"Projection"

  

Today’s subject is one I have long thought about. It has been gestating in my mind, and it was finally given birth when I read the lines quoted in the rubric.

 

Sydney M. Williams

www.swtotd.blogspot.com

 

Thought of the Day

“Projection”

August 11, 2023

 

“‘It reminds me of something you said to me that summer. How we accuse others of the sins we don’t

admit to ourselves.’ I smile. ‘projection. Remember? I had a psychologist friend explain it to me once.’”

                                                                                         Emilia speaking to Olive

                                                                                         The Beach at Summerly – page 245

                                                                                          Beatriz Williams

 

“Freud,” according to Wikipedia in a description of the term, “considered that, in projection, thoughts, motivations, desires, and feelings that cannot be accepted as one’s own are dealt with by being placed in the outside world and attributed to someone else.”

 

Projectionism is an art practiced by many but mastered by politicians. Like bringing up UFOs to deflect uncomfortable news stories, vilifying those who disrupt the “accepted” narrative of the self-virtuous, or the “illusion of access” to conceal a business scam, projectionism is common among those who hide their true motivations. It is abetted by their cronies in the media.  Democrats, because they spend more time on offense, are more expert projectionists than Republicans, who too often find themselves playing defense.

 

The most egregious recent example of political projection was the Russian collusion narrative, manufactured by Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, which alleged that Vladimir Putin favored Trump in the 2016 election. While mainstream media, without investigating the facts, ran with the story that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia, the facts suggest that any colluding was done by the Clinton campaign. Their law firm, Perkins Cole, arranged for the private investigative firm Fusion GPS to pay Christopher Steele, Britain’s former head of the Russia Desk at MI6 to prepare a fake dossier to support the collusion story. Steele hired Igor Danchenko, a Russian native based in the U.S. and known to the FBI, to provide source material for the dossier – with everything paid for by the Clinton campaign. While the collusion narrative has been disproven, the cost to the Trump Presidency, and to the country, was high. That there are still those who believe the Russian collusion story is proof of the axiom made famous by Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels – that a lie repeated becomes truth. 

 

The claim that MAGA Republicans put “democracy at risk” is an example of projection – that Donald Trump is an authoritarian, desirous of personal power – that were he re-elected democracy would be at risk. Trump’s character is not to my liking, and I would rather he not return as President. However, despite his refusal to accept the outcome of the 2020 election, I do not see him as a risk to democracy. On January 6, 2021 – in spite of Trump and his followers – our government held. The riot and invasion of the Capital that day did not cause the election to be overturned. Democracy succeeded, which is why that barometer of financial and political events, the New York Stock Exchange, showed no concern that day or during the immediate days following. Authoritarians seek to strengthen their positions. As President, Mr. Trump shrank the number of regulations, giving more freedom to individuals. He has talked of moving agencies out of the Washington, D.C. orbit. He has never spoken of increasing the size of the Supreme Court, or of further neutering Congress by forging new bureaucracies or agencies, which report to the Executive.

 

Ask yourself: Which Party is most aggressive in adding regulations, agencies, and bureaucracies, looking to strengthen the Executive? Which Party has pushed the Administrative State with the most vigor? Which Party flouted convention with the desire to pack and expand the Supreme Court? Which Party has a supportive media? Which Party poses the bigger risk to democracy?

 

As the State grows more powerful, individual freedom diminishes. Since FDR’s New Deal, politicians have had to grapple with the growth of entitlements – how much should they consume, as a percent of GDP and as a percent of the federal budget? According to the website www.usgovernmentspending.com[1], combined Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and welfare programs have grown from 5% of GDP in 1960 to 17% of GDP in 2022. Over that same time, entitlement spending, as a percent of all federal government spending rose from 20% in 1960 to 47.6% in 2022. It is obvious that the nation cannot continue on the same trajectory. But what are the right spending levels? Is democracy more at risk when government intrudes deeper into our lives, or when people assume more responsibility for their personal welfare?  How much individual freedom are you willing to forego to gain the security that a more intrusive, caring government provides?

 

Democracy is fragile; so vigilance is necessary. Charismatic leaders, with the right words, but with a socialistic or militaristic ideology and little or no scruples, can arise from either Party. Given mainstream media’s predilection for left-leaning politicians and policies, the real concern is authoritarianism coming in from the left, where the ramparts are less manned. The best example in my lifetime was Franklin Roosevelt who accumulated executive power behind comforting fireside chats, while arguing that unconstrained capitalism had tilted the Country into Depression. Another is the power behind President Biden – “you didn’t build that” Barack Obama, the only President in my lifetime to remain in the nation’s capital after his term in office ended. Why?

 

Democrats camouflage their craving for power and control by projecting the authoritarianism they practice onto their opponents. In Donald Trump, with his ego, demand for retribution, and verbal incoherence, they have an easy, polarizing target. However, he threatens the administrative edifice they have erected over many decades, which frightens them. If the people begin to see Washington’s bureaucracy as a swamp that houses employees loyal only to an ever-expanding government, they may revolt. That is something progressives cannot allow. Thus, ends justify means – deflections, deceptions, fabrications, and projections.

 

 

---

---

[1] You can copy the URL to your web browser or search engine. This website is prepared by a friend and is one of the most thorough of its kind.