The Anxieties of Impotence

[applegrove]

The Anxieties of Impotence

by David Brooks at the NY Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/22/opinion/the-anxieties-of-impotence.html?rref=collection%2Fcolumn%2Fdavid-brooks&action=click&contentCollection=opinion&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection

"SNIP...............


That’s sort of the way much of the world is today. As Anand Giridharadas writes in The International New York Times, “If anything unites America in this fractious moment it is a widespread sentiment that power is somewhere other than where you are.”

.....


But in other cases the feeling of absolute powerlessness can corrupt absolutely. As psychological research has shown, many people who feel powerless come to feel unworthy, and become complicit in their own oppression. Some exaggerate the weight and size of the obstacles in front of them. Some feel dehumanized, forsaken, doomed and guilty.

Today we live in a world of isolation and atomization, where people distrust their own institutions. In such circumstances many people respond to powerlessness with pointless acts of self-destruction.

.....

To address these problems we need big, responsible institutions (power centers) that can mobilize people, cobble together governing majorities and enact plans of actions. In the U.S. context that means functioning political parties and a functioning Congress.

Those institutions have been weakened of late. Parties have been rendered weak by both campaign finance laws and the Citizens United decision, which have cut off their funding streams and given power to polarized super-donors who work outside the party system. Congress has been weakened by polarization and disruptive members who don’t believe in legislating.

Instead of shoring up these institutions, many voters are inclined to make everything worse. Plagued by the anxiety of impotence many voters are drawn to leaders who pretend that our problems could be solved by defeating some villain. Donald Trump says stupid elites are the problem. Ted Cruz says it’s the Washington cartel. Bernie Sanders says it’s Wall Street.



..................SNIP"

[99th_Monkey]

1. Well, except that Wall St REALLY did crash our economy, and is likely to do so again.

unlike 'stupid elites' or a 'Washington cartel', Bernie's laser-focused on those people and institutions
who really are robbing us blind with criminal behavior that no one seems willing to clearly
stand up to except Bernie.

Nice try though, using psycho-babble to lump Bernie into the same category as Trump & Cruz, in
order to dismiss him as some kind of pied piper.

[applegrove]

3. I agree Bernie does not belong in that group, Wall Street really has messed up the economy and

dominates government. I guess brooks had to put that in to make his message palatable to the right. I posted it anyway. There are some truths in it.

[99th_Monkey]

4. Thank you for clearing that up.

much appreciated.

[bemildred]

2. Pitiful. nt