W . . . . The President

I usually rely on my news feed to bombard people with the news I find interesting. In this case I am making an exception, and with good reason. The article below is a devastating deconstruction of the psychology of our current President and one that I believe is extraordinarily accurate:

The true rule in determining to embrace, or reject anything, is not whether it
has any evil in it, but whether it have more of evil, than of good. There are
few things wholly evil, or wholly good. Almost every thing, especially of
governmental policy, is an inseparable compound of the two; so that our best
judgment of the preponderance between them is continually demanded. - Abraham Lincoln, June 20, 1848

In defiance of his circumstances as an unpopular, lame duck president with a
minority party in Congress, George W. Bush pursues a sharply autocratic tone. He has intimidated both parties in Congress and violated the
Constitution. Through dissimulation and delay, he has forced the nations of the
world to conclude they must wait until his term ends to negotiate any serious
treaty on the imminent perils of climate change.

A sort of thousand-mile stare has descended on the country. Frank Rich writes, "we
are a people in clinical depression" as a result of Bush's leadership. Perhaps, a more apt diagnosis would be "dissociation." Like a child or spousal victim of a psychological abuser, Bush's "victims" try to mentally compartmentalize him; they attempt to get on with their lives - even as he keeps on being abusive. You can hear the dissociation
when Congressional leaders talk about their inability to make Washington work as
it should.

Some, including Daniel Ellsberg, who challenged the autocratic aspirations of Richard Nixon by releasing the Pentagon Papers, suggest Bush has already created a "presidential coup." Ellsberg has said, "If there's another 9/11 under this regime, it
means that they switch on full extent all the apparatus of a police state that
has been patiently constructed."

You can read the rest of the article here. Truly, we live in perilous times.