Month: December 2019

BETWEEN COURTENAY BARNETT AND RICHARD JOHN STAPLETON

CB to RJS and Others December 20, 2019 6:45 PM

AND

Peace to all Men and Women of Good Will (and may the evil ones all go to the burning “Bush” and “Blairly” be lost forever)

To Our Muslim Brothers

SALAAMU ALAIKUM


To Our Hebrew Brothers and sisters

Happy Chanukah


To my African brothers and sisters in and out of Africa

Happy Kwanza and Kwanzaa


To our atheist and agnostic brothers and sisters

Have a good day

( and if you are of a group that I forgot or did not specifically mention – good will to you nevertheless, but send me your details and you will be included next time in the list above – promise)

And to Our Christian brothers and sisters


MERRY CHRISTMAS
CHRIST IS BORN
. . . + . . .
. . # . .
. . ### . . .
. .”#:. .:##”##:. .:#” . .
. . “####”###”####” .
. “#:. .:#”###”#:. .:#” . . .
. “#########”#########” . .
. “#:. “####”###”####” .:#”. .
. . “#######””##”##””#######” .
.”##”#####”#####”##” . .
.”#:. … .:##”###”###”##:. … .:#” .
. “#######”##”#####”##”#######” . .
. . “#####””#######””#####” . .
. ” 000 ” . .
. .. __000___ . . .
/. 000 ./|
/_______/ |
| Barnett| /
|_______|/

This email is sent as a “love gift” for Christmas 2019. It is also a “health gift” – the best gift a human can have – compliments of Dr. Courtenay.

There are six  gifts in this package.The inner health gift.

1. The inner health gift

We unwittingly ingest parasites at times from vegetable and other foods. Normally our system will deal naturally with these, but there is a way in which we can improve our inner health. The papaya fruit is a fruit with dual healing properties. The papaya is a natural meat tenderizer. This also means that it has properties that are beneficial for our digestive system. It will literally melt what we have in our digestive tract, and in its natural state it is absorbed quickly by our body. So, eat a complete papaya once a week, and you are assured that it will do its cleansing best in your system. Next, do not throw away the little black seeds – eat them. The reason for this is that the seeds have anti-parasitic properties. So, about once every two weeks eat a handful of papaya seeds. You can dry and store these and have them in your kitchen cupboard, and make this a part of your regular diet.

2.  The healthy nerves health gift.

There is a fruit that grows in the Caribbean known colloquially as the ‘sour sop’. It is green with a soft spiny exterior, and has white flesh on the inside. It is used to make a drink, which when taken has natural properties that are good for the nerves. Some of the other health properties can be found at this web site: http://hubpages.com/hub/Medicinal-Benefits-of-Soursop

3.   The good night’s sleep and clean skin health gift.

Fever grass – also known as lemon grass – makes a tasty tea, and as a lotion does wonders for the skin. It naturally assists with a good night’s sleep. When rubbed on the skin as a lotion, it has anti-fungal properties and naturally cleanses the skin. Dr. Courtenay recommends “Country House products” out of Jamaica, for this lotion:[email protected]

4. The overall good health tip.

Try consuming the Moringa plant. I have it on island and I make a tea from the leaves which Idrink. It has been scientifically proven to have a wide range of beneficial properties. Rea here, for more information:-

http://www.edlagman.com/moringa/moringa-health-benefits.htm

5. The clean teeth tip. 

Use the peel of the banana on your teeth. Rub the inside on your teeth. You will find that any yellowstains or discolouration is naturally removed, and this method does not in any way damage the enamel. 

6. The healthy body tip

Exercise two to three times a week – nuff said.

Now, these six (6) tips are worth a million dollars in total N.B. US and not Jamaican dollars ( i.e. measured in dollars – each tip brings to you a total of US$250,000). Therefore, for free you are receiving a very valuable present which you should treasure. Dr. Courtenay has packaged these six gifts in this exclusive package, and is sharing this special gift only with you ( well – to be truthful, with all my family and friends, because it really is a lot cheaper than buying conventional presents).

Disclaimer: The natural products are made by God, so if any one does not work, you are free to sue Him. I am available for all retainers ( having sued a Chief Justice – I will ratchet the challenge up to the high heavens).  The exercise tip is left totally to you  and  your use of your body, so if you want to over-stress your heart, then don’t blame me , nor should your estate bother me with any law suit.

Comment: If my day job does not work out, then via Barnett Enterprises Inc. these love gifts will be packaged and marketed globally at the heavily discounted price of $2.50 each. But, for now just appreciate and accept at the true value with all the extra zeros added on, and remember – that we can’t put a true value on good health.

These gifts come in our standard internet package, which requires:-

1.       That you open

2.       That you read

3.       That you apply your mind and not the delete button

These gifts are meant as an instructive and easy to use way towards better health – valued at least at a million dollars in total. Have a happy and healthy Christmas 2019, and even healthier new year.

Love,

Dr. Courtenay 

RJS to CB December 21, 2019 12:24 AM

Hello Courtenay.  Apparently you have had good parenting for all your ego states and you have a winner script. You are one of the lucky ones. I too am one of the lucky ones despite having been poorly parented. My father was a high functioning autistic and my mother was chronically depressed, both having high IQs. I am where I am largely because of being programmed to seek out good professional help. Born with a serious scoliosis and other bone problems I had to lie in bed three months during the summer of my fifteenth year lying on my stomach ninety percent of the time in a body cast after s spinal fusion operation, that prevented me from becoming permanently paralyzed from the waist down, which enabled me to live without back pain. Now seventy-nine years old I am sometimes amazed I made it as far as i have. I read on the internet a few months ago a doctor about fifty saying he did not want to live past seventy-five since life really was not worth living past that age for most people. I think he was about right but life past seventy-five is not that bad for me, not bad enough that I want to euthanize myself yet, but not good enough that I worry about exercise and what I eat and drink to live longer. I basically live from moment to moment doing what I have to do to get some satisfaction, dopamine spurts in the brain, one satisfaction being thinking I have helped someone feel, think, and behave better so as to live with more satisfaction than they otherwise would have. Not thinking it’s possible that any god such as those described by the religions you list could exist, I nevertheless hope that should there actually be some sort of loving spiritual thing eternally existing after I die, if there is any sort of human-like consciousness left after death, which I doubt there will be, that any such thing will at least give me a little credit for the good I have done on Earth, despite my not thinking any god described by mainstream Earthian religions can exist. Best wishes for an enjoyable end of the year holiday, or any other holiday anytime anything might cause you to have one. Cheers, Richard

CB to RJS December 21, 2019 9:24 AM

Dear Richard,

Thanks for sharing with me.

You have indeed had challenges to meet and nevertheless done extremely well in life.

I am off today to Jamaica to spend the holiday with family.

We will communicate further.

Later,

Courtenay 

CB to RJS December 21, 2019 7:12 PM

Here is my reply to your God( un-Godly?) reflections.

I am fully aware of who we are as human beings; the challenge is to deal with us as we are. So here ( I wrote it several years ago) and here share:-

http://www.daniellesgarden.org/dw-myth.htm

Myth – Danielle’s Garden Danielle’s Garden. TOWER HILL EDUCATIONAL FUND A/C 20067 Bank of Nova Scotia 1-3 Knutsford Blvd. kingston 5, Jamaica. E-mail: INFO@ DaniellesGarden.org . MYTH AS WORLD INSPIRATION www.daniellesgarden.org

RJS to CB December 23, 2019 10:12 PM

Hello Courtenay

Wow. You had great parents. It’s a beautiful garden they planted based on and dedicated to humanity with the best of sentiments, thoughts, and ideals, a great legacy. Thanks for sharing.

I enjoyed and appreciated your essay “Myth as Inspiration.” As usual it like your other writing I have read is well referenced and reasoned, artfully written, and rational, interesting, and informative. I agree with the notion that the development of myths such as those in your article were helpful and maybe necessary for human survival.  I have advocated for the renewal of similar processes along the lines of anthropologist Michael Adzema’s thinking cited in my essay “The Evolution of Spaceship Earth, Inc.” which is posted on the masthead of the Effective Learning Report.  

Christmases were not merry in the immediate family I was inevitably caused to be born in and those negative feelings get “rubberbanded” in my psyche every year caused by Christmas. I have a green sweatshirt with the words “Bah Humbug” printed on the front of it I wore again the other day. Regardless, my wife and I do Christmas rituals and she gets truly merry about it at times. We buy gifts for friends and family and ourselves, especially for my son and his wife and our three grandchildren in Vermont. Debbye and I had an enjoyable Christmas dinner with friends yesterday at the Country Club. I ordered sweet tea to drink and a friend told me I could get a glass of wine on Sunday. I told her no, that this was Sunday, and Jesus’s birthday was only a few days away.  Another friend at table, an Episcopalian, said “We drink real wine at communion.” And I said, “Yeah, but we Methodists always drank grape juice for communion, and I know Jesus may have served and drunk real wine with his friends, even at ‘The Last Supper’, but I think I will pass this time.” She smirked a bit, others raised their eyebrows and smiled some, and the dinner pleasantly progressed.

While I have no problem with cultural myths and rituals that promote peace and satisfaction I do have a problem with the politics of organized mainstream religions, Buddhism being the least harmful in my opinion. Most large organized religions are aggressive, coercive, manipulative, divisive, and exploitative, just what capitalism needs, and they encourage an I’m OK–You’re NOT OK attitude among members with respect to non-members, which in many cases leads to hatred and war. In my opinion these religions do more harm than good.  In many cases they dumb members down, absolving them of responsibility for rationally talking action to solve existential problems, turning them into passive gullible sheep, since they are taught to believe an all powerful all loving god answers prayers and will forgive and save them no matter how much they fuck things up if they profess to love and glorify him in religious ceremonies and pay his priests, preachers, and such to build churches, temples, mosques and various edifices to awe and intimidate more people into joining (Notre Dame comes to mind), thereby increasing the power of the religion overall, helping it win competing with other religions for prestige and the top dog position in the religion industry of the nation, in some countries almost eradicating competing religions over time. I lived in Turkey three months in 1982 and was astounded sightseeing around southeast Turkey near Adana where I lived that the area contained numerous well-preserved historic Christian churches, one founded by Paul of Tarsus of New Testament fame, at Tarsus today, with interesting frescoes and preserved pews, altars, and such; but there were no Christians in the region, the original Christians having long since been driven away.

As a child I thought Sunday school and church, and the Bible, were fantasies or irrelevant. My mother saw to it I went to Sunday school and church and I conformed but I more or less tuned it out. Those were my true feelings and thoughts on the matter of organized religion as I experienced it in the environment into which I was accidentally caused to be born without my consent. My grandfather on my mother’s side was a Methodist minister, and he wanted me to become a minister. He was about as heretical as I was about Christian dogma and doctrine, not believing in the virgin birth, and telling me “There is not an old man with a long white beard sitting up there in the sky on white puffy clouds with a walking stick in his hand looking down on us.” 

I have always had a problem “willingly suspending disbelief” having read few novels, considering it a waste of time to read something as if real that someone just made up out of thin air. Regardless, I have been writing a “novel” off and on for about six years, an allegory, which is more factual than fictional. My problem with the novel now is figuring out how to end it. How much should I lie? If I want to maximize my chances of selling a few copies I probably should make up a happy ending. To make the book sell via word of mouth I probably should tell readers that what they have just read will cause them to spend eternity in a heavenly paradise. On the other hand, at the rate I’m going most likely the book will never get finished and published, so the ethical question of how to end it is moot.

It seems the closer I get to death’s door at age seventy-nine the more intellectually honest I get about what I really feel and think, proving the less I have to lose the more intellectually honest I get. I would never have said to my students in class what I have written here. It’s always been risky to speak honestly in public about what you really feel and think about religion, as my Methodist minister grandfather told me, even, I might add, if you are retired with a good defined benefits pension, as you slowly but surely walk up the sidewalk closer and closer to death’s door. 

Regardless, time may also be running out for dysfunctional technologies, economic systems, political systems, political parties, religions, and cultural myths. Unfortunately the possibility exists today that there will be serious hell to pay if serious feeling, thinking, and behaving corrections are not made fairly soon in all Earthian human populations.  Human caused global warming and climate change, a massive global economic collapse, and nuclear bombs can bring Earthian human affairs to a screeching halt.

Best wishes,

Richard

CB to RJS December 24, 2019 9:50 AM

“Human caused global warming, a massive global economic collapse, and nuclear bombs can bring Earthian human affairs to a screeching halt.” 

Sad – and – I agree.

CB to RJS December 24 10:20 AM

This man is a college mate of mine; he is now a Professor of world religions…

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/letters/20191224/letter-day-let-us-still-be-thankful-christmas

Letter of the Day | Let us still be thankful for Christmas | Letters | Jamaica Gleaner Although there are these dubious associations, and mythological elements surrounding Christmas, let us still eat, drink, be merry, and be thankful that we’re still alive; and that we have family and friends around us during this season. jamaica-gleaner.com

RJS to CB December 24, 2019 11:11 AM

Agree

________________________________________

* COURTENAY BARNETT is a graduate of London University. His areas of study were economics, political science and international law. He has been a practising lawyer for over thirty years, has been arrested for defending his views, has been subjected to death threats, and has argued public interest and human rights cases. He has published several articles in the Effective Learning Report. He lives and works in the Caribbean.

* RICHARD JOHN STAPLETON, a certified transactional analyst, is an emeritus professor of entrepreneurship, organizational behavior, and business policy at Georgia Southern University. He has a BS, MBA, and PhD from Texas Tech University. His areas of study were economics, organizational behavior, and management science. He is the founder, editor, and publisher of the Effective Learning Report.

BY COURTENAY BARNETT

THE ADDRESS TO CONGRESS WHICH ( IN MY WILDEST IMAGINATON NEEDS TO BE HAD) – AT THE TIME OF IMPEACHMENT OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.

Honourable Chairman, distinguished members of this joint sitting of the Congress of the United States of America, honoured guests, ladies and gentlemen, I am truly honoured to have been asked to address this august body.

The historical context

I am Jamaican by birth, human by accident of existence, and an aspirant to be of  a higher order’s making, yet  truly humanitarian at heart. Why this humble person  should have been asked to address one of the world’s ( if not the world’s – save and except the UN General Assembly’s) most powerful bodies ( if not bodies combined) – totally astounds and defeats my wildest imagination. Nevertheless, here I am, so I advance  in response to the three(3) issues I have been asked to speak on:-

1. What is my opinion of what is the greatest strength of the Constitution of the United States of America?
2. What is my opinion of the Constitution’s greatest weakness?
3. What is my opinion on the recent impeachment of President Donald J. Trump?

The first question

In answer I can be very brief. It is that the U.S. Constitution is a well crafted document designed to ensure that there is strong governmental oversight with accountability and checks and balances.

The second question

This is a more complex matter, for the Constitution as a living document subject to the socio-economic environment within which it operates lends itself  susceptible to the power within and impact from that very environment. I shall explain with one (1) central and important example.

Now let us raise two(2) important names in US Post World War 11 history. The first is George Kennan – but – who was he? He was the US Ambassador to Moscow and then the US architect of the ‘Cold War’. Truly a brilliant man who authored a series of foreign policy papers which defined more than over half a century. Here is what he said with foresight:-

“Were the Soviet Union to sink tomorrow under the waters of the ocean, the American military-industrial establishment would have to go on, substantially unchanged, until some other adversary could be invented. Anything else would be an unacceptable shock to the American economy.”

He was correct and presaged what then in his farewell speech General ( Later – President) Eisenhower had to say with great sagacity and prescience  to the American people:-

“So is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”

Stated briefly – he was saying – beware the military-industrial complex.

That is the nub of this, my Congressional address. All of you are there.

1. Where is the rationality in building and stockpiling more armaments ( many nuclear ones) which can never be deployed against another nuclear power without the predetermined outcome of mutually assured destruction ( MAD)?
2. What sense is there in building this global arsenal of bases and war planes and armadas and more weaponry – on and on and on?
3. Where in your Congressional oversight and is there anyone who ever begins to ask rational questions – such as the forgoing just posed?

I could proceed – but you would have to invite me back to present a full-throated delivery. Far too diplomatic to proceed further on this occasion  – lest I offend.

The third question

Here, I see that there is both a Constitutional and political  problem in the United States of America.

So, here I stand,  before you as an invitee to address the difficulties which your country presently faces.

I could lay a foundation to build on a structure of historical references. Rather, I speak and shall limit myself to the  truth about and immediate impact of the impeachment.  I do believe that what I have to say can be coded and encapsulated in quite diplomatic terms from which your own honest determination can make as an informed decision. I do so by way of an analogy.  

Problem

The problem in essence is that there is a President who is alleged to have abused his high office?

Issue

Did he?

Answer

I am not an American and so, while on American terrain, let me then address you in this wholly diplomatic manner.

I therefore reason, as I said I would, by way of analogy.

Say, for instance, a lawyer of great experience finds himself or herself asked by a Judge to represent on legal aid, an indigent female client.

The lawyer accepts.

The lady attends for first interview – and she happens to be extremely attractive.

The lawyer after accepting the professional obligation, in private, in coded language, makes clear to the client that while he is willing to advance her case, it would be subject to conditionalities of an amorous sort. He effectively seeks a ‘favour’ from the lady. He goes further and indicates relative to his professional duty that he could expedite to trial or he could await a longer route to trial. Unbeknown to him, a member of his office staff overhears the conversation and is appalled.  The  staff member anonymously brings the matter to the attention of the Ethics Committee of the Bar association.  In effect there is this  ‘whistle blowing’.

The lawyer  discovers that a formal complaint has anonymously been lodged against him in a two(2) pronged process:-

1. To the Ethics Committee of the Bar Association to see whether or not there is a serious matter to be addressed and then be referred upwards.
2. Reference to the Disciplinary Committee of the Bar Association, if there is a case to be answered.

The lawyer treats the Ethics Committee with total contempt and tells them that he will not be present and says further that the process is a  total sham and that it is a ‘witch hunt’ and forbids all his staff from speaking to the Ethics Committee.

The Ethics Committee in those circumstances examines the limited evidence which they have and in turn decide that the conduct ( read: misconduct) is sufficiently serious to be referred to the Disciplinary Committee. There is a case to answer.

The lawyer, knowing full well that his close and personal associations with all the members of the Disciplinary Committee, who are friends of his and/or persons who are wholly dependent upon him for referral of case work – which he is most able to feed to all and sundry – sits back with ease.

Conclusion

I am a total outsider – yet – I posit a humble opinion based on my legal knowledge. It is for you to decide whether or not the conduct of such a person, be it the lawyer or the President of the United States is ethical, is principled, is in accordance with the requirements and requisite standards of his office.

As I said, I am not an American citizen, but I realise that America has a Constitutional crisis on her hands.

Thank you for having afforded me this opportunity. 

While the lawyer in my analogous reference, is standing on safe ground – what does that auger for the future of the integrity of the lawyer’s Bar Association and legal system? Without undue interference – in any future American electoral process – what does President Trump’s situation auger for the American Constitution?

I remain most appreciative that this, again stated, august body, thought me worthy to address to their elected members.

________________________________________

* COURTENAY BARNETT is a graduate of London University. His areas of study were economics, political science and international law. He has been a practising lawyer for over thirty years, has been arrested for defending his views, has been subjected to death threats, and has argued public interest and human rights cases. He lives and works in the Caribbean.

BY COURTENAY BARNETT

I dispatch this missive to those who are thoughtful, intelligent ( whether from the right or the left) and who do believe that in this globalised world of ours, we actually all do need each other. In fact, even back to ol’ Ghengis Khan’s time  and before – ‘globalisation’ is not, on an accurate historical assessment, a new phenomenon. It has so been packaged to serve the interests of a narrow modern day elite ( but that commentary for another day and another time). Today we shall examine, in a brief way, the recent British election results.

First, let me go wide to narrow my observations.

For those of us who follow global political processes, then this becomes evident.  Jo Swinson, of the Liberal Democrats,   took a position which did defeat Labour remainders. She lent her support to Boris Johnson and his  call for an early election. That is where it all started. Comment: Swinson lost  her  seat to the Scottish National Party ( SNP) – a point to which I shall return.

Put the politics aside for the  moment and let me share my opinion ( for what it is worth) on the more important issue  of the economics of the moment as it may impact the United Kingdom going forward.

Frist, across the wide Atlantic we find some similarities between the US and Britain:-

1. In the US there is a so-called ‘rust belt’. 
2. In the UK there is the midlands and then Northern England.
3. With regards to both A and B these are primarily working class and blue collar people areas which traditionally are either solidly Democratic or Labour voters.

So, what happened in the UK?

I answer my question in this both practical and theoretical way.

It is not highly likely that persons faced with daily bread and butter issues are going to be raising questions in their minds about what is structurally dictated unemployment? Or, what is, as related to the first question, globally dictated  structural unemployment? The first question relates to domestic shifts in investment and the latter to the global situation. But, what does all of that have to do with anything? Actually – everything.

When global capital decides that it is investing in a region, or country ‘A’ or ‘B’ or ‘C’ as the case may be, the decision is made in totally pragmatic terms. More profit relative to the level of investment.

So, when jobs move from the traditionally established Western countries to more attractive and profitable regions of the world, such as China, then there is an unemployment hole left in the former US and UK industrial belts.

What then?

Well, the unemployed, or under-employed situation and others suddenly need an economic answer. How does that come?

It comes in the US from Donald Trump making a series of anti-immigrant; anti-Muslim; anti-Semitic embraced speeches and statements ( such as that there were good people on both sides in Charlottesville Virginia where the neo-Naizs were marching) and a general anti ‘other’ set of politically motivated speeches – which help to create tensions amongst diverse people within a country. Playbook followed over in Europe too.

But what is the real  problem?

Well, ‘dear leader’ Boris – may I suggest that your real challenge is as follows:-

1. How do you address the issues which the people in the Midlands and the North of England face – especially regarding jobs and unemployment?
2. If you can succeed in striking a US/UK trade deal – then on what terms and will same be proven to be mutually beneficial for both the US and UK? We already know that Donald, as with all his other ‘successful’ business ventures will be angling to do as he did with China – only to find that he has absolutely no basis of understanding of economics 101 when it comes on to trade-wars. But, be forewarned – the UK does not wield as much power as China.
3. You have promised more, much more investment, in education – and – you are to be commended for that.
4. There is the question of the future treatment of the NHS – and that remains to be seen.
5. The relationship with Northern Ireland and whether you prove to be a man to your word – remains to be seen.
6. Last, but not least, there is the SNP victory, which now necessitates an early, if not immediate second referendum on Scottish independence.

Boris, I am not your enemy, for at heart and throughout my legal career I have demonstrated and proven myself to be a humanitarian. Hate not – and – try to assist as best one can as a human being – one to the other.

I have given you a short ‘dirty dozen’. Do not despair – my hearty congratulations on your victory.

My short six( 6) points constitute  just an adumbrated form of the challenges which you face going forward.

But victor Boris and vanquished Jeremy, really and truly do not despair. I am on the cusp of completing my five(5) star Villa in the Caribbean, hopefully to be operational by mid-February, 2020. When the post-election stress hits both of you, be assured that both of you shall be welcomed. As regards you Boris – you are an avowed capitalist; and you Jeremy are an avowed socialist.

Let me give both of you  a warning.

Boris – you will have to pay top dollar, for that is what the market commands and you will have to pay full price for a top retreat and your much deserved  relaxation.

Jeremy – there shall be no Turks and Caicos Islands state subsidy paid out for your retirement and a justly due vacation. Full price as usual.

Based on that understanding, please book in advance.

________________________________________

* COURTENAY BARNETT is a graduate of London University. His areas of study were economics, political science and international law. He has been a practising lawyer for over thirty years, has been arrested for defending his views, has been subjected to death threats, and has argued public interest and human rights cases. He lives and works in the Caribbean.

By Richard John Stapleton

About thirty percent of US citizens love Donald Trump, mostly true-believing conservatives, evangelicals, etc.

About fifty percent of US citizens detest Donald Trump, mostly liberals, freethinkers, etc.

Some say the most significant difference between the two groups is racism, pure and simple. Who can prove it?

And some say there are fundamental differences in how the two groups see their worlds and think they should be run. 

True believer conservatives are in general authoritarians, generally seeing the world as black or white, with clear-cut rules that must be obeyed.

Liberals (moderates at least) are more democratic, more open-minded, more inclined to see shades of grey, and are more tolerant of differences.

And the personalities of the two groups are different.

True-believing Conservatives use more critical parent and adapted child ego state energy than Liberals. They believe more and question less.  

Since extreme Conservatives and Liberals know they are right they have permission to do less unto others than they would have others do unto them.  

They are more militant and warlike, more clannish. Their attitude is I’m OK and You (if you are different from me) are NOT OK.

Dyed-in-the-wool Liberals use more nurturing parent and free child ego state energy transacting with others. Being less authoritarian and less rigid they experiment more and are more respecting of the rights, feelings, thoughts, and behaviors of others.

Members of both groups think they are smarter than the other. Since they know they are right they must be smarter or they would not have decided what they decided in the first place, about how the world works and how it should be run, and about what and how one should adapt and flex transacting with others.

Trump may be the least hypocritical president the US has had, the most transparent, the least deceptive, thanks to his Tweets, in which he often blurts out whatever happens to pop up in his mind, despite generally being a venal ungodly selfish lying clown, who was smart enough not to lose all the money his family gave him, and who was smart enough to parlay his simplistic ideas and behaviors, and that inherited money, into becoming President of the (dis)United States–winning the biggest ego trip contest around Spaceship Earth.

Since Trump thinks like his supporters his supporters therefore think he is smart and they are smart for electing him president, confirming how smart they were all along, smarter than Liberals.

What needs to be drained in the Earthian political swamp is the pernicious pentagonal paradigm of organizational perversity, described by Stephen Karpman, MD, and the five deadly organizational sins, told to me by Martin Groder, MD, one of my transactional analysis mentors, described in detail in my book Business Voyages: Mental Maps, Scripts, Schemata, and Tools for Discovering and Co-Constructing Your Own Business Worlds (2008), still in print, available at Effective Learning Publications listed on the masthead of this blog above.

The Five Deadly Organizational Sins (drumroll please) are: Power, Money, Sex, Righteousness, and Smarts.

Why are these sins deadly in organizations? They’re deadly because they corrupt organizations, rendering them incapable of achieving effective goals efficiently.

If an organization’s members focus most of their mental and physical energy on proving how powerful they are, how much money they have (regardless of how gained), how sexy they are, how right they are, and how smart they are they will naturally waste energy that should have been used to achieve the organization’s legitimate goals.

Teaching organizational behavior in a business school and doing organizational development work with organizations as a consultant, I used to draw a pentagon on a flip sheet and then label the five points of the pentagon with the words power, money, sex, righteousness, and smarts, and then explain to my learners how each of the points could erode and maybe destroy the functioning of their or any organization.

In order to be effective and worthwhile an organization has to do work in its environment, changing something for the better or producing necessary goods and services in its environment, that cannot be done efficiently, or maybe at all, if people in the organization are primarily focused on adapting and flexing to the power, money, sexual, righteousness, and smarts urges and messages of others, especially if supervisors and managers up the organizational chain of command are demonstrating in multifarious social and psychological ways they are more OK than others, playing Top Dog, the most ubiquitous psychological Game in organizational life, caused by organizational leaders engendering an organizational culture in which subordinates are required to recognize socially and psychologically using verbal and body language signals (by saluting in fascist organizations) how powerful, rich, sexy, right, and smart their supposedly superior organizational leaders are.

For more detail on why and how this is true read my e-book, Recommendations for Waking Up From The American Nightmare, at Amazon.com, or my paperback book, Born to Learn: A Transactional Analysis of Human Learning, also available at Effective Learning Publications above.

One can build a case the US under Trump as an organization is now more sinful than any previous US administration, and the US is now the most organizationally sinful nation around Spaceship Earth.

The US has been sinking into its power-mad narcissistic self-righteous egotistical sinful ways for decades after inevitably winning WWII, electing relatively sinful presidents, starting in 1946 with Truman, with since then one relatively sin-free president, Jimmy Carter, but including three off-the-chart sexual sinners, Kennedy, Clinton, and Trump.

Truman, Johnson, Nixon, Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II were among the worst money-grubbing, power-mad, and self-righteous US presidential sinners since the 1950s, dislocating and killing millions of Earthian humans, trying to prove capitalism is right, communism is wrong, and the US is entitled to a disproportionately large share of Earth’s wealth and resources.

Trump seems to think he is the smartest, calling himself a stable genius.

How to get the populations of all nations around Earth off the Five Deadly Organizational Sins Pentagon, not only top dog leaders, is another matter.

Whether it can be done before the consequences of past organizational sins destroy all Earthian species through global warming and climate change or shooting off nuclear bombs remains to be seen. 

Fascist economic and political systems encourage the five deadly organizational sins more than most, but no Earthian nation has been without organizational sin.

The US and China are now the economic and political leaders among Earthian nations. Both the supposedly capitalistic US and the supposedly communistic China have become more fascist in recent years. Whether Communist China becomes as fascist as Communist Russia did before it imploded remains to be seen.

One can build a case all national governments throughout Earthian history eventually ruined themselves committing The Five Deadly Organizational Sins, Power, Money, Sex, Righteousness, and Smarts, eventually becoming ruled by fascists mired in orgies of organizational sin, attempting to gratify themselves ensconced in isolated centralized power-mad hierarchies. Nero comes to mind.

Nations as organizations exist because of historical evolutionary forces that caused existing human practices and problems to be moved into new territories enabling individuals and groups to accumulate enough power to delineate and defend geographic boundaries, within which Earthian humans with similar beliefs, ideas, practices, and so forth could live with a modicum of peace and satisfaction. This process naturally entailed conflict, competition, and wars among nations and people.

Through time humans became addicted to competition and war, many finding it satisfying, raping, killing, pillaging, etc.

Many Earthian humans now think the major purpose of a nation is to win wars and prove it’s more powerful, rich, sexy, right, and smart than competing nations, as if playing college or professional football and basketball games in conferences and leagues, hoping to win a national championship.

Not so. The only legitimate justification for the existence of a nation is to produce services that enable Earthian humans to live peaceful and satisfying lives, proving in the process its salaried teachers, politicians, judges, civil servants, and military employees actually do some work, rather than waste their time and energy engaged in entropic time structuring such as playing Top Dog, I’m Only Trying to Help You, If It Weren’t For You, and other psychological Games not doing much for citizens and doing violence against other nations, imposing sanctions, invading and looting, and dropping bombs; reciting, performing, marching, and participating in ceremonies and rituals; and bullshitting with individuals, groups, and organizations.   

The best hope in the short run would be for deep-thinking hard-hitting politicians like Bernie Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard to resign from the contaminated ineffectual DNC to run in 2020 as Independents for president and vice president.

There might be enough of us disillusioned US voters and non-voters out there to put them in office.

They could not fully drain the swamp in eight years, but they could make a good start, proving third party candidates are more likely to drain the swamp than Deep State bought and paid for pork barrel establishment politicians, touted by conservative establishment Demos and Repugs in the DNC and RNC National Committees.

Feel free to repost, reprint, or otherwise share this essay any way you see fit.

Richard John Stapleton, PhD, CTA, is a certified transactional analyst, and the Editor & Publisher of the Effective Learning Report and The Earthian Forum at www.effectivelearning.net