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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