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Republicans are Cry Babies Throwing Temper Tantrums [1]

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Date: 2023-05-30

Language matters. Are the Republicans “holding America hostage?” Are they using “extortion?” Are they “economic terrorists?”

Over and over, I have heard and read that the Republicans are “willing to sink the ship of state” and incur a global financial crisis—if they don’t get their way.

This puts Biden in a bad bind. If he negotiates to prevent the Republicans from raising the debt ceiling, he gives their side legitimacy. It looks more like complicated but boring politics as usual, with give and take, until a compromise is agreed on that no side really likes. But if Biden doesn’t negotiate and insist on a clean debt ceiling, he runs the risk the Republicans will destroy the economy. It will be the Republicans fault. Nevertheless, the economic well-being of America and the world will suffer, and Biden will be blamed anyway for not preventing the crisis the Republicans caused. This might not only ruin the economy, but moreover ruin Biden’s chance for re-election. If Biden loses in 2024, either Trump or DeSantis becomes President. At this point, it is Game Over for America as a land of freedom and democracy. Sophie’s choice, to be sure.

So Biden decided to negotiate. Some would say he is negotiating with “economic terrorists.”

Yet I know far more about Psychology than Economics. I used to teach Developmental Psychology to college students. I agree with those Psychologists who claim that many patterns of behavior which are common in young children, become fixated in some adults. For example, most young kids go through a “fussy eating” stage, but eventually grow out of it. But not everyone does. I have known adults who are as fussy about eating as any four-year-old. I would call it “Fussy Eater Fixation Syndrome.” Nothing serious. I once had a girlfriend who insisted her steak had to be burnt to a crisp, as she claimed she couldn’t eat any meat if there was a hint of pink in it. Likewise, her daughter, age twelve, was one of the fussiest eaters I ever met. When her mother brought her over to my house for dinner, she had to stop at McDonalds lest her daughter have to eat the dinner I prepared. But they forgot to get ketchup for the fries, and I just happened to be out of ketchup. When I suggested her daughter eat the fries without ketchup, the mother looked at me in horror. I was wise enough not to point out she was perpetuating her daughter’s childish behavior, by reinforcing it.

Forgive my excursion into Psychology, but it occurs to me that the right-wing Republicans are behaving like immature children throwing tantrums.

Driving from Maryland to South Carolina I stopped at Arby’s for lunch. I noticed, indeed, I couldn’t help notice, a mother sitting with her three-year-old daughter who was throwing a tantrum. Soon her father came over with the food and I observed both of them, firmly but calmly, effectively deal with the crisis. In other words, instead of giving in to her childish demands, or succumbing to the torrent of her tears, they simply told her they would take her to the car if she wasn’t able to stop crying.

Children know instinctively that tantrums are more effective in public where parents fear being embarrassed by their bad behavior. It is thus tempting to give-in to the tantrum and buy the cereal, candy, or toy the child insists le must get, or else there will be hell to pay. Bad idea.

As I instructed my college students, a child around age three will grow out of the pattern of throwing tantrums as they gain the maturity to control their emotions, providing the behavior isn’t reinforced by giving into the tantrums. If the tantrums are reinforced by granting the child what le wants, the tantrums will persist. Even giving in once to a tantrum to keep the peace, such as in a public restaurant like Arby’s or a store like Walmart, will significantly increase the incidences of tantrums and delay emotional development to pass that stage.

It is my thesis that many Republicans either literally fixated on immature tantrum-like behavior or are figuratively acting like three-year-olds, who will ruin everything for everybody, if they don’t get what they want.

I have just read articles here at Kos praising Biden for brilliantly negotiating with the Republicans to prevent them from pushing our economy “off a cliff.” Maybe so, Biden is my man and the best hope to keep Democrats in power long enough to preserve our democracy. Nevertheless, I fear that giving in on any Republican demands now, over the issue of raising the debt limit, will only reinforce this dangerous childish behavior in the future. It will inevitably happen again.

It is an exercise in futility to simply wish the Republicans will “grow up.” That’s not going to happen. Hopefully, the adults in the room will manage deal firmly with such dangerous childish behavior, until only adults have seats of power in Congress.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/5/30/2172211/-Republicans-are-Cry-Babies-Throwing-Temper-Tantrums

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