I was smart enough to know in high school that the pablum they were preaching with Maslow was BS. To tell me that “a majority of the population never reaches self-actualization” tells me that it’s a cult-ish idea with little practical application in life. Yes, the bottom rungs are truly common sense ideas, but in today’s society, there a lot of 20-somethings with no fscking clue how to save money let alone do their own laundry, replace a flat tire, etc.
Intellectual understanding of the real world doesn’t come from a textbook, it comes from mimicking those in your life who “get it,” and learning how to be self-sustaining. This BS that the progressives push about subsistence by government is anathema to the idea of fulfillment of real life needs and wants. You can only truly keep what you earn on your own accord. “That which can be given can also be taken away,” my grandfather used to say.
Yes, very elitist and ‘looking down your nose’ at the peons kind of stuff...I remember hearing this stuff non-stop when I went to college in the early 80s for my teaching degree, and even though I didn’t know then what I know now, I knew enough to stop and say, “Huh?!” when I heard it preached like the gospel. :-(