'ELECTION (PSYCHO)ANALYSIS

ANALYSIS OF 1998 ELECTION

Victor Bloom MD

In putting this election in historical context, we hear the famous words of Reginald DeKoven:

"The tumult and the shouting dies/The captains and the kings depart..." Now that the dust has settled, we are left with a more sober and cynical view of government, as if there were ever a time of honesty and idealism.

Perhaps for a brief moment, the founders of this great nation showed the way to the rest of the world. We gained independence from a colonial power and established the world's first democratic republic. The founding fathers created a constitution that has been replicated around the world and the United States has been a beacon of light and a haven for millions seeking a better life and religious freedom. The rest of the world looked up to us, especially as we fought and died to settle two world wars and established the United Nations in the first part of this century.

But time has a way of eroding ideals and people tend to sink into dishonesty and corruption. There was a time when national and world leaders earned and deserved respect, admiration and even adulation, but that time seems to be gone. We hope it is not gone forever. What seems to be emerging is a new morality, one that accepts abuse of power, as long as the economy is stable and growing. There is enough for everybody, and that is all, it seems, that counts.

To get down to recent history, the small Democratic success at the polls says that the country is not bothered by office hanky-panky. At least not in the case of the president. A CEO or a general would be out of office by now, but our Commander-in-Chief is above the law. This is the new morality. The old Greek ideal of virtue, the greater good for the greater number is the governing rule. The will of the people seems to be that we should let bygones be bygones and move on.

What does this say about the majority of the American people? Spokespersons for the 2/3 majority say that what the president did is not so bad. They identify with him as not wanting their own sexual secrets exposed. They do not identify with the« Grand Inquisitor. The idea that sex is recreation has been growing since the sexual revolution of the sixties. Medical science has brought us the birth control pill and now, Viagra. More and more, young people bypass matrimony and older folks step out of the sacred bond. Sex is everywhere in the media, from movies and television sit-coms to the soaps and talk shows. Nothing much shocks the country anymore.

What is truly shocking are the excesses of the Religious Right. Pro-life zealots lead some who are disturbed to murder doctors and other health workers. Abortion clinics are fire-bombed. They also seek to destroy public education by enacting legislation favoring private schools, as if school prayer is the answer to the ills of our world.

What we need is a virtue based on reality that truly works toward the greater good for the greatest number. Close analysis of American politics has shown that the trouble with government is the effect of t_he extreme factions of both the left and the right. The country does not want the socialism of the radical left or the reactionary goals of extreme right. There is a potential for consensus and cooperation between the moderates of both parties. To a certain degree, Mr Clinton has forged compromises between the left and the right by his strategy of triangulation. And then his personal peccadilloes negated this cooperation and progress by strangulation. Cooperation was choked off.

If the government has been paralyzed by dysfunctional family dynamics, an analysis may be in order, which will hopefully provide insight to prevent the recent debacle from happening again. History always provides us for opportunities to learn.

What we must learn from recent American history is that the nation is a family. In that family, the president is the father-figure and the first lady is the mother figure. Chelsea is the daughter-figure and there are various ˆand sundry cat and dog pet-figures. The White House is our house.

We react to family symbols, unconsciously. The reason the country has been preoccupied with Clinton-Lewinsky is that symbolically, it is father-daughter incest. That accounts for our horror, fascination and preoccupation. And that is precisely why people have become sick of it, said "enough is enough" and want to move on. The whole sordid mess was too disgusting for words and the Grand Inquisitor was not making it any better. While he was shining a light and using a magnifying glass, the rest of the country wanted to sweep the scandal under the rug. Much ado about nothing... a tempest in a teapot.

The alpha-male ego of the president was the symbol of the nation's "id", the primitive life-force of Eros and the Bacchae, while the conscience or "super-ego" was represented by the independent counsel and relentless prosecutor, Kenneth Starr. Perhaps it is hopeful that the country voted to say "a pox on both your houses." And so |the lineup in the senate and house has been equalized, a situation which can lead to the good of the country, but only if the moderates prevail and work together.

Freud's model of mental health is, "where id was, there ego shall be." The psychoanalytic 'ego' is not the megalomaniac or narcissistic ego, but the Self, the "I" who is moderate, flexible and adaptive. His famous metaphor of humankind's struggle to be rational and creative is that of the horse and rider. The horse is the id and the rider is the ego. Who is to be in charge, the horse or the rider, the id or the ego?

The last election hopefully puts the riders (th¡e moderates) in charge of the horses. The unbridled extremists have been reined in, the wiser heads are now in charge, and the voter has discharged the trainer with the whip and spurs. The rider, with primitive instincts under good control, gallops off into the sunset, hopefully to find a way to good government. The crowd is silent, expectant and hopeful. The voters have spoken and must continue to participate.

Dr. Bloom is Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Wayne State University School of Medicine. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. He is a member of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and corresponding editor of their quarterly journal, Academy Forum and on the editorial board of the Detroit Medical News. He welcomes comments and questions at his e-mail address: vbloom@comcast.net.