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.

An Enemy Of The People

 

 

It has been written and I quote that Carl Jung has one of the most far-reaching and penetrating minds and one of the greatest thinkers in modern psychology. For example, Jung has researched ancient myths and modern fairytales in both primitive life and in modern civilization; in the religions of Eastern and Western world’s; in alchemy, astrology, mental telepathy and clairvoyance; in the dreams and visions of normal people; in anthropology, history, literature, and the arts and in clinical and experimental research. This essay will incorporate some of Jung’s personality concepts to Trump.

To begin, Jung postulates that all humans have a Collective Unconscious which is an idealized image. This concept suggests that we inherit, in addition to our biological instincts, an inheritance of ancestral experiences. These experiences are similar to the experiences of our ancestors and are inherited in the form of archetypes. The archetype is a racial memory that has become part of man’s heredity by being frequently universally repeated over many generations. In other words, it’s  a storehouse of latent memory traces inherited from man’s ancestral past,  includes not only the racial history of man as a separate species but his pre-human or animal ancestry as well.

According to Jung, the Collective Unconscious “the all controlling deposit of ancestral experiences from untold millions of years, the echo of prehistoric world events to which each century ads an intestinally small amount of variation and differentiation.” This racial past provides “a living system of reactions and aptitudes determining the individual life in indivisible ways.” Within the collective unconscious, in essence, these historical events transcend the experience of the individual. The do not appear frequently in normal thinking, even thinking of dreams since they are in a way antithetical to the development of ego consciousness. Notably, we acquire knowledge, and wish fulfillments which are built into man’s brain, in part, by the experiences of race.

The archetype is not necessary isolated within the collective unconscious. Thus, the archetype for hero is the archetype of a wise old man that may blend together to produce a conception of the philosopher king which is a person who is to be revered  because he is both a hero leader and wise seer. However there can be a fusion of the demon and hero archetypes. When this fusion happens, we wind up with a satanic or demon leader.  Archetypes in the collective unconscious that have been identified include power. This archetype contains a large amount of emotion; predispositions, perceptions; being fascinated by power and the desire to create and control power.  I’m going to add the complexes of possession and prestige along with power. This results in the development of a personality that is motivated with the tendency to dominate or control, to humiliate and to deprive others without concern for the welfare of others. This essentially means the desire of loosening contact with others while fortifying one’s own position.

The striving for obtaining power, prestige and possession is to channel repressed hostility which can then be discharged. It also serves as protection against the danger of feeling or being regarded as insignificant. Thus, there is a development of a rigid and an irrational ideal of strength which makes the person believe he should be able to master any situation no matter how difficult or complex. It’s simply the desire to have control over others as well as over self. This complex or lust is essentially based on an image or predisposition to act based on racial memories, personal and historical experiences. This complex becomes an aspiration, an ideal as a motivating force for thoughts, feelings, sensing and behavior.

With that being said, let’s take a look, in our history, at some of the racial memories of despots that had complexes of power, possession and prestige and potentially a part of Trump’s racial history.  The ruler’s word was law and they conquered and exploited others. 1. We had the Pharaoh, the most important and most powerful person in the Kingdom. He was the head of the government and the high priest of every temple. The Israelite slaves built the pyramids 2. Alexander the Great invaded and conquered so much of the known world and took with him slaves in the process. Alexander is ranked as among the most influential people in history. 3. There was Attila the Hun the leader of tribal empires consisting of Huns, Ostrogoths and Alans among others in Central and Eastern Europe. 4. We had the Caesars. Julius was a Roman general and statesmen and is credited with the rise of the Roman Empire. He stated “if you must break the law, do it to seize power; in all other cases observe it.” 5.  The House of Medici, the Italian banking family and political dynasty. These family members even became religious leaders per Pope Leo X and Pope Clement V11. 6.  Ivan the Terrible was the first Tasar of Russia. 7. Don’t forget Henry the V111. He was known for his six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage annulled.8. Napoleon Bonaparte conquered much of Europe in the 19th century and rose rapidly through the ranks of the military during the French Revolution. 9. Hitler, Mussolini and Franco were authoritarians in the 20^th century. Would Trump call the Nazi soldiers suckers and Hitler a loser or is it just our American soldiers? Currently, at the conscious level, we have Trump admiring the authoritarian Putin, his power, control, and perhaps the richest man in the world.

Let’s turn to Trump’s racial history and man’s exploitation of man in our country. Our country was founded on racism. Black skinned people were not counted as whole people. They were slaves and property of the wealthy. The entire populace was not entitled to vote for Senators or for the president. The white wealthy were fearful that the commoners would take the power. Slavery was important for the economic development in the Confederate states. With the 13^th amendment, the slaves were free providing they didn’t commit a crime. If they committed a crime, they were slaves again. In fact they were slave patrols that searched for slaves to incarcerate and criminalize. In the north, police were formed to deal with immigrants, workers demanding rights and to control blacks. Blacks were characterized as amoral, violent, uncivilized, asocial, non- intelligent and not worthy human beings but subhuman beings.

Slave patrols and police were in charge to keep the peace and deploy any tactics without consequences for their actions. While this was going on, women were not allowed to vote until the 19^th amendment. Democracy defined as a form of government in which the people have the authority to choose their governing legislation has been under attack by the white ruling party. There has been gerrymandering, voter questionnaires and tests, limiting voting places, decreasing voting hours and numerous rules restricting eligibility to vote. In essence, racism, slavery, police brutality, lack of a democracy is not new in our history but part of Trump’s racial memory.

Let me add that Trump’s father, who denied his German heritage, in 1927, was seen at a KKK rally in New York. He was investigated by the U.S. Senate committee for profiteering in 1954 and again by the state of New York in 1966. Donald became the president of his father’s real estate business in 1971 .They were sued by the US Justice Department’s civil rights division for violating the fair housing act of 1973.Years  later Fred conducted fraud to benefit Donald and then  suffered from Alzheimer’s. His worth exceeded a billion dollars. He then transferred the majority of his buildings to his surviving children who sold them in 2004 for over 16 times the previously declared worth. They effectively dodged hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes.  On a side note, Fred’s father died in 1918 from the flu pandemic.

Fred’s father, Frederick, Sr.  was banished from Bavaria for dodging the draft. Donald also dodged the Vietnam draft with his so-called phantom bone spurs. Donald also told his son Donald Jr. that he’d be disinherited if he entered the military. Does that history suggests that there are no suckers and losers in the Trump family? Moreover, Donald’s disparaging remarks and negative feelings regarding John McCain and other heroes suggest, along with the military history of his family, that he is not at all patriotic.

Trump had a racial history of ruling individuals of great wealth, called Titans of industry. They included Cornelius Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie, John D Rockefeller, Henry Ford and others. Further, we have had political family dynasties such as Theodore and Franklin Delano Roosevelt; John, Jackie, Robert, Ted, Rose and Joseph Kennedy and the George H. and George W. Bush family. They had power, prestige and possessions and are part of consciousness.

Jung wrote about the Persona archetype. The persona is a mask which is worn by the person in response to the demands of social convention and tradition as well as to his own inner archetypal needs. It’s a role assigned to him by society or aspects of it, in part, what society expects him to play in life. The purpose of this mask is to make a definite impression on others which might or might not conceal the real nature of the person. It is been said that Trump has been brutal and sadistic with his children in person. He only appears non-aggressive, or non- sadistic when he interacts, in front of the camera, with authoritarian leaders. What lies underneath Trumps persona?  Which is the real and authentic Trump?

Jung described the Shadow archetype as the animal instinct which man inherited in his evolution from lower forms of life. It’s the animal side or dark side of man’s unconscious.  Shadow is a highly personal creation, in our unconscious of our specific personality trends. It reflects the universals of human experience and is personal for everyone.

It’s the archetype that’s responsible for man’s conception of original sin and when it’s projected outward, it becomes the devil or an enemy. It’s also responsible for socially reprehensible thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Employing the collective unconscious, archetypes of power, possession, prestige, persona and shadow to Trump, we have a ruthless asocial, exploitative driven evil personality.  It’s not a surprise that Trump’s behavior is amoral, racist, lawless and ruthless in his drive to retain the power of the presidency.

Some of his anti-democratic amoral policies have included: 1. Firing of inspector generals, staff members, FBI, intelligence individuals etc. that do not obey him 2. Disregarding subpoenas for self and others 3. A quid pro quo with Ukrainian government 4. Colluding with Russia in the 2016 and in the 2020 presidential vote 5. Secretive meetings with Putin and other authoritarian dictators 6. Withholding tax returns 7. Interfering with the objectivity of CDC, FDA and other government agencies 8. Mishandling and lying about Coved- 19 as if American death rate is acceptable 9. Supporting white supremacist groups over Black Lives Matter 10. Perpetuating racial division 11. Exonerating police regardless of circumstances. 12. Suppressing the vote by dismantling US Post Office operations and spreading false lies that mail-in voting is fraud. 

Employing the concepts of Jung, we get a view into Donald’s personality. With the racial history of the world, the racial history of United States and family history, we have a background of the driving forces of power, possession and prestige for Donald’s ideal and wish fulfilment. His striving for power, possession and prestige archetype is so dominant that it smothers and interferes with developing a more human personality. Therefore, his personality is not integrated, healthy nor able to optimally progress and develop. He lacks individuation. Individuation is necessary to create an ideal goal of perfect wholeness (selfhood) as in the Mandala symbol. Instead, he remains a crippled neurotic. He is like the Devil in that he is evil, hostile and destructive.  He says he’s the greatest Pres.; should be on Mount Rushmore; more intelligent than the general’s; might not leave office; fake news on stations other than Fox; are just some of the things that this despot has expressed based on his ruthless attempt to retain power. This is who he is. He should be taken seriously.

The Lies Never End

 

 

One night, was enough, of the RNC hypocrisy, propelled interest in writing this essay. The speakers presented hours of inexhaustible insincerity. They gave fear-based lies, superficial generalizations, no facts and baseless predictions. For example, the word “we” was used with its multiple meanings. This pronoun might include you and I; you, I and another or others; another or others not including you. Notably, there are many synonyms for the word “lie.” For instance” clever,” as in, good in achieving what you want, especially using unusual or slightly dishonest methods; “dubious” meaning not completely good, safe or honest;  and corrupt,  fraudulent and unscrupulous.  To lie, is a false statement made with the deliberate intent to deceive; with an intentional untruth. There are also lies of omission by not telling the entire story. This essay focuses on conscience, lying, and paranoid delusions.

At this convention, some of the deceitful lies included the following: 1. Imagine the life you want to have, great job, beautiful house….. (For white Christens only?  ) 2. They will turn our country into a socialist utopia…… (More people involved in production, distribution and exchange are a good thing) 3…. local businesses shut down because of the…. riots (What about Covid -19, the worst unemployment figures in history, more deaths than the Vietnam War. I forgot that 57% of Republicans believe the 186,000 deaths are acceptable) 4. …. disarm you, empty the prisons (Only in those instances to reduce the Covid- 19 spread)….. 5…… the fake impeachment…. (The impeachment occurred and was not fake) 6….. His promise was to put America first…. (Yes, we have more Covid -19 deaths than any other country 7……. Justice is served……. (He can’t be indicted is a joke. Jesus was indicted) 8. People of faith are under attack (By whom?) However, we have a different reality from Individuals like Mary Trump, Marianne Trump, Michael Cohen, and others that have talked and written about his numerous lies, deceit, criminality, deceptions, narcissism and  sociopathy.

Freud wrote about the superego in his organization of mental functioning. The superego’s job was to scan ego activity at all levels, incorporating the basis for approval, disapproval, self-criticism and self-esteem .In this occurrence, the individual, under optimum conditions,  can develop a guilty ego or a guilty self in a well-functioning conscience. This conscience then functions with the disapproval of unfortunate and abnormal deeds, words and thoughts.  Moral values and ideals also develop with a hierarchy of good, better, best, bad, worse and worst.

This superego- conscience was formed by identification. Identification is initially based on parents and/ or other caretakers beginning very early around the second year in life. The parent or parents by their words, behavior, and attitudes express their values. These values then become part of the child’s superego and conscience. With identification, the child, without any direct training, reward, or intentional learning, begins to think, feel and behave through the characteristics of the other person or persons. It’s as if the   child now possess some of the characteristics, feelings or emotions of the parent with whom he identifies.

Imagine the youngster growing up in an authoritarian household filled with tension, angst and anger. Research with Authoritarian controlled households found restricted curiosity and originality. The children were punished for exhibiting curiosity and spontaneity and were rewarded for obedience for conforming to parental standards. Responses of compliance and conformity therefore become strong habits for these children both in and out of the home. The cold non-nurturing authoritarian parents were described as highly controlling, using power freely and not encouraging the child to express himself when he disagreed with his parents. Authoritarian parents do not practice what they preach. They are more concerned with their own ideas and standards as opposed to the child’s interest and welfare. Now you know why Authoritarian leaders demand loyalty.

Further, imagine the identifications, models and imitations from parents that fight, cheat, lie, are dishonest and with attitudes that are demeaning, racial, anti-Semitic and hateful. Parental attitude and behavior of rigidity, harshness, inflexibility and unreasonableness interfere with superego or conscience development. Conscience ,in most children,  initially are related to specific behaviors and then  develop  into more generalized abstract standards; become less exclusively determined by external rewards and punishments and more by internal sanctions; and begin to involve not only the voice of prohibitions but also the pursuit of what one should do. How is the child, that’s reared in a dysfunctional atmosphere, that’s delusional, narcissistic, and without an appropriate conscience, going to develop trust? He doesn’t.

 As youngster proceeds in age, so does his mental representation, language and moral and ethical capacity. Briefly, the verbal world of the child is not identical to the external world of reality or the inner world of imagination. Thus, contradictions, errors, difficulty with reality occurs. The normal worship of the word, is the belief that the verbal world is somehow more real than direct experience.  Of course the difficulty occurs when the verbal world is made to appear preeminent. However, logic is widely considered to be more realistic than direct experience.

Jean Piaget wrote that the child’s intellectual growth is characterized by a series of stages. According to Piaget, in ages 1 ½ to 7 or the preoperational stage of development, the child treats objects as symbolic of things rather than themselves.  With development, Piaget’s final stage of intellectual growth is called formal operations. With formal operations, the adolescent is able to generate and explore systematically various hypotheses; can employ deductive reasoning; and able to use abstract rules to solve a number of problems. Piaget, with research, found that children, eventually becomes less controlled by external rewards and punishments and more by internal sanction.  The individual begins to be able to avoid prohibitions, but also the pursuit of what one should do. Lawrence Kohlberg also studied moral development. He found that for the adolescent, conscience, at its highest level, was then able to view morality in terms of democratically accepted norms or laws.

Even with this limited overview, it’s not difficult to understand how an individual can develop an impaired conscience. Distortions of reality, difficulty determining reality from fantasy and the use of lying are driving forces for behavior. We know that lying can be innocuous by stretching the truth or an interest of a wish fulfillment. An individual may resort to lying because of fear of failure to meet certain or particular expectations and external approval. On the other hand, persistent lying reflects deep-rooted psychological problems and reflects a severe disturbance in conscience development and/or in the capacity of distinguishing reality from fantasy as in paranoid delusions.

Paranoids do not trust and their sense of reality is impaired. Being suspicious, arrogant, aggressive and megalomaniac, suggests that this paranoid is unable to perceive what normal people perceive. He picks out “a kernel of truth” or some fact for his statements. As a result, with suspicion, he distorts reality and is oblivious to the entire story of facts. He also incorporates the falsehoods within his own autistic way of thinking.  His subjective world is constructed only through his perceptions, which is autistically biased in his interpretation. The danger for the rest of us is that this paranoids distortion of reality rests only in favor of his autistic interpretive preoccupation .He can be logical and sound reasonable within his sustained systematized delusions. His lies, at times, can sound so convincing and believable. This paranoid never searches for truth. On the contrary, he searches for clues or pieces of information that fits his own biased conclusions.

In essence, we are faced with the delusions of a megalomaniac Donald. His many followers form a disturbed element and impaired conscience. This group is morally and ethically bankrupt and a grave danger to our country. Lying and delusions is the norm in his pursuit of power and control. He is proficient at deception.  His sheep consists of high school educated  white skinned folks,; Evangelicals waiting for Christ to return for only them; the top 1% of the economic ladder; a great number of  racists ; and too many head in the sand Republicans. Psychologically, the powerless seek and identify with an authoritative father figure.  Donald is a terrorist and many in his crowd are as well.

What about the scientific reality of Covid-19, economic catastrophe, systemic racism, inadequate health care, push to suppress voting for the populace, global warming, and the Doomsday Clock?  The first obligation of the president is to model obeying the law. Instead, we have a criminal who disrespects the law, and is running on” law and order?” He is paranoid and delusional. Do not forget that The Hatch Act was violated by this terrorist and his criminal party with their shameless TV propaganda event.

Are We Doomed?

 

 

Being a PhD psychologist in the eighth decade of life provides me with both a personal and professional perspective of the aging process. I looked back and traced my beginnings. I’m going to use aspects of my life story as a metaphor and compare it, using a few significant psychoanalytic concepts, to a brief history of the United States. Of course, I’m going to take some liberties.

Otto Rank described the birth trauma in his book “Das Trauma der Geburt.” Rank believed that there was traumatic change in the transfer from the all-encompassing, bliss of the womb going to painful postnatal conditions. He wrote that this propulsion had a deleterious effect on the newborn. This physical and psychological experience, results in a “mortal fear. “ It not only effects life but it is also a consequence of it.  Therefore, it is most normal for us, to carry a load of primal anxiety throughout the life cycle. This means, the first human goal is an attempt or need for a reinstatement of embryonic bliss and second, to avoid the greatest human terror which is fear of separation anxiety.  On a side note, separation anxiety is a main barrier and psychologically interferes with Covid -19 public health recommendations.

The Puritans, in the 1600’s under King James, the father, lived in the greatest empire on earth. Living conditions were not copacetic for these Puritans residing in this most powerful country, where the sun never sets, on this Empire. They experienced significant socio -economic and religious conflicts. Regardless, it took great courage to separate from one’s mother homeland and set sail for uncharted lands across the Atlantic. In 1607, with the London Company, they established the first colony in Virginia. Thus, these new settlers experienced a traumatic homeostatic change in their psyche, from separation, the rough voyage, and encountering Native Americans in a new land. There was separation anxiety in leaving their familiar homeland. Did they make the right choice to leave the “womb? “ They had to eat, make shelter and deal with all the necessities for survival. Thank goodness there was a “Pocahontas” to provide nurturance. Did the Puritans think about returning to their womb, of course they did?

 I was born with all my fingers and toes. I was totally dependent on my mother for meeting my physiological needs. Could she or any mother know what I needed, at the exact moment, during my early existence? How could she know or anticipate when I was hungry, cold, warm or thirsty? Yes, I could cry, move my arms and legs uncontrollably. Was she able to meet all my physiological requirements? Yes, but exactly when I needed them is another story. Psychologically, a mother is to provide some delay in meeting one’s gratifications in order for healthy ego development. In doing so, the ability to delay and develop frustration tolerance is important for the development of a healthy ego. A spoiled child, has not experienced a delay of gratification and is without boundaries. That child never learns about limits and consequences for actions.  Moreover, Alfred Adler wrote that the spoiled child forms the expectation in life that he will always be taken care of and that his whim is law. He added that many criminals were spoiled children. Currently, we have a criminal in the White House.

During development, I learned quickly about dependence, dominance, power and control in terms of interactions with mother. My jaw muscles developed and I guess, it’s only a guess, that I was aggressive during feeding.  Did I bruise her nipples? Perhaps, and the next major battle of wills between us, dependence, dominance, power, and aggression was over toilet training. Did I win that sphincter control battle? Then of course, I identified with both parents and began incorporating societal, moral and ethical rules and regulations. During this process, I formed my ego -ideal.

 Psychologically, my ego -ideal provided me with an unrealistic and narcissistic overvaluation of myself related to the idealization of parental power and perfection.  Notably, the ego -ideal can provide a source of dissatisfaction with life because its goals are perfectionist, requiring evidence that’s often unattainable. However, I fantasized about sport heroes and followed the careers of these individuals; and their teams became my teams. I identified with Gordie Howe of the Red Wings; Ted Gray of the Tigers and, Doak Walker of the Lions and others along the way.

 As an ordinary person, I learned more about delay of impulses, frustration, aggression and conflict. I also experienced dependence, dominance, aggression, and power in interactive experiences. Moreover, I  won football honors at  Denby high school in ; received a football scholarship to the University of Detroit; attained  a  PhD from Wayne State University ; earned a  100 mile Tevis buckle; mastered the Western States 100 mile run and conquered the Swanton Pacific 100 mile Ride and Tie.

Going back to the colonies, there were many dependence, dominance, aggression and power interactions over the next 400 years. Just think of all the conflicts between the land grabbing settlers and the Native Americans. Originally, we were dependent on the Native Americans but eventually dominated and wiped them out. A current fictional story between John Dutton and the Native Americans can be viewed with Kevin Costner‘s Yellowstone.

There were delays, frustration and conflict in separating from the mother homeland and their Kings {father}. The British Empire taxed the colonies unmercifully. On December 16, 1773, at Griffin’s Wharf in Boston, Massachusetts, a political protest occurred.  The dependence, dominance, aggression, and power conflict was exacerbated in the American Revolution from 1775 to 1783. We fought for separation or independence. The founding fathers identified with Great Britain and incorporated a government with a president instead of a king along with other legislative branches similar to their home country. Because of separation fears, they created safety constitutional amendments such as freedom of speech and the ability to form a militia. In fact, George Washington, our first president, was called the father of our country. Dominance, aggression, power, and submission conflicts occurred again with our English parent country in the War of 1812 on June 18.  We’ve had other battles for dominance, submission and separation as in the Civil War.

It cannot be a surprise that the South did not want to relinquish their dominance, power, control and exploitation with their slave based economy. In fact, they wanted to separate from the union. They had total social and economic dominance and they did not want to be subjugated, controlled or told by Abraham Lincoln that slavery was not allowed.  The battle of wills, frustration, conflict, delay of gratification was experienced with sadomasochism practices in the process. Do not forget about Andersonville and the destruction of Atlanta. Separation from the union was not allowed.

Our country also had conflict with others as in the Battle of the Alamo in 1836. General Santa Ana reclaimed the Alamo mission during a 13 day siege. During that fighting, roughly 200 Texans defenders and Davy Crockett died. Later in 1898, there was an armed conflict between us and Spain in Cuba over dominance. Our dominance, aggression and power was established as we acquired new territories in the Caribbean and the Pacific.

 Dominance, aggression and power over others was predicated on many things such as Manifest Destiny. This belief was that the settlers of the United States, were destined by God, to control North America. Sorry, Native Americans, we have that kind of god! The ego- ideal of the United States to dominate and control the world came to pass on August 6 and on August 9, 1945 with the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At that point, we were supreme on the world stage. Other ego- ideals such as the New Deal, The Great Society, and landing on the moon were attained.

In the 1970s, the economic policy of neoliberalism was initiated. Under that dominant and aggressive economic policy, the federal government was diminished or dependent and Wall Street, wealth and the corporations became king and master. The goal was to privatize everything. During this occurrence, labor unions were decimated; federal government weakened; war on drugs specifically incarcerated more blacks; privatized prisons established, wage slavery became the norm; and the disparity between low and high income earners sky rocketed. Once again the dominance, power, aggression submission dynamic played out with greater frustration, anger and resentment among the populace.

Back to my story, in my development, the body-image or representation of body parts was significant. Body image enters into and becomes a necessary component of the self-image and of social roles. Typically, women have a more realistic depiction of their bodies because their body confirmation is more striking .Also, their body narcissism is normally greater than a man’s.  Body image and body contents are distorted for both sexes.  The area of the mouth becomes the initial mouth ego. Moreover, it’s not uncommon for an attractive woman to consider herself ugly. Just ask her if she has put on some weight? Body image distortion may have deep unconscious roots.

The self-image like the body image has both an external and internal or private social aspect. They are not identical and vary as external and personal circumstances change. People are sometimes unexpectedly pleased or shocked to learn how others regard them.  The image they have of themselves often does not correspond to the more objective and less complete picture that others have of them. Self-image is narcissistic because of the origins in the ego -ideal. My dad had free weights in our basement. That identification was clear and I went downstairs and begin working out with the weights. I became particularly strong and had my younger brother Ron and his friend Dave hand me the heavyweights so I could perform 350 lbs. bench presses. With other friends, we placed over 650 lbs.  or so on our shoulders to become comfortable and see how low we could squat.

With testosterone, hGH, DHEA, and free weights my body changed and I developed more strength and muscle. Other changes, over the years, took place as well. As a psychologist, I grew a full-length beard and had my hair tied in a ponytail.

Then, when I reached the six decade of life, things began to change in my body. There was no more pony tail, but there was a change in hair color. Thank goodness that Ron and Dave were not around to hand me the heavy weights. My running times slowed over the yearly competitive races. By mid-70s, I substituted 50 K’s for 50 mile trail runs and ran a fast ½ marathon in February of this year.  I have had a two hernia operation; consulted an optometrist and an ophthalmologist; had two MRIs’; and a meniscus surgery in one knee. Thus, there were external and internal reality changes regarding both body and self-image.

Returning to our country, there have been many changes over the past eight decades. We have the highest amount of Covid -19 death and disease; we have more gun deaths; we more obesity and overweight; we have continued systemic racism; we have more sick hate groups; we have more delusional conspiracy theories with paranoid followers; we have  more disturbed  amoral  and lying individuals and a dumbing down of the populace. Our statistics and achievement, for our students, in science and math are not good. We trail China, Singapore and too many other countries. We are no longer in the Paris Agreement Accord or Iranian Nuclear deal and are rapidly destroying our planet. Our time is running out. The Doomsday clock clicks closer to midnight than ever before. Our outdated electoral college is still relevant thanks to James Madison. Madison did not trust the populace with the important vote for the president .He thereby enabled the Electoral College with the dominant –dependent dynamic. Trump is a criminally perverse and lying threat to our democracy. In our Republic, the Republican Senate continues to disrespect the populace with their lies and silence on legislation coming from the House.

It obvious that my body is changing and I can’t reverse it. Our country is trending downward too. It remains to be seen if that can be reversed. Remember the dynasties of Alexander; Caesars; Ottoman Empire; and the British Empire are dead. Dynasties are made up of people so they are similar in regards to the functioning of the human body and die. We reach a zenith of power, aggression, control and then dependence; and then submission, frailty and “death” follows. Moreover, related to reality and future, are Murray’s abasement need which is associated to submit passively to external force…… To seek and enjoy pain, punishment, illness and misfortune. Freud wrote about the destructive drive that ends in the life cycle of death. The finis.