First let’s take a look at the physical ailment of addiction. The Drug Rehabilitation Centers of the United States describes the progression of addiction as:
1. Use or Experimentation;
2. Misuse;
3. Abuse;
4. Addiction and Dependency.
It can be argued that as politicians enter the political arena for the first time they get a “feel” for spending someone else’s money and the experience proves to be satisfying (Use and Experimentation). By the time they get re-elected or elected to a higher office, the compulsion to spend more becomes easier and they find more projects and excuses to spend taxpayer money (Misuse). As politicians become entrenched in their elected offices, spending becomes second nature and excuses to spend frivolously becomes easier yet (like the “Bridge to Nowhere” -Abuse). And, when it gets to the point when politicians become agitated and aggressive about cutting spending then the final level is reached (Addiction and Dependency).
Dr. Annette Nay, Ph.D. has developed her Three Cycles and Stages of Addiction. She calls the first stage of addiction: “Change in Thought Process.” Here she explains how addiction causes people to “do the [addictive] act instead of dealing with their problems.” In doing so, addicts “substitute addictive logic to explain illogical actions.” This does shed some light on why progressives continue to argue for spending programs when they know that we have already spent ourselves to oblivion and they do not work.
Dr. Nay’s second stage of addiction is “Change in Dealing with Life and Others.” In this stage, “any questions about the addict’s logic are perceived as an attack on themselves.” She further explains “the addict practices ‘objectification’ (the regarding or usage of others as objects to get what they need) and can’t understand why others get upset.” What other explanation could there be for a career politician like Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) to tell members of the Tea Party movement “to go straight to hell?”
The third and final stage is described as “Physical and Mental Breakdown.” Dr. Nay explains that the “performance of the act doesn’t cover the urge anymore; it only adds more urges. When the act no longer satisfies the need, the addictive logic breaks down.” Everybody (Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Liberals and Conservatives) realizes that the United States can no longer remain on its currents path of runaway and unsustainable spending; and yet we hear every day President Obama pleading for more government spending, more failed jobs bills and higher taxes on the millionaires and billionaires. Can these be signs of addictive spending behavior?
In similar terms, Dr. Julian I. Taber, Ph.D. describes the addictive progression as “Delight and Discovery” or “feeling an immediate and strong effect;” “Protecting and Promoting” or “new addicts trying to promote use among others, convinced they have discovered some great truth;” “Defense and Denial” or “requiring increased use in amount and frequency;” “Resentment and Relapse” or “growing resentment at social sanctions leading to outbursts of anger and impulsive acts;” and “Growth and Gratitude” although “relatively few addicts reach this final state which is the beginning of normal living;” unless, of course, they change parties and become Republican.
Ruth C. Engs, RN, EdD. Professor, Applied Health Science, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN has an interesting perspective about “Common Characteristics Among Addictive Behavior” and here you can see many liberal / progressive traits shine through. According to Ms. Engs:
Addictive behavior describes people “obsessed with an object or activity.” [The need to tax and spend]
They “will engage in the behavior even though it is causing harm.” [Like having S & P downgrade the bond rating of the U.S.]
They “will do the activity over and over.” [TARP, stimulus, bail-outs, QE 1 and 2]
“Upon cessation of the activity, withdrawal symptoms often occur. These can include irritability, craving, restlessness or depression.” [The election of 2010]
“The person does not appear to have control as to when, how long, or how much he or she will continue the behavior.” [There is not a tax increase a liberal doesn’t like]
“They often deny problems resulting from their engagement in the behavior, even though others can see the negative effects.” [Blame it on George W. Bush]
Dr. Engs concludes her analysis by describing what is behind a spending addiction. A spending addiction, she writes, “is a symptom—or flashing red light warning sign--that there are deep-rooted feelings you’re trying to avoid facing. Every time you try to stop the pattern of compulsive [government] spending, you find you have to deal with the distressing feelings. Even though you may have promised yourself you were going to really curb your spending you go on yet another spending binge.”
“What feelings could be so distressingly terrible that they're capable of sending you on a spending path of self destruction? Maybe you’re afraid that you’re not as attractive or successful [or re-electable] as you’d like to be. Or maybe you’re afraid that the façade—the “outer” you--you’ve worked so hard to build and have maintained so painstakingly will crack, and that others will then see what is behind that front: that you’re a fraud, a pretender, a failure.”
“When you have a spending addiction, what you’re actually attempting to "buy" is to be liked and admired [and elected] by others and to not feel consumed by self-doubt and self-disappointment. It doesn’t matter how much money you have, how successful you are, or what prestige you hold in your community, it’s the inside of you that feels empty and insignificant. When you’re out there spending [taxpayer] money, that gaping emotional Grand Canyon inside of you feels nearly filled and--if only for a little while--you feel on top of the world.”
Finally, when talking about addiction there is the good and reliable dictionary definition which defines addiction as a “means to devote or surrender oneself to something habitually or obsessively; behavior that impairs the performance of a vital function(s), a harmful development." Addiction causes you to lose your sense of balance and rationality. Beneath all addictions is a longing for immediate gratification--to feel good, powerful, worthy of admiration, and problem-free--and an insistence on ignoring the long-range, self-destructive implications of the behavior.”
We may have facetiously described liberal / progressive / Democrats as addicted to spending but when you break it down into stages, cycles, behaviors, characteristics and definitions a case can be made that the Dem’s really cannot help themselves about their compulsive and destructive spending behavior. In the real world, close family and friends would usually become so worried about their loved one that they would have an “intervention” in an attempt to get the addicted personality to realize the severity of their condition and, hopefully, change their ways before hitting the absolute rock bottom.
Unfortunately, in the case of our liberal friends, rock bottom would mean the destruction and collapse of the United States economy and its way of life. A successful intervention can only mean having our addicted friends on the radical left voted out of office and sent to the nearest rehabilitation center, also known as lobbyists; where they can spend to their hearts content.
0 comments:
Post a Comment