Psychoanalyst and philosopher G. Heath King says conservative commentators Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck are unhealthy outlets for citizen anger.
Polarization is a vital part of our political tradition, the former Yale instructor told Newsmax.TV. “We were born from a revolution,” he pointed out. “We also have to learn that in a crisis situation there has to be a willingness to find a consensus. That’s what we have to learn right now.”
Limbaugh and Beck “lower the level of the dialogue when they utilize fear and anger to that extent,” King said. “What would be good is to bring that level up to the tradition of conservative thought.”
He cited economists Milton Friedman and Friedrich von Hayek and journalist William Buckley as examples. “Review their thinking and bring that level up higher, rather than going on an emotional merry-go-round as Beck and Rush Limbaugh do.”
King says it’s healthy for citizens to express their discontent in grass-roots movements. “But I don’t think it’s healthy to indulge in the anger,” he explained.
“We have to get beyond that anger. Anger often comes from fear. We have to face the fear to overcome the anger. Then we go to the next level. That’s thinking rationally, and that’s what we really need.”
Congress needs to realize the same thing, King said.
“We need a consensus [in Congress]. We’re in a crisis, and Congress has yet to learn that they need to go beyond their political categories and their ideological preconceptions to find solutions to these problems.”
King has mostly complimentary words for President Barack Obama. According to a Congressional Quarterly study, the president has had more success at bringing people in Congress together than any president since Lyndon Johnson, he said.
Obama has aged visibly in office, just like all presidents do early in their tenure, King said. Given all the difficult issues Obama faces, “I think he’s holding up quite well.”
As for the Tiger Woods scandal, King says Americans’ fascination with the golfer goes beyond voyeurism.
“He’s bringing up by his behavior issues that other people in other marriages are dealing with, whether it’s infidelity, divorce, or whatever,” he said.
“We need to be more inner directed and ask ourselves what his behavior means to us in our own lives, rather than attacking and condemning him.”
King says some of the most vehement attacks against Woods have come from the Bible Belt, which has the country’s highest divorce rate, murder rate, and teen pregnancy rate.
As for Woods himself, “his father basically defined who he was,” King said. “I don’t think Tiger Woods really ever got in touch with his real self and ever really defined who he was in his own values.”
Woods was seeking something deeper than sexual indulgence but didn’t even know what it was, King said.
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