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"Psychological projection is a theory in psychology
in which humans defend themselves against their own unconscious
impulses or qualities (both positive and negative) by denying their
existence in themselves while attributing them to others. For example, a person who is habitually intolerant may constantly accuse other people of being intolerant. It incorporates blame shifting."--from Wikipedia's series of articles on psychoanalysis.
Do the Cheeto and the GOP at large suffer from this psycholocical malady? Or is their propensity to condemn their "enemies" for exactly the dirty tactics they have so successfully employed for the past several years merely an exercise in revisionist propaganda?
Or are they merely honing their skill at making the best of the first by employing it as the second? If fate hands you a lemon as an ideological leader, make...
Kool-aid.
Right-wing "economists" harp that Americans do not save enough money. Many Americans are working two jobs to pay housing costs that eat up 1/3 to 1/2 of their income. Health "care" is another 10 to 20%, or more--and that's just the cost of insurance. If they actually get sick or have to take drugs, it's more. Now pay for food, utilities, gasoline and auto insurance, a car payment or auto upkeep, a cel phone...if you're lucky, you can throw in cable tv or internet. What's left to save?
Say I have a couple of pennies left over at the end the month to put away. I'll get a whopping .25% (yes, that's 1/4%) interest if I put it in a bank account, and I'll probably end up LOSING money through bank fees. If I should somehow squirrel away enough to buy a CD, I won't be able to touch that money for at least six months, probably several years...and for that, I might get as much as 2% apr. Where's the incentive?
No...the 98% have been screwed. If we want to save money at all for retirement, we have to put it in a 401k and let the stock market have at it. If we're lucky, we'll at least have what we put into it left when we retire. Forget about any kind of reliable return.
I'm 62 years old, and looking retirement squarely in the eye.
It scares the hell out of me.
When I do my devotion to the four directions in the morning, I ask each of my spirit guides to guide me in some way connected to what I have discerned is their "specialty," as it were.
My Spirits of the South are hawk and owl--who have the ability to see things from far away and in dark places. I ask those spirits to guide me to insight and vision--kind of a request to help me walk with an understanding of what I normally might not see.
What I've had in mind has been more of an understanding of the motivations of other people in my life--people whose actions might piss me off or frustrate me. It's all about ME, in the end, isn't it?
But, as usual, I've discovered that the Universe answers requests that you didn't know you made, knowing there are things you need to experience that you didn't know you needed to...or flat out didn't want to.
Getting old is not for the faint of heart. And being one of the younger of my circle of family and friends, it has almost been harder to watch the physical deterioration of my older siblings, than it has been to deal with my own descent into decrepitude. Partly, I'm sure, because I'm resisting going there with every fiber of my being. (Though not enough, apparently, to be dedicated to exercising or keeping my weight down...)
My brother-in-law and my husband have both been suffering with knee issues for the past several years (and the husband is younger than I am!) And I have to admit, I have looked upon them with a certain amount of impatient "get over it!" clouding my vision of their issues. It has rankled me that, one by one, my family has aged out of things like hiking trails in the woods or even walking a mile on the beach. Again, it was all about me. "Poor me...I have to do all of these things alone."
Well. The Universe saw fit to give me a little better understanding of knee issues.
Three weeks ago, my left knee suddenly went tits up for no particular reason. And I do mean "tits up."
I've never experienced anything quite like this pain. And the weird stiffness that comes with swelling inside the joint. Yuk! It's just...horrible.
So I guess I will need to be a little more sympathetic to my crowd of achy-kneed siblings and assorted hangers-on.
But I have to admit to being a bit miffed with my Spirits of the South.
I guess the moral of THIS story is, "Be careful what you wish for..."
Yes. People voted for a man who displayed this kind of unconscionable boorishness on the campaign trail.
He is the face of our national character, now.
I STILL cannot wrap my head around it.
