The prognosis for freedom in America is guarded at best
Note: Lyle H. Rossiter Jr., M.D., is a forensic psychiatrist and author of "The Liberal Mind: The Psychological Causes of Political Madness." Charismatic, brilliant, mesmerizing. These and other glowing attributions have been assigned to President-elect Barack Obama in a wave of electoral celebration. As he bounds up steps and strides across platforms to roars of approval, tears of joy on ecstatic faces, even swoons, greet his eminence. A harsh political critic, formerly intent on altering his anatomy, now weeps in his presence. A woman widely known for her wisdom dubs him "The One." The Phenomenon himself modestly declares: "We are the ones we have been waiting for," though he really means "I am The One you have been waiting for." With his dazzling debut on the world's political stage, even foreigners have suspended their fashionable contempt for all things American. Millions now acknowledge a new Idol. Of course, there is nothing new about the human tendency to create idealized personas, especially in politics. In fact, idealizing others is part of normal human development. The toddler-age child believes his mother is the most wonderful person in the world. Overlooking her flaws, he expects her to protect him (even if she doesn't), to meet all his needs and desires (even if she doesn't) and to relieve his pain (even if she doesn't). By age 4 or 5, his bond with her will include something akin to worship. In those same preschool years, he will likely idealize his father for real or imagined powers, again, with something akin to worship.
By their late grade school years, children idealize rock stars and sports heroes. "Overestimation of the object," as we psychiatrists sometimes call it, is surely present when we fall in love: the newly struck lover invariably idealizes his beloved. In our adult spiritual lives, our reverence for the deity is defined in part by its inherent idealism and by our expectations of salvation. In the normal course of development, we idealize certain ethical and moral principles, and at the core of our patriotism lies a deep reverence for the political ideals that define our country. Idealizing is in our genes. Read the entire article
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