Bush Psychology

In case you've wondered why I have such a hard time with how the Bush administration runs the country, it goes like this: my degrees are in psychology. Going back to Psych 101, here are some theories and their relations to the administration.

In Freud's psychoanalytic theory we have the id, ego, and superego. The id is the childish, self-centered state where we want things our way without compromise. The ego is the rational adult mind; without the superego state anything can be rationalized. The superego, then, is necessary as the moral regulator of both the id and ego to keep them from stretching too far outside the bounds of reality.

In the administration Bush is the id, Cheney is the ego, and intellectuals around the nation and the world are the superego.

Then we go to the theory of locus of control. In this theory a person is motivated and regulated either by external things (outside the person) or internal things (inside, natch). In reality every person has a blend of the two, with varying degrees of one or the other. People who are externally motivated tend to see the world as a dangerous place that needs to be tamed to ensure security for the self. People who are internally motivated tend to see a vast universe inside that needs to be mastered. In theory the most desirable mix is to be mostly internally motivated, with enough of an external motivation to account for realistic things that are outside one's control. The mastery of the inner self gives one resources to deal with external situations.

Bush and Co. display a continual fear of the external world that needs to be tamed. They are too far into the external locus of control to be healthy.

Though there could be more theories to review I'll only give one more. In the Object Relations school of psychology we come across a concept called introjection. This means that one is capable of manipulating others to treat one in a certain way that gives one permission to either claim victimization or substantiate revenge. Generally one is unaware of this dynamic even when exercising it.

Bush seems to have no concept that fighting terrorists breeds resentment that prompts them to recruit more terrorists. It also engages them in a King of the Mountain fight, giving them worldwide press and thus legitimacy (at least to themselves), which gives them the motivation and energy to pursue their extreme agendas.

By these three examples alone we find that Bush is a childish, insecure bully who picks fights and doesn't understand that his fighting encourages others. Cheney sits in the background with less obvious though just as strong fears, rationalizing everything without any seeming awareness that what he's doing is wrong according to constitutional, international, and religious law. The intellectuals have spoken out for years trying to get their attention. But there is not enough support in the public because there has been a successful campaign to not think for oneself and to only guarantee one's inclusion in the herd (rejection, in our caveman side, is ultimately deadly) by going along with the official line.

This is a taste of why I have trouble with the way the administration runs things. It is beyond me how many psychologists support Bush.

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From Shooting Sunset's Tao:

A foolish man tells the clouds that it should not snow today. It is like trying to push a river back upstream.

The wise man appreciates the beauty of snow.