From a psychoanalytic perspective, here is what I think the article “Freud Save America” gets right and wrong. On a clinical level, there is a real threat to free association if political correctness blocks the ability of people to say what is on their mind without censoring. On the other hand, analysis can provide the space and time for people to reflect on their internal struggle between their own thoughts and what they think is now acceptable. However, analysis only works if people say everything without self-censoring.
As I have written in my book (Mis)Understanding Freud, there is a threat posed to analysis by a certain Left-wing idea that one can only be analyzed by someone who belongs to the same identity group. This misguided application of identity politics refuses to accept that the analyst is not there to understand or to provide answers or empathy—the analyst is there to help the patient free associate. One of the main ways the analyst does this is by maintaining a position of neutrality, but this ideal of neutrality has also been challenged by the Leftist idea concerning the hidden biases behind pretended impartiality. From the perspective of certain Leftist thinkers, science and neutrality are impossible because they always hide special interests behind the façade of objectivity.
In terms of the application of psychoanalysis to culture and politics, one issue is the debate between equity and equality. As a practice of radical self-honesty and analytic neutrality, analysis dovetails with the liberal democratic principles of equal treatment and free speech; however, outside of the clinical setting, it is important to fight for equity in order to make equality possible. As analysts, we want to remain neutral, but as individuals fighting to defend our profession and beliefs, it is necessary to expose how certain powerful interests manipulate our political and economic systems to enhance their power, privilege, and profit. For example, we need to take on the relationships among psychiatry, big pharma, insurance companies, and the DSM since this collusion of interests undermine psychoanalysis and supports the notion that the only solution to personal and solution problems is medication. Bob Samuels