Are We America?

Harken back to the heady days of the 1760's and 1770's, when the streets of Philadelphia and Boston and New York were ablaze with the pamphlets of Tom Payne and the letters home from Ben Franklin and the ideas of Tom Jefferson, and Alexander Hammilton getting ready to go his next round with James Madison over Federalism v. Populism.  And all the while these men are anxiously awaiting the next round of communiques from France, Germany, and Spain with their grandiloquent ideas as to how to next decide the questions of the day, lest the Mighty Methodists gain too much power over the Secular Unitarians, or the Fighting Federalists founder Madison's Mamas.

Not so much.

Yet as Egyptians teemed with the overthow of the exact same kind of autocracy in the last few weeks, American and other world leaders imperialistically worried over the future of Egypt's government as if the people of Egypt were too stupid or too gullible or too mindless of their religious fanatics to do so for themselves.

But note an article in today's New York "Times" Blog which recounts the history of an enclave of a section of Cairo, Imbaba, long thought to be held by the Muslim Brotherhood, where young people are standing up one by one to discount the influence of this religious conservative faction and voice their hopes for a secular government that will deliver jobs, economic security, and a modern way of life to this and all areas of Egypt. 

These are voices not unlike those in our once proud, honorable society, clashing with a true oppressor.  Not the voices of right wing conservatives who by their very nature must take the stance of victims of whatever form of government exists, and extend their logic to the degree of paranoia if necessary to make their point, as is happening in this country.

It is a given that Glen Beck and his Tea Partiers rail at the United States government "as if" it had taken freedoms from them commensurate with the freedoms the autocracies of the Middle East have long usurped from their peoples.  Had our government in fact acted in this manner, we would not have heard from the Tea Party except on carefullly guarded Facebook pages.  [But that obvious irony of the woeful moaning Tea Victims is best left for another discussion.]  The point here is that, while leaving our own citizens in relative perfect freedom, the United States government has played fast and loose with the citizens of the world's nations, while fostering and maintaining autocrats and powermongers and outright theives as national leaders, forcing entire nations into slavery, all in the name of national security for decades upon decades.

This two-faced take on democracy is not the ultimate responsibility of "Our Government".  It is "Ours, The People's".  If we want to organize a meaningful Tea Party, let us wrest this control over the people of the world back from our Executive Branch and its innumerable slippery fingers, such as the CIA and the Justice Department; the Congress, with its impossibly many secret budgets and its first loyalty to coporate lobby money; and let us make our uncompromising will made perfectly known to the Supreme Court by standing on its steps, as the Egypians stood in Tahrir Sqare for as long as it took.

Yes, the proud and insular people of these United States have much to learn about humility and purpose from the citizenry of the Middle East. 

And yes, our American Tea Party has much to teach us about how to organize.  It is unfortunate that so far, the Tea Party's goals are no more far-sighted than the end of their tax forms. 

There is much for us, as American citizens, to share with the world about the true benefits we have lived with for 235 years under democracy.  If the time comes that we find our true collective moral compus, perhaps we will join together in our true collective moral purpose, despite the quagmire that deigns to call itself our federal government, to assist in whatever way possible peoples like those of Egypt who truly could utilize assistance in moving toward a peaceful democracy.

We are a people who have lived for over two centuries, in relative peace, with free elections, a non-police state, actual freedom of speech, and the myriad other benefits of a democratic society.  Who better to share with those struggling people than "We, the People" of the United States of America?

Status Report

The treatment team met this morning re: blog immediately below.  I will summarize reports from each of the participants:

• Nursing staff report the patient has been cooperative with all orders, taken meds with no trouble.  She has been eating fairly well, ~70% of her trays, no snacks.  She has remained quite aloof in the milieu but responsive, polite, occasionally even humorous to specific questioning.  Appears to sleep comfortably through the nights.
• Psychologist reports that patient has participated actively and very thoughtfully in thrice weekly therapy.  Is in psychoanalytically oriented work as this approach is successfully uncovering underlying conflicts to which the patient is responding with new material and appropriately intense and varied affect.  Work will continue at this level though admission and after.
• Occupational Therapy is seeing the results of intense therapy in the broad range of emotion and affect patient both presents and applies to her work.  Also sees frequent confusional states which patient is able to work through with Irving, to whom she has formed an attachment.  On occasion patient requires extended time away from the other patients in order to collect herself; is then able to return to the group.
• Group Therapy-Pt follows the context of the group; occasionally offers a powerful insight, but for the most part is unable to maintain a consistent presence in the group.  Has developed an empathic interest from several patients rather than having built up a level of hostility from the group because of her low level of participation, which is seen as a hopeful therapeutic sign.
• Psychiatrist: have increased antidepressant to full therapeutic dose.  Patient requires low dose antipsychotic to alleviate massive anxiety caused by childhood PTSD.  Will continue working with her to work on social skills on the unit.

Overall prognosis continues to slowly improve, remains guarded.