Politics: the illusion of grandiosity

Inflated “self-importance” and politics have always gone hand in hand. But with today’s unrelenting news cycle, it’s become ‘narcissism on steroids.’ 

We have elevated “politics” to some inordinate self-importance that it no longer connects with the common man or woman; we have created a political “illusion of grandiosity.”

Today’s’ political climate resembles a pseudo-religion, where the state has replaced the church and the politician has replaced the priest; there’s a ‘sacred feel’ towards politics.  

But peel away the layers of this illusion, and you begin to see how ordinary and insignificant the life of a politician really is. This illusion is kept alive by the two powerful forces of power and greed.   

Most people go into politics with good intentions. But then power and greed take hold, and the original compassion that may have been present in the beginning, has eroded; the grand “illusion of grandiosity” becomes the political norm.

The politician is ‘converted’ to this illusion, and becomes evangelical in preaching a political gospel, that promotes “salvation by government programs.”

The converted politician is ‘dogmatic’ in his convictions, and begins to believe in his own inordinate significance. 

The illusion creates a sanitized bubble, in which the politician lives. He becomes immune to the “ordinariness” of common life.

The politician no longer has anything in common with the “citizen.” A gap widens between the citizen and the political class.  

Under this illusion of grandiosity, a dependency class is nurtured, whereby people begin to put their trust in the hands of the “political elite.”

People begin to believe that the politician is the benevolent provider for “their freedom and happiness.”

But illusions collapse, and all man-made institutions come to an end; the Tower of Babble is a reminder of what happens when men are under an illusion of grandiosity.

In the classic movie, “the Wizard of Oz,” Dorothy’s dog Toto, pulled the curtain and exposed the small man who controlled the machine, that created the illusion of the mighty “Oz.”

The ‘illusion of grandiosity’ is a lot like the mythical ‘Oz’ in the movie. But when we pull back the curtain of this political illusion, we expose the everyday, ordinary man or woman who wears the title of politician.