Reply #24: + Battered Dem syndrome + Impeachophobia [View All]

= dysfunctional beyond belief.

They are people in need of some serious TREATMENT.

We must never forget that DC is essentially a Republican town, and has been for decades. Democrats who venture into the DC establishment are in a very real sense "captives" of in a Republican town.

The occupants of the executive branch do a heck of a lot of appointing and the hiring and firing. Over the last few decades not only have the Repubs held the White House for more years than the Dems, they are far more ruthless when it comes to "cleaning house" down to the lowliest staffer. It's not something that get mentioned much, but within the DC "establishment" Repubs simply outnumber Dems by a long shot. Carter and Clinton had very little impact on the balance.

Whether it is via "Stockholm syndrome" or simply the fact that they live in a Republican town, the Dems certainly buy the Republican propaganda they hear at cocktail parties, and they are reluctant to attack their Republican "friends."

As if that weren't a big enough problem, when you add it to the other factors at work -- the http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/learned_helplessness.htm">learned helplessness of the abused and http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/a_a_learning.htm">anticipatory-avoidance learning of the phobic -- perhaps it shouldn't be too surprising that they are a such a mess.

When it comes to refusing to act when principle demands it, I think " anticipatory-avoidance learning" is the biggest factor . Their behavior certainly looks more like a phobia than anything else.

Phobias reinforce themselves because the person successfully avoids the feared consequences (no matter how irrational or vague) by avoiding the feared situation or object.

They tell themselves terrible_thing_X will happen if we bold_action_Y

They avoid bold_action_Y like the plague

They lose respect for being weak and unprincipled. More Americans give up on them. But they tell themselves

"Whew, at least terrible_thing_X didn't happen. Good thing we didn't bold_action_Y!"

Phobias tend to generalize. Soon anything that looks remotely like a bold_action_Y strikes fear in their hearts. There is circularity to it. Generalized fear prompts avoidance. Invoking terrible_thing_X or terrible_thing_Y or terrible_thing_Z is really just a way to rationalize the avoidance.

Whatever the cause -- impeachophobia, battered Democrats syndrome, or something else -- they are in dire straits. They are self-destructing. Emergency intervention is required. We don't need to know the "real" cause to know "the Cure."

Related:

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/pat_k/23">Impeachophobia, 5-Apr-07

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/pat_k/8">We're Doomed! Doomed I Tell You! (An Impeachment Intervention), 12-Nov-06