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An administration that
thinks and acts as a child
Analyze this
By John A. McKinnon
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
MARION, Montana:
Troubled teenagers fail at the tasks of a modern adolescence because
they try to solve sophisticated problems with an unsophisticated
approach whose elements routinely include a childish sense of time,
lack of empathy, florid narcissism, selfish ethics and concrete
logic.
They are usually not stupid, nor ill
- not the kids I'm talking about. But they fail across the board -
at school, at home and among their peers - because their approach is
childish.
I point this out because I want to
talk about adults, and specifically about the Bush administration
and its "approach."
Temporarily (under stress) or
chronically (for those who never grew up), adults can think like
immature teen-agers. To persuade you, I'll describe this flawed
approach:
Present and Future: Immature
teen-agers think the future a destination to be reached by magical
thinking. They want to "be" astronauts, but see no reason
to do tonight's algebra assignment.
Present and Past: Immature teen-agers
think the past a fairy tale not usefully connected to the present.
You can't teach them history.
Lack of Empathy: Immature teen-agers
treat "friends" with consideration, but only if they dress
the same way and can be imagined to think and feel "just like
me."
Narcissism: Immature teen-agers are
selfish, self-preoccupied, self-oriented and self-important. If they
want it, they think they're entitled to have it. And so they don't
need to ask, and if they ask they don't think the answer has any
business being no, and if it's no they are entitled to badger,
bully, blackmail, bribe or or attack to compel compliance. For there
is only one person in the relationship - "me."
Selfish Ethics: Troubled teen-agers
often think they ought to be allowed to do as they like and take
what they like, and that it's all right to do so if they can get
away with it. In pursuit of self-interest, they are shameless.
Concrete Logic: Immature teen-agers
are so impressed that they no longer believe in the Tooth Fairy that
they congratulate themselves for "realism" when they
ignore (because they don't yet understand) mature ethical
abstractions such as honor, tolerance, integrity, the environment,
or the good of our community. Mistaking metaphor for literal fact,
they have little sense of humor, but insist upon concrete
interpretation of rules and other texts, even when such concreteness
betrays the spirit of those rules.
I have no wish to be rude, and I
recognize that neither political party has a monopoly on
childishness. But I can't help seeing in this description a synopsis
of the Bush administration's approach.
Whether the administration is talking
about medical care or tax cuts, homeland security or social welfare,
energy or the environment, democracy (in Florida, California, Iraq
or the West Bank) or the separation of church and state, or the
liberty of citizens and the rights of prisoners under the
Constitution, the approach has been arrogant, self-important, un-empathic,
careless of the future and ethically primitive.
In this election season, the maturity
of our approach to national and international affairs ought to take
priority over party, class, race, region, creed or personality.
Inasmuch as the maturity of our leadership is an American issue, it
should unite us.
We might even agree that we need an
approach that includes clear, plausible goals embedded in coherent,
fully debated plans before actions are taken that affect our
children's lives, our resources and our honor; a firm grasp of
history's haunting of the present, its constraints upon future
options; true empathy, not patronizing sentimentality, for those not
like us; respect for others and other nations; a social ethic that
soars above greedy immediate self-interest; a quiet respect for
integrity, separateness, privacy and liberty, and a sense of humor,
irony and humility.
Why does this matter so much?
First, because a childish approach
fails. It doesn't even work for high school sophomores. There is no
reason to think it will work for our nation.
Second, because even in high school
others despise strutting narcissism, personal obtuseness, bullying
relationships and selfish ethics. Faced with arrogance and
selfishness, others refuse to help us, passively resist, applaud our
humiliation and disdain all those associated with that arrogance.
As we come up to elections for
legislative seats and for the office of president, let's put aside
partisanship so as to rise above party labels and disgraceful sound
bites. Let's see if, together, we can elect and re-elect those who
think and behave like adults.
John A. McKinnon is a psychiatrist,
is co-founder and chairman of Montana Academy, a residential school
for troubled adolescents in Montana. His article first appeared the
International Herald Tribune.
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