A few short weeks ago, Ben Carson — who is currently the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) — made the argument that poverty is a “state of mind.” He essentially summarized the all-too-common conservative argument that being on government assistance of any sort disincentivizes people from getting a job and being a productive member of society. In short — if you’re poor, you have a character flaw.

From a completely surface-level view of this argument, it makes enough sense. If people are given things for free, why work? But when we look deeper into the nuances of the situation, it isn’t quite that simple. In poorer areas that are predominantly on government assistance, there simply are not a lot of jobs to go around. Big business doesn’t tend to open up shop in East St. Louis or the hills of West Virginia. Schools in these poorer areas are struggling to give their students a decent education due to many other factors that we could write a separate article on. In short, there are hardly a lot of opportunities for many communities in America to succeed; especially in times of an increasing economic divide between the haves and the have-nots.

But I’m actually not writing tonight to deconstruct this specific issue; instead I’d like to present a corollary to Mr. Carson’s point. If poverty is a state of mind, then the implication is that wealth is a state of mind as well:

“Carson — who himself grew up in poverty to become a widely acclaimed neurosurgeon — said people with the ‘right mind set’ can have everything taken away from them, and they’ll pull themselves up.”

Suddenly, so many things make sense. The entire platform of the Republican Party, which tends to be extremely favorable to the wealthy at the expense of the middle and lower classes, doesn’t seem so inhumane when you realize that they truly see wealthy individuals as having exceptional character in comparison to their poorer counterparts. It also brings clarity to an electorate that went to the polls for the individual that currently sits in the Oval Office.

It truly is fascinating to see the contrast between how one side of America sees Donald Trump in comparison to the other side. To “Red America,” Donald Trump is overwhelmingly seen as a successful corporate tycoon that could shake up the establishment in D.C. and run our country like an efficient business. To “Blue America,” he is primarily viewed as a con artist, a fraud, and a poster boy of nepotism and privilege that runs counter to the ideals of equality and hard work that America prides itself on. There’s not a whole lot of middle ground with regards to how he is perceived. So why is there such a stark contrast here?

As humans, we are hardly always rational individuals. A recent study revealed that while we are more than willing to change our opinion on issues that are not related to a core part of our identity, we are much more defensive of the views that comprise our identity; such as political and religious views. We hold on to these views tightly and are resistant to evaluate them objectively, out of fear that a piece of who we are will be destroyed in the process. It makes sense…in an ever-changing world, our egos take solace in the fact that our principles, ethics, and perspectives are steady. But what if they are wrong…how do we grapple with this problem?

The answer seems to lie in how we comprise our identities. If we affix our identities to static ideologies, we will be trapped within them and constantly seeking out information to validate our ideologies instead of looking at the world more objectively. Bill Clinton once said the following:

“…the problem with any ideology is that it gives the answer before you look at the evidence.”

It only makes sense, then, to build our identity around valuing critical thought and embracing intellectual humility. To not be afraid to admit “I don’t know”; and in fact see it as a statement of strength and not weakness. To realize that if your previously held opinion is invalidated it doesn’t mean you are any less of an individual, but instead that you are a stronger individual than you were before; due to assimilating new information into your perspective. Strength should not equated with arrogance, but instead with humility.

I fear that even as the sea levels rise all around us and our fragile ecosystems are disrupted due to climate change, a group of individuals out there will be insisting that it isn’t a concern, up until the very end. Why? Because according to many, God gave us this world to utilize its resources and He is in control…we are literally incapable of destroying the world. And even better, according to the Bible the end of days will be ushered in by global turmoil…so if things are getting worse, we’re only getting closer to the Rapture. Don’t believe me? Michigan GOP Representative Tim Walberg said the following in response to a question asking why he wasn’t worried about climate change:

“Well, as a Christian, I believe that there is a creator in God who is much bigger than us. And I’m confident that, if there’s a real problem, he can take care of it.”

I’d bet all of the money that I possess that there is genuinely no amount of data or evidence that could sway Tim’s position. Tim is a man of conviction. Even the phrase “man of conviction” reads like a badge of honor, and that is troubling. Why should we value arrogance and an unwillingness to admit when we’re wrong? Why do some view our President as strong because he’s essentially never admitted fault in his entire life and brags about how incredible he is? We have it all backwards!

With all the information mounting against our President and the air of corruption surrounding him, even if he is impeached and / or indicted there will be a group of individuals insisting that he was brought down by a liberal conspiracy…all because they are unable to see the President as anything but successful (despite the fact that he’d be much richer had he just dumped his inheritance in the S&P 500). They can only see him as successful and a man of exceptional character, because their ideology tells them so. If they admit to themselves that perhaps Trump is not an admirable businessman, their ideology falls apart. Then they would have to question if wealth is truly related to character. They would have to entertain the notion that poor people on welfare are capable of having exceptional character and are perhaps poor for other reasons. But when your ideology falls apart, so does a piece of you…and our brains see threats to our identities similar to threats to our physical bodies. From the aforementioned study:

“One interpretation of these activations in the context of our study is that these structures are signaling threats to deeply held beliefs in the same way they might signal threats to physical safety.”

Similarly, denial is considered a psychological defense mechanism that we subconsciously deploy in order to defend against feelings of anxiety and unacceptable impulses and to maintain one’s self-schema. In other words, our subconscious minds are continuously at work to preserve our delicate self-image in the face of contradictory information that is a constant threat to it. Unfortunately, this lends to a phenomenon of individuals who are more concerned with self-preservation than they are with the whole; the entirety of our society, extending out to our entire planet. We cannot address the serious issues we face unless we are able to stare reality in the face and come to terms with the issues that it presents us; creating an alternative internal reality does us no favors but instead is in impediment to continual collective progress.

This is a problem, and it is a problem that is wholly within our grasp to tackle. But it will take a generation that has the audacity of spirit to look internally and realize that perhaps we have some growing to do. We cannot bomb or spend our way back to sanity…we must seize it from within ourselves. The problems we face are not due to any external scapegoat…they are self-created and self-inflicted. Perhaps one day we will enter a brave new world where the braggadocious “strongmen” are discredited and the skeptical and humble are elevated. It all starts with us.