Charles Konia, M.D.

The breakdown of the two party system began with the anti-authoritarian transformation of American society around 1960.  Pseudo-liberal/communist politicians succeeded in infiltrating and taking over the Democratic party.  This brought abut a shift in the American political mainstream to the left of center.  Because of this shift, there was no longer a far left in American politics, only a far right.  Republicans who were on the political right reacted to this shift by forming a party of their own, the Conservative party.  Politics became ideologically polarized.  The relationship between pseudo-liberals and conservatives became one of antagonistic opposition.

The anti-authoritarian transformation resulted in an explosion of social problems such as the breakdown of the authoritarian family with all of its catastrophic consequences.  People were helpless to cope with this breakdown and many looked to politics for solutions.  With no knowledge of the depths of humanities problems, politicians took over and  posed as liberators caring for the public.  This situation gave rise to socio-politics.  But politicians can never provide answers to people’s social problems.  In fact, it is their very helplessness that is a major part of people’s problems, their inability to deal with their personal and economic problems in a healthy manner.

Today, an increasing number of independent and responsible people are becoming fed up with politicians and the politics of both parties and their makeshift and self-serving solutions.   According to a Harris poll, the number of people who called themselves Democrat or Republican declined in the past several decades.  During the same time, the percentage of  “independent” voters increased.  Democrats dropped from 49% to 35% and Republicans dropped from 31% to 28% while independents rose from 20%  to 28%.

The tragedy is that there is nowhere for dissatisfied voters to go.  Desperate politicians keep coming up with the same outworn solutions by providing socialistic remedies to the  dependent and helpless masses while the independent people’s disillusion with politics grows.

Nothing will change for the better until people start looking within themselves for the source of their problems and not to external sources such as politics.  Then it will be possible for people to help themselves.

June 23, 2011
Categories: Politics, Social Sciences . . Author: Charles Konia, M.D. . Comments: Leave a comment

Experiencing the emotion of fear (biophysical contraction) is a vital function for individual and social survival.  This is true for all animal species  including humans.  Because of  the presence of armor, many humans have lost the ability to experience fear as a reaction to danger.  In them, it is either distorted and felt as anxiety or it is not felt at all.  In fact, today’s anti-authoritarian society is in a state of a chronic,  false sense of well-being ( biophysical expansion), individually, economically and politically.

Anxiety is a symptom of an underlying emotional disorder.  This is the reason that  fear including its distorted manifestation, anxiety, is avoided by almost everyone at all costs.  Since people are unwilling to look inward for the source of what is disturbing them, they look outward and blame their personal emotional problems on external sources.  Or, they avoid feelings entirely and are left being out of touch with themselves.  One way to avoid anxiety is to extinguish any uncomfortable feeling with the help of medication such as prescription or street drugs.  Instead of rejecting  these drugs and tolerating their uncomfortable emotions, which would be a healthier reaction, many look to drugs as a panacea.  People’s avoidance reaction to experiencing fear and anxiety is, in fact, the real reason for the popularity of marijuana and the power behind the  political push to have it legalized.

Another way to avoid disturbing feelings is through the defensive use of the intellect.  According  to this approach, everyone (including those who are forsworn to destroy people’s freedom throughout the world if they have the opportunity), is viewed as harmless or well-intentioned.  Therefore, fearing them and taking appropriate defensive action is not rational or is unnecessary.

To the contrary, the inability to experience fear renders individuals as well as society as a whole defenseless. History has repeatedly shown that emotional plague-ridden individuals will sooner or later appear and take advantage of other  people’s vulnerability to usher in a catastrophe on an individual or social scale.

June 18, 2011
Categories: Politics, Social Sciences . . Author: Charles Konia, M.D. . Comments: Leave a comment