Are we finally coming to the realization that authoritarian leaders appeal to human emotions? While democratic government is filled with emotion, at its base is an intellectual underpinning of governance. Years ago, psychologist Wilfred Bion wrote that groups have a “work” profile and an “emotional” profile. When the work becomes stressful, the emotional profile kicks in. That profile plays out in stages. Stage one is “you are the leader, get us out of this mess.” Stage two is “fight/flight.” — you are the leader, lead us into battle or retreat. Stage three is a defeatist resolve that “everything will be all right in the future.”

It is clear to me that in today’s America the emotional profile has kicked in. We are less inclined to work toward solutions than to release our emotions in light of the problems that warrant work. While there are many ways to rationalize the cause of this emotional work, my sense is that there is a perceived threat to identity — individual identity as well as a broader sense of who we are and where we are headed as a society.

There is no more powerful emotional threat than one that directly affects our sense of who we are — individually and collectively. I would love to see a socioeconomic/emotional assessment of those involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. Yes, let’s call it for what it was.

Complicating this picture is the realization that one’s identity is anchored in attachments that accumulate over the years. Critically, as we look back on those attachments, we see them through filtered lenses. We see what we want to see, whether that is the good or the bad. Stephanie Coontz wrote a book that looked empirically at family life in the “Ozzie and Harriett” 1950s. The title of the book is “The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap.” In other words, we are constantly recreating the past to anchor our feelings of identity today. And as I remember reading, “Nostalgia is no way to run a country.”

What does it take when these dynamics lead us to seek a “leader who will rescue us?” From the threat of immigration, from the threat of climate change, from the threat of a perceived dysfunctional world? And on and on.

Will our intellect prevail over our emotions in this environment? Is a democratic government prepared for the combat. Apparently, not so to the many who are looking for a charismatic leader.

— John Nalbandian is a former Lawrence mayor and former director of the nationally recognized public administration program at the University of Kansas.