Thursday, July 13, 2023

The Supreme Court

 


 Recent  Republican Supreme Court decisions  based on  authoritarian values and ethics prompted this essay.  These decisions pertained to abortion ( referencing  past centuries of primitive rulings when women were property)  ; affirmative action; student debt; immigration; environmental; gun safety; separation of church and state and LGBTQ ( erroneously confabulating and misinterpreting  Ist amendment speech with hate, discrimination and bigotry) . During their Senate confirmation hearings, they lied, misled and suggested that they believed in precedent.  However, their decisions are based on  an authoritarian conscience and likened to the founding of our Republic.


Historian Richard Morris in 1973 suggested that the key founders  of the Republic included Hamilton, Madison ,Adams, Franklin, Jay . Jefferson and Washington.  These seven represent the 39 signers of the Declaration of Independence.  Rhode Island declined and three other members refused to sign that historic document.


These seven were white males with Anglo-Saxon origins and well indoctrinated in the theology of Protestantism.  It was suggested that Hamilton's mother was Jewish and if so, Alexander would be Jewish.  However, that is only speculation and not fact.  These seven were well educated either by attending college , law school or being provided with tutorials. 


These men were knowledgeable of the old and new testament.  They knew, at some level, that  God was an authoritarian.  They knew that Hebrew slaves were disobedient,  rebelled against Ramses, submitted to  the authoritarian Moses and with God's assistance wandered in the desert for 40 years. And, that  the Hebrews established ethical values and norms based on humanism. Despite being well-versed in religion, that did not stop many from being slave owners or having sexual relations with their property.  Incidentally,  white women were also property and Native Americans were considered heathens. 


They were  well-versed in Greek and Roman  authoritarianism and the age of Enlightenment that included John Locke and other English and French philosophers.  They were  well-versed in the British monarchy under the authoritarian king George. They were disobedient and  fled British authoritarianism, and created their own. For example, the Declaration of Independence was based on authoritarian values and ethics.  The hypocrisy that all men are created equal; have rights because of their Creator;  the establishment of an electoral college; power of congressional representatives being able to count a black as 3/5 of a person is not based on humanism but on authoritarian autocracy.  A Republic was formed because they did not trust the common man.  They were fearful that commoners would take away and limit  their authority, power, control and exploitation.  Thus, power was reserved for a minority.  In other words, the Boston tea party, give me liberty or give me death are essentially rationalized expressions of the irrational and and often unconscious desires and fears.  Authoritarian ethics believes that a minority knows what's good and best for the others , and establishes norms of conduct to faithfully be followed .


Authoritarian ethics and values are  dictatorial and dictated by an irrational conscience . The behavior results in power  and control over individuals.  The power and control could be realistic in terms of anxiety and helplessness generated by individuals submitting to that authority. Further, irrational authority is based upon inequality.  The commoner is not considered to know what's good or bad for him. But the authority always knows what's best .  Furthermore, the acts of the authority must not and cannot be questioned.


Irrational authority in authoritarianism begins very early for the child.  The child has a limited cognitive capacity ; the beginnings  of conscience  development with the superego and its ego ideal accompanied by ;internalization, introjection, projection  and identification.  Initially, a young child’s positive or negative behaviors  are based upon the rule or voice  by  internalization of an external authority . The authority  sanctions or prohibits  behavior  based either upon fear of receiving a verbal or physical punishment  for  disobedience ( goes into his conscience) or hope of receiving praise, love, acceptance for obeying ( gots into his ego ideal).  In other words behavior is based upon the expectation and occurrence of receiving a reward or punishment for obedience or disobedience. Later in life , displaying disobedient or unfavorable behavior  toward the authoritarian is avoided based upon fear , disapproval and not guilt. This means that  behavior is sanctioned according to an external authority's value judgments and not because of a humanistic developed conscience . A humanistic  developed conscience guides behavior by guilt based  on the internalization  of society's traditional   moral ethics of  rights and wrongs.  In essence, Individuals  with an authoritarian developed conscience are acting according to an external authority's values  even if the acts are revolting, disgusting ,amoral and against societal norms and decency. Having an abortion, even if the woman is raped, and calling it a sin is not about life.  It's about power ,control ,exploitation, discrimination, dominance and hate. Abortion has nothing to do with God, but man.


The relationship to the internalized authority begins with a live individual. That  image of the identification figure forms in the conscience. That   powerful father figure authority image  is supreme  and omnipotent .It’s the ego ideal which is an abstraction of the omnipotent and magical qualities of  the  father's authority . In the superego , is the creation of  other  authority figures or  idols  to follow, obey and worship . The continuation or repetition of identifying with idols'' occurs repeatedly and becomes apparent . Homo sapiens must have an object  or objects to admire while seeking effectance , excellence,  achievement and perfection . 


Freud referred to the ego ideal as another aspect of the  dynamic between the ego and superego .  It's an ideal , a fantasy or illusion . Therefore, it’s irrational ,false  and  differs from  the real  objective qualities  of that  figure.  With the creation of an authoritarian model or idol , that  ego ideal figure is the hero to worship and  becomes  the arbiter for establishing  what is right , truth and reality or  what is  wrong , lies  and sinful  .That  standard becomes  an unshakable conviction , immune to criticism  and irrespective of empirical evidence . For the follower,  the lies  become truth  and not relevant to  fact or reason . In the ego ideal of these authoritarian   supreme court justices, the golden rule,  love thy enemy or love thy neighbor  are not to be  found.  Why should they possess lifetime appointments ?


The Fels Research Institute studied  family atmospheres and parent-child interactions.  Differentiating democratic from  authoritarian homes , they found that children  rated high in authoritarian controlled homes were  well behaved, nonresistant ,and interacted non aggressively. But  these children exhibited restricted curiosity, originality and forcefulness that interfered with their freedom of expression. It was suggested the children in authoritarian environments were likely punished and disapproved when the children exhibited curiosity, spontaneity , self-expression and  were rewarded for obedience to parents conformity and standards . It was also noted that these parents  didn't practice what they preached  and were more concerned with her own ideas and standards and not with the child's interest and welfare.  Implications for  responses of compliance and conformity in children  become strong habits and generalized to the  world at large.  As a result, children, in their numerous interpersonal experiences, are exposed to authoritarian religious characters, authoritarian  teachers, authoritarian coaches, authoritarian bosses , authoritarian police departments and authoritarianism in the  military.  The ultimate authoritarian with power control and dominance are judges.


The Supreme Court has male, female and black justices.  The founding 7 fathers hadn't conceived of that occurrence . The authoritarian justices believe that the constitutional origins are sacred, divinely inspired by God, is perfect and must not be changed. Realistically, the 7 did not have current knowledge pertaining to the  physical and social sciences, technology, advances in health ,  climate change , weapons of murder, women's health, income differences , capitalistic discrimination, lobbyists etc.  Yet, these "Republicans" believe what was printed, traditional and ethical for the 18th century is right and best for a  current multicolored  nation . 


In essence, obedience, self-denial, and irrationality  are not the main virtues for humanity. Disobedience is not a sin , as human history values freedom.  Man's happiness is rooted in his relatedness, solidarity to fellow man, not in division, racism, fear, bigotry and hate. Also, man's ethical systems and social institutions are not fixed and unchangeable. Although man's character exhibits   contradictions : rational - irrational, moral- amoral , pleasure- pain ,security-insecurity , destructive - creative , must we have toxic Supreme Court authoritarians with life appointments  accountable  only to themselves ? . 


Reference


Freud, Sigmund Civilization and its Discontents

Fromm, Erich.  Man For Himself  an inquiry into the psychology of ethics.


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