Patricq Kroon: Succession of Spanish dictatorships (1930)

Gallery Notes:
The Spanish King Alfonso XIII watches as the dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera falls off the assembly line and is succeeded (in 1930) by the next dictator Dámaso Berenguer. Design for a political cartoon.

"They seem offensively self-centered."

Certain characteristics seem common to the MAGA Class. The traits seem strangely consistent, as if each proponent had been schooled in the same comportment, for each exhibits similar patterns. A MAGA might be reasonably expected to profess Christianity, though not any innocuous odd mainstream kind. They tend to "be" evangelical, which means they carry an explicit obligation to try to convert everyone else to their belief system. This notion must require enormous ego strength to fuel what must eventually seem like serial failures. However, it appears that MAGAs also tend to stay within a narrow social circle where the bulk of people have already "accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior," whatever that might mean. They tend to carry the certainty of The Saved. Whatever sins might have spotted their past, they seem to feel washed clean from them now. They speak and act with unusual impunity.

They might believe they are not beholden to obey specific laws and rules. They profess fealty to so-called "higher laws," as if their belief exempts them from satisfying particular social standards. They tend to violate laws for so-called "moral" reasons. They might trample on others’ rights, but believe they do that for the violateds’ own good. Extreme cases (extreme extremists?) might see themselves as redeemers, as saviors, liberating property wrongly possessed by some unwashed. They hold all governments as somehow in contempt of some presumed greater good, some higher justice. They tend to hold differences in contempt. The different are not seen as valid people, as if equal rights would necessarily leave the MAGAs violated. They exclusively play zero-sum games. They tend to be extremely judgmental.

They seem to be suffering from a certain Sociopathy. They cannot seem to see their aberrant behavior, but they often behave as if they are suffering from an anti-social personality disorder. This elevated to an expected lifestyle leaves them tangled in their underwear. They continually come into conflict between what they profess and what they do, with significant portions of their behavior easily classifiable as anti-Christian, certainly not adherent to any standard tenet. They make exceptions for themselves, as anyone obsessed with maintaining their self-esteem or self-righteousness might. Others might be seen as mere disruptions. They continually play 'for' and 'against', with those judged as somehow against them, 'enemies.' Their sociopathy seems to rely upon legions of imagined enemies. They behave as if their opponents are evil and must be vanquished.

They thrive on the most transparent lies. They seem to depend upon a catechism that classifies what's what. Liberalism is evil, and conservatism is good, though neither terms seem descriptively defined. Ask one why they equate liberalism with evil, and you'll likely get an earful of gibberish, certainly nothing definitive. MAGAs seem to avoid asking questions, over-employing assertion instead. Their certainty discloses considerable hollowness, but these people are not mere cartoon characters. They are True Believers, meaning their worldview rests on a firm foundation of absolute fiction. The resulting contradictions cannot be contemplated. They conflict, and so they violate an underlying conviction that this world operates to a simple sort of common sense. Philosophical arguments make no sense, for even the most complicated situation should be easily resolvable by applying that common sense. Their faith in such simplicity seems unshakable.

I'm all for living and letting live, but the evangelical consider that practice a sin. Their purpose on this Earth might be to manufacture converts, to "save souls." They will go to considerable lengths to satisfy themselves. They might outlaw abortion because they believe it's an abomination. Should a human law conflict with one of their "higher" ones, they will choose to obey the higher law and violate the human one, thereby engineering their own persecution. They eventually become unapologetic anarchists. They abhor democracy for its inherently offensive equalities. It does not properly recognize the privileges due to the chosen people. They see themselves as Christian Soldiers and carry unacknowledged the contradictions inherent in that characterization. They seem all tangled up in their paradoxes. Saved but continually beset. Special but persecuted as merely equal. Sinner, yes, but saved, unlike all those other unsaved sinners. When they came to Jesus, they fled from themselves, and they were convinced that if you could adopt their common sense, you would feel compelled to leave your senses and come to Jesus, too. It's as if everyone else was supposed to want what they want for themselves, and those that don't are beneath their contempt. They seem offensively self-centered.

©2025 by David A. Schmaltz - all rights reserved

Tags: #NextWorld, #PureSchmaltz