Pathocracy

A parody about the "chosen one" is soon outdated by subsequent insanity. Paul Rosenberg cites Elizabeth Mika for an "understanding our sociopolitical situation".

The tyrant shows up in a society that is already weakened by disorder, blind to it, and unable and/or unwilling to take corrective measures that would prevent a tyrannical takeover.

This political environment damages our well-being. Mika defines the disease and offers a way out.

Pathocracies spread into general populace like cancer, taking over and destroying organs of social and political life, along with individual human beings. People living under pathocracies become demoralized and despondent. Depression and despair, along with various social pathologies, are predictable consequences of being forced to adjust to immoral and inhumane socio-political systems based on lies and exploitation.

Awakening to the reality of pathocracy, mobilizing against it and dismantling it, is a process of positive disintegration during which individuals come to realize the importance of higher values, and start implementing them, little by little, in their daily lives.

Rosenberg notes that resistance to Fuckface began immediately after the election, but worries that "it has waned with exhaustion and overwhelming onslaught" and that Dear Leader "clearly believes he can outlast this opposition". Further, if we don't address the reasons tyranny is rising, then the appeal of pathological solutions (racist policies, etc) will remain.

In a time of crisis, picking a status quo candidate means we're only going to be stuck with the actual status quo. Mika elaborates:

This is where the role of courageous and morally advanced leaders becomes so important as they articulate a vision of a better life, along with a critique of the current pathological system. 

[W]e need a transformational candidate, one who is experienced, principled, determined and open-minded to be able to preside over the unprecedented challenges facing us and help us navigate them in ways that enable genuine democracy-promoting changes.

Mika is optimistic about positive change:

Our developmental trajectory leads always toward our highest values, despite — and because of — periods of trials and tribulations.

Update (December 1):  Paul Rosenberg is reminded that a "return to normal" isn't possible since "normal" is how we got here. Elizabeth Mika notes the cult is already well formed.

[A]lmost the entire Republican Party has become a mirror eagerly reflecting [von Clownstick's] psychopathology and protecting him from reality, no matter the cost to the country and the world.

We face the danger that a "wildly disordered worldview becomes the new normal, and everyone else must adjust". Mika:

The rule of a pathological leader and his similarly disordered coterie that defines pathocracy normalizes and champions the worst human impulses. We saw this under communism in Eastern Europe, under fascism in Germany, in the former Yugoslavia where neighbors turned against each other. We see it everywhere when the pathological political leaders give people permission to act on their primitive instincts. We learn quickly how fragile our civilized norms and mores are.

Rosenberg quotes Ian Hughes on four unpleasant facts the media won't report.

First, it is highly likely that [Dear Leader] has a dangerous narcissistic character disorder that makes him psychologically incapable of functioning within a rules-based democratic system. In fact, as we are seeing, his character disorder compels him to dismantle that system.

Second, the Republican Party is no longer a democratic party. It too has rejected the rules and values of democracy and is pursuing a power-at-all-costs authoritarian agenda.

Third, and most unpleasantly perhaps, a sizable fraction of the U.S. population would be happy to live within such an authoritarian system if those they despise are "put in their place".

And finally, violence and aggression are increasingly an indispensable means for the alliance between [Fuckface], the GOP and core [Fuckface] supporters to achieve their goals. 

Update (December 14):  In an interview with Chauncey DeVega, Chris Hedges notes that Americans lie to ourselves about our history of violence.

That inability to face reality means that in a crisis you cannot respond rationally. And this crisis essentially creates a social environment where people do not look for healthy political leaders. They look for cult leaders ... . [P]eople gravitate to the figure who appears omnipotent and promises a return to a mythical golden age. The leader promises to crush these dark forces, which are embodied in demonized groups and individuals.

[The white working class feels] utterly betrayed by the Democratic party and the established elites, and they are not wrong to feel that way. All the frustration and rage and economic stagnation that the working class is now experiencing primed them for a cult leader.

Update (August 3, 2020):  Paul Rosenberg expands on the need to root out pathocracy before it really takes hold. The greater struggles lie beyond this year's election. Rosenberg quotes John Feffer:

To avoid a second Civil War, however, a second American Revolution would need to address the root causes of [von Clownstickism], especially political corruption, deep-seated racism, and extreme economic inequality.

Otherwise, even if [Dear Leader] loses this election, the political creature he represents will rise from the ashes and eventually return to power.