The left's sorry response to San Bernardino.

AuthorPuterbaugh, Dolores T.
PositionPolitical Landscape

"People do not become 'radicalized' any more than they become 'alcoholicized' by someone else's behavior. They choose it--as [conservatives] angrily would assert in response to [liberals'] excuse-making obfuscation."

IN THE WAKE of the San Bernardino terror attack, as is so often the case after terrible violence, the talk (I hesitate to call it an actual dialogue) among the commentating and political classes often sounded more like people in need of serious family therapy than the thoughtful, analytical discourse that we the people--the children, in effect, of these dysfunctional adults--have a right to expect.

The national government and the various commentators do, in fact, resemble a big, dysfunctional family. The Supreme Court, like a lot of cranky grandparents, occasionally throws a wrench into the works by invoking how it was done in the old country. The Executive Branch, like a bossy grandmother, overrides the rule-setting legislature. Beyond these formal functionaries, though, the real parent figures in this family are the liberal and conservative branches and, for our purposes today, we are calling them Libby and Connor, respectively.

Any good therapy process begins with an assessment, including taking the client's history. For a family, we often use a genogram, which is a type of family tree but, in addition to the usual demographics of age, name, and relationships, it includes aspects like religion, attitudes towards education, careers, major family events such as emigration or natural disasters, and patterns of physical health, mental health, and addiction. With the genogram, much of Libby's and Connor's dilemma becomes more focused.

For our purposes, this applies very well to Libby, although no doubt there are other examples in the U.S. family system. Way back when, great-great-great-granddaddy Woodrow Wilson resegregated the U.S. military and made other racist decisions. Then great-great-granddad Franklin D. Roosevelt set up internment camps for Americans of Japanese descent, and tried to figure out how to deal with a thriving Nazi party in the U.S. during the 1930s and World War II. Great-grandfather Lyndon B. Johnson begrudgingly signed the languishing Civil Rights Amendment Republicans had been pushing for years to "buy the n***** vote for ... years." Gentle, idealistic grandfather Jimmy Carter blocked Iranians from entering the U.S. during a stressful stretch. Libby's pennant of tolerance is a patchwork of prejudice. As often is the case, children try to "undo" or avoid the problems of their families by doing the opposite.

Libby is codependent on approval and overcompensating for the sins of her political fathers; Libby is very anxious to be thought of as "good." She has difficulty setting limits with the children and tolerates abuse from other people. When others are abusive, she blames herself. She is so entrenched in her efforts to please outsiders that the concerned interventions of family members are rejected angrily or brushed off.

Connor keeps trying to do a half-hearted intervention and sabotages those interventions by worrying about approval and resenting being misunderstood as the "mean" one. Connor worries that Libby's low self-esteem has led her to tolerate all sorts of abuse. He suspects that giving way to the children on every whim is not doing them any good in the long run. The kids and Libby think Connor is the family fun-killer.

Another part of the family--comprising a number of children, adolescents, or the random adult family members who manage to sneak by on the goodwill of others--are oblivious to most of what goes on. Sedated by drugs, alcohol, and entertainment--a sort of 21st century bread and circuses--they are annoyed by the unpleasantness that arises whenever Connor starts complaining. There are plenty of kids on Connor's side, too, but they have become so disgusted in the family system that they distance themselves--going about their business, begrudgingly participating in family life when they must, and wondering when good old Dad is going to grow a spine and get the family back on track.

There are others involved, as there...

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