@tcavant
Writer, Progressive Southerner, Liberal Democracy Proponent Book: https://www.amazon.com/Damaged-People-Narcissism-Foundation-Dysfunctional/dp/0578821664 https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/damaged-people-thomas-avant/1138874224 Substack: tcavant.substack.com
For going on 4 decades, we’ve been led by those of the baby boomer generation; the guiding principle of this leadership: self righteous narcissistic entitlement. It’s time to retire baby boomer leadership and give younger generation(s) a chance to undo the harm of 4 decades of boomer destruction.
“…power tends to confuse itself with virtue and a great nation is peculiarly susceptible to the idea that its power is a sign of God’s favor, conferring upon it a special responsibility for other nations…to remake them, that is, in its own shining image.”
- J. William Fulbright
The Citizens United SCOTUS decision was proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the high court had been captured by corporate interests. We must get all private money out of public elections. To end legalized bribery and extortion, let’s start by electing progressives who aren’t on the corporate hook.
Both political parties are so dependent on corporate money for their existence that it’s hard to tell them apart - with the exception of progressives in the Democratic Party who don’t take corporate donations.
These progressives are the only ones who can save our democracy in the new Gilded Age.
Between 1994 and 2008, an individual healthcare mandate was a standard GOP policy position, promoted by the likes of Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, and it was even endorsed by the Heritage Foundation. When championed by President Obama in the ACA, the GOP opposed it and demonized healthcare reform.
Robert Altemeyer stated:
“Probably about 20 to 25 percent of the adult American population is so right-wing authoritarian, so scared, so self-righteous, so ill-informed, and so dogmatic...They would march America into a dictatorship...they will believe and do virtually anything they are told.”
“It is ironic that the United States should have been founded by intellectuals, for throughout most of our political history, the intellectual has been for the most part either an outsider, a servant or a scapegoat.”
- Richard Hofstadter, “Anti-Intellectualism in American Life” (1964)
The Founders failed to consider the miscreants in government could ever outnumber the virtuous.
“Once an efficient national government is established, the best men in the country will not only consent to serve, but also will generally be appointed to manage it.”
- John Jay, Federalist No. 3, 1787
The founding fathers underestimated American ignorance.
“The process of election affords a moral certainty, that the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications.”
- Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 68, 1788
The 6 deadly sins of propaganda, demagoguery, religious nationalism, greed, racism, and xenophobia are dangerous drugs that carry the evil seeds of fascist authoritarianism.
Healthy democracies don’t abide these sins by national leaders and public officeholders.
Rightwing authoritarianism, religious nationalism, and the despotic narcissistic psychopaths who usher it into the nations they lead have destroyed the international community and world order.
Societies are destroyed for the benefit of a few. Until these psychopaths go, the oppression won’t stop.
Just a reminder that under Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth, the U.S. military has conducted at least 135 extrajudicial murders of “suspected drug traffickers” in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. Rodrigo Duterte is awaiting trial in The Hague for allegedly committing similar crimes.
"The narcissistic leader cannot succeed without a loyal set of minions…Without someone validating their toxic leadership, they will eventually be held accountable.”
Narcissistic leaders depend on the silence and feigned support of the majority for survival.
open.substack.com/pub/tcavant/...
…a summary of the woes of predatory neoliberal capitalism, its hold on both parties, and its adverse effects on a society that’s traded community, kindness, social welfare, and empathy for consumerism, decadence, narcissism, and the commodification of everything.
open.substack.com/pub/tcavant/...
To understand this moment, one must understand the psychology of narcissism. Americans have always been susceptible to demagoguery, gaslighting, and propaganda. An educational deficiency in psychology is one of the reasons.
www.barnesandnoble.com/w/damaged-pe...
www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0578...
…sharing an excerpt from Chapter 4 (Damaged Leadership: Narcissism in the Workplace) of my 2020 book, "Damaged People: Narcissism and the Foundation of a Dysfunctional American Society".
open.substack.com/pub/tcavant/...
The American political system is rotten to the core. Greed, corruption, and money in politics have desecrated American democracy.
Both parties are on the take from special interests. Until we fix the issue of political campaign financing, we will continue to be a democracy in name only (DINO).
Those with even milder narcissistic tendencies are difficult enough to deal with, but malignant narcissists (narcissistic psychopaths) are the most dangerous, intense, and sinister type. Their life fuel comes from an attempt at feeling dominant and superior.
open.substack.com/pub/tcavant/...
If you’re interested in learning whom your elected representatives work for, it’s worth checking out Open Secrets, an organization that tracks campaign financing. In a nation in which political bribery was legalized by SCOTUS, true representative democracy is quite elusive.
www.opensecrets.org
Corporate and wealthy interests are antithetical to public interest. Politicians cannot serve both. It’s unreasonable to believe that any politician who is corporate-funded can freely serve their constituents.
It’s critical we elect only those politicians who don’t accept corporate PAC money.
The Constitution has only a few provisions dealing with the Senate. The filibuster and the current 60-vote threshold are not included.
Therefore, the filibuster is a Senate rule, not a constitutional mandate, with the current 60-vote threshold only dating back to 1975.
“All tyrannies rule through fraud and force, but once the fraud is exposed they must rule exclusively on force.”
- George Orwell
The modern Republican Party’s strategy is simple: obstruction of progress and disruption. When government isn’t doing its job and Congress’ approval rating among the public tanks, the party who presents itself as against government comes out on top.
The term “illegal immigration” is a misnomer. In the U.S., most immigration violations are considered civil, not criminal, offenses. To put it in perspective, a speeding ticket is a civil infraction. Unlawful presence is the equivalent of a speeding ticket.
open.substack.com/pub/tcavant/...
Archibald MacLeish: “Religion is at its best when it makes us ask hard questions of ourselves. It is at its worst when it deludes us into thinking we have all the answers for everybody else.”
open.substack.com/pub/tcavant/...
Minneapolis has had 3 murders in 2026 so far. 2 have been perpetrated by federal agents.
Any suggestion by this criminal regime that the flooding of Democratic-run cities with ICE and CBP agents is about public safety is preposterous.
For narcissistic psychopaths, lying is breathing.
ICE has violated more court orders in January 2026 than most federal agencies have in their entire existence.
When there are no consequences or enforcement mechanism - such as holding agency leadership up to the White House in contempt - we have a powerless judiciary and no check on power.
“In truth, the United States of America can be said to be ‘faith-based,’ and one of the primary articles of that faith is that religion - in all its forms - should be kept out of the country’s secular institutions...”
- Charles Pierce in “Idiot America”
Much of the world’s suffering could be eradicated if people - religious and areligious - came together and focused more effort on improving the lives of sentient beings - human and animal alike - in lieu of blind glorification of a chosen deity, nation of origin, etc.