REPUBLICANS: Identity crisis

Recent columns in The Press have highlighted the current identity crisis of the Republican Party in Kootenai County, and possibly the nation. To Trump or not to Trump for example. A comparison to Dissociative Identity Disorder seems fitting. Previously called multiple personality disorder, DID is usually characterized by the presence of two or more distinct personality identities. Each may have a unique name, personal history and characteristics.

Local Republicans now include KCRCC, North Idaho Republicans, RINO, National Republican Party and more. It’s like movies with confusing twists and turns around one character playing multiple roles. One role is mostly rational, reasonable and relatable. Another is childlike, confused by its own mixture of roles, trying to figure things out, but not able to find meaning. There is always a role that is egocentric, promoting and harboring fear and anger. It interprets power and destruction as the logical reaction (tear it down and build it back differently to maintain control). Chaos ensues and conflict between the personalities spills into the mainstream until there is destruction or a curative assimilation of personalities.

Not everyone is part of the dissociative identity Republicans. There is an alternative in case a cure isn’t possible. Hopefully when the Republicans figure out who they really are, they choose an identity that looks past exaggerated incidents to recognize larger truths, that likes finding solutions more than declaring blame, that cares about helping communities more than promoting ideologies, and that values empathy toward others and integrity of self.

GARY COFFMAN

Coeur d’Alene