May 21, 2003
Graham's God and George's Evolution
Depression and Devotion: the Bush Pathology
By Dr. GERRY LOWER
George W. Bush was appointed into the White House as a proudly born-again
"Christian," and his "compassionate" conservative
administration entered the White House accordingly, as if it had a mandate from
the gods, when it didn't even have a mandate from the people. Following the
terrorist attacks of September 11th, George has answered to a higher calling
and signed
Operationally, George's vision translates into the Orwellian notion of
preserving American "freedom" by eliminating American rights,
maintaining a self-righteous, neo-imperialistic attitude toward the
"old" world's democracies, and promoting a militaristic expansion of
American power in the name of
In light of George's dynastic family past, it is possible to wonder why George
would feel so duty bound to nourish the conservative sociocultural world which
caused him decades of dysfunction as a young man. Why would he invest in a
sociocultural world which provided him with no interest in education, a good
deal of interest in alcoholic escapism, and little or no ability to survive on
his own in the business world of his social class?
Having finally found sobriety in Billy Graham's concept of deity, George
learned to accept as personal fact that he had largely wasted two decades of
his life jagging around as the spoiled son of money, privilege and power.
Having achieved this personal epiphany, it was by giving himself over to
Graham's god, that George has been able to rid himself of alcoholic indecision
and indirection. In return, Graham's god has provided George with righteous
self-justification. While one might hope for a president who is knowledgeable,
thoughtful and caring, George doesn't need to be any of these things, because
George is right in the eyes of the god who keeps him sober.
George's devotion to his Grahamic god has saved him from a life of alcoholic
failure and chronic bailouts, no doubt. George has found his theological
calling as a "dry drunk,", now able to be smug and belligerent
without drinking a drop, as testimony to the great healing power of Graham's
god. From this self-righteous mindset, George has declared that America (and
the crony capitalism for which it has come to stand) is transcendent of all
traditional western notions of morality, no compassionate forgiveness, no
religious vengeance, just raw unprovoked military aggression.
In the course of this personal evolution, George has come to accept that he was
a black sheep in the Bush dynastic family, that he was saved from himself by
Graham's god, and that he has since been blessed by that god with a
transcendent, religious reason for being in power. Given that George's dynastic
family has made his survival and his "success" possible, it is
necessarily in George's interest to see himself as duty bound to those
responsible. George, the prodigal son, has found his way back home to make his
family proud. It was he who was out of line all along wasn't it now? All praise
Graham's god.
This approach to the comprehension of causation in one's life is, by now,
classically "American" in that it only goes back one step in thought.
Under the aegis of consumerism, for example, food comes from grocery stores and
housing comes from real estate agencies, nevermind the farms and ranches and
timberlands. For decades now, American consumers have believed that they need
only go back one step in thought, to the retail outlets and to the common
denominator required at all of them, i.e., money.
Likewise, personal causation in George's life did not start one step ago with
his devotion to Grahamism, nor did it start with his earlier devotion to
alcoholism. As with even "common" people, personal causation in
George's life started back in the family, where the parenting which he
experienced must be considered as a factor in his early lack of self-discipline
and self-respect and, therefore, his lack of parental respect.
In other words, if George took a natural historical look at his situation,
beginning with his beginnings, he would see that there are necessarily direct
and indirect reasons for his having spent his first two adult decades in
alcoholic failure, both as a dis-interested student and as a would-be
businessman. George must know that he was not really such a "bad"
kid, that there were home-bound reasons for his depression and his penchant for
alcoholic escape, his inability to find a mature footing upon which to grow.
From what kind of world do you suppose George was so desperately and for so
long seeking to escape? What was the nature of the parental world that would
drive a young man into a life style of alcohol and meaningless relationships?
What parental impositions would produce a young man with little interest in
personal growth and self-improvement? What sins of commission? What sins of
omission?
This is the introspective subject area to which George ought really devote
considerable personal attention in the interest of self-comprehension. It would
certainly make him a better president to better know himself. Do you suppose
that George turned to alcohol and "good" times because he was raised
in a world in which he was personally insignificant and inconsequential? Do you
suppose that George lost his way because he was exposed to nothing that had
meaning for him, nothing that made sense to his nascent self? Do you suppose
that George's wealthy and powerful parents were so busy with matters of pomp
and circumstance, matters of security and securities, that George's needs were
oftentimes treated with benign neglect (which is never very benign)? Do you
suppose young George went off the deep end because he got everything he wanted
and very little he needed?
Do you suppose that if George thought about his life on the whole, from the
beginning, that he might see that his youthful depression and escapism were
understandable if not justifiable, given his dynastic family experience? Do you
suppose that George might come to see that he was perhaps not all that wrong as
a rebellious youth, more like over-protected, over-pacified and neglected? Do
you suppose that George might come to see that had he been provided what all
young people need at home, a loving, honest and time-intense parental
relationship, he might have avoided two decades of meaningless escapism? Is it
not entirely possible that George could have departed the parental nest to do
just fine as an adult, not as a politically-appointed and manipulated
president, not as a self-ordained religious hack, but as an honest, thoughtful
and caring individual making honest contribution to the country and the people
he could love?
Think back, George, to the days before you sold yourself out. What exactly
about your home life was bothering you?
Dr. Gerry Lower lives in Keystone,