Geoffrey W. Sutton PhD, Psychology and Culture

  The USA is the world’s superpower in many respects. We have a huge economy, significant military strength, world-class universities, large numbers of Nobel Prize winning scientists, leading healthcare technologies and discoveries, and powerful international businesses like Apple and Microsoft not to mention fast food and financial giants around the globe. We also happen to be a democracy that takes human rights seriously. No. I do not wear rose-colored glasses.   America has some weaknesses too. It’s those weaknesses that might make a difference in 2022 and beyond. Is the US being tested? As I write, Russia has amassed troops on their border with Ukraine. Stock markets are tumbling. President Biden has threatened sanctions. We are sending troops and weapons. It looks like we are on the brink of war. (e.g., CNN ) Earlier today, we learn the world’s second most powerful nation sent 39 warplanes toward Taiwan, which split from China during the 1949 Civil War. Yester...

  Oral Roberts University/Google images On a hot and humid 1950s Sunday afternoon, I sat amongst the crowd of white-shirted, perspiration-soaked men and paper-fan waving Sunday-hat-covered women at a tent crusade in Southeastern Pennsylvania. After preaching salvation, the dark suit jacket came off. Holy hands touched one after another. I watched a line of broken people approach a healing stage and leave with a testimony. Everywhere, white and black hands reached upward as organ tones bolstered songs of praise. (Sutton, 2021, p. 79)   As I was writing Counseling and Psychotherapy with Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians , I was struck by the transitional figure of Oral Roberts who blended faith healing and a nascent Pentecostal theology, which eventually led to a grand attempt to integrate medical science and faith.   Oral Roberts   Oral Roberts was born 24 January 1918. The next month, four waves of a flu pandemic killed off about as many as died i...

Democratic Party Values Previously, I wrote about several Republican Party Platform issues and general Republican values. Then I brought the post up-to-date with the 2016 platform . In this post I look at the Democratic Party. My focus in primarily on culture rather than on party politics. But clearly, culture can change to the extent more people from a particular party govern according to their espoused values. Here’s a link to the previous platform . Taxes Democrats are known for tax structures that take less taxes from low income workers and more from those who earn more. This is referred to in the platform as paying a “fair share.” If you check the Republican platform, you will see a focus on closer to equal sharing of tax burdens, sometimes referred to as flatter . The question is “What is a fair share of taxes?” And the answer is it is up to you to decide! But here’s more about fairness . I think most Americans are willing to conced...

A Merry Christmas Story Jesús Born Reports Lucas Back in the day, Cesar Augusto declared that everyone should have healthcare and all working families should have a path to citizenship. The deadline to sign up was 24 December. This happened when politicians did not get along. And everyone went online to register for healthcare. Those who were not citizens were to make sure they paid their taxes and completed a citizenship application. José and María, his pregnant fiancé who needed healthcare, could not even afford internet service. Anyway they bundled up and began their taxing trip into town to use cousin David’s line. David was out. Exhausted, they decided to stay at the Holly Day Inn, where they could get online. “Sorry guys, we’re full,” said Clark. José noticed a sign on an office door and asked if they could use that room. The kindhearted Clark nodded his head. Then María exclaimed, “omg, I’m like having a baby.” So Clark called 911. And María gave birth. She wr...