Congress: Family Therapy for the Republic

This week, America’s longest-running group therapy session takes the couch: Congress — the branch that was supposed to regulate emotion but now runs entirely on it. Once the nation’s prefrontal cortex, it’s devolved into the limbic system on Twitter, acting out every impulse for the cameras while taxpayers foot the therapy bill.

David and Rob break down how we got here:

• From World War II unity to post–Cold War identity crisis
• How Newt Gingrich turned outrage into a business model
• The 90s culture wars that became today’s shamelessness olympics
• And how Congress went from wise elder to full-on teenager with a C-SPAN account

Then Rob drops the most unsettling pep talk in podcasting history — a detailed walk through the next LISCO (Large-Scale Combat Operations) scenario that explains how a real existential threat could reunify the country. It’s terrifying, logical, and disturbingly hopeful.

Prescriptions (what we actually said):
• Congress: needs a 12-step program for power addiction. Step one — admit you’re powerless over the news cycle.
• C-SPAN Family Therapy: no hearings until every member can say, “I feel frustrated,” instead of, “You’re destroying America.”
• The rest of us: grow up. Do your one job — preferably better than the people you voted for.

Pour something inexpensive, brace yourself for Rob’s war monologue, and try not to Google “LISCO” before bed.

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Shrink The Nation is where America lies on the couch — and we pour the bourbon.
Hosted by board-certified psychiatrists and mental health pros with backgrounds in military, media, and systems thinking, we break down the psychology behind politics, culture, and public dysfunction.
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Shrink The Nation — On the Couch With America.