Thanks Tom for this great post! I was sent it via the Myths and Fairytales group, which is discussing it next month. I read it after I wrote my post - and it echoes much of what you say. We are definitely on the same page! Glad to be on the same page with you, friend :)
I’ve always thought that the President stands in, like the King (or Queen) for the “King” in a deeper sense. An image of ourselves, the Self perhaps. Of course if one can’t connect, you’re screwed ( eg , trump, Nixon etc). It’s a deep identification thing, and indeed so many people vote (;I’m not excluding myself) on a level that is not rational but just “I like him” or, slightly deeper, “ he’s like me.” So it’s a
Popularity contest like junior high school, or younger. Some Princeton poli sci profs ( I, like you, am a Princeton grad) did a pretty entertaining, but frightening, study of some election in the early 1900s that was essentially determined by a shark attack in Florida.
So many feel heartened and hopeful now that we’re not doomed to Trump, necessarily. It would be the End. But the real politik of it all is concerning.
Thanks Tom for this great post! I was sent it via the Myths and Fairytales group, which is discussing it next month. I read it after I wrote my post - and it echoes much of what you say. We are definitely on the same page! Glad to be on the same page with you, friend :)
MOSF 19.11: The People and Harris v. An Increasingly Unhinged Trump (the Rising Culture of Democracy and the Beloved Community v. the Culture of King and Cult) https://eastwindezine.com/mosf-19-11-the-people-and-harris-v-an-increasingly-unhinged-trump/
Thank you for this one, and I’ve signed up.
I’ve always thought that the President stands in, like the King (or Queen) for the “King” in a deeper sense. An image of ourselves, the Self perhaps. Of course if one can’t connect, you’re screwed ( eg , trump, Nixon etc). It’s a deep identification thing, and indeed so many people vote (;I’m not excluding myself) on a level that is not rational but just “I like him” or, slightly deeper, “ he’s like me.” So it’s a
Popularity contest like junior high school, or younger. Some Princeton poli sci profs ( I, like you, am a Princeton grad) did a pretty entertaining, but frightening, study of some election in the early 1900s that was essentially determined by a shark attack in Florida.
So many feel heartened and hopeful now that we’re not doomed to Trump, necessarily. It would be the End. But the real politik of it all is concerning.
David Sedgwick