John Buttrick writes from his Vermont Folk Rocker in his Concord home, Minds Crossing. He can be reached at johndbuttrick@gmail.com

In my 65 years of voting every four years for the president of the United States, I have never experienced the amount of anxiety, fear, and urgency that follows us to the polls on Tuesday. No matter with which political party one resonates, there is a sense that democracy as we know it will be threatened by the outcome of the election if our prefered candidate loses.

The factions among us seem to be divided into five parts. There are left, center, and right Democrats. There is Donald Trump and there are his followers. The three divisions among Democrats are on a continuum from right to left. This continuum that includes fundamental beliefs, motives, and coherent visions about humanity; frees left, center, and right to safely debate methods for action while agreeing on common visions and motivations. They experience an openness to compromise without the fear of losing sight of basic fundamental visions for a democratic society.

However, the divide demonstrated in the Republican Party is of a different order. It manifests as differing fundamentals, motives, and reasons for choosing the president. There is the self-aggrandizing and egocentric motivation in Donald Trump’s run for president. His followers are willing to let his ego lead the way, but they are motivated by different reasons to elect him.

They want him to help them fulfill their self-interest in making the whole country great for themselves. Jason Blakely, a professor of political science at Pepperdine University, wrote in his book, “Lost in Ideology,” that reasons are to be interpreted as “the fundamental beliefs about the world that underlie practical politics.”

The fundamental beliefs of Trump and his followers differ but there is common ground between Trump and his followers in the “practical politics” – the methods used to enforce their ideologies. They both agree that overpowering the government and any who oppose them, is the way to success. They do not shy away from using violence if they deem it necessary.

Trump’s fundamental belief goes to the extreme of unhealthy egocentrism and narcissism. The world personally revolves around him and his actions. He believes the presidency will give him the authority to enforce his ideology and will merit admiration from all others.

I’m not a psychologist nor a psychiatrist, but I have been a neuro psychiatric specialist who worked for more than a year on a research project at Walter Reed Medical Center’s psychiatric section in the early 1960s. I’m not qualified to diagnose his personality disorder, but I am able to recognize some of Trump’s personality symptoms that would be a problem for a sitting president. He exhibits a lack of empathy and makes decisions based upon his own needs. He has a sense of entitlement, exhibits arrogant and pretentious behaviors, and is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success and power.

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For example, Trump asserts that he will be the first to know when he becomes cognitively impaired and has said, “I will be the first to let you know,” neglecting to recognize the symptoms he already exhibits.

“This is who Donald Trump is,” wrote the 13 (former government officials), all “lifelong Republicans.” “Donald Trump’s … admiration for dictators like Hitler is rooted in his desire for absolute, unchecked power.” Also, we witness Trump’s regular pronouncements that he will single handedly command the implementation of his way when he becomes president.

So, election anxiety abounds among us. For Trump, a loss would be an unacceptable disaster to his ego. He would be unable to accept it. It would destroy his perception of who he is. For the electorate, it is the worry that a cognitively disabled man will win the presidency, driven by an unhealthy ego that will not permit him to join with others to consider ways to serve the country rather than serving himself.

However, we may use our anxiety to motivate us to vote, in spite of being called by Trump “the enemy from within.” Braving the voting booth is the first step toward overcoming ego and the anxieties that plague our nation.

Voting may prepare us to clear the way for a debate of the issues. Author Jason Blakely explains that all the major ideologies are motivated by comprehensive and more or less internally coherent visions of the world and the human good. These shared visions free citizens to begin discussing among themselves solutions to issues, guided by what is good for humanity.

It could be the move toward a more perfect union and an effectively functional democracy. It could ease the anxieties and fears that have been disrupting our lives.