Our Id-Driven World

I can't help thinking that as I look around at this world, Freud's theory of "Id", that basic instinct of seeking what pleases us without any sense of right or wrong, seems to be driving the bus. We want our needs met and we don't care about the consequences to anyone else. The Id is the very primitive part of our being and is the motivator of infants and very young children.

And the Id seems to be the engine driving of our Congress. Consider this quote in the Washington Post by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell following the down-to-the-wire vote on the debt ceiling debacle:

“I think some of our members may have thought the default issue was a hostage you might take a chance at shooting,” he said. “Most of us didn’t think that. What we did learn is this — it’s a hostage that’s worth ransoming. And it focuses the Congress on something that must be done.” (Washington Post)

The “must be done”, I’m presuming, is to deal with our latest era of deficit-spending which began this time under President George W. Bush, a Republican. Most people understand that if you are spending money, you need to bring money in. For government, that means collecting taxes even from wealthy people. The hostage taking has cost us. The country’s credit rating was reduced by Standard’s and Poor… and the Chinese. Way to go, patriots of partisanship. I wonder what our next blunder will be?