The Personal Website of Mark W. Dawson

The Psychological Causes of Political Madness

The book “The Liberal Mind: The Psychological Causes of Political Madness” by Lyle H. Rossiter, Jr. M.D. is about the psychological basis of the Progressives/Leftists mindset, and human nature and human freedom. Although the book was published in 2006, the Liberal Agenda has become more pronounced and easily understood by the words and deeds of today's Progressives/Leftists. All should read this book to understand the liberal mindset and its psychological basis, as stated from the Preface:

“This book is about human nature and human freedom, and the relationship between them. Its contents are an outgrowth of my life-long interest in how the mind works. That interest, beginning at about age twelve, eventually led me to careers in clinical and forensic psychiatry and to the particular access these disciplines provide to human psychology. Disorders of personality have been a special focus of this interest. First in clinical practice and then in forensic evaluations, I have had the opportunity to study the nature of personality and the factors which affect its development. The practice of forensic psychiatry has permitted an especially close look at the manner in which all mental illnesses, including personality disorders, interact with society's rules for acceptable conduct. These rules, both civil and criminal, largely define the domains of human freedom and the conditions that ground social order.

Historically, of course, western ideas about freedom and social order have come from fields quite distant from psychiatry: philosophy, ethics, jurisprudence, history, theology, economics, anthropology, sociology, art and literature, among others. But the workings of the human mind as understood by psychiatry and psychology are necessarily relevant to these disciplines and to the social institutions that arise from them. This book is an attempt to connect mechanisms of the mind to certain economic, social and political conditions, those under which freedom and order may flourish. Although I have made strenuous efforts to follow where reason leads, I have not written this book out of intellectual interest alone. My intent has been more "generative" than that, to use one of Erik Erikson's terms. It has, in fact, grown out of a deep concern for the future of ordered liberty. In their efforts "to form a more perfect Union," America's founding fathers intended, as the Preamble tells us, to establish justice, insure peace, provide for the nation's defense, promote its general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty. But the entire twentieth century, and the dawn of the twenty-first, have witnessed modern liberalism's relentless attacks on all of these goals and on all of the principles on which individual liberty and rational social order rest. Although they are strikingly deficient in political substance, these attacks have nevertheless been successful in exploiting the psychological nature of man for socialist purposes. To counter the destructiveness of these attacks requires a clear understanding of the relationship between human psychology and social process. It is my hope that this book makes at least a small contribution to that purpose.”

Upon reading this book, I am even more troubled about the future of America. The traditional American values of “Freedoms, Liberties, Equalities, and Equal Justice for All” and "Natural, Human, and Civil Rights" are under assault by "Progressives/Leftists", with the full support of the modern Democratic Party. An assault that, for the most part, is succeeding not only with Social Justice Warriors (SJW) and the Democratic Party but by the benign neglect or tacit acceptance of Progressives/Leftists principles by a (slim) majority of Americans.

The author attributes much of this acceptance due to the childrearing practices of modern America and the resultant psyche that is amenable to Liberalism. As his being a General and Forensic psychiatrist for more than forty years, he has diagnosed and treated mental disorders with a special interest in personality pathology and its developmental origins. He has been retained by numerous public offices, courts, and private attorneys as a forensic psychiatrist and has consulted in more than 2,700 civil and criminal cases in both state and federal jurisdictions. He brings his extensive knowledge and experience to explain the childhood developmental stages and the impacts of the mother, family, and the local environs on molding a child’s outlook on life.

In the three sections of this book, which I have titled: I – The Nature of Man, II – The Development to Adulthood, and III – The Adult Liberal, he examines how modern American childrearing has created successive generations of Americans that are not indurated to the concepts of western ideas about liberty, freedom, and social order, but instead have a psychological need for collectivism. More specifically, the usurpation of fundamental economic, social, and political functions by the collectivist state alters the climate of individual development in the society, frustrates the achievement of adult competence, and leads to increasing numbers of citizens who choose to remain pathologically dependent on the state, childlike in their submission to its authority, and stunted in their character development. It is for these reasons that I am even more troubled about the future of America.

This book examines the conditions arising from early developmental trauma that leads to adult liberal neurosis, a neurosis that tends to persist over time. This neurosis arises for many reasons noted in the book: it defends powerfully against psychic pain, gratifies primitive needs for hope and attachment, promises to satisfy dependency longings, endorses self-centeredness and self-indulgence, wards off shame, discharges aggression, avenges envy, mitigates feelings of inferiority, and provides identity, affiliation, and self-esteem, to name a few benefits of this neurosis. The book points out, nevertheless, that some liberals, even those of a radical bent, are able eventually to renounce the madness of liberalism and become competent adults. However, this liberal neurosis in the adult person, when translated into political activism that results in governmental laws and regulations, has led to the conditions of Modern America.

The rise of government welfare and entitlements, the tax and spend policies of the government, the devaluation of the nuclear family, the growth of the nanny state, and the intrusion of the government into all facets of our society are the results of this benign neglect or tacit acceptance of Progressives/Leftists principles. And these results do not bode well for the future of America, at least for the future of Natural Rights and the limited and enumerated powers of the government as specified by The United States Constitution. We are conceding our individual rights and responsibilities to the powers of government. Whether it be from egalitarian concerns, social justice aspirations, or Democratic Socialism goals, we have succumbed to the false narrative of collectivism. A collectivism that has never worked anywhere that it has been tried, and never worked throughout history, and which usually results in the collapse of society when it is tried. A collectivism that ultimately leads to the deprivation of food, shelter, clothing, and other basic goods, hyper-inflation and/or extreme depression, as well as the possibility of civil or regional wars to overcome these problems.

This book also highlights the antithesis of Collectivism or Democratic Socialism (i.e., Progressives/Leftists) over Liberty and Freedom and Limited and Enumerated Powers of government (i.e., Conservatives/Libertarians). As to Liberals and Moderates, they often desire a little Collectivism along with restrained Liberties and Freedoms. However, it is not possible to have both, as Collectivism and Liberties and Freedoms are antithetical and cannot co-exist without impinging on one or the other, or both in the case of Liberals and Moderates. This is the conundrum that we face in America and the main reason for the bitter divisions of Americans.

Our Founding Fathers had a vision of America that respected our "Natural, Human, and Civil Rights" as specified in The Declaration of Independence. This vision could only be achieved through Limited and Enumerated Powers of government which they codified in The United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Today, however, we have a reinterpretation of the Constitution, as I have written in my article, “A Republican Constitution or a Democratic Constitution”, that is more Collectivism of Groups of Americans, rather than Freedoms and Liberties for the Individual. As such, we are no longer living under a Constitutional foundation for the establishment of Liberties and Freedoms, but an unwritten reinterpretation of the Constitution to suit the collectivist political goals and policy agendas of Progressives/Leftists and with the full support of the modern Democratic Party.

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More information about this book can be viewed at his website The Liberty Mind. Although the book was published in 2006, the Liberal/Progressive/Leftist Agenda has become more pronounced and easily understood by the words and deeds of today's "Progressives/Leftists" and the Democrat Party. These political goals and policy agendas are antithetical to our American Ideals and should frighten any person who believes in “Freedoms, Liberties, Equalities, and Equal Justice for All”. This book inspired me to create articles that are extracted from this book. I would suggest that you read these articles in the following order to obtain the essence of this book:

• The Liberal Mind Overview - This article is an overview of the three sections of this book, which I have titled: I – The Nature of Man, II – The Development to Adulthood, and III – The Adult Liberal.
• The Liberal Mindset – This article is the author's selections from the book that highlight the major topics of the book.
• The Two Liberal Minds Beliefs - This article defines two types of liberals: ‘The Benign Liberal’ and ‘The Radical Liberal’ and their different viewpoints and perspectives.
• The Liberal Manifesto Major Principles - The section “The Liberal Manifesto: Major Principles” from Chapter 35 examines their political goals and policy agendas of today's Progressives/Leftists and the Democrat Party. I have excerpted this section of the book for your review and consideration.
• The Liberal Integrity and Treatment - The Chapter 48 section, ‘Integrity and Treatment’, has the best explanation of the difference between the Liberal and Conservative mindset that I have ever encountered. I have excerpted four sections of this chapter of the book for your review and consideration and as a basis for understanding the psychological nature of the political divides that are occurring in America today.
• The Ideal and Reality in Radical Liberalism – The Chapter 47 sections, ‘The Liberal Agenda as an Evil’, and ‘Ideal and Reality in Radical Liberalism’ contradicts the claims of moral superiority and correctness that The Liberal Mind so often self-proclaims.