This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

"I have Issues…" The Results of America's overdue Psychoanalysis

"If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it." -A. Lincoln

JOHNNY CARSON once observed that “in Hollywood, if you don't have a shrink, people think you're crazy.”  Well, if America showed up at a therapist’s door today and declared, “I have Issues,” she would undoubtedly be welcomed as a patient.  And after months of responding to, “Hmmm, that’s interesting, please go on,” and, “Really? … How did that make you feel?” it would eventually be the counselor’s turn to talk.  Here’s what our country’s psychotherapist would tell her:

“Your youth was remarkable, and it continues to impact you today.  Your father was very involved, and well-fathered daughters are usually more self-confident, self-reliant, and successful. No surprises there.

As for your mother, you were Lady Liberty’s first child to reach adulthood.  As a result, you ended up with ‘first-born’ dosages of confidence, self-assuredness, and leadership.  And like most first-borns, you grew up accustomed to the limelight – you enjoyed it, wanted to stay in it.  So you tried to keep up the perception of being perfect – tried to be all things to all people.  Inevitably, this led you to sometimes bite off more than you could chew...

Find out what's happening in Lutherville-Timoniumwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

You’re still very hesitant to admit fault or imperfection – it’s your Achilles heel.  You procrastinate badly, or just go into outright denial, whenever implementing a particular solution will expose one of your past misjudgments or missteps.  Slavery, civil rights, Viet Nam, Watergate, and greed-based scandals have tarnished your past.  Denying the fact that you cannot perpetually consume more government than you pay for is tarnishing your present.  

You came of age in the Civil War, finally maturing into a hearty adult as people came to your shores by the boatloads.  They were pursuing an American Dream that promised them a good life for their families if they would work hard and play by the rules.  Many dreams were fulfilled…  Then, along came two traumatic stresses:  the Great Depression and World War II.  You were traumatized by them more than you may realize; but you certainly came out much better than your peers in Europe.  They were utterly devastated.

Find out what's happening in Lutherville-Timoniumwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Europeans experienced horrendous pain and loss in WWII.  When it ended, they yearned for universal bare minimum levels of well-being...for never ‘losing’ again.  They created modern welfare states.  You, on the other hand, had an undamaged economy, a world to rebuild, and lots of personal savings to invest after years of war-time rationing.   You could afford to ‘play to win.’ And win you did!

After the War, your ‘Greatest Generation’ accumulated lots of ‘stuff’—appliances, handsome cars, houses, etc.  This stuff made them very happy because it represented all of their prior fortitude, sacrifice, and resilience.  So they told their kids, ‘Stuff makes you happy,’ not realizing that it's the fulfillment gained from accomplishing worthwhile things that makes you happy...not the stuff.

But their children, the Baby Boomers, believed what their parents told them.  They heartily embraced materialism and proudly championed their government – the government that had turned you into a superpower and ‘given’ them an economic golden age.  A profound streak of materialism still exists to this day; but in the 1970’s, your government fell from the people’s graces after defeat in Vietnam, Watergate, debilitating Stagflation, and a humiliating Hostage Crisis. 

So in the late 1970’s, your politicians set out repairing their ‘brand’ by literally giving the people more government than they paid for, systematically bribing the citizenry with the citizenry’s own money.  Today, politicians bribe them with their children’s money.  They even go so far as to serially extend their constituents’ own credit lines for them, and then use the extra credit to help voters buy nice things and help them recoup their losses whenever they hit a patch of bad luck.  

And the people love it!  They like being bribed with their own money and credit...  They’ve grown quite fond of the European-style welfare state you’ve now become.  Today, your federal government is really just a big insurance company with its own military.   And it writes policies for everyone – rich and poor alike – with multiple safety nets strung below multiple income levels. Meanwhile, your citizenry’s sense of entitlement—across all income groups—is staggering.  

To complicate matters, America no longer has the monopoly on providing the world its stuff anymore.  It's a competitive jungle out there now, and your people need to wake up!  If they don’t, they’re asking for a real body blow come 2020 or so.

America, you need to put your materialism into perspective, and lose that sense of entitlement.  It’s time to make some hard choices about how much government you can afford and begin choosing the governmental tasks you can re-assign to your private sector, or just forego altogether.   

You need to find some good leaders and some quality educators.  And ‘Yes,’ you’re going to have to embrace some solutions that will expose your past mistakes.  But that’s OK…you can do it!  Turn shame over past mistakes into pride of lessons well learned.  You’ve come too far – don’t let your ancestors down now… You’re America.  Be America!”

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Lutherville-Timonium