Politics and political discourse aren't what they were a few short years ago, when President Ronald Reagan regularly had his primary political opponent, Democrat Speaker of the House Tip O'Neil, to the White House for evening libations; Reagan reportedly claimed he and O'Neil were "friends after 6:00 PM." That's probably more of a statement as to President Reagan's generosity of spirit than anything else, as O'Neil frequently lashed out at the Reagan administration in public comments.
There's an awful shortage of such generosity of spirit among Democrats and the political left today. There's an old saying that applies: "Conservatives think liberals are stupid. Liberals think conservatives are evil." The implications of that are huge; the invocation of "evil" gives the left, in recent years, increasing perceived license to riot, to burn, even to attempt assassinations. Now, a New York City/Washington D.C. therapist, Jonathan Alpert, has some relevant observations as to why the left has gone so far off the rails.
In my clinical practice, one pattern has become increasingly difficult to ignore. Among a subset of patients on the political Left, hostility toward political opponents goes beyond dislike or even hatred.
It sometimes takes the form of moralised fantasies about an opponent’s death, disappointment that Donald Trump’s shooter did not have better aim, or statements that certain public figures “deserve” to be eliminated for the greater good. These remarks are rarely presented as literal intent. But they nevertheless offer a revealing glimpse into emotional regulation and psychological wellbeing.
We've noted this change in the left in the United States in recent years; the increased acceptance of violence is, to put it mildly, alarming. History is replete with such swings to extremism and violence, and it frequently ends with a major clash that brings the society, the nation, to a major turning point; conflict, even civil war.
What stands out is not only the content of these expressions, but their tone. They are often delivered with intense anger and no shame, as though such thoughts are an understandable or even justified response to the political moment. At no point does the patient see these reactions as excessive or out of control.
Similar behaviours can be observed in real life, too. I was walking around New York City in the summer after the “No Kings” protests. I was looking at a heaping high pile of anti-Trump signs and a woman came up to me and said: “Aren’t these great?” My response: “I kinda like some of what Trump has done.” Her response: “WELL F— YOU THEN!”
That is being repeated across the country almost every day. Every social media platform is replete with examples. Spend five minutes on X, and you'll see many, from riots, signs calling for the injury or death of Republican politicians and activists, and of course, the wealth of bizarre people recording bizarre rants, bizarrely, from inside their cars.
In fact, there is a fundamental law of the universe involved here, which shall henceforth be known as Clark's Law of Car Interior Rants, which states "Anyone recording a political rant from inside their car shall not be taken seriously."
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Here's the thing: Most of these leftists are quick to toss around terms like "evil" because they have overwhelmingly led safe, peaceful lives. They have been coddled from birth, grown to adulthood in a world that has had a near-record stretch without a major war, like the Great War and World War 2. The last American generation to have seen such a major conflict was those children of the Great Depression and the young adults of the Second World War. Those people, almost all gone now, saw real evil, blatant, horrible, no-Schiff evil. They saw it in the Nazi death camps, they saw it in the Bataan Death March. They grew all too familiar with it. But they understood it, and all its implications, and so you won't find many people who have had their faces rubbed in real evil throwing the term around so casually.
Today's political left, those coddled, spoiled brats, are quick to toss around terms like "Nazi," or "racist," or whatever the insult du jour is, because they have no idea what they are talking about. What's more, they have little or no idea what the end results of their rabid hate will be.
Jonathan Alpert presents us with one statement that stands out:
The question, then, is whether we are confusing psychological awareness with psychological wellbeing. A political culture that continually scans for harm will always find it. That may win arguments. It does not build resilient adults, functional institutions or a stable society.
We are seeing this, now, on the streets of our nation, in our halls of government, and not just among the pink-haired street corner shouters, young communist feather-heads, and other annoying but essentially meaningless individuals. We're seeing it among elected officials. And this is the key: They see evil around every corner, not only because they are looking for it, but because they sophomorically apply the term "evil" in any instance of disagreement, over anything.
The left is increasingly calling out for violence. And that won't end well for them, because, as I've stated many times, it will sooner or later come to open conflict - and we're better at it than they are.
