What's your heroic credo of true patriotism? Ask this question to all 2020 candidates

Updated 10.1.2020. If inspired, make a comment below. If so inclined, share this unrig blog to encourage discussions about the meaning of patriotism.

The 2020 election is the greatest political event in the history of democracy.

Redress the injustices of isms

Isms (listed below) are divisive, oppressive and discriminatory biases (implicit and explicit) embedded in our attitudes, beliefs, language, behaviors and actions against others. Isms tilt the uneven playing of advantages disproportionally in favor of the powerful. Isms are antithetical to the inspirational vision of equity: giving everyone a fair opportunity to reach their highest level of human potential and healthy well-being.

The intersectionality of isms fragments people into hierarchal groups of us versus them: a social pecking order. These isms include  racism, sexism, LGBTQQIAAP-ism, economism, classism, faithism, wealthism (prejudice against the rich), reverse wealthism (prejudice against the poor), ageism, sizism and on ...

In health care, we have public healthism and primary care-ism (marginalization and underfunding of public health and primary care). Collectively, these isms enhance economic, health, educational, social, housing, environmental, legal, gender and humanitarian inequities.

The Trump-Covid-Floyd trifecta has revealed, triggered and exacerbated political, racial, educational, social, gender, economic, environmental and legal injustices of isms and inequities on a grand scale. All of these isms and inequities are interconnected and linked to failures in ethical, political, economic and social governance, both formal and self-organizing forms. Focusing on one ism without thinking of the whole or the deep roots of all isms will not create an inclusive, equitable and sustainable future for all.

To redress these systemic injustices of isms, we must ask evocative questions that candidly address the current state of political disrepair and dysfunctional polarizations.

How can we, the Divided States of America (DSA):

• Develop heroic credos of true patriotism to deconstruct the deep state of fake patriotism?
• Heal the crippled soul of our republic, mend the broken heart of our democracy and restore the mindfulness of our constitution, with compassion, civility and courage?
• Build a #FixDemocracyFirst infodemic to implement the American Anti-corruption Act and make our government RepresentUs, we the people?

Unless we unrig the system to represent us, there is little hope in developing public policies to redress these injustices.

Fake patriotism and alt-right extremism are the greatest threat to our democracy.

Understand how patriotism is a double-edge sword

None of the political candidates are addressing the elephant in the room: the deep state of fake patriotism. Alt-right propaganda machines and think tanks have created this deep state. They have successfully waged wars of asymmetrical dysfunctional polarizations. Their 'divide and conquer' strategies on the middle majority have effectively driven the Divided State of America toward alt-right extremism: authoritarianism, the reactivation of white supremacy, racism, neofascism and the politics of isms.

The evil trinity of megalomania, narcissism and sociopathy along with sadism is the driver of isms and fake patriotism. These character flaws constitute the triad of the fake patriot personality disorder. These flaws overlap with the tetrad of bullying:

• Machiavellian (manipulate people to gain power, exploit others for their own good)
• Narcissism (self-grandiosity, hubris, entitled, exaggerated self-importance, self-obsessed about feeling better than others, superiority and put down others).
• Psychopathy (lie, lack empathy, violate and offend others without remorse, unable to distinguish between right and wrong)
• Sadism (love to hate, vindictive, revengeful, and take pleasure inflicting pain on others)

The purpose in calling out fake patriots is to not demonize negative deviants, but to hold negative deviants and their aberrant behaviors accountable to the truth, just like treating a school yard bully with touch love and compassion.

Fake patriotism is antithetical to the heroism of true patriotism.

The political rise of fake patriotism is a leadership failure of true patriotism. The dire state of dysfunctional polarizations is not primarily due to the differences per se amongst libertarian, conservative, liberal, republican and democratic mindsets. What primarily drives dysfunctional polarizations is the closed-minded fundamentalist thinking and the evil trinity.

In effect, we are in a war between fake patriotism and true patriotism.

Whoever best frames patriotism, whether based on truth or alt-facts, wins the election.

• How can we re-design our political systems, flatten the disinformation pandemics and disable the propaganda machines that promote political cults and fake news addictions?

Unrigging the system will not drain the swamp of fake patriotism nor the extreme wealth inequalities of neoliberalism.

• How can conscious capitalism and civil society unite together with Federal and States government to redress wealth inequalities and the injustices of isms and inequities?

The political and economic elites, their think tanks and propaganda machines have implicitly shape our perceptions about patriotism and manipulate our political identities and mindsets. Are we this or are we that? Are we for or against that? Political campaigns are about pushing emotional pro-buttons for one's candidates and anti-buttons against opponents to win votes.

Political campaigning is about telling storylines about fake and true patriotism with respect to the past, present and future. Unscrupulous candidates who gain political power use fake news to tell the worst negative storylines about their opponents and the best positive emotional storylines of true patriotism about themselves.

This immoral marketing and sales job is about buying votes with fear. It is more about manipulating identity politics than it does about selling the details of public policies. This process is more about appealing to the guts and heart of instinctive voting than to the head and soul of deliberative decision-making.

The war of conflicting political narratives about patriotism is about who wins the perception of "truth", whether it's true or not.

• Will the rule of fake patriotism prevail?
• Or will true patriotism triumph?

Here is a political polarity of playbook scenarios.

• Race to the bottom--The winner is the one who best discredits and disrupts their opponent's control of their own narrative in ways that prove that their narrative is more believable than their opponent. The best lair wins. With this scenario, it is about who you distrust the least. Who is the least fake patriot?
• Race to the top --The winner is the one who best elevates their story of true patriotism and calls out the fake patriotism of their opponent. With this scenario, it is about who you trust with integrity. Who is the best true patriot?

Politics is about understanding and managing the dynamics between these contrasting scenarios. But in reality, it is more about the former than the latter scenario.

• What makes the hero's journey of true patriotism so challenging?

True patriots are psychologically naive about the dark side of fake patriotism. They under-estimate the challenge of addressing the deep root causes for the Divided States of America.

The slogan, "when they go low, we go high" will not defeat fake patriotism nor reverse the epidemics of fake news addictions. Naïve pollyannaish positivity, audacious hope and ignorance about personality and group psychopathology will not deconstruct the deep state of fake patriotism nor hold fake patriots accountable to the truth.

We need to understand the depths and dark sides of fake patriotism to illuminate true patriotism. This calls on us to enhance our understandings about the distinctions between fake and true patriotism, the fake patriot playbook (based on Machiavelli and Hitler) and the fake patriot personality disorder.

The neo-terrorism of fake patriotism is a war of weaponized words without regard to truth, justice, equity and freedom. Political fundamentalism drives the uncivil war of dysfunctional political polarizations. Amoral propaganda machines use fear-based mind manipulations to exploit people's gullibility and induct them into mass cult trances of blind unconditional loyalty

Using the metaphor of bridge-building alone will not resolve entrenched conflicts about patriotism that arise from political fundamentalism. To destabilize these entrenched dysfunctional polarizations, we have to deploy de-stabilizing strategies that open the doors to a better future.

To create a better future for all, we need to move beyond the linear, reductionist, win/lose metaphors of war and sports to include holistic, ecological, win/win/win metaphors based on nature, such as cultivating gardens and going in the flow of the river.

Holistic metaphors can help open and align leadership mindsets to accelerate macro-level shifting from the hyper-consumerism of neoliberal economies to designing an inclusive, equitable, sustainable and regenerative future for post-growth purpose economy. 

Policy reforms addressing the perils of technocratic neoliberalism and its failure to develop such a future will not be addressed by implementing the American Anti-corruption Act alone, but it is a big step in the right direction. We have to address the ethics of equity to overcome the depths of political corruption.

The attractor for political, systemic and personal transformations is the vision of equity. This calls for voting in true patriots and vetting out fake patriots to unrig this system, using the tough-love anti-Machiavellian playbook.

We need the light of true patriotism to cast the smallest shadow of fake patriotism.

This calls on people of all political persuasions to cultivate open-mindedness to address our differences more effectively.

How can we:

• Manage the polarities between individual and social values without regressing to dysfunctional polarizations?
• Address the differences in moral priorities between conservative and liberal mindsets?

True patriots put our common humanity above our attachments to political ideologies. In contrast, fake patriots put their political ideology above our common humanity for political gain, power and control at the expense of we, the people.

Understanding how to use the political power of true patriotism is essential for creating an inclusive, equitable and sustainable future. We must vote to advocate for implementing the American Anti-corruption Act as one way to deconstruct the deep state of fake patriotism.

How can we:

• Increase voter turnout to vote in true patriots and vet out fake patriots?
• Develop the herd immunity of true patriotism to prevent the epidemic spread of the fake patriot virus?

Envision equity

Equity is the American Dream. With escalating wealth inequalities and the Covid Crisis, the American Dream is broken for middle classes and a nightmare for working people. We need public debates about what is a fair society to address these questions

• How can we liberate ourselves from the deep state of fake patriotism, their propaganda machines and disinformation cults?
• What political rhetoric will help restore the American dream of hope, fairness, possibilities, opportunities, innovation and entrepreneurship?

Without truth, there is no justice.

Without justice, there is no equity.

Without equity, there is no freedom for all.

This aphorism (above) is the trans-partisan rally call (below) for rising up with true patriotism.

Unite the divide with truth, justice, equity and freedom for all.

This rally call puts people above political ideology, fundamentalism and dysfunctional polarizations. To replace the old stories of fake patriotism and political corruption, we need a servant leadership story movement about the heroism of true patriotism. Such stories embrace inclusive belonging, solidarity and the collaborative spirit of reciprocity for an inclusive, equitable and sustainable future.

As they go low with fake patriotism, you push them out as you rise up with true patriotism.

Clarify our aims

• Make our political processes and public policies serve the needs of we, the people
• Create a culture to improve personal, population and planetary health (IP3H) for all
• Align leadership mindsets across political parties, corporations, educational institutions, religious organizations and communities to work toward IP3H and the WHO sustainable development goals

Our corrupt democracy and crony constitutional republic cannot deliver on these aims. Our political system is broken. How do we, the people, begin to unrig our rigged system?

To do this, we first need to discuss and debate the distinctions between fake and true patriotism. If fake patriotism prevails, political slogans, such as putting country before party, become hypocritical clichés. And the chaos of fake news distracts voters from seeking truth and diverts attention and energy away from focusing on true patriotism. Without effective counter-measures, the emotionality of fake patriotism triumphs over the wisdom of true patriotism.

Wise and rational public policy approaches for addressing the mega-problem of the 21st century, such as the climate emergency and restoring planetary health, do not evoke enough emotional appeals to effectively engage disaffected voters to address such issues. This is especially pertinent when people feel that their vote doesn't count anymore, the system is rigged against them, and nothing will change to really improve their lives.

Plutocracy and corporatocracy reign supreme. They have eroded our democracy and disabled our constitutional republic. So much so, the USA has been downgraded from being a full democracy. This situation has become grossly unfair to we, the people, in terms of wealth, education and healthcare inequities. Paradoxically, patriotic pride of American exceptionalism stands in the way of understanding what has caused the demise of the American Dream.

Our 2-party duopoly of dysfunctional polarization benefits plutocracy and corporatocracy, at the expense of we, the people. Neither party has any long-term strategic plan to fix our corrupt democracy and our broken republic. No one party or slogan can heal the Divided States of America. This brings up the pivotal question. What can we do?

Understand the brain functioning of our political mindsets

The uncivil war between the fake and true patriotism reflects a battle between the limbic and reptilian centers of the brain versus the higher brain functioning of our neocortex. The battle of the brain is about the wisdom of our souls, the intellect of our minds and the heart of our emotional instincts.

It is easier to emotionally manipulate the limbic and reptilian centers of our brain with fear than it is cultivate the higher brain functioning of our neocortex with the virtues of civility, rationality and equanimity. These distinctions in brain functioning help to understand the differences between the adaptive open-mindedness of true patriotism versus the regressive fundamentalist state of closed-minded fake patriotism.

• How can our leaders cultivate the open-minded both/and thinking (us and them) of true patriotism to prevail over the closed-minded, either/or, fundamentalist thinking (us versus them) of fake patriotism?

A leadership understanding about the polarity dynamics between open-mindedness and closed-mindedness that operate at inter-personally and intra-personally are essential for deconstructing the deep state of fake patriotism.

 A. Inter-personal dynamics of polarities

The interpersonal dynamics of polarities within groups and organizations affect the intra-personal dynamics of individuals, and vice versa, for better or worse.

B. Intra-personal dynamics of polarities

We need light to illuminate the dark side of closed-mindedness through education, self-reflective learning and self-awareness. The leadership task of true patriotism is to help people become aware of, and understand more about how their emotions and cognitive development affects their own intra-personal dynamics between open and closed-mindedness.

Use complexity metaphors

We need complexity metaphors that are based on the ecology of nature to facilitate large-scale personal (mindset) and systemic transformation. The metaphor of building bridges across different points of view are insufficient to facilitate large-scale transformations, especially when politicians and people are polarized by the closed mindedness of political fundamentalism.

• How can we expand behind mechanistic metaphors of reductionistic thinking to get out of the quagmire of rigid dysfunctional polarizations in politics?

We need open-mindedness for people of all political mindsets to collaborate in win/win/win ways.

• What about using the metaphor of garden to cultivate open-mindedness?

Imagine the middle majority across the political spectrum engaging civil dialogues about true patriotism as a way to illuminate the dark sides of fake patriotism, dysfunctional polarizations and incivilities.

• What about using the metaphor of the river flowing into open blue ocean?

Imagine the middle majority flowing down the river, leaving political extremists and fundamentalists watching as spectators from the left and right banks, and not the lead actors.

The hosting of unrig town forums can get to the heart, mind and soul about what it takes to create a participatory republic and a deliberative democracy. We need leaders, politicians, organizations and corporations to develop their own heroic credos of true patriotism for public discussion, dialogue and debate.

The servant leadership purpose of defining true patriotism is to deconstruct the deep state of fake patriotism.

We will not unrig our rigged system, unless we break up the influences of the disinformation cults. Paradoxically, our dysfunctional mainstream media (MSM) has enabled fake news addictions. What we focus on, we feed.

The antidote to the evil trinity of fake patriotism (megalomania, narcissism and sociopathy) is the moral trinity of true patriotism: empowerment, altruism and transparent accountability.

• How can we flip from amplifying stories about fake patriotism to elevating stories about true patriotism?

Building a participatory and deliberative democracy requires us to engage with MSM and new media platforms more effectively to counteract the propaganda machines of fake patriotism and the disinformation cults of fake news.

Barack Obama's naive campaign of hope and "yes, we can" did not address the dark side of fake patriotism. This calls on our political leaders to articulate inspiring heroic credos of true patriotisms. To unrig the system, we need to open people's minds to how we reverse the downward spiral into the abyss of fake patriotism and ascend the upward spiral toward true patriotism.

• How can we mobilize the middle-majority to unrig the system?

Ask yourself and your organization the questions below before hosting town forums.

• What are your personal and organizational credos for true patriotism? 

Host Unrig Town Forums

Imagine all political candidates hosting town forums to answer these questions.

• What's your heroic credo for true patriotism? (Ideally, candidates should publish their credos in advance, so that people could ask specific questions about their credo.)
• How will you counteract the playbook of fake patriotism?
• How will you support the American Anti-corruption Act?

Political patriarchy have yet to unrig the system. In contrast, women have been the unsung heroes of political reform. Read Rebecca Traister's book, Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger, to understand why women's votes may well determine the outcome of the 2020 election.

Fake patriotism will work against implementing the American Anti-corruption Act (watch videos below) but a story movement about true patriotism will extinguish the flames and the fury of fake patriotism.

• Will RepresentUs and kindred organizations promote the idea of hosting unrig town forums about patriotism with all political candidates across the country?
• Which media outlets will take the lead in launching the Unrig Town Forum movement for true patriotism?

Watch 2019 video

Watch 2020 video for the 2020 unrig summit: cancelled.

Calls-to-action

Share this blog with your comment using the hashtags #unrigthesystem. Pay it forward with the gift of your contribution.

If inspired, write your own blog and invite journalists and thought leaders to do the same. Put your blog link on other people's blogs. Blog network power will help true patriotism to flourish. The heroic credo movement of true patriotism is an educational leadership initiative.

Looking for pro bono social media experts to launch this #ideavirus and organizational sponsors to promote unrig town forums.

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