Whichever side of the aisle we were on, the 2024 election results surprised many of us. A lot of people I talk to are simply wondering "what does this mean?" We wonder, as we would in any election, what the results mean for our future. We wonder what it means about our neighbors, whether the things we want are the same things that they want. And because questions of character were important for many people in this particular election, we wonder what it means about ourselves — as in this question that I keep hearing: "Is this really who we are now?"
These are deep, existential types of questions, so it's no wonder that many people are struggling to make sense of them. One way to consider the situation is to take seriously the idea (from Eric Schwitzgebel) that America itself is a conscious entity. Schwitzgebel’s technical argument is about complexity -- America has a structure with a high level of organization, integration among its parts, specialization of functions performed by sub-systems, information transfer, etc. -- and about functioning -- a nation performs many of the activities of a living being, such as communication with other entities, consuming food, generating energy, defending itself, and even reproducing (viewing the U.S. as a child of Great Britain by a sort of cellular division). Schwitzgebel's intent is to call attention to some interesting logical problems that arise if we take materialism to be true -- e.g., in Chalmers's version, the idea that any sufficiently complex organization will automatically have some type of conscious experience associated with it. My intention here is not to comment one way or the other on materialist views of existence (if you're interested, you can find thoughts on that topic here). Instead, in this essay I want to think as if Schwitzgebel's assumption is true, assume that the U.S. is literally conscious, and then think like a psychotherapist explore what the recent election results mean for that group-level consciousness. I admit in advance that this is a highly nerdy coping strategy, but hey, we each do what we have to in order to get through!
So, what can we learn as America’s therapist? First, our continued political drama has left America feeling very tired. I wrote about that feeling at the end of last year, when it was manifesting as a sense of "dread." Remember that for purposes of this essay, when I write "America feels," I'm not talking about how we each individually might feel -- I'm talking about the country as a whole, as if it was a conscious being. If America is tired, it probably means that America’s collective decision-making capacity is impaired. It also likely means that the nation is basing decisions on its "gut feelings" (the Intuitive Mind) rather than on logical reasoning (the Narrative Mind). As I wrote in my most recent blog post, gut-based thinking isn't necessarily wrong, and sometimes when we are tired we can actually second-guess ourselves too much. But in the long run, America won't be back at full capacity until she first gets some needed rest.
Second, America seems to be pretty angry. I heard political commentary this week claiming that anger was at the root of the 2024 election results: anger over the economy's effect on average people, over perceived problems with immigration, or over efforts to improve diversity and inclusion in schools and public life. But there was a lot of anger on the other side as well, about things like abortion access restrictions, racist speech, and President Trump's seeming ability to shrug off well-justified criminal indictments. If there's something that unites us, it seems to be that we are angry. I haven't written a blog post yet on anger, but it also tends to distort Narrative thinking. If we consider America as a conscious entity, we can expect that it isn't doing its clearest thinking right now. People who are angry are notoriously bad decision-makers, they easily find justifications for things that provide an emotional release, and they tend to say or do things that they later regret.
Third, I think it's safe to say that America is confused. Despite the red-wave electoral results, races across the board were relatively close and within the margin of error that had been suggested by all of the polls. Americans agree that our country has problems, but we have very different ideas of how to fix them, and to some extent even different definitions of what our problems are. Our divisions are leading to divergent policies in different states, and might result in a package of national policies that aren't even internally consistent with one another. Confusion seems like a natural consequence of anger and fatigue. When different sub-systems have different goals (in the case of an individual human, for example, their thoughts and their feelings not being well-aligned), they can act in unpredictable and counter-productive ways.
Finally, I want to acknowledge America's undercurrent of fear. That plays into the fatigue, but it's much more acute for some people than others -- people in the GLBTQ+ community, for instance, are much more concerned now for their physical safety. Some members of minority groups are worried about President Trump's promise to deport people who look different from their neighbors. And many women are concerned about the potential loss of freedom over their own lives. The President-Elect's political opponents also may have reason for fear, if his statements on the campaign trail are taken at face value. I definitely don't think that everyone in the U.S. is afraid -- it seems a majority of Americans are in fact happy and optimistic about a second Trump presidency, based on the election results. But there's a substantial undercurrent of fear. If we are considering America as a conscious entity, maybe the way to think about this is that the country has an unconscious level of fear. The problem with unconscious feelings is that they still affect us, and they have to be dealt with eventually.
America as a nation-level consciousness, then, seems not to be in a good place psychologically. What's going to help it feel better? When we're tired, angry, confused, and afraid, the best starting place is often a good meal and a good rest. (A friend offered this rule of thumb on negative emotions: When you feel like you hate everyone, you need food. When it feels like everyone hates you, you need a good night's sleep). If each of us is part of a sub-system that contributes to America's global consciousness, then self-care is the starting point toward national healing. Here is a recent blog post with some self-care starting points.
Next, it's important to not to feed the anger, fear, and confusion. That's a tall order right now, and there are valid reasons for people to feel upset. But you can’t function well when you feel upset all the time. But you can counterbalance negative emotions by also cultivating a practice of gratitude, through positive social connections, by going outdoors, and through exercise. Another strategy to reduce negative emotions might be to limit social media exposure. I'm not saying that we don't need to stay informed as citizens -- of course we do. But we can also set limits on our own social media time, try to consume a varied media diet, and connect with people face-to-face when possible. Direct personal connections are more resistant to anger and fear, because face-to-face interactions (including video calls) almost inevitably create a feeling of connection between people. Another way to lower the temperature is to not meet anger with anger -- a tall order, but one that each of us can contribute to in small ways. When a friend expresses outrage, listen but don't get pulled in. When you feel outrage, take a few deep breaths. Something that I greatly admired about the way Vice President Harris ran her campaign was her refusal to engage with outrage, especially on issues of racism and sexism. Those sentiments still might have counted against her in the end, but I don't think she would have done any better by protesting when they came up. She instead refused to engage, shook her head, and moved on.
Finally, we need to do a better job of taking care of our neighbors, especially the people who are legitimately afraid right now. The mood of the nation can be helped by small-scale actions to protect vulnerable people and help those in need. Local churches and community organizations can often provide this type of concrete assistance, and we can each do it through our personal connections as well. Social support can be both emotional and instrumental; both kinds are important.
If America is a conscious entity, then taking care of ourselves and our neighbors isn't just about managing our own mental health. It's a step that might actually help to heal divisions and get the country back on track. I'm not sure, of course, that Schwitzgebel is correct about national consciousness. But it's a good thought -- and I could use one of those this week.
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