James Flanagan
Sep 2, 2018 · 2 min read

One of the few things Americans share these days, however differently it appears across the political and social spectrums, is a punitive temperament and defensiveness relating to exceptionalism relating to a sense of inferiority relating to guilt, shame, utopianism and perfectionism. We are a Freudian’s field day.

None of this is hugely surprising except in its severity since we have failed to truly deal with the sin and disgrace of our racism. I don’t fear going through anything if I feel part of a rational, healthy, caring, inclusive society but I am very concerned now. We are at one another’s throats and, fundamentally, NOTHING is wrong.

We are the luckiest people in history but Americans have been divided and played against one another by greedy, cynical assholes and we have been mired in ethically retrograde and destructive attitudes by, of all people, supposedly conservative Christians who have appointed themselves the arbiters of American morality.

A fantasy of mine is that Jeff Sessions will be required to wash the feet of a percentage of all of the people he deports, maybe with Sarah at his side providing oils, salves, soaps and towels. Where is their humility? I have worked closely with Hispanics, many surely illegal, and they are more deserving than most Americans.

Often they want to return to their countries but these have been trashed by our lust for illegal drugs and manichean political machinations. I will say this, if the interplay of our arrogance and sense of superiority and entitlement is rooted in compensation we have plenty to compensate for. Self-righteousness does not become us.