Among the statements Donald Trump has made that most reflect a personal ‘philosophy’ is that one: “I alone can fix it”.
And it epitomizes not only NARCISSISTIC ‘thinking’ but MALE thinking, too. In fact, it IS how males tend to think and problem-solve — unilaterally.
If you look at the mythological heroes we Americans have created for ourselves (real, quasi-real & flat-out fictional) — Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Paul Bunyan, Uncle Sam (just for starters) — they’re all ‘rugged individuals’ — solitary males taking the ‘burdens of the world’ onto their strong, sure shoulders. They don’t run for a ‘second opinion’ when things get tough, they step up, man up, and ‘do it’ (whatever ‘it’ is).
And we, as a Nation, have celebrated that ideal — regardless of how bullshitty it actually is. Dictatorships rely on unilateral decision-making. Successful countries however do not. If we measure ‘success’ by happiness of a population, America doesn’t score too terribly well. Places like Denmark & Sweden are far, far happier.
We may be ‘wealthier’ in that ‘we’ have ‘more money’ in our pockets, but that ‘we’ is actually a very small club (and getting smaller). Most of the actual ‘WE’ (as in We The American People’) have LESS money now — and a lot less certainty about our future.
It is entirely male to focus so exclusively on the rights of the individual over the rights of the group. The individuals those males are so worried about — they’re all male, too. And their idea of ‘freedom’ is to do whatever they goddamn well please — regardless of who it hurts, inconveniences, disadvantages or impregnates.
As much as we like to flatter ourselves that we’re here for some ‘higher purpose’, our biology says we’re here for ONE purpose: To survive long enough to reproduce — to spread our genetics — before we die. That’s what we’re really ‘designed’ to do. For men, that reproductive role involves sticking our penises into a vagina and squirting out our DNA. Once we finish and withdraw — our real purpose in life having been accomplished — males are free to walk away.
And they almost always do.
Women, on the other hand, must deal with the consequences of that male DNA furiously swimming upstream inside them. Should a sperm survive and make it inside the egg that (could be) waiting there? That starts a process that — if it comes to completion and produces a human child (one that can survive OUTSIDE A UTERUS) — cannot be handled alone.
Female biology demands group involvement just to survive. And that informs everything women do. Survival depends upon the group — and therefore what helps & benefits THE GROUP must take precedence over the needs of any one person. Because if THE GROUP dies, they all die.
When your attachment to The Group dictates your thinking & decision-making, you don’t see yourself as an individual (rugged or otherwise) but as a member of The Group — and your success as a member of the group will depend entirely on your ability to WORK WITH & WITHIN the Group. Consequently, you think differently than someone (a man) who ‘alone can fix it’.
Unilateral male decision-making has brought us to this terrible place: “I alone can screw this up’.
The surge of women into American politics is long, long overdue. They will change the entire political culture — because they think differently than the men who drove American Political Culture into the ground.
Gentlemen — hand over the keys. The Women are driving now — and you don’t want to piss them off any more than they already are.