I have been frustrated for days by the discussion cum argument that took place in a blog by oleeb dealing with authoritarian personalities. I doubt anyone else really either paid much attention at the time or gave it thought afterwards, but this is a topic that appeals to me on a deep level.

I went ahead and I read Dr. Altemeyer's The Authoritarians over the weekend. I won't go into detailed criticism over the whole book, but I do want to address his premise. Dr. Altemeyer makes plain in his book that he is analyzing right wing authoritarian personality. He states that this personality is a risk factor in the corruption of democracy. He believes that left wing authoritarians exist, but in such small numbers as to be negligible. He stakes his ethos upon these claims, using his decades of research to bear as an authority on this subject.

In my opinion (with only a few years of authority to bear and lacking any clinical trials), I believe that Dr. Altemeyer is only identifying a small, albeit intensely visible piece of a puzzle. I think that the visibility of this reactionary and submissive subset of society blinds us from an overall perspective. The reason why Right Wing Authoritarians (henceforth referred to as RWA) can sway the direction of our democracy so well is because they are a catalyst. While their opinions and beliefs can be narrow, superstitious, wilfully ignorant, and submissive, they represent the majority of Americans. Their actions preserve the status quo.

If you can bear with me, I am going to address the first 10 questions in Dr. Altemeyer's RWA personality test. I will often rephrase the question with a noun substitution or a grammar shift to redistribute emphasis. My hope is by the end of the exercise, a few readers will continue on to my conclusion and enter into a fruitful discussion.

___ 1. The established authorities generally turn out to be right about things, while the radicals
and protestors are usually just "loud mouths" showing off their ignorance.

1. Experts generally turn out to be right about their conclusions, while the naysayers are usually contradictory without basis.

Dr. Altemeyers first question is specific to the right wing by the use of established and radical.

___ 2. Women should have to promise to obey their husbands when they get married.

2. Women should shave their legs and armpits when exposing these areas in public.

The issue of sexism and misogyny is conveniently ignored by Dr. Altemeyer in favor of isolating the "Promise-Keeper" contingent.

___ 3. Our country desperately needs a mighty leader who will do what has to be done to destroy
the radical new ways and sinfulness that are ruining us.

3. Our country desperately needs a charismatic leader who will expose and punish corruption and lay out a bold vision for the people to rally around.

___ 4. Gays and lesbians are just as healthy and moral as anybody else.

This one is genuinely good, imo.

___ 5. It is always better to trust the judgment of the proper authorities in government and
religion than to listen to the noisy rabble-rousers in our society who are trying to create
doubt in people's minds

5. It is always better to trust experts in government, churches, academia, and labratories than to listen to skeptics who doubt everything.

___ 6. Atheists and others who have rebelled against the established religions are no doubt every
bit as good and virtuous as those who attend church regularly.

6. Communists and Islamic fundamentalists are no doubt every bit as good and virtuous as American citizens.

___ 7. The only way our country can get through the crisis ahead is to get back to our traditional
values, put some tough leaders in power, and silence the troublemakers spreading bad ideas.

7. Substitute progressive for traditional. Substitute ignorance for bad ideas.

___ 8. There is absolutely nothing wrong with nudist camps.

8. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a local militia.

___ 9. Our country needs free thinkers who have the courage to defy traditional ways, even if this
upsets many people.

9. Our country needs individuals who will tell the truth, no matter what the cost.

___ 10. Our country will be destroyed someday if we do not smash the perversions eating away at
our moral fiber and traditional beliefs.

Substitute corruption for perversions and get rid of traditional beliefs.

I rephrased every question but numbers 4, 7, and 8 in order to replace right wing jargon with a less reflexive language. Numbers 7 and 8 I flipped because I have read number 7 at this site and other blogs, and number 8 brings in gun control vice sexuality. Question number 4 is a question everyone should ask themselves and then can replace with any group of people they see fit until they say NO. Replace gays and lesbians with pedophiles and murderers, and I believe everyone but the true antisocial or psychotic would strongly disagree.

Dr. Altemeyer has successfully narrowed his personality studies to a category of individuals who I describe as reactionary idealists. But what about the category of individuals who are apathetic observors? Those individuals who would never even get past the first question on the test without dismissing it as boring or a trap? These individuals are as submissive as the RWA, but do so because politics is "all lies," and cops are "just doing their job," and the President is "just as crooked as the next guy."

I commend Dr. Altemeyer's work inasmuch as it identifies paramaters of thought indicative of individual and group right wing authoritarianism. Is that the true threat to democracy? I don't think so.I believe the reactionary idealist is a symptom of an overall problem, and that is our general amnesia of and blindness to our actual national values. The RWA reactionary idealist may erect a singularly bizarre set of tropes, but nearly everyone else is just as guilty of creating egregores and distractions in order to avoid the obvious truth that the United States of America is a wholesale distributor of violence and exploitation. We have perpetrated countless atrocities directly or by proxy in order to benefit a few elite families. We live our lives under the constant scrutiny and advice of experts, work more hours for less pay, eat less nutritious food and accept an increasingly hostile body of laws and surveillance... it's not that RWAs are submissive, it's that they make a collective problem obvious by their shenanigans.

So the issue right now regarding health care goes beyond the mere question of right versus privilege, or individual versus universal. It is the fact that the cost of this health care is being borne on the backs of the third world. And every union we've helped bust, every coup we've funded and supported, every dictator who has been our friend before becoming our enemy, and every elected leader who fell by the hands of a soldier trained by our professionals underwrites the privilege/right of health care itself. Because our nation is fundamentally broken and we are doing almost nothing to fix it outside of demanding more benefits.

Because it is not about where we are going, it is where we are now. And I know that I am not afraid of a vocal contigent of deluded tea baggers. I am afraid of the next justified war against a comparitively defenseless nation. I am afraid that even if MLK himself were President he would be convinced to bomb Iran in order to secure the long term prestige of his party. And I am afraid that deep down we will tacitly allow the destruction to continue if it means that our families can maintain a safe and comfortable lifestyle.