America Already Has a “Strongman”

Mark Levin, conservative talk radio host, made a good point this evening. Levin, who plans to vote for Donald Trump while not endorsing him, responded to concerns that Donald Trump might end up being an American “strongman.” A strongman refers to a dictator, i.e., someone who will go beyond the Constitution to exert his will in any way he sees fit.

Levin correctly pointed out that we already have a strongman in power. His name is Barack Obama.

Obama has demonstrated his strongman tendencies again repeatedly: (1) He single-handedly overturned American immigration laws to suit his purposes; (2) he turns his own Obamacare law on and off at will, to reward or punish various political constituencies; (3) he has taken steps to alter gun control laws or regulations without Congressional legislation; and (4) he has put the Environmental Protection Agency in charge of harming the coal and fossil fuel industries. These are only a few examples.

Worse still, Obama’s own Attorney General — presumably with his authorization — directed her poor, hapless FBI Director to let Hillary Clinton off scot-free, despite conclusive evidence she violated laws that would have led to an indictment for any average citizen, as well as for any Republican official. Adding insult to injury, tomorrow (October 1) our strongman president will hand nominal control over the Internet itself to an international body, so it can be more heavily controlled by China, Russia, Iran and other profiles in authoritarianism.

It’s valid to express concern over Donald Trump being a strongman, given some comments he has made, such as admiration for Russian strongman, Vladimir Putin. But we already have our own strongman in office. And Hillary Clinton will absolutely follow suit. So if your reason for not supporting Donald Trump is your fear that he might be a dictatorial strongman, then you must oppose Clinton and Obama with at least as much severity, because we are certain they are authoritarians more than willing to act outside Constitutional boundaries. If you doubt me, then watch closely how Obama reacts should Donald Trump actually win.

Politically, a country becomes sick because its people are not healthy. That’s the state of America today. Psychologically unhealthy people yearn for strongmen when they experience uncertainty or doubt about their own lives. We see this all the time in my field of psychotherapy.

There are different kinds of therapists, as I wrote about in my book. Some therapists want to tell you what to do. They act as personal strongmen over people, mentally pushing them around, intimidating them and implying they can’t run their lives for themselves. As I wrote in my book, a good therapist does not tell you what to do. A good therapist helps you build and strengthen confidence in your own personal, objective and rational judgment and decision-making. A good therapist is not a dogmatic authoritarian, but rather an objective sounding board who helps you apply reasoning and logic to daily life.

It’s the same with a country. If our country had more psychologically healthy people, there would be no possibility of a strongman — Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump — rising to power. We would demand a strong government for one purpose only: to protect the rights of individuals to be left alone, to determine their own destinies. Criminals and frauds get in the way of personal destiny and individual sovereignty, so a good government is necessary to restrain such people. But in a healthy society, candidates seeking to “lead” (which often means rule) the people would not be a temptation. Yet that’s precisely what Americans voted for twice, in Barack Obama, arguably America’s first strongman president.

Yes, Americans have gone soft. As individualism declines, authoritarianism grows. As confidence in oneself, one’s own mind, and the rational minds of others declines, then a longing for a ruler rises. Low self-esteem and strong authority figures: One logically — and psychologically — follows from the other.

If most Americans are unhappy with their choice of candidates, they had better start looking in the psychological mirror.