My common sense plan to fix the mental health crisis in the United States.

The United States has experienced 40 year growing epidemic of anxiety and depression.

We have seen an epidemic of Autistic Spectrum Disorders that has gone on for at least 20 years. Those people are now young adults. We have no idea what they will be like as adults.

We have thousands of returning veterans from two wars, many of whom have PTS or secondary trauma. The dirty secret is that many young people enter the armed forces already compromised. That is why they go in. I know. I have treated many of them.

The divorce epidemic started in the 1970’s and damaged millions of children who are middle aged adults and younger today.

Our inner cities are in a state of anomie.

We are further damaging the mental health pool by importing millions of poor people with less resilience, and many from war torn countries.

60% of Americans are popping one pill or another, 1 in 10 take an antidepressant. 1 in 4 women over 45 is taking an antidepressant. Opioid abuse is epidemic. Pot use is way up.

Americans are over-weight and unhealthy physically. Unhealthy people are at a far greater risk of developing mental health problems.

 1 in 10 gamers is addicted to video games. They cannot function in society.

Pornography abuse is epidemic as 50% of men now report watching pornography regularly on the internet. One third of pornography viewers are women. Pornography overstimulates dopamine receptors thus destroying the potential for healthy sexual activity and increasing the incidence of depression and anxiety in abusers.

Our president has used his office to divide the nation for political gain. His healthcare plan is a disaster. Given their lack of trust in the federal government, many Americans are sequestering themselves into enclaves and buying guns at an alarming pace. This situation creates fertile ground for paranoia among people that do not trust their own government.

We are in a mental health disaster.

This is my common sense plan:

We need to apply common sense mental health analysis to all conditions and reject political correctness.

We need to implement positive psychology mental health promotion approaches starting in childcare and at every facet of community life. It is easy. It is not psychobabble. It is inexpensive and it works.

We need massive reductions in immigration and H1B1 visas. Our communities cannot manage the mental health needs and the costs incurred of so many new people.

We should dramatically overhaul the community mental health and VA systems, eliminating the psycho-social assessment, treatment planning, and discharge planning monstrosities. They add no value, they destroy productivity, and they burn out providers.

We need to end the reliance on psychiatrists because the value they are adding is not worth the cost. Many other common sense reforms should be done. The mental health system is a dinosaur. It is time for a revolution in community mental health.

All professional counseling services should be pushed down ladder from psychiatrists and psychologists, which are very expensive to masters level providers and in some cases lower. The goal should be that every person can have access to affordable psychotherapy from an effective psychotherapist.

We need real researchers to shine the light on the pharmaceutical scandal so that we can move people to non medical remedies for mental health conditions.

We need to adopt the Finland psycho-social supports model, which commences when a person is first diagnosed with a serious mental health condition. It is working well there.

We need a grass roots positive person development, nationwide initiative to combat the negative effects of entertainment, drug abuse, sports addiction, gambling, smoking, overeating, commercialism, video gaming, and internet abuse. The movement would promote and encourage healthy lifestyles. It would cost nothing. (This is my most controversial proposal but as a communitarian, I believe it is the most important.

Finally we need to attend to the spiritual needs of Americans by strengthening religious institutions and humanistic institutions like arts organizations and community groups that also provide meaning and purpose. We need to demand that churches and secular organizations abandon their divisive social justice creeds and work for all Americans.

We are at a pivotal place in American history. Change is in the air as we have a new administration and reform-minded people in positions of influence all over the United States. The time is now for a revolution to improve the mental health of the nation.

The war for western civilization

In order to win the battle for western civilization, one must first value western civilization.

I watched Hillary Clinton’s speech from the day after the Orlando Islamist attack in which 100 or more Americans were killed or injured by a soldier for Islam. Clinton sounded remarkably similar, if not almost identical to President George W. Bush right after September 11, 2001. That is not surprising because Clinton agreed with Bush at the time. It was not until the Democrats realized they could make a political issue out of the Iraq war that Clinton became an Islamist apologist. Now, she wants to be elected President of the United States so she will apparently become a war hawk again. Her ideas are actually very good. She wants to create a professional, municipal, and community partnership approach to combat home-grown Radical Islamism. Excellent idea. (Maybe they could team up with some local militia groups – Nah).

What she is not mentioning is that this is a war for the minds of billions of people around the world. This war is similar to the battle against communism. What are we doing on the psychological level to win the propaganda war for western civilization?

First, I do not trust any contemporary Progressive to fight this psychological war because they do not love western civilization. The social justice Progressives spend most of their time attacking western civilization. In order to win, we first need to exalt western civilization and proclaim loudly why it is worth saving. I wish we had some national leaders that would do that now. Our culture spans from Ancient Greece via the Protestant Reformation, through the Enlightenment, the American Revolution, and the battle for freedom against fascism and communism in the 20th Century. It includes our Judaeo-Christian underpinnings. That culture is under attack, not just by Fundamentalist Islam but also by the social justice crusaders in our own midst. If we want to win the psychological war for western civilization we need to first value western civilization. Let’s start there.

Obama is an immature psychologist

President Obama has a fundamental misreading of human psychology and it is placing all of us at risk. Obama prefers the language of victimization instead of the language of containment. He fuels resentment instead of containing it.

This is my primary concern with this awful President. The leader of the free world should not be feeding victimization at home and abroad. He should be containing resentment via his demeanor and his statements.

To make matters worse, President Obama offers selective empathy. He has a preference for people of color and other minorities. He ignores the real concerns of middle class white people in the United States, thus accelerating their resentment.

Consequently we have an immature psychologist as President of the United States, who is exacerbating resentment on two fronts. His approach is exactly backwards. The baby psychologists that give him advice should have their heads examined – by competent psychologists.

The common sense revolution is happenning now

How do we, Common Sense Conservatives contribute to the grass-roots citizen movement to restore the American community? We do it by fighting the revolution for virtue and common sense.

This is an excerpt from my 2011 book, Discovering Possibility: A Common Sense Conservative Manifesto (For Classical Liberals Too). I am using this excerpt in the Preface to my companion book in process, Discovering Possibility: The Revolution for Virtue and Common Sense.

Free Spirits for Truth and Common Sense

Our tactic is using evangelism for truth. We want to be both well differentiated and respectful and we especially want to reach people who are not often exposed to our message.

This is what the American Restoration Movement is all about and there are many of us out here in the trenches fighting for truth, and each doing what we can in our own spheres of influence to be carriers of that change energy. We are fighting some powerful and equally committed forces like the political Progressives, the social justice warriors, the gender feminists, the Marxists, the globalists, the cultural and moral relativists, the European Socialists, and many others who do not believe in Classical Liberalism. However, our numbers are growing and we believe we have the truth on our side. Therefore, we will stay the course until the restoration is complete, and the American community is restored to the original intention of the Founders. We see the process unfolding as below.

The Unfolding Process

I have written about how I believe individuals will be happier if they embrace freedom, personal responsibility, neighborliness, and thrift. More importantly, I believe our American communities will begin to prosper again when these principles return to the forefront of American life. In this chapter, I want to talk about ways that more people can rediscover these notions and how the community would organize itself differently to create more opportunities for the actualization of these values. As these values are embraced by more and more people, and particularly by people who have not previously been exposed to our American tradition, or previously had not seen themselves as connected to that tradition, I believe there will be a dramatic cultural shift in America. My hope is this book and our corresponding advocacy will inspire Common Sense Conservatives to continue to move forward with a tangible action plan in this important moment of opportunity. I also hope to convert others to join the growing movement.

Conservatives on the airwaves have teamed up with grass-roots citizen movements, using the new media to uncover the insidious socialist advances in the United States, a development that has aroused a counter-revolution in America that I have not seen in my lifetime. There is no stopping the counter-revolution because it is firmly grounded in classical liberalism and fueled by righteous anger. The election of a Progressive, Post-American President, Obama and his actions since elected are the impetus this quiet majority has needed to assert itself, and they will in the coming years. Change will happen quickly.

I would like to encourage my liberal friends in human services and academia or those that identify with the Progressive tradition because they have distaste for what they see as narrow-mindedness, to reconsider classical liberalism. We need you in the Restoration Movement.

The Progressives are using you to take the country off a cliff so they can rebuild a different nation. They are using the tools of cultural Marxism to co-opt the energy that you feel because of the cultural divide above to foster a trans-formative agenda, an agenda I do not believe you really want. I am especially speaking to my African-American, Gay, academic and feminist friends and colleagues who are a part of the pluralistic American community our Founders created. Please consider learning more about the American Restoration Movement, remain true to your core values, but also join us in deconstructing the Progressive Movement and restoring America.

We are at a tipping point in American history. As I wrote earlier, I believe the misguided election of President Obama will be the impetus the quiet majority in America needs to enact a bold, restorative agenda. As history tells us, it usually takes a bold action to create a counter-reaction and in this case, it has taken the election of an ideological Progressive President, who many see as uninspired by our traditional values, to usher in a rabid democratic pro-American-identity protest. People are waking up to the inspiration and the truth of the American Constitution and speaking truth to entrenched power. I am glad to be a part of that energy and hope this book will contribute to the cause of freedom.

I believe we can recreate the American community if we take some bold steps now and have the courage to follow through in the face of what will be very intense, perhaps even violent opposition from the keepers of the status quo. There are many people that have an enormous stake in the government-corporate oligarchy, and those folks will not step aside easily. They will need to be defeated by Common Sense Conservatives in an ideological and electoral war, a war that is already raging.

There is a sea of discontent sweeping across the land that longs for the America it used to know and love. That is the energy that is driving this Restoration Movement, a movement that is weary of illegitimate and misguided attempts to perfect our union. The people’s movement seeks to revitalize the spirit of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, a return to liberty, personal responsibility and reverence for Nature’s God.

Many citizens are learning about our national heritage for the first time and how far we are straying from the core beliefs of the great men that started America. These energized citizens are becoming fearful and angry as they realize we are losing our core identity. Those emotions are driving the desire to stand up and put a stop to the socialist slide.

Common Sense Conservatives must stand up and have their voices heard now in public forums, in the media, in social networking sites, and at the voting booth. This is how the restoration will occur – one conversation at a time, wherever the opportunity presents itself to change hearts and minds. We need to speak truth to power and act in the community interest rather than advocate for our limited self-interests. We must be exceedingly careful to avoid conflicts of interest that will diminish our message and compromise our integrity. At times, we will be advocating for things that will negatively affect our own bottom-lines. We need to stand for what is right and true. This effort is for our children and grandchildren.

In my way of thinking about this strategy, it means speaking up for freedom, personal responsibility, voluntary neighborliness, and thrift at every opportunity. When we assess situations as community leaders, we need to advocate courses of action we believe will lead to the advancement of these principles. That means thinking deeply about the ramifications of our actions so we can implement practices we believe will work. It means we will need to stand up to the inevitable peer pressure from status quo interests who resort to guilt tripping and fear mongering to get what they want. We must ignore the inevitable cries of racism and sexism and the claims that our advocacy will hurt children and other vulnerable people. We must see those accusations as political rhetoric intended to further the self-interests of people who are benefiting from the current illegitimate system or who want to transform America into a socialist state. We must offer sound arguments without bombast and monitor our own emotional reactivity. It will take considerable courage and a thick skin to speak truth to power as it always has.

Kill the Patriarchal Witch

Warning: Jungian concepts below. If you are easily offended, do not read this.

The Earth Goddess has been dying a slow death for decades. Women are embracing the unnatural Patriarchal Witch instead. She is the hard-driving archetype that makes women ill. In so doing they are also killing off the Warrior Male with the help of a politically correct discourse that steals his power. Secretly, many women would prefer to be goddess to warrior in order to find more contentment, but society tells them to keep that wish private. Correspondingly, many men are reluctantly willing to slither away into nothingness in order to gain acceptance. It is easier. Thus the Witch thrives as civilization wanes.

The problem is that without the Warrior the United States is toast.

Society tells men to hide the Warrior. Political correctness emasculates him. They medicate him into oblivion with drugs for ADHD and depression. He becomes an alcoholic or a porn/video game addict instead, or he slinks into quiet desperation.

That was a brief primer on Jungian psychology. Author Marion Woodman brought these concepts into the Zetigeist in 1982 with the release of her great book, Addiction to Perfection. In that book, and later in the 1990’s as a partner to other Jungian writers in the Men’s Movement, Woodman encouraged women to find wholeness by rejecting the societal imposition of the Patriarchal Witch and embracing the Earth Goddess. She failed because the forces of political correctness and the Patriarchal Witches in radical gender feminism defeated her. They also killed the men’s movement. Society lost.

Those same Witches are alive and well in the modern Democratic Party. You can find them in large numbers in the abortion industry and as leaders in the LGBT activist community. They are not bad people. They are misguided.

We may be about to witness a rebirth of healthy men’s consciousness. The Patriarchal Witch may be experiencing a counter-attack. We shall see. I will be doing my part to shake up the status quo, not because I have any animus toward people that disagree with me but because I wish to build a healthier community.

Rhetorical revolution

“It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds” – Samuel Adams

Some of my friends and followers are angry at me for being so brash. They don’t like my politically incorrect insensitivity.

When we have millions of conservative Americans willing to support Donald Trump for president, despite his personal shortcomings and unproven conservative credentials, that is revealing something important about their state of mind. They are pissed! They are desperate! They are activated! When Donald Trump is un-invited from a conservative gathering and the un-inviter (an otherwise stalwart conservative voice) has his social media accounts flooded with angry protesters, that is saying something important about the state of mind of conservatives. They want to blow up the political system and all of the media entanglements associated with it. They understand that this fight is bigger than an election.

If we don’t fight the rhetorical revolution and start to win, others will seek violence.

Political correctness is the denial of reality that serves to empower one group or a series of groups over another. Political correctness is designed to shield minority populations from criticism while highlighting the offenses of dominant groups. Political correctness is thus a war on successful white men. Those men are understandably angry, and they are seeking conservative leadership.

Political correctness is exploited by political forces to silence their opponents. It is the primary tool used to advance cultural Marxism. Cultural Marxism seeks to destroy the conservative values that buttress the American Community. Turning men into milquetoast breaks down the membranes that hold the American Community together.  It is insidious and effective. Political correctness is an assault.

Presidential candidate Carly Fiorina put it this way. She accurately described the conflict as a battle between conservatism and the Democratic Party that she believes is undermining the character of the nation. She is correct.

Millions of Americans want to fight back and they are looking for leadership. They are tired of complaining and whining. They are tired of civil discourse that gets nowhere. They are increasingly sick of Fox News and timid conservative media. They want action. They want Samuel Adams.

I try to mirror those emotions. I understand that cultural issues are at the root of the tension. Politics are downstream from culture. We must battle the culture war if we are to save the American Community. We cannot be timid.

The American Revolution had all sorts of different leadership personalities each with a different style and a role to play. We need all of them now in the rhetorical revolution.

If we want therapsits we should stop calling them police

As I am observing the latest round of bad cop hangings in the national media, it seems to me there are some values-based differences that are leading to problems. We have most Americans believing that police officers are authorities that deserve respect. So, when they ask you to do something reasonable, you do it. Then we have a few subcultures, African-Americans and Anarchists, that apparently believe compliance is optional. In every bad encounter I have seen so far, the tension STARTS with the subject refusing to do something reasonable that a cop asks him to do or say – like May I see your driver’s license? or What is your name?

What is a police officer supposed to do if a person refuses to follow directions? What does his training tell him to do? My guess is, his training tells him to make people comply. Do we want to live in communities in which following orders from police officers is optional? I don’t. I want my fellow citizens to do what police officers tell them to do. If we want therapists policing the streets we should hire therapists and stop calling them cops.

Police are undoubtedly reacting to the loss of control they are feeling, given that we have so many anti-authority personalities running the streets.

So, in my opinion, the core social problem is anti-social behavior that stems from subcultures that teach disrespect for authority. Our first order of business should be to address the social conditions that are creating a disrespect for law and order, before we address police training methods that are leading to over-reactivity.

Martyr’s Prayer

I do not work hard to earn credit. I work hard because that is how I glorify you. Even though I endure some challenges, I am no more special or no more deserving of your praise than anyone else. I just am, and I do the best I can to live a good life.

I will try hard avoid to avoid resentment and the temptation to expect others to make up for what may otherwise be lacking in my life. I will find joy in simple pleasures, and know that better days are coming.

Are lions more valuable than fetuses?

I am glad people are catching up to my thesis about animal obsession.

Animal worshipers are outraged when an animal is mistreated but apparently have no concern about unborn life. So, let me ask. Which is more valuable as a spiritual being? An unborn fetus or a full grown lion?

I wrote this in Discovering Possibility:

“There is another troubling trend in America about which I can only offer anecdotal support that I believe points to the deterioration of our culture. It seems that Americans are becoming increasingly obsessed with animals and pets. Across the political and sociological continuum, it seems that many folks are creating an equivalency between animals and humans, almost to the point of animal worship. This concerns me and may point to the extreme fragmentation of society such that people are craving unconditional and nonjudgmental bonds, like that which can be received from a pet. It points to loneliness too, where people may be seeking out pets for social contact because they are not talking to their neighbors. A more troubling explanation for the animal obsession may be the devaluation of our own species, such that people believe there is no moral or spiritual difference between humans and other animals. To this writer, this phenomenon speaks to societal devolution.”

Cecil is just a lion. He has no soul.

Weak-thinking liberals love the ad hominem attack

Some of the smartest people in the United States must have failed a course in moral reasoning.

I will be teaching a course in critical thinking to college freshmen this fall, so I did a little research.

Definition:

ad hominem: (of an argument or reaction) directed against a person rather than the position they are maintaining.

If I oppose gay marriage because I believe it is a slippery slope to social chaos it does not mean I am afraid of gay people.

If I oppose illegal immigration and a chaotic US resettlement policy because I am concerned about the negative impacts of misguided multiculturalism it does not mean I hate immigrants.

If I value Euro-centric traditions and philosophies such as those emanating from the Age of Reason it does not mean I am ethnocentric.

If I believe there are positive and negative race-associated cultural patterns it does not make me racist.

If I believe men and women are different it does not make me sexist.

If I love my country it does not make me an imperialist.

If I speak honestly about any subject it does not make me mean.

We get this when Democrats do it. Some of them are opportunistic sociopaths. They know this tactic works. Some of them are suffering from the delusional thinking that comes from post-traumatic stress disorder, and they really believe this stuff. For others, this repetition is an illogical artifact of their public school educations.

But when Republicans engage in the ad hominem logical fallacy we have to wonder. Are they embarrassed to be associated with “creepy” conservatives? Are they closet liberals? Do they want to be accepted at cocktail parties? Are they afraid of the Shadow within?

Clear thinkers focus on facts and issues. The speak truthfully and assertively. They attack the argument, not the arguer.

Many liberals must have failed a course in moral reasoning. Some Republicans too.