. They required much more supervision from teachers. They appeared more distractible and had less capacity for sustained attention, they daydreamed more, the tended to give up easily, they were less well-adjusted, and generally lacking in self-confidence or respect.

In essence, parents significantly contribute to the personality development of their offspring. Parenting styles and reinforcement inconsistencies have negative effects on their children. Donald’s messages correlate with his alienated, hateful, prejudiced and discriminatory crowd. Make America Great is the slogan for keeping America white. Rhetoric around Black Lives Matter, protesters, people with black and brown skin, asylum-seekers, etc. mean the white group is good and the other group is bad and evil. This populist message is detrimental to our country domestically and internationally.

Donald’s group are intolerant and condemn others calling them murderers, rapists, socialists, unpatriotic etc. That same message is repeated in so many different ways. In fact it’s okay for over 202,000 people to die from Covid-19 because that group is mostly black and brown. They don’t count. They are weak and deserve to die.

Intellectually, this group does not function well cognitively. Their lack of curiosity affects their interest in learning about others and the world. They don’t apply analysis, reason or rational thought well and are limited in their understanding of symbols or words. For example, Paul had a conversation and this individual told him that Biden was a pedophile because he touched a woman’s hair. My friend told him the derivation of pedophile and meaning of the word. The other person didn’t respond. On another occasion, my friend had a discussion and this person told him that Bernie was a socialist. Paul explained to him a little about the everyday socialism that takes place in our economy. Once again, no coherent response.  While running, I saw flag that said “Trump 2020, No More Bull Shit.” I haven’t had a conversation with that neighbor yet.

Psychologically, these insecure, hateful, prejudicial and biased white people are compromised and identify with the Trump father figure image. They buy into the propaganda of him being wealthy, withholding tax returns and being TV popular. They have low self-esteem; do not trust so “fake news” fits; are suspicious and have impaired meaningful interpersonal relationships. Being part of a sadistic and hateful fringe group, that carries guns and expresses hate fits their sadomasochistic character. They put themselves and others at risk by not wearing a mask which is sadistic and self-defeating. These insecure individuals long for power and strength and blindly follow their master.

An Existential Threat

 

 

The Bob Woodward book revealed more concrete evidence about the inauthentic character of Trump. It depicted audio recordings of Mr. Woodward’s questions and the answers provided by Trump. For example, it was apparent that in early February, Trump knew about the pandemic and lied about its danger to our country. Trump admitted downplaying the virus. He stated that he did not want to panic the citizens. There have been numerous Republicans stating that they are no longer supporting Trump but are supporting Biden. This essay addresses the existential threat posed by Trump and his supporters.

Briefly, existentialism is based on humanistic studies, philosophy, psychology and psychiatry. Some of their ideas include that man is driven by  irrational forces; man is too easily manipulated by propaganda and mass media;  man conforms too easily; man has to confront  the brevity of human life [I recently and unexpectedly lost a 52-year-old cousin]; man , because of the contradictions in society, has to deal with ontological anxiety and guilt; man has the potential to become authentic but far too many men are  inauthentic; man can’t be comforted by religious, political, scientific or other illusions; and  man’s choices and decisions determine his character and quality of life .

Recently, there have been a number of books written about Donald and one about his wife. Rick Wilson “Running Against the Devil”, Mary Trump’s “Too Much-Never Enough”; John Bolton’s “The Room Where It Happened”; Stephanie Winston Wolkoff “Melania and Me;” Michael Cohen’s “Disloyal;” and Bob Woodward’s “Rage,”  are examples. These five books have painted a picture about the character who lies, cheats, manipulates and exploits in the service of himself with little care and concern about the country and others. Further, there have been additional responses about Trump being an idiot, unfit and a danger to our country by Tillerson, Matus, Coats, whistleblowers and others.

His impeachment trial and the Mueller report addressed Russian interference in the 2016 election and Trump’s attempt to coerce or blackmail the Ukrainian leader to create false information on the Biden’s. Donald’s flagrant non -cooperation with Congress; not allowing his administration to respond to subpoenas; his firing of so-called  the disloyalty’s or whistleblowers; and his misuse of the Atty. Gen.’s office not to hold him accountable for his illegal actions . According to Barr, he cannot be indicted. are a few examples of this lying, corruptive, authoritarian. His character is based on lying, cruel decisions and authoritarianism which result in his inauthenticity.

In 1932 with the great depression, over 40% voted and supported Calvin Coolidge. Today, current polls place Trumps approval rating in the low 40% range. We have the worst pandemic of the century; close to 200,000 dead from the virus; high unemployment numbers; too many people not being able to pay their rent; schools being taught online; and not being able to attend, in person, sporting events. In fact, Donald has support from conspiracy and hate groups. That fact is despicable and speaks volumes about his sycophant followers. Why does he have, In spite of all the negatives, so much continued support? It’s about the character of the followers.

It’s clear that some, do not know about all his negatives either because of ignorance or stupidity, lack of information, belief in illusions, denial, rationalization, cognitive dissonance [avoiding negative or unflattering information regarding Trump] or relying on social media and/or listening to Fox news. Just recently, I heard numerous individuals from Fox news supporting the lie, going along and just focusing on “I don’t want the country to panic so I’m downplaying the virus threat.” No one suggested for him to be a cheerleader. No one told him to jump up and down. If he acted like a coach, he could’ve come up with the strategy to handle the threat. He didn’t and said “It is what it is.” He made it worse with the greatest lie in our history.

We know that a number of his people know the truth and yet still support his behavior and chaos. Yes, people like to be around power and do not want to lose it. Other previous supporters like Kelly, Coats, Bolton and others stated they disliked him but stayed on the job because they thought they could help the country through his ineptness. I’d call that rationalization and intellectualization. Some said they put up with him as long as they could and then left. I I’ll call that denial. Who didn’t know about his character?

Why it is that others still follow this Pied Piper? We know that man is biological and psychological with need structures. We could argue that man’s biological needs are not the prime motivators to support Trump. Psychologically, is likely where the answer lies regarding supporting this man. The total experience of one’s mentality, emotions,  intelligence, awareness, perception, senses, intuition, memories, fantasies, anticipation’s and orientations toward others influence man’s behavior and choices in the world.

Man clearly benefits when he’s fully able to use all his cognitive capacities. Don’t let irrationality, emotions and defense mechanisms get in the way. Man has to navigate his environment by exercising his cognitive capacities along with taking responsibility for behavioral actions. He has to incorporate his past, present and his future. In other words, man has choices and decisions to make throughout his lifecycle. He has to be able to symbolize and classify countless amounts of information. Words are symbols. When more categories exist in one’s cognitive mass, the greater will be the meaningfulness of experiences. Greater amounts of objective information will in turn create a greater and more active amount of imagination. Man has to employ judgment. Judgment means evaluating experiences in a manner that leads to either considering good or bad as in moral judgment or pleasant or unpleasant as an preferential judgment. Man is a symbolizing, imagining and judging oriented. These cognitions allow man to feel more satisfied and hopefully to avoid some frustration.

Life is full of challenges which makes choosing difficult. One can be afraid of making a choice because of the fear and anxiety emotions. The choice or one alternative might be anxiety producing because it’s related to the future which is an unknown as well as an unpredictability. Another alternative, in a series of choices, might be related to the past, the status quo or the familiar. Making that choice might result in the guilt of a missed opportunity. Another problem can occur when one makes a choice in order to meet important goals but there’s no guarantee that the favored outcomes will occur. Obviously a Monday morning quarterback, can make better decisions. Just think about the future decisions based on predictions of what might, or what might not occur. More often than not, one doesn’t have any control over the variables. Just think how often we are wrong when it comes to making a prediction. We want as much control as possible. So it’s certainly understandable why we attempt to reduce anxiety by making a prediction. Many times individuals, because of fear, avoid making a decision by playing it safe. This avoidance actually winds up as making a decision anyway.

Conformity is a trap that can result in lying to self which is not taking responsibility for one’s decisions and actions. Lying to others can simply be a dependence upon the wishes and belief of others.  Both instances result in negatives to self. Going along with the crowd means not paying attention to oneself or one’s needs but simply being part of a consensus.  Being part of the group or being part of the consensus often does not necessarily mean the truth.  Conformity suggests employing many social roles and results in having thoughts that are limited, gross and stereotyped. The conformist is irrational, does not tend to question and buys into the propaganda falsehoods.

Sometimes decisions are made over and over without thinking about consequences. In fact one might not even be aware of all the consequences of the decision or decisions. Hopefully, man can utilize all his cognitive skills in making important decisions. We know there vast amounts of incompleteness of information when it comes to decision making. It’s important to realize the value accompanying the decision and importantly the courage to disagree with the crowd. Don’t forget that some decisions are based on actual necessities and not all decisions are based on possibilities. It’s also important not to lie to oneself regarding ones decision making. For four years, everyone has seen Trump in action. There should be no surprise or doubt about what the next four years would bring if reelected.

A view questions to consider: 1. Is Trump moral? 2. Is Trump ethical? 3. Does Trump lie and cheat? 4. Does Trump break the law? 5 Is Trump above the law? 6. Does Trump make decisions based to totally benefit to him? 7. Does Trump seem okay with a number of deaths from the pandemic 8. Does Trump want Russia to assist him in the election 9? Does Trump withhold information from his taxes? 10. Does Trump act like an authoritarian? 11. Do Trump’s tax cut benefit the top 1%? 12. Are Trumps border policies, cruel and sadistic? 13. Did Mexico pay for the wall? 14. Are Trump’s trade wars detrimental to the United States? 15. Is Trump doing everything he can to sabotage a democratic based election?

It would seem to me that answers to the questions above say a lot about the respondent. If one uses all his cognitive abilities effectively, has a well-functioning conscience based on moral and ethical values, that suggests a very human quality based on welfare of self and others. However, those that support him based on prejudice, incomplete, limited or erroneous information are certainly not employing their ability to symbolize, to employ imagination and to use proper judgment. Their emotional overlay, as to overcome fear, inadequacy and seeking power, also interferes with their rational judgment. Those that are members of racist and conspiracy groups have their negative hateful and sadistic emotions interfering with their cognitive processes especially when it comes to moral and ethical judgment. Those that are part of the Republican consensus or illusion, going along with the crowd and buying into the propaganda also are not fully employing their cognitive processes. Those that joined him because they believed they could either change him or thought they could still save the country were employing defense mechanisms and not their full cognitive processes. In essence, the plan to vote for this inauthentic man by the inauthentic crowd, would be a terrible decision and choice. This group poses an existential threat to our country.