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Democracy and our perceptions of the future in the balance
(February 2006)

The mess in Washington, DC, if unchecked, has the capacity to damage our perceptions of ourselves and our futures and, thereby, create a public health and societal catastrophe.

The Bush administration has set as its primary goal spreading 'democracy" around the world.   The definition of "democracy" is somewhat murky, but its core seems to be: holding elections and supporting the United States.   To "protect" our own democracy, the Bush administration:   kidnaps people (renditions), some of whom have been mistakenly identified and abducted; sends people for torture or commits torture itself, ignoring international standards, seemingly unperturbed by evidence that some of the people were innocent or non-terrorists; has its own gulag of secret prisons inaccessible to lawyers or the International Red Cross; and conducts spying on American citizens without court supervision in clear violation of the Fourth Amendment to our Constitution.   They pretend that torture is not torture by redefining it bizarrely as existing only if there is an intention to produce organ failure or death.  

These acts - kidnaping, domestic unrestricted spying, torture, secret prisons outside our country - would seem to be more characteristic of a tyrannical government than a democracy.   Indeed, it appears that some, or even all, of these acts are criminal.   The actions certainly undermine our government's credibility and moral standing around the world - and here at home.   The Bush administration's argument is that these actions, for which they are unrepentant, are keeping our country safe and are, therefore, justified.   In essence, for them, any acts, even those better suited to dictatorships, are permissible if carried out as part of their war on terrorism.   Unfortunately, that rationale may, in actuality, be accepted by the majority of Americans who might allow any behavior, no matter how terrible, no matter how many innocents suffer, no matter how much infringement on privacy and individual liberties takes place, so long as they can be reassured, even in the absence of evidence, that these actions will protect them and will make them feel safer.

The President and his colleagues in this secretive government are outraged that these hideous behaviors that are carried out in our names have been made public.   How in the world did they think evidence of kidnaping, torture, spying on Americans, and secret prisons would not surface?

Justice Louis D. Brandeis in a 1928 decision (Olmsted vs United States) wrote:

"The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning and without understanding."

This war against terror is likely to go on for many years or even for generations and the President seems to be starting us on a slippery slope with the potential, as this global war persists, for ever-increasing encroachment on individual and civil liberties, ever-increasing secretive behaviors, some of which are not consistent with most Americans perceptions of themselves and our nation.

It is likely that an increasing number of people in the United States are going to have a queasy feeling that this administration's behavior is undermining our values and our perceptions of both ourselves and our country.   This will be magnified by the unprecedented polarization already present in the country and the likelihood that the controversies engendered by the actions will continue for a very long time.   That has major and unsettling ramifications.   Faith in the future is grounded, in part, in personal optimism about one's own future which currently, according to our national survey, characterizes the American people (see Archives under "Futures Issues").   That optimism, we assume, is, in part, determined by our perceptions of who we are, including the concept that we are part of a vibrant and good America, a beacon of democracy for the world.   The revelations about this administration's behaviors, together with the new hostility towards the United States around the world and the occurrence of major unpleasant events, is likely to threaten that optimism.

The optimism will be further undercut if the situation in Iraq fails to improve or deteriorates, if further revelations of our government's misbehaviors surface and if it begins to appear that all those unacceptable actions are, in point of fact, creating more terrorists and making us less safe.

Our survey showed that people in the United States, despite their optimism about their own futures, already have a bleak view of the future of the world and our ability to solve or ameliorate its major problems.

I believe that all these intertwined events, acting together, have the capacity to sunder the optimism that we have pointed out is the last barricade to preventing loss of faith in the future.   If people, especially young people, lose confidence in their futures, there will be devastating behavioral and psychological consequences, including: a profound increase in depression and anxiety; increased drug and alcohol use; increased risk taking of various types, including during sexual activities and when driving automobiles and motorcycles; and reduced commitment to tackling important societal problems at local, state, national, and international levels.   And, that is only a partial listing.

The morass of reckless actions and misbehaviors that originate with our political leaders can have profoundly deleterious effects on the psyche of the American public, especially that of young adults -and that can be devastating for individuals, for the public health, and for the future of our society.