FLAUNTING THEIR EMPATHY

Recently, two prominent members of the progressive left thought it would be appropriate to mock the Santorum family for bringing home a newborn who had died shortly after birthso that the entire family (including all the other children) could understand and mourn his short life and death.

Mark Steyn rightly excoriates Alan Colmes and Eugene Robinson for their rather shocking lack of empathy toward the Santorums for doing this:

There is something telling about what Peter Wehner at Commentary rightly called the “casual cruelty” of Eugene Robinson. The Left endlessly trumpets its “empathy.” President Obama, for example, has said that what he looks for in his judges is “the depth and breadth of one’s empathy.” As he told his pro-abortion pals at Planned Parenthood, “we need somebody who’s got the heart — the empathy — to recognize what it’s like to be a young teenage mom.” Empathy, empathy, empathy: You barely heard the word outside clinical circles until the liberals decided it was one of those accessories no self-proclaimed caring progressive should be without.

Indeed, flaunting their empathy is what got Eugene Robinson and many others their Pulitzers — Robinson describes his newspaper column as “a license to feel.” Yet he’s entirely incapable of imagining how it must feel for a parent to experience within the same day both new life and death — or even to understand that the inability to imagine being in that situation ought to prompt a little circumspection.

Steyn notes that, "The Left’s much-vaunted powers of empathy routinely fail when confronted by those who do not agree with them politically"; but I would like to suggest that the problem Steyn identifies is actually more deep-rooted and characterological than mere political partisanship.

If you look below the surface of the supposed "compassion" and "empathy" that the political left constantly trumpets about itself, you will find neither.

From a psychological perspective, many of them are not mature enough to be capable of either true compassion or real empathy when it comes to anything that remotely touches on their political dogma--a dogma that infuses every aspect of their life and relationships.

This is all part of the same pattern that makes the progressive movement so completely pathological. They are constantly emphasizing how
- "reality-based" they are--while refusing to acknowledge any reality that doesn't conform to their constricted worldview (e.g. that you don't get out of debt by constantly spending more money);

- "progressive" they are--while being firmly and consistently against progress (particularly economic progress);

-how normal, peaceful, "grassroots" and appropriate the "Occupy" movement is compared to the evil Tea Partiers who are a bunch of Republican "Mobs", astroturfing phonies; Nazis with swastikas, and "these people are too well-dressed to be genuine protesters". is a case of the leftist projecting their own thuggish motives onto relatively normal Americans who are unhappy with what is going on right now in Washington. Meanwhile the angry and often violent and disgusting tactics of the poorly dressed, gentle, drug-abusing, raping Occupy crowds is honored and sacred.

- how everyone else is "racist" (or homophobic, Islamophobic; as well as anti-woman, children-abusing; anti-old and anti- poor people); and how the goal of their opponents is to kill old people, poor people, people of color and oppress them (instead of having a different perspective on how to best help them). This allows these compassionate and caring people to pretend that the social policies they support don't have any destructive effects (e.g., encouraging permanent victimhood and resentment in the people they claim to be "helping"; increasing dependence; promotion of class warfare instead of "brotherhood")--effects which can be seen all around us. It is never their own policies or beliefs that are to blame for the worsening situation, it is NOT ENOUGH of their policies have been implemented. Many beg to differ.

The list could go on and on.

Do you begin to see a pattern here? It is a psychological pattern that is certainly not exclusive to the political left (remember when Richard Nixon kept loudly proclaiming, "I am not a crook!" when Watergate proved that he was not only lying to himself, but to the country); but the political left currently bows to no one in expressing their immaturity and denial of reality.

This psychological maneuver is very common and pervasive. It is a maneuver that I have written about repeatedly on this blog and it is called projection.

I believe it is Ann Coulter who has said that, "You can always tell what liberals are up to by what they accuse you of."

That is the essence of psychological projection, the psychological strategy by which the user is able to disown his or her own thoughts, feelings, and/or behaviors-- even as they virtuously accuse others of possessing those same thoughts, feelings and behaviors.

I wrote in an earlier post about psychological defenses:

I frequently use psychiatric and psychological concepts to describe behavior in this blog, and because of that, many people accuse me of labeling anyone who disagrees with me politically as having a mental illness.

This is not true; and it suggests that most of these critics know little about psychiatry, psychiatric diagnoses, or psychological defenses.

While I do believe that some of the people I describe might indeed have a mental illness; and that some are, in fact, perfectly healthy but simply malevolent or evil; it is simply not the case that by exposing certain psychological defense mechanisms that explain their behavior, I am giving the political opposition a medical/psychiatric diagnosis. Nevertheless, if a particular diagnosis fits, I am perfectly content to let them wear it.

In discussing psychological defense mechanisms, what I am trying to do is understand how and why people behave in the way that they do. Describing psychological defenses is not the same thing as "making a diagnosis" for one very simple reason. All humans utilize psychological defenses, all the time. Both Democrat and Republican; Left and Right. Good and Bad.

Psychological defenses are involuntary, regulatory coping processes.

By themselves, defenses are not evidence of "illness". When used, they may appear to be "sick," evil, or even irrational, but basically, they reflect a creative adaptation to the world.

George Vaillant, a brilliant researcher in this area, and a Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard, uses the analogy that defenses mechanisms are deployed in a fashion similar to physical symptoms-- such as a fever, cough or elevated white blood cell count. All of the latter physical symptoms occur when an individual is coming down with an illness.

Vaillant points out that the body reacts to the environment with these physiological responses in order to prevent or ameliorate the attacking illness. Without these normal physiological responses, we would be at the mercy of many illness and die.

In similar fashion, the psychological defenses are employed by the ego to respond to a threatening reality. With varying levels of success, our defense mechanisms ameliorate, distort and/or transform reality in order to protect our psychological self. The healthier and more mature defenses are a remarkably creative synthesis of our conflicts, needs and external reality; a synthesis that enable us to both give and receive pleasure in life.

Some defenses may be considered "immature" or even completely out of touch with reality; while others are "mature". This is not necessarily a value judgement, since it only reflects the fact that throughout development from childhood to adulthood; certain psychological strategies are generally discarded in favor of healthier and more effective strategies. The difference between the two types--mature and immature--is that the psychotic and immature defenses may cause considerable human misery and are, in the long run, not particularly adaptive or healthy. In some cases, they can even distort or warp reality to such an extent, that the person using the defense puts his life (and possibly others lives) at stake.

This is a very high price to pay to avoid a reality that is unpleasant or unacceptable.

Thus, when I see the predominance of "immature" strategies (e.g. projection, fantasy, acting out)--and/or some of the more primitive and potentially psychotic strategies (denial, distortion, paranoia)--being used by supposedly grownup adults, I begin to look around for explanations of their conduct that are not being acknowledged.

When I observe such strategies being used by large groups or even nations, I cringe; because the liklihood of a large number of deaths and considerable human misery is an almost inevitable outcome.

A healthy person will use many different defenses throughout life. A defense mechanism becomes pathological when it is used persistantly and leads to maladaptive behavior that will eventually threaten the physical and/or mental health of the individual. Having said that, there are psychological defenses that are:
1) almost always pathological - when they prevent the individual from being able to cope with a real threat and obscure his/her ability to perceive reality;
2) immature - used in childhood and adolescence, but mostly abandoned by adulthood, since they lead to socially unacceptable behavior and/or prevent the adult from optimal coping with reality;
3) neurotic - common in everyone, but clearly not optimal for coping with reality since they lead to problems in relationships; work; and problems in enjoying life; and finally,
4) mature defense mechanisms - used by "healthy" adults, they optimize one's ability to have normal relationships; enjoy work, and to take pleasure in life.

So, what is going on here with the so-called "empathy" of the progressive left?

There actually IS a connection between projection and empathy.

Projection is considered a primitive or immature defense mechanism because it is used frequently by children (and in their case it is not considered pathological, just childish, and is easily seen through). As an individual matures, gains insight and self-awareness into his or her own psychological realities and acknowledges the reality that is outside his or her own head, the same capacity to project one's own feelings onto others matures and becomes the ability to appreciate the feelings of others.

In the former (immature) case, one disowns "unacceptable" feelings in one's self and projects those feelings into someone else. In the latter (mature) case, one is now able to accept one's own imperfections and tolerate one's own emotions (even painful ones), all of which makes an individual able to accurately and deeply appreciate what others might be feeling.

This latter psychological trait is not a defense mechanism per se, but the abilty to experience appropriate empathy toward others as a conscious and daily process.

Of course, if a person consistently and repeatedly refuses to acknowledge inner and outer reality, then the maturation process is halted, or even reversed. Paranoia, is projection that is not only immature, but psychotic (i.e., completely out of touch with reality). Empathy, OTOH, is projection grown up and used to enhance relationships, rather than to destroy them.

When anyone flaunts their empathy, look closely to see what they are hiding from in themselves.

In the case of the Santorums' baby who died after only a few hours, the people in question were not only unable to get past projection, but it is clear that they were actually frightened by the emotions the Santorums' actions engendered within them. These emotions had to be quickly and firmly rejected if their worldview and their image of themselves was to remain unquestioned. Hence they projected their own inner weirdness and angst (even hate) onto the person who was causing them to have questions.

Steyn goes on to compare the Santorums actions with another individual in the news cycle:

Santorum’s respect for all life, including even the smallest bleakest meanest two-hour life, speaks well for him, especially in comparison with his fellow Pennsylvanian, the accused mass murderer Kermit Gosnell, an industrial-scale abortionist at a Philadelphia charnel house who plunged scissors into the spinal cords of healthy delivered babies. Few of Gosnell’s employees seemed to find anything “weird” about that: Indeed, they helped him out by tossing their remains in jars and bags piled up in freezers and cupboards. Much less crazy than taking ’em home and holding a funeral, right?

The unwillingness to face reality and its consequences; the unwillingness to look within one's own self and truly see and acknowledge one's own negative thoughts, feelings and behaviors is probably the most serious mental illness of our time.

Unlike those suffering from real, biological illnesses like schizophrenia or bipolar illness, who are not responsible for the physiological defects that haunt their thoughts and behaviors; these modern deniers repeatedly lie to themselves and the world despite all evidence to the contrary; and ultimately choose over and over again to ignore external and internal reality. They pretend that they are perfect and virtuous, and flaunt their empathy like a shield against that reality.

But, hey! They mean well.

How sad for them that they represent the source of everything which stands against the Good in the world today.

THE COCOON OF DENIAL

Happy New Year! Same as the Old Year?

Ring out the new, ring in the old.

No, hang on, that should be the other way around, shouldn’t it? Not as far as 2011 was concerned. The year began with a tea-powered Republican caucus taking control of the House of Representatives and pledging to rein in spendaholic government. It ended with President Obama making a pro forma request for a mere $1.2 trillion increase in the debt ceiling. This will raise government debt to $16.4 trillion — a new world record! If only until he demands the next debt-ceiling increase in three months’ time.

At the end of 2011, America, like much of the rest of the Western world, has dug deeper into a cocoon of denial. Tens of millions of Americans remain unaware that this nation is broke — broker than any nation has ever been. A few days before Christmas, we sailed across the psychological Rubicon and joined the club of nations whose government debt now exceeds their total GDP. It barely raised a murmur — and those who took the trouble to address the issue noted complacently that our 100 percent debt-to-GDP ratio is a mere two-thirds of Greece’s. That’s true, but at a certain point per capita comparisons are less relevant than the sheer hard dollar sums: Greece owes a few rinky-dink billions; America owes more money than anyone has ever owed anybody ever.

If this does not worry you, then you are definitely in that "cocoon of denial." The US is playing a game of "let's pretend" and almost everyone in political power is happily closing their eyes to reality.

Why?

Because America has finally reached the point where telling the truth--even suggesting that we talk about the truth-- about our financial situation is political suicide.

Look at how quickly Paul Ryan was demonized after he made some fairly reasonable suggestions about Medicare.

Old people are up in arms at the thought (even though Ryan did not suggest it) that their entitlements might be cut. Young people are camping out in public parks, aimlessly demanding even more entitlements and free stuff.

Middle aged people are mostly going to work every day trying to make ends meet. Some of them believe the hype about the "99% vs 1%" when they aren't dreaming of becoming one of the 1%.

But it isn't really 99% vs 1%. It's come down to the 50% vs 50%.

50% of this country works hard and produces. The other 50% are what Ayn Rand called "looters"-- these are people who basically believe the idea that their “economic self-interest” means voting yourself a share of your neighbor’s earnings.

Those who have resisted entering the warm and comforting cocoon of denial understand that real "economic self-interest" dictates behavior quite different from the entitled, childish and destructive looter mentality.

The absolute last thing that those in the cocoon of denial are concerned about is economic self-interest. Rather, they always see economics as a zero-sum game:

In short, the means of creating unlimited wealth weren't really stumbled upon by human beings until the rise of industrial capitalism. Human beings had finally discovered the key to economic growth, which came down to the magical combination of individual liberty, free markets, strong private property rights, sound money, and the rule of law. And then get the hell out of the way.

And even then, it took several hundred more years to tame the "boom or bust" cycle [oops!], to the point that people no longer expect economic recessions, much less, depressions. It is now as if people imagine that unlimited economic growth and prosperity are the norm instead of an extraordinary deviation from the past. And with that, a sense of entitlement is nurtured, which in turn is rooted in what the psychoanalyst Melanie Klein called constitutional envy....

In other words, communism is our default state (as seen in our immediate families), whereas certain traits and habits of mind associated with capitalism must be learned, among them, trust of the stranger, the tamping down of envy, a focus on the future instead of the present, and an understanding that economic exchange isn't a zero-sum game....

For the vast majority of human beings, liberty is not a particularly important value, much less the most important one. They would just as soon barter it away for security, as they have done in western Europe.

Once you understand this, then much about the left begins to make sense. In Europe, we can see how the welfare state puts in place a system of incentives that creates a new kind of enfeebled man, but that's not exactly correct. In reality, it simply reveals man for what he is -- a lazy, frightened, selfish, superstitious, instinct-loving and lowdown rascal. Leftism aims low and always reaches its target.

Not only does the left "aim low", their fundamental economic assumption is that the only way to get wealth is to steal it from someone else because they cannot imagine how to create it.

The looter simply cannot imagine running out of other peoples' money. For them, "hope and change" means finding newer, more improved ways of stealing it.


Thus, all their political policies are imbued with an infantile economic primitivism. Like modern cavemen (whose cave is the cocoon they have created with their denial of reality) their only real strategy is brute force in the old days it was easy: Ug hits Grog over the head with his big club to get his "rightful" share of nuts and berries. In our modern progressive society, Ug elects people like Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barney Frank and Barack Obama who will disguise the force and pass laws to force Grog to give Ug his "rightful" share of nuts and berries.

Unlimited nuts and berries for all! All the time! Forever!

This is the the looter mentality. It is the mentality of the parasite who wants the benefits of wealth without the effort of having to create any; who is always demanding "his 'fair' share" of wealth without the necessity of providing any value to anyone. Looters are people who think that wealth just appears out of nothingness and that it is perfectly justifiable to steal it from someone else, since it is a zero-sum game; and therefore it is a matter of "social justice" to redistribute it according to their whim.

Their redistribution plans have become more sophisticated and "progressive" than Ug's, but follow the same basic principle.

This is why the political left's economic policies (and not a few on the political right have bought into it) almost always end up enabling and exposing the worse and most brutish aspects of human nature.

Curiously, or perhaps not so much, these are almost always the same people who are always coming up with some new, improved utopian scheme that promises a veritable paradise of human love, compassion, kindness and brotherhood; along with free medical care, free food, free houses, free education, free everything!

Perhaps, the best answer to that question is that, when it comes to themselves, the looters of both the left and the right are constitutionally unable to understand or accept the dark side of their own natures with any degree of clarity, let alone honesty.

That's why I found this column of interest this morning--about how to deal honestly with one's self.

The squalid utopian fantasies of socialism, communism and the "redistribution of wealth" (a fancy way of saying to someone, "give me what you've got", while pointing a gun at them) appeals to people who refuse to acknowledge their own human imperfections, and hence their own capacity for evil.

We've reached a tipping point in our society where about 50% of the population are so firmly wrapped in that cocoon of denial, they are entirely capable of inflicting great evil on others.

They don't want to admit it too openly, but these deniers tend to see themselves as superior; above all those boring, ordinary human beings around them-- you know, the presumed neanderthals who "cling" to their guns and religion? The 50% who want to redistribute the other 50%'s wealth see themselves as more virtuous, more compassionate, more intelligent; and of course, much better qualified to decide what's best for lesser beings like you and me.


In essence, the psychological denial so rampant in our culture today is extremely psychologically attractive and amazingly comforting to those who embrace it. But the only "hope and change" it spawns is envy, entitlement, and a host of other negative and sadistic human traits. And, along the way,it promotes a cult of victimhood and generates the identity politics with which we are now very familiar.

Contrary to leftist dogma, economic self-interest is not a matter of race or gender or age victimhood--or victimhood pimping of any kind. It is not a matter of "oppressor" versus "oppressed"; nor of "social justice"--it is a matter of supporting the freedom of the individual mind the fountainhead from which all wealth is created.

The wealth of any individual not only benefits him or her, but also ultimately benefit everyone else in a free society because it slowly and inexorably pulls all up to a higher standard of living.

In a free society, wealth is never a zero-sum game; it is constantly created and exchanged; but in the Looter Utopia of Obama, where the looter mentality reigns, whatever wealth is created by those able to produce it is confiscated by brute force.

Ultimately, this process is able to continue only until all those who are able to produce are prevented (for the sake of society! for the children!) from producing. Then, the creation of wealth ceases, since the very process has been killed by the looters.

Ultimately, the Looter Utopia ends up enshrining and enabling human barbarism, ensuring that we all return to the cave--or, in our present situation, the comforting cocoon of denial.

As Steyn says, "The sooner we recognize the 20th-century entitlement state is over, the sooner we can ring in something new. The longer we delay ringing out the old, the worse it will be. Happy New Year?"

What will your choice be in 2012?

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL !

May your Holidays be Joyous and Peaceful....See you in 2012

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN!

PURE PROGRESSIVISM PERMANENTLY DISFIGURES

Here are the results of a real-world experiment on the differences between capitalism and socialism:



The graph comes from a post at The Corner and it illustrates the quite astonishing differences between the two Korean countries who went their separate political and economic ways decades ago.

What happened to North Korea is a perfect example of what happens when the Progressive agenda is implemented in its pure, unadulterated form. Everyone in NoKo was equal; wealth was perfectly redistributed (it just wasn't created); and from a "green" standpoint, NoKo was a radical environmentalist's wet dream:



We have the ability right here in the U.S. to conduct social experiments like the above by permitting states to go their own way with the social justice, Obamacare, progressive agenda and see how they do. The difference will be that people will be free to escape from the resulting oppression (as they are in California, at a record rate)and flee to states that have a less progressive (and more pro-capitalist, pro-freedom) agenda.

The legacy of North Korea is a reality that is hard to face for the dedicated proponent for "social justice" and all the other leftist/Marxist bull; but the facts are right there for all who care to look.

Or, read This paper from a number of years ago about the connection between POVERTY and GOVERNANCE:

A growing body of academic research is showing us that the two are both sides of one coin.

Indeed, the empirical link between poor governance and poverty received a boost the same week of the conference when economist William Easterly released an important new working paper for the Center for Global Development.

Easterly has spent his career inside foreign aid circles. Within those circles, it has been widely believed that impoverished nations suffer from a self-perpetuating "poverty trap." This poverty trap is almost impossible to escape without a big push from wealthy countries -- hence the logic of foreign aid.

This view, while not entirely new, has been most recently championed by the economist Jeffrey Sachs of the Earth Institute at Columbia University -- whom the New York Times just editorialized is an "A-list economics geek." The only problem with this storyline, according to Easterly, is that "evidence to support the narrative is scarce."

Easterly found that, "Over 1970-94, there is good data on public investment for 22 African countries. These countries' governments spent $342 billion on public investment. The donors gave these same countries' governments $187 billion in aid over this period. Unfortunately, the corresponding …increase in productivity… was zero."

If half a trillion dollars of investment and aid can't raise economic output, then what can? "The paper instead finds support for democratic institutions and economic freedom as determinants of growth that explain the occasions under which poor countries grow more slowly than rich countries." In other words, poverty -- and its alleviation -- are directly linked to governance.

Along these lines, It is also worthwhile to read some of the peer-reviewed scientific papers (from 2005 - 2011) that definitively link economic prosperity to FREEDOM.

Poverty has a cure, people.

It is not an instantaneous cure, but it works miraculously over time to pull entire societies and nations up from economic stagnation and misery.

Policymakers whose goal is fighting poverty need to pay attention to the link between economic freedom and prosperity. The freest economies have a per-capita income of $29,219, more than twice that of the "mostly free" at $12,839, and more than four times that of the "mostly unfree."

It is ECONOMIC FREEDOM that is the true cure for poverty.

Not MORE TAXES. Not MORE REGULATION. Not MORE FREE STUFF. Not GOVERNMENT CONTROL OF THE ECONOMY nor THE REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH.

Just look at North Korea and South Korea. Dark vs Light; Poverty vs Prosperity.

And, consider not only the economic toll inflicted by pure progressivism over the long term, but also the human toll. Leftists are fond of trotting out individuals who have not prospered under capitalism--they lose their jobs or their homes; but at least they are free to move on and try again; and others are free to help them if they want to. North Koreans are helpless; trapped inside a progressive utopian fantasy and ruled by a series of malignant narcissists (and the next in line doesn't appear to be much different than his father); with no help available and no possibility to get out alive.

As Mark Krikorian notes:

After almost a lifetime under the rule of the Kim Family Regime, North Koreans are broken, morally, psychologically, socially. You can’t just go back to the status quo ante — the society there entered modernity (sort of) under this perverse and demonic system and has been permanently disfigured as a result.

Pure progressivism permanently disfigures people. The free market may knock you down, but you are free to get up and try again...and again.

It is CAPITALISM, or the free market, that brings societies and people out of poverty.

For those on the Left who pay lip service to fighting poverty and achieving social justice; but who reflexly denounce capitalism, free trade, and globalization; who routinely demonize capitalists and entrepreneurs who create wealth (and jobs); I strongly recommend that you STFU, and let those evil, greedy capitalistic bastards, pursuing their own selfish, profit-making agendas, do their thing.

I say this only because it's for your own good--not to mention, everyone else's!

UPDATE: I just noticed this WSJ article by Jeb Bush, which is related:

Congressman Paul Ryan recently coined a smart phrase to describe the core concept of economic freedom: "The right to rise."

Think about it. We talk about the right to free speech, the right to bear arms, the right to assembly. The right to rise doesn't seem like something we should have to protect.

But we do. We have to make it easier for people to do the things that allow them to rise. We have to let them compete. We need to let people fight for business. We need to let people take risks. We need to let people fail. We need to let people suffer the consequences of bad decisions. And we need to let people enjoy the fruits of good decisions, even good luck.

That is what economic freedom looks like. Freedom to succeed as well as to fail, freedom to do something or nothing.

Check it out.

WHAT TO DO WITH A GREEN YOUNG MAN ?

John Miller posts a sample of the poetry of Barack Obama:

What to do with me, a green young man

Who fails to consider the

Flim and flam of the world, since

Things have been easy for me

My response to the green, young man:

What shall we do with a green, young man

Who's become the flim and flam of the world?

Things have been made too easy for him

Give him his hat and show him the door

So he can face reality for a change

Feel free to adapt your own suggestions in the comments

TIME MAGAZINE'S "PERSON OF THE YEAR"

Once again, Time Magazine claims to have taken the pulse of the country and has selected its "Person of the Year".

Oh Yay.

Instead of selecting, say...I don't know, the NAVY SEALS who killed OBL, for example, we get The Protester (sample OWS protester below)



My comments are not to denigrate those courageous individuals around the world, particularly the Arab world, protesting tyranny (and likely to only get more tyranny for their trouble); but Time made it clear the OWS was right up there alongside groups like the Syrian protesters, who are risking their lives on a daily basis.
No. Time just HAD to include the ridiculous OWS crowd, a series of wretched hives of scum and villainy--not to mention uselessness (except to the Democrats who want to pretend that the OWS protesters stand for something other than what the protester above clearly stands for).

I think this says a lot about the current psychology of our media. Or, should I say, its psychopathology?

Ask yourself why the OWS crowd got so much attention in the first place and you will understand why the Time would dearly love to be able to link them to freedom protests around the world. In fact, the article above linking to their announcement gives OWS a rather prominent place in the middle of real protesters for freedom.

Except for several teensy weensy details.

These protesters weren't for political freedom. They wanted more governmnet control.
These protesters weren't for economic liberty. They were for the redistribution of wealth.
These protesters weren't for the right to live their lives and pursue their happiness as they choose, they were for entitlements and handouts.

In my professional opinion, the picture above just about sums up the content of the OWS movement; or, to put it another way, what a load of crap.

THE GREAT ESCAPE

Britain makes its move to escape the Titanic....

YES THEY HAVE NO BANANAS (OR CUCUMBERS)

Ask yourself WHO is actually having the sexual thoughts about bananas and cucumbers, and you will understand the role psychological projection plays in the Islamic oppression of women.

An Islamic cleric residing in Europe said that women should not be close to bananas or cucumbers, in order to avoid any “sexual thoughts.”

The unnamed sheikh, who was featured in an article on el-Senousa news, was quoted saying that if women wish to eat these food items, a third party, preferably a male related to them such as their a father or husband, should cut the items into small pieces and serve.

He said that these fruits and vegetables “resemble the male penis” and hence could arouse women or “make them think of sex.”

It's hard to imagine a better example of the paranoid fear of female sexuality. The article once again reminds me that much of Muslim culture (particularly in the Middle East) has evolved into a structure for the sole purpose of containing female sexuality. This containment has not only become a key aspect of the worship of their god; but it also is a key factor in individual personality development; as well as the main pollutant of all social interactions.

The men of Islam are obsessed with sex beyond even the wildest imaginings of the Western male's mind. And the obsession is extremely bizarre and pathological.

So frequently do we joke about men's preoccupation with sex and female body parts in the West, that we have failed to notice that the Muslim world is literally consumed by female sexuality and the fear of it. It is ironic that both Muslim men and women are under the mistaken impression that Western society is oversexualized compared to them, when in fact, it is practically impossible to be more obsessed with sexual matters than they are in Muslim communities.

Consider for a moment a culture that would prefer to let little girls die in a burning building than to risk having them run out of said building not clothed in properly modest dress; and tell me that such a society is less preoccupied with matters of sex than we are in the West.

Enormous effort goes into veiling women, dressing women modestly, silencing women, covering women's bodies, punishing women, controlling women, reviling women, humiliating women, beating women, subjugating women, avoiding the dishonor of women, keeping women uneducated, policing women, infantilizing women--in short, dehumanizing women -- all under the guise of "protecting" and "honoring" them as they relegate them to animal-like status.

The women in this misogynistic Islam are brainwashed from birth into thinking that this cultural preoccupation somehow is necessary and that it "liberates" them in some bizarre manner.

Amazingly, this medieval culture has grasped the fundamentals of both Orwellian and postmodern rhetorical rationalizations, that are so prominent in certain intellectual quarters within our own culture! I have heard the canned rationalizations coming from th lips of muslim women myself; and they all claim that it frees them from having to be "sexual objects."

Honey, go eat some bananas and cucumbers.

UPDATE

Life continues to go on....

I have been writing a book and will finish by the end of this year. In addition, a lot of other things have been going on in my life and taking up my time this past year, making it difficult for me to be able to blog: but I have hopes of intermittantly putting up some posts in 2012, particularly for the election.

Stay tuned...and have a wonderful Holiday Season!

SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND YOU

(h/t American Thinker)

THE UNIVERSE IS SOOOOOOO UNFAIR !

For all those brilliant and virtuous Occupiers out there, remember that the struggle against reality is a bittersweet, neverending battle; but the fight for social justice goes on--even to Infinity and Beyond!

SEPTEMBER 11, 2011

ENTITLED TO FREEDOM

Our Legacy is Freedom,
But we fritter it away
With every new entitlement
That passes every day

Entitled to food...
But who will grow it?
Entitled to learn...
But who will know it?
Entitled to housing...
But who will pay it?
Entitled to truth...
But who will say it?
Entitled to health care...
But who will provide it?
Entitled to leadership...
But who will decide it?

With every new entitlement
We make each other slaves
Jefferson and Lincoln
Are weeping in their graves

The Founders fought for Liberty;
Each generation passed it on
And with the blood of Patriots
Liberty is won.

Freedom to succeed and win;
Freedom, too, to fail.
To learn and grow from our mistakes
And not expect a bail.

Freedom to pursue our lives
And Freedom just to be;
Not Freedom from our folly
Or from reality.

But in this generation
Entitlement is king.
We're all the slaves of victimhood
Let narcissism ring!

Our legacy is Freedom
But we fritter it away
With every new entitlement
That passes every day

Don't expect a handout
Except for one of love;
Don't demand a bail-out
Except by God above

Freedom's our entitlement;
Our Legacy; our Creed
Freedom's our entitlement;
The only one we need.

And on this day of memory
Let's remember why they died
And why our soldier's still fight on
And why our people cried;

Freedom was attacked that day
And Freedom's towers fell;
An Evil that fears Liberty
Plunged us into hell.

Let us stand and face all threats
Once again, let's roll
And remember Freedom's challenge
And answer Freedom's call.

Freedom's our entitlement;
Our Legacy; our Creed
Freedom's our entitlement...and
It's the only one we need.

OB-LA-DI, OB-LA-DA

Recent events in my life have made me re-evaluate my priorities and goals (going to Hawaii definitely helped in this regard). While I enjoy blogging, it still takes up a lot of my time and energy; and, believe it or not, I don't care for politics as much as I care about ideas and the philosophy behind them.

I would like to begin to concentrate on other writing projects and distilling some of my own ideas into other formats. Unfortunately, blogging over the past year has often felt like a ball and chain that prevents me from going in that direction. I know I have taken extended time off from blogging in the past and have always come back to it...that's because I truly hate what is happening in the world, especially in my beloved country where I see a constant erosion of of liberty; the slow, cancerous growth of collectivism; and a spiritual and moral stagnation brought about by postmodern philosophical ideas that have infiltrated into our culture.

Blogging has allowed me to imagine that I am doing something to fight against these forces of collectivism and postmodernism. I hope that it has been the case that Dr. Sanity has had some positive impact in fighting this battle.

I am truly grateful for all my loyal readers and the support and comments you have made over the last 7 years. When I first started blogging, I had no idea that my psychological blog would reach so many people, and I have been pleasantly surprised that people actually read it and debate the ideas (Dr. Sanity has had over 4 million visits over the years!).

I'm not giving up on blogging, but I would like to focus on other areas of my life right now. It's definitely time for a change!

Perhaps I will return to write about the Presidential Election next year.

Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on. Be well.

WHAT REAL RACISM LOOKS LIKE

These days, you hear the term "racism" and "racist" used with wild abandon by the political left as a strategy to attack those who disagree with their ideology or their policies. Many live in fear, for example of saying anything that might be remotely construed as "racist", since that has become the most horrifying accusation (whether true or not) that can be hurled at another human.

RACISM is defined by the Mirriam-Webster Dictionary thusly:

a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race

Here is a rather perfect example of the term in practice, described by Roger Clegg:

Disgusting Little Boxes

If you want to be disgusted, take a look at the front-page story in today’s New York Times, “On College Forms, a Question of Race, or Races, Can Perplex.” It’s about how selective colleges and universities are wrestling with the problem of how to deal with applicants who check more than one box for race and ethnicity: which mixes are to be most favored, whether it’s better to be mixed or pure, what do to about students who refuse to check any box, and how to tell if a student is really sincere in his or her self-identification or is just “gaming” the system. Now, maybe it’s just me, but I think a lot of people will find it really sickening to read about how these politically correct educrats sit around and give a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down to an 18-year-old based on his racial and ethnic mix. As for “gaming” the system, were we supposed to lament the fact that a black applicant 100 years ago might try to pass for white? I think our condemnation then and now should be more concentrated on the racially discriminatory system itself rather than on those who tried or try to game it.

Real racism is indeed truly disgusting; and nowhere is it more real and objectively manifest than in the left's politically correct posturing and in the perpetual victimhood scams perpetrated by their compassionate policies--you know, the ones that infantalize other races and ethnicities and keep them "in their place" so that the truly superior denizens of the political left can manage their lives.

HAWAII

It's been more than 30 years since I was on the island of Oahu. Back in the day, when Pan Am was around they used to have discount flights to Hawaii from LA and I went several times while in Medical School.

It was lovely then; and, while a lot more crowded and big city-like, Waikiki is still lovely. I used to stay in the old Moana Hotel (still there) but this visit I am in the Marriott. Here's the view from my window:

WAIKIKI BEACH



DIAMOND HEAD



This is still truly a paradise and there is no direction that you can look that does not present a rather breathtaking scene.

Not looking forward to coming back!

SO MUCH COOLER ONLINE ?

For all those online addicts; twitter freaks and cyberpaths out there -- GET A REAL LIFE !

It's so much more fun.

BTW, I'll be on a business/vacation trip to Hawaii for the next week so blogging will be light!

THE SHAMELESS WEINERS OF THE LEFT

In a series of posts on the political left and the seven deadly sins of narcissism, I discussed the utter shamelessness of the left, who because of a profound belief in their own superiority--intellectually and morally-- to the rest of us plebes, behave rather shamelessly in situations that would make ordinary people blush with mortification, admit to our wrongdoing and resign our public post. This is not to suggest (as a commenter notes) that only one political party has narcissistic traits (it is, sadly, a reality of our current political process, which generally REWARDS excessive narcissism). But let's compare and contrast the Weiner story with Republican Chris Lee (N.Y.) who resigned immediately after the accusations against him posting a shirtless photo to someone on Craigslist surfaced in February. Lee didn't pretend he was innocent; nor did he place responsibility for his behavior on a mysterious "hacker".

Weiner is being urged to "do the honorable thing" (and no, I don't mean to suggest that he should put a bullet in his brain as might have been done in the remote past when a person of consequence did a shameful thing and could not live with the ramifications when it became known. No, he should merely R.E.S.I.G.N.; at which time he could pursue his fetish as a simple private citizen and not rationalize to himself that he is "doing the people's business" or that this affair has been a "distraction" from "important work."

Weiner will have speak to the press imminently, but typically progressives are urging him "Don't quit!"

Any bets as to what he will do? My money is on him buying into the Bill Clinton Plan--after all, he's a really really big and important man (as photos suggest) doing important work....

Andrew Stiles offers these possibilities of which the first is the most honorable and therefore probably the least likely scenario (I will apologize and feel ashamed if he proves me wrong--but then, I'm not much of a public figure):
•Resigns
•Apologizes for “careless behavior,” appeals for privacy
•Admits he “has a problem,” will enter rehab (the Tiger Woods option)
•Remains defiant, calls Andrew Breitbart a “jackass”
•Announces candidacy for Mayor (more press than Romney got!)

UPDATE: He will not resign. He lied. He's made mistakes. He never had a physical relationship with those women. He's going the Bill Clinton route.

Utterly shameless and predictably dishonorable.

THE 'MAGIC' KINGDOMS

Did you know that North Korea is one of the happiest places on earth? A veritable Disneyland of pleasures and entertainment for its citizens! Imagine that!

It's official, North Korea is one of the 'the happiest places' to live in the world, but only according to country's own regime.

Kim Jong-il's own television station has told the nation that there is hardly anywhere else on earth where people are so smiley.

The joy index, released yesterday, scores the extremist country's allies very highly, with China scoring a perfect 100 out of 100 for quality of life and happy residents.

North Korea comes in a close second, with a score of 98, followed by the country's pals Cuba, Iran and Venezuela who all make the top five.
The happiest countries ranked out of 100.

Here are the official rankings:

1. China - 100
2. North Korea - 98
3. Cuba - 93
4. Iran - 88
5. Venezuela - 85
152. South Korea - 18
203. United States - 3

It's nice to know that happiness doesn't depend on stupid things like freedom...or even food, in the case of North Korea.

It's interesting though that the top tier countries all share something in common: They all employ deceit, trickery and subterfuge to camoflage their real economic and social state. Leaders like Kim cannot accept reality, so must disguise it with "scienctific" polls and propaganda like the one above.

Remember when most Americans thought of the Soviet Union as "equal" in prosperity because they flaunted their weapons and space program? It wasn't until I had a chance to see the country up close and personal, that I realized it was basically a third-world country; the people united in a profound poverty, standing in line daily to get basics like bread and milk. It was dirty and grimey; and the people I met could feel their very souls slipping away.

Communism tends to do that to a person. Socialism does it slightly more slowly, but the end result is the same.

What ties the megalomaniacs of North Korea and Iran together is their obsessive shame-avoidant behavior, a cultural attribute which is the flip side of their individual malignant grandiosity. China notably is also a shame culture; and as for Cuba and Venezuela, consider them completely shameless (see my discussion of shame and shamelessness here).

For both the grandiose and shameless individual, as well as the shame-avoidant one, reality itself must be distorted in order to protect the self from feeling low self-esteem or shame.

Overweening narcissistic grandiosity that is characteristic of all the leaders of these "happy" countries; they are all tyrants and demigogues. Typical symptoms of grandiosity that can be observed in your typical autocratic ruler/megalomaniac like Kim, Castro, Chavez, or Ahmadinejad are:
• Continual claims for attention and admiration
• Cold and uncaring behavior toward others
• Other people are seen only as an extension of the self to be manipulated and/or eliminated as needed; an inability to relate to people as people or separate from oneself
• Inflated/exaggerated sense of self-importance
• Hypochondria, or an obsession with individual body parts and illness

The "magic" kingdoms they all rule are places on the globe you want to avoid; places where misery and desperation are high. The people there are far from happy--they are not even allowed to pursue their own happiness; rather, they are the property of the State.

And, if the dear leaders who run things opened up their borders to free travel for even just a day, you would witness a mass exodus on the party of the "happy" citizens there.

I dare them to prove me wrong.

THE POLITICAL LEFT AND THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS OF NARCISSISM -- Part III

Since Part II was posted, we have witnessed yet another example of the shamelessness of the progressive left. Instapundit has the roundup:

YA THINK? Peter Ingemi: Too Many Coincidences In Weiner’s Tale.
Related: Is America Ready for ‘WeinerGate’?

UPDATE: Weiner’s office refuses to say if lewd photo is of congressman. No police investigation underway. Meanwhile the press is covering for him like it did for John Edwards, and Mickey Kaus is mocking them for it.

ANOTHER UPDATE: More on Weiner from Kaus. Alibi one has collapsed already.

MORE: Bryan Preston: How Long Before Weiner Blames, Fires A Staffer?

So now Weiner has lawyered up (why does the victim lawyer up? Because he’s not the victim!), dodged specific fact-based questions about the photo and whether he has contacted Cordova (because the facts aren’t in his favor for one reason or another), and is calling the tweet a “prank.” From “hacked” to “prank” is a major, but strategically useful, climb down.

The next step is to find a staffer to blame the “prank” on, which will be a staffer who had some access to his social networking accounts. Deputy communications director, something like that. Weiner finds a way to compensate the staffer for taking the fall (promises to find them another job outside DC or his district), lets them take the fall, and attempts to move on. And the media, which can’t even get the basic facts in this whole thing straight after several of us blogger types have helpfully published detailed timelines for them, will do their best to let him move on.

It’s interesting to compare the press treatment of this issue to, say, the Mark Foley affair."

Indeed, the entire affair is a perfect example of the utter shamelessness of yet another member of the elite progressive ruling class. Of course, Weiner might be completely innocent, but his behavior indicates otherwise and it will be interesting to see how this affair unfolds. I predict it will go on and on and on without Weiner taking any responsibility or experiencing any shame or guilt--much like the John Edwards fiasco. You can count on Weiner to continue to portray himself as a poor, helpless victim, and not doing the things he needs to do to actually prove his innocence (e.g., call in the authorities).

Meanwhile, Ann Althouse notes the difference in the way the media treats these cases:

Imagine if Anthony Weiner were a Republican. (I know, it's such a hackneyed visualization, but it's important here.) The liberal/lefty blogs would be shredding him mercilessly. I'm not saying Weiner's not getting his hair mussed. But if he were a Republican, the feeding frenzy would be of a different magnitude entirely.

Being a lefty means never having to say you're sorry...or even admitting you were wrong, for that matter. It's no wonder the ideology has a certain appeal for a large number of people.

Next on our list of the deadly sins of narcissism is:

EXPLOITATION

Exploitation can take many forms but always involves the exploitation of others without regard for their feelings or interests. Often the other is in a subservient position where resistance would be difficult or even impossible. Sometimes the subservience is not so much real as assumed.

Of course the left doesn't see it as "exploitation" of others; they see it as forcing you to do what they think is best for you or for "your own good." The key is that they truly believe that THEY know what is in your best interests and your own good more than you do (see Arrogance for more details).

This social relationship ideal--where they are in charge because they are superior people, and you are subservient to their good intentions-- is characteristic of the political left and it exemplifies the psychological modus operandi of all the various do-gooder utopians: that is, they seek to have power over others, but rationalize this desire away by telling themselves they are doing it for your own good.

You feel exploited by the relationship; they feel powerful and self-righteous.

Sometimes it seems as if the ideology of the poltiical left is incapable of seeing others as separate individuals with feelings, needs and wants unique to the individual. Instead, they can only think in terms of the collective and tend to see others as fodder for the IDEAL that they support.

For all the lip service given to compassion and caring for others, the individual in the throes of this particular form of malignant narcissism (which I refer to as "narcissistic idealism") also completely reject the needs of the individual and exploit him or her in the service of their IDEAL/IDEOLOGY. Eventually, the enslavement--whether religious or secular--snuffs out human ambition, confidence, energy and self-esteem. These "do-gooders" cause considerable human misery and their ideologies can lead to genocidal practices and unbelievable atrocities on a grand scale, all in the name of the IDEAL or GOD. Appropriate benevolence and compassion toward others can only occur when there is an acceptance that other people are separate individuals; with thoughts, desires, wishes and beliefs that may not necessarily coincide with the sacred ideology; and that those others have a right to be so.

C.S. Lewis wrote:

"Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."

The social engineers of the left, motivated as they are by their creative utopian aspirations--expressed by the desire to impose (forcibly, if necessary) universal peace, social justice and brotherhood upon humanity--are completely oblivious to the malignant side of their own natures.

The leftist's desire for power is direct and absolute; and this is a direct consequence of the utopian ideology that drives him. Like a small child, but no longer an innocent one, the typical progressive truly believes that his whims and feelings and "good intentions" are all that matter in the world.

There is no area of your life which will escape his intrusive psychopathology, because he justifies it by saying he is really doing it for your sake.

The clever leftist always manages to hide these darker motivations--the envy, greed, and desire for power--and pretend they don't even exist--even to himself. He tells himself he does not possess such dark motives; that his motives are pure and uncontaminated by the kind of self-serving goals the selfish capitalists pursue. He tells himself that the "greed" of others is to blame for his plight; never his own. He tells himself that it is others who are "selfish", never him. He does what he does "for the children" and some undefined "greater good."

The banal platitudes and silly slogans he chants during his protest marches make him feel oh so good about himself and demonize those who he believes are stealing his rightful piece of the pie. Experiencing too much knowledge and insight about his inner state would make him extremely uncomfortable; perhaps even causing him to question some of his basic assumptions about himself or his beliefs.

This is the essence of the "dilemma of the utopians". They see themselves as so pure and righteous; so correct and virtuous; how is it possible that their beautiful utopian dreams always turn into such horrible human nightmares?

You can then count on the true leftist believer to close his eyes not only to his own internal reality, but also to the external reality that proves the uselessness of his beliefs in the real world. Few on the left have ever acknowledged the nightmare of the Soviet gulag; or Lenin's purges; or China's crackdowns. Few have ever even accepted the incredible human cost their ideologies have taken on humanity; the death the suffering and misery, the abject poverty.

When you consider the historical --and catastrophic -- human consequences that have ensued whenever their perfect utopias are implemented, it is little wonder that they will ignore, deny and distort any information that exposes the underlying envy and rage that drive their sociopathic selflessness. Their precious self-esteem would surely plummet, and their self-esteem must be preserved at all costs.

BAD BOUNDARIES

Having porous boundaries to their own self, narcissists do not easily recognize where they end and other selves begin. They have a hard time accepting that others are separate and are not extensions of themselves. Others either exist to meet their needs or may as well not exist at all. Those who provide narcissistic supply to the narcissist are treated as if they are part of the narcissist and are expected to live up to those expectations. In the mind of a narcissist there is no boundary between self and other.

Watch how the "compassionate" people of the left turn on a member of one of their many victimhood groups when that individual dares to disagree with them. They see them as traitors to their race or gender or whatever. If you are black or female or gay you are not supposed to have your own ideas about what is right and wrong--and god help you if you do, because you will be the recipient of an intense campaign of vitriol and hate for your audacity to think independently.

The underlying reason that the boundaries are not well formed is because the fundamental defect in the narcissist is a defect of the Self.

deepest motivations--i.e., they are a bunch of grandiose and narcissistically entitled children whose major goal in life is feeling good about themselves. And, like the narcissists they are, without constant stroking, the brittleness of their faux self-esteem is obvious. They can never quite be sure in their deepmost selves that they--or their ideology--are good enough to prevail. So they are scared. REALLY scared.

After Obama's victory in 2008, Byron York attempted to understand this curious phenomenon:"In Time of Victory, Why is the Left So Angry?" :

I asked William Anderson, a friend who is a political conservative, a medical doctor, and a lecturer in psychiatry at Harvard. "They are angry, but I think they are also scared, and I think it's because they have a sense that their triumph is a precarious one," Anderson told me. Democrats won in 2008 in some part because of the cycles of American politics; Republicans were exhausted and it was the other party's turn. Now, having won, they are unsure of how long victory will last.

"They see that they have a very small window of opportunity to do all the things they want," Anderson continued. "They see the window of opportunity as small because they know in their deepest hearts that the vast majority of the American people wouldn't go for all of the things they want to do." So they are frantic to do as much as possible before the opposition coalesces. And the tea parties might be the beginning of that coalescence.

Then there is the question of self-image. Watching Garofalo and Olbermann discuss the tea parties, it was impossible to avoid the sense that they saw themselves as two good people talking about many bad people. "One of the things about narcissism is that it looks like people who are just proud of themselves and smug, but in fact narcissism is a very brittle and unstable state," Anderson told me. "People who are deeply invested in narcissism spend an awful lot of energy trying to maintain the illusion they have of themselves as being powerful and good, and they are exquisitely sensitive to anything that might prick that balloon."[emphasis mine]

These are two sides of of this political narcissism that defines Obama and his leftist base. The grandiosity and smugness on the one hand; and, on the other, the brittleness and anxiety that comes with maintaining a false self-image. Just imagine what we are in for not that they have received a resounding rebuke from the American people.

One simple psychological maneuver that Obama and the progressive left can continue to deflect that anxiety and keep their fear at bay; AND at the same time pump up their already over-inflated egos and self-righteousness is to escalate their attacks on the Republicans in congress (especially their leadership) and to continue to bash former President Bush. The left externalized blame for their own inadequacies before Obama was elected; as well as in the first two devastating years he has been in power; so it is hardly likely that they'll stop now as they begin to see their power and control being wrenched from them.

We can count on the fact that they will remain completely inadequate and fall quite short of even the simple tasks of leadership. You will see that Obama and his minions will now blame Republicans for their own inadequacies on the homefront. And, when it comes to their failures in foreign policy, they will still have Israel as a scapegoat that can be flogged when the occasion demands it.

The anger and rage (that are so much a part of malignant narcissism) that the political left has nurtured and cultivated over the years will not go away. They need it desperately to keep their fragile, rotting narcissistic and grandiose self image--even if they have to destroy this country to do so.

Several people in the comments wonder what can be done about this situation...how do you deal with people like this? They wonder what use it is to describe and understand the behavior they exhibit; or even to appreciate the psychological strategies that are used by the narcissists among us as they exercise the seven deadly sins in the political arena.

The answer is very simple.

A knowledge and understanding of the psychology of the progressive left and the strategy and tactics they use to accomplish their agenda is extremely important and must be disseminated to voters. Obama and his allies have portrayed any opposition to him and his policies as racially motivated, but I think it is more likely that his entire election as POTUS has a great deal to do with a desire on most Americans' part to demonstrate (once and for all) a complete indifference to racial factors. The media were complicit in this desire and chose to ignore Obama's past, showing a striking lack of interest in past behavior, associations, and Obama's general lack of qualifications and experience for the job (This was clearly not the case with that uppity woman Sarah Palin, a conservative Republican governor, who obvioulsy was stupid because she didn't know her proper place in the feminist's mandatory victimhood and grievance league).

In our system there is one way to make change and that is to VOTE. The narcissists who are running things got there because a majority of people voted for them. Most of the elections are very close, so it is crucial that all efforts be made now to make people aware of how they are being manipulated and exploited by the Democrats and their leftist base--all for the purpose of a socialist/progressive agenda that promises everything but will deliver nothing as soon as the money runs out; that promises "hope and change", but will deliver the same old Marxist bulls**t we have been hearing for the last century--and the same misery and despair.

Even in Psychiatry it is difficult to deal with the severely malignant narcissists. Treatments are not particularly effective and they generally resist all efforts to help them change. Politicians are not patients, however, and they don't seek help for their malignant and often destructive behavior that can play out on a grandiose political scale and impact the lives and fortunes of most Americans.

BUT WE DON'T HAVE TO ELECT SUCH PEOPLE TO POLITICAL OFFICE;

AND, WE ESPECIALLY DON'T HAVE TO RE-ELECT THEM ONCE THEIR CHARACTER HAS BEEN EXPOSED AND WE SEE THEM FOR WHAT THEY ARE.

The entire purpose of posts like this is to give intellectual and psychological ammunition to people who are tired of the same leftist tropes and rhetoric; who are tired of the government spending your money and becoming ever more intrusive into YOUR life. Remember, "....it is this single-minded pursuit of the irrelevant by the self-important that constitutes the greatest catastrophe of our time."

Like Dorothy in Oz, we have always had it within our power to bring this country home.