1A. Immature Leadership: President Trump?
Peter Milhado, an American psychologist, identified about 10 years ago characteristics of men who never grow up. First, I will summarize what he describes as their key attributes. Subsequently, I will explore Theo Veldsman’s view of immature leadership. The reader can determine the extent to which these analyses describe Trump and help to explain the nature of his leadership.
Milhado’s puer aeturnus
To Milhado, a puer aeturnus believes masculinity is vitally important. This sense of masculinity must be won by struggle, by taking a stand, overcoming inertia, deciding and acting more by gaining muscle and competence in the world of men.… Read the rest
Overview: Post WWII to 1980
Understanding our current circumstance of governance and politics in America requires a historical view of the path that was taken to get us to the current moment. This approach takes a genealogical look at the near antecedents helped produce our current circumstances. We will start our quick genealogy at the end of WWII, roughly covering the years 1947-1980.
Unlike our past wars there was no complete demobilization of the military after WWII. Communist expansion, the “Iron Curtain,” the continued development of atomic and hydrogen bombs and sophisticated weapons, required both military spending and military-industrial-scientific partnerships. In 1947, President Truman wanted to provide substantial money to assist Greece and Turkey fight a possible communist takeover.… Read the rest
The Politics of Resentment (1 of 2)
Let’s start with two governors. In 1958 in Alabama, a trial court judge, a moderate Democrat who was endorsed by the NAACP and who sat on the board of trustees the Tuskegee Institute, a prominent black educational institution, ran for governor against a candidate who was supported by the Ku Klux Klan. The moderate Democrat lost the election. The victorious candidate said he won because his opponent was soft on the race question. As he was preparing his concession remarks, George Wallace turned to his campaign team and said, “no other son-of-a-bitch will ever out-nigger me again.”
Wallace again ran for governor in 1962 and won.… Read the rest
Moral Injury?
Can a nation suffer moral injury? I recently read an editorial with this title. James Childs, the author of the editorial, teaches at Trinity Lutheran Seminary at Capitol University in Columbus, Ohio. Apparently, he’s familiar with the field of moral injury as applied to combat veterans. The Defense Department describes moral injury as an extreme and unprecedented life experience that transgresses deeply held moral beliefs and expectations.
A combat veteran of the second Iraqi war illustrates a sense of moral injury: “Moral injury describes my disillusionment, the erosion of my sense of place in the world. The spiritual and emotional foundations of the world disappeared and made it impossible for me to sleep the sleep of the just … I have a feeling of intense betrayal, and the betrayer and the betrayed are the same person, my very self… What I lost in the Iraq war was a world that makes moral sense.”
Childs cautiously believes a sense of moral injury can be applicable to a nation.… Read the rest
1B. Immature Leadership: President Trump?
A very recent paper by Scott Allison and others from the University of Richmond focuses directly on immature leadership and Donald Trump. The paper explores what it means for a person to show maturity as a leader. It also describes the developmental stages required to demonstrate mature leadership. The authors suggest the pinnacle of mature leadership is what they label as heroic transforming leadership. Two characteristics mark such leadership: unitive consciousness and non-dualistic thinking.
Unitive Consciousness
In Western society the authors suggest one becomes a mature leader by a process of becoming a hero. At the conclusion of this journey the hero is transformed into a wise elder.… Read the rest
Intellectual Humility
What might be a good candidate for a necessary personality characteristic for leading in complex, uncertain, and ambiguous times? I would nominate intellectual humility. IH involves recognizing that one’s beliefs and opinions may be incorrect. I note its resemblance to the notion of fallibilism in pragmatic philosophy, where one acknowledges that a personal belief may be fallible.
Psychological research sees intellectual humility as independent, different, from low self-confidence and even from the general notion of humility. Intellectual humility (IH) deals with how people think about themselves and the world. One might consider it a meta-cognitive that involves how one thinks about one’s thoughts.… Read the rest
Politics of Resentment (2 of 2)
The cultural turmoil of the 1960s resurrected Nixon’s political career. His strong activation of the politics of resentment keyed his success in 1968 and 1969. Nixon developed two rhetorical tropes which he powerfully used. He combined into one group (1) the angry minorities rioting and taking welfare in the cities and (2) the anti-authority college youth with their antiwar campus activism. Nixon argued that both groups victimized everyday Americans with their disobedience, drugs, and violence. When he spoke of one group, he was simultaneously capturing popular resentment against the other.
During his 1968 campaign Nixon said, “our first commitment as a nation in this time of crisis and questioning must be a commitment to order.” Nixon initially blamed students for the violent deaths at Kent State University (the National Guard fired on student protesters in May 1970, killing four students and wounding nine), a position favored by many in the population.… Read the rest
Empathetic Deliberative Democracy
An aspect of the theory of democracy focuses on deliberative democracy. Simply put, deliberative democracy posits that political decisions should be the result of reasonable, fair discussion and debate among citizens. Some claim the primary benefit of deliberative democracy is its ability to arrive at the truth about an issue or a problem. Deliberative democracy promotes truth and accuracy, in other words.
Generating empathy
Michael Hannon, however, is developing another aspect of deliberative democracy. In a recent paper, he suggests that the primary objective of deliberation should be the production of empathy. He does not denigrate the significance of truth seeking but says that developing understanding among citizens may be even more important than truth seeking.… Read the rest
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