There is a booklet in the State Prison System which is used in the drug and alcohol treatment programs.  The association with drugs and alcohol is faulty – but the idea is this:  What types of “Closed Thinking” leads to criminal behavior? In light of the criminal behavior on Wall Street we should ask these questions of the candidate who, by his own admission, has participated for years in removing legal barriers to the criminal activity on Wall Street.

Apply these thinking patterns to John McCain – and particularly in this election cycle.  The McCain campaign represents nothing less than “Criminal Thinking,” if not direct criminal behavior.

Closed Thinking:

1. Secretive to avoid being implicated.
2. Self-righteous about self-image.
3. Closed to anything which might challenge my reality and my view of the world.
4. Finding faults in others, but failing to see my own.
5. Telling others only that which will serve my immediate purpose.
6. Lying by omission.
7. Breaking down each of the following components:

• Disclosure:  tell the total truth about myself including my thoughts, urges, intentions, and needs.

1. Tell the truth.
2. Eliminate omissions, exaggeration, distortions, point-scoring, and agreeing in order to get someone off you back.
3. Total sharing of thoughts, fears, and desires.
4. Emphasize sharing thoughts more than behaviors by sharing thoughts.

• Receptivity:  ask for help, listen to feedback, and do what healthy people suggest.

1. Accept learning a new way of thinking by listening to and accepting the views of others.
2. Eliminate selective listening like ignoring, challenging, debating, and arguing.
3. Expand on ideas discussed.
4. Ask questions that start with “How” and “What,” not “Why.”
5. Challenge obvious lies and contradictions.

• Self-Criticism:  seek to know which thoughts and actions are destructive and do whatever it takes to change them.

1. Eliminate power struggles and trying to control others.
2. Eliminate “Pride” and a feeling of “Uniqueness” by genuinely examining all that is destructive in life.
3. Distrust your own thinking.

Trust is:

1. Reliance on God and others – not on going it alone anymore
2. Taking risks with self-disclosure
3. Acting on feedback from others
4. Telling my part
5. Building caring out of unity, growth, and truth
6. Commitment to change
7. Understanding that I am more like others than I am different.
8. Getting close to others–intimacy.
9. Something I must earn.
10. Shown in my responsible living.
11. Returned after I first trust others
12. A Choice.

When we think about John McCain in this context, and think about this person being President of the United States – well – it is just plain scary.  McCain plays the classic ‘victim card’ – whining around about how unfair life is:

See also:  Total Loss of Control