Post Traumatic Love Syndrome

legislative strategy on seeking support from the American Medical Association, the private insurance companies, and amoral, implausible claims ofcostefficiency . Although things mighthave been different ifClinton had been able to imagine a new, emerging, spiritual -ecological-communal successorto the now-defeated Left and liberal materialist alternatives, he was, in the end, ableto do no more than to cut his party's losses by rejecting the failed communal metaphors ofthe past ("the era ofbig government is over"), and, in an act of true political schizophTenia, use his personal capacity to evoke warmth and idealistic hope in the service of expandingthe globalization ofcapital andinternational trade agreements,likeNAFI'A,thatconsolidated the power ofinternational, private corporate power. In response to the uninterrupted progress ofthe conservative ascendancy in the social/political/legal sphere, he consistentlytook positions that actually accepted the conservative viewpoint and merely sought to restrain its influence, defending affirmative action, for example, with such morally toothless slogans as "mend it, don't end it;' and signing the Republican welfare-reform bill in return for temporary concessions by the Right to ease their assault on remaining elementary legal protections for labor andthe environment. Increasingly during the course ofhis eight years in office, hewas reducedto defininghis legacy as "having presided over the greatest economic expansion in history ," an expansionthatdemonstratedAmerica's ability under his leadership to "compete and win in the world market." Taken as a whole, this record actually strengthenedpublic acceptance ofthe continuing normalization ofthe Reagan Revolution, precisely because it showed that even a popular, liberal Democrat seemed to accept the inevitability ofits basic tenets, and even measured his own success by conservative "free market" criteria. JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2001 IVOLUME 17, NIJMBEH. l PostTraumatic Love Syndrome by MichaelBader E VEN THE LANGUAGE ofourmovement- "caring," "community," "love," "mutual recognition;' and "spirituality"-wi.11 stir up resistance in people because such language puts into words longings thatthey have suppressed or cynically dismissed in themselves or in othersbecause ofthe dangers ofrejection and exploitation . By understanding how catastrophes bring people together, we can see how powerfully entrenchedthefears ofsuch connectedness mustbe.The world has to practically collapse around us beforewe can feel safe enough to come together. This understanding should help us feel compassion toward people who are dismissive or contemptuous ofour ideas, as well as toward ourselves for notbeing able to sufficiently live themout. This leads us to the centrality ofaddressing the issue ofcynicism itselfas partofour political work. In theirheart ofhearts, most people don't wantto becynical . They want to feel like they're part ofsomething bigger than themselves while maintaining their freedom to realizetbeiT private ambitions. Their cynicism is a defense against the dangers ofrejection and exploitation . Therefore, we should find ways to talk to NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2006 WWW. TIKKUN . ORG TIKKUN 35 people-in our literature, ou1· conferences, our political proposals, and in the various social movements in which we participate- about the dynamics ofcynicism . In particular, we shouldtalkto people abouthow our political leaders continuously promote a cynical attitude toward idealism ofany kind, how the mass media insidiously reflects the notion thateveryonebas dark and ulterior motives, and how our religions and communities often recreate the same sense ofspiritual emptiness. We should find ways to remind people of movements like the civil rights and women's movements , which were genuinely idealistic and rejected the cynical beliefthattheway things were was the way theywere destined to be. All the while, it's crucial to call people to their true longings for connectedness andto systematically confront the psychological dangers that keep people from hearing that call. We need to try, in words and deeds, to make itsafefor peopleto experiencemore oftheinterdependence that they secretly desire and to rebel againstthe institutfons thattell them that such mutuality is shameful. We shouldn't need a catastrophe to open our hearts to each other and to feelings that are aching to be expressed. MARcn / APltll, 2003IVOLUME18, NUMllEit2 The U.S. WarAgainstIraq by Michael Lerner H ow COULD IT havecometothis?The fundamentally decent people ofthe United States destroying the homes and lives ofinnocent Iraqis,justtwenty -eight years after most Americans were so sickened by war-making that they chose to abandon the ill-conceived war in Vietnam! Once we remember or begin to allow ourselves to truly appreciate...